EDGE Thinks Videogame Writing Is Affecting Television Plots
Rely on EDGE Magazine to throw out some interesting memes. Today I stumbled upon this thought – that some of the hot new television writing is actually becoming more like videogame writing. And not in a good way:
TV is yet another medium struggling to compete against interactive entertainment…. Even TV shows are becoming more like videogames, with a flat palette of two-dimensional characters moving progressively through random objectives, the odd big boss and perplexing, pointless plot twists. Heroes, Lost, Family Guy. Shit, shit, shit.
Family Guy Has Videogame Plots?
So those cocky Brits just compared your favorite TV show with human offal. But you have to admit that some of these modern ensemble television dramas aren’t TV shows in the classic mode.
Instead, they’re giant productions that will continue to throw out new characters, obstacles, and plot threads in a desperate and calculated effort to survive. It’s fully possible that, like the great red herring generator, Twin Peaks, there’s no overarching meta-narrative. I fear that they exist only to exist. When the concept wears thin and viewers turn elsewhere, these shows might just crumble and crash into the rocks without ever attempting to answer the questions that they raised in the first place.
Still, An Interesting Reversal
Sure, the videogame movie is a Hollywood staple as movie studios reveal again and again their timid business strategies. But it’s not every day that you see someone postulate that game writing is bleeding stylistically into other media, instead of vice versa. Some food for thought the next time you’re zoning out in front of the idiot box.
Even though critics acclaim such theories or thoughts about video games sequencing with television setups being alike, I fail to see the same feeling that a gamer recieves after watching a cinema or playing a movie event. Though I notice more television scenes are being more complex and labyrinth; the story still fails to captive the character’s perseptive and the focus of morality, which a Role Playing games consist of.
serrafina, I think you’re the rare gamer who’s more invested in interactive storylines than non-interactive ones. your average gamer enjoys both plot and gameplay equally, but has lower expectations for game writing than screenwriting. and a good thing, too, because game writing rarely eclipses even mediocre screenwriting.
I see, then next time I will be a bit more open minded about gameplaying, since I’ve been more interested in how the game will end. Though the movies attempt to focus on the auidiance’s attention to make them feel tension or feelings, I’ll focus on upon how and why did they perform their sequences or shots in certain angles after I watched it the first time. This way, I will not be too focused upon how it will end, just like a video game. Thankyou, this artcile will really help me improve. :] I’m looking forward to some more news or articles you will write.