Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming: Killing our heroes ...

Other Blogs:
American McGee
Beautiful Pixels
Hideo Kojima
Hitachi Wasabe's Xbox 360

Xbox 360 Marketplace Updates: (MajorNelson.com)

Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming (Subscribe)

Monday, August 20, 2007

Killing our heroes ...

I've been thinking about design, story, and games as "high art" for a long time, but quite a bit lately in particular.

One of things I've tossed around on multiple personal projects of mine (video game, comic book, screenplay, and more) for a long time is the importance of meaningful sacrifice. It's important to me, so it shows up in my creative endeavors.

This shows up in different ways, besides my own creative output.

Like my interest in the recent Comic-Con "Kill Your Darlings" panel with F. Paul Wilson, David Morrell, Max Allan Collins, Richard Morgan, Josh Coniser, Joe Schreiber, Elizabeth Forrest, and Maryelizabeth Hart.

Or there's my recent rant about games not being "more artistic" than film.

And there's this video of Ed Brubaker interviewing Matt Fraction, where Fraction turns the tables briefly and asks Brubaker about his killing Captain America, and how Brubaker loves the freedom at Marvel, because he was able to kill Captain America, because "nothing is sacred" there. (For the record, I think Brubaker's writing one of the most amazing ongoing books in Captain America, and all with the absence of the titular character; "titular" especially when Rob Liefeld draws him. Oh, snap! Oh, and I like that Fraction doesn't care what he says.)

(And I'm sorry if this is first time you've heard of that Cap's dead, but it's been months; go here for my "second shooter theory").

Speaking of Master Chief (what, you didn't follow that last link?), I got to thinking about Microsoft's recent print ad campaign for Halo 3, which has M.C. Johnny walking by a giant structure. There's some blah blah blah text at the top of the add, and this nugget that stand's out to me in the middle of the page:

"A hero need not speak. When he is gone, the world will speak for him."

And I got to thinking, how cool would it be if this was literal? How cool would it be if this was about Master Chief?

In short, how cool would it be if Master Chief had to die at the end of Halo 3 to "finish the fight"?

(I really enjoy the Halo franchise, and I'm not anti-Microsoft, so get that out of your head.)

More generally, what if we wrote games such that to really succeed, you had to sacrifice yourself?

I'm thinking of the sacrifices in other mediums that struck me. Spock in The Wrath of Khan (best Star Trek movie EVAR). Spider-Man in the J. M. DeMatteis / Mike Zeck "Kraven's Last Hunt" / "Fearful Symmetry" arc (hey, I thought Spidey was dead). Superman (even though I knew he wasn't going to stay that way). Elliot Ness in the romanticized The Untouchables. Doyle in the Angel episode, "Hero". Captain America.

And there have been moments in games. Floyd in Planetfall comes to mind.

But what an amazing opportunity games have.

Ever felt elevated or weepy or inspired or called to action from watching a film? What if you weren't watching the heroes making sacrifice, breaking your heart, making you feel like you need to jump out of your chair (Hellboy's "making a choice") -- what if you were that guy or girl?

What if we get to play our icons in a game, and sacrifice ourselves. Not because we suck at 3D platformers (ahem, Ms. Croft), but because the sacrifice is required to "win" the game. Or maybe it's required at least for one or more versions of "winning", given games' propensities for multiple endings.

This obviously has to be handled carefully. It can't be a cheap death (we gamers hate those already). And it can't be contrived ("I must die, otherwise I don't finish the game"). It's got to be so organic and sensible and seem like the only option (or at least one of the sensible options) that the player wants to sacrifice her- or himself (no easy thing in a purported non-linear medium). And it's also dicey because Brubaker's "nothing is sacred" is different than "nothing is important" (he's very much treating the death of Captain America as wicked important in that book).

Think about it. What if the story and the stakes for games were so elevated that I as a gamer felt like what I do matters so much, I'm willing to sacrifice myself for the good of the game universe, which -- for a moment at least -- I forget is a game universe.

That's when I think interactivity will meet high art. I'm still looking for that.

Let me know what you think.

Labels: game design, ramblings