Evolution of "story" in Video Games

[Cez]

We've had 3 main decades of videogames and they are all very well defined in the approach of gameplay and story.

We've had the 80s -- heavily based on gameplay, less on story --Aside from all the arcade games that set the roots for what was to come, even the heavily story games, like Sierra adventure games were more about exploration and actual gameplay than story.
We've had the 90s, where everything turned into full story. Big cinematics, full motion video. Every adventure game and games like Final Fantasy were all about playing for a while, then watching an awesome cinematic, which was a formula that was successful for a while.
Enter the 2000. People started to pull back on cinematics. They became moments of non-interactivity that should not be in games. In a way, we went back to the 80s, where the story is told through the world you explore, but the cutscenes didn't go away completely, and story certainly is considered more important than it was in the 80s. Another trend that came back from the 80s was the fact that YOU are the protagonist, YOU are playing the game --uniqueness and customization of characters became a huge deal.

Now that we are entering a new decade, do you think the trend will stay the same, will it evolve and how, what do you think the 2010 decade will be like for videogames in terms of balance between gameplay/story, and how will the player take a role here?

[Blackthorne]

Anything that applies to the lowest common denominator.  That is what makes money.


Bt

[wilco64256]

Based on the success of games like LittleBigPlanet, Minecraft, Terraria, etc. it seems to me that gamers are really picking up on games that give them more and more control over the actual gameplay itself.  Granted, those aren't the only games that are doing well these days, but they've all outdone what they ever initially expected to accomplish.

[darthkiwi]

I for one hope that the trend of telling story via gameplay will continue. The idea of never taking control from the player and showing events through their eyes, pioneered by Half Life and picked up later by BioShock and even CoD4 is a powerful tool for game storytelling.

I think we need to bear in mind, though, that there is no "right" way to tell stories in games. A video game can be anything you want it to be. If a specific title would benefit from a cinematic rather than an interactive sequence then I say use the cinematic. I'm particularly interested in Bastion's narration, which describes what the avatar is actually doing as he does it; it's an obvious but seldom implemented idea and, from playing the demo, it seems to be pretty effective.

My hope, ultimately, is that many of our preconceptions about what a game can and can't do will be smashed to bits by intriguing (probably indie) titles. I don't really care if a particular game tells its story through gameplay, the world or a script; I just want lots of games which experiment with all these and others too. Computers can simulate almost anything, so why not tell countless stories in countless ways?

[Big C from Cauney island]

I'm very suprised that first person shooters have remained popular for so long.  And in the last few years, they really haven't changed that much.  I agree with cez about the evolution of games. The 80s was all about arcade style gaming.  Do arcades exist anymore? I haven't seen one in a while, but they were big. People were experimenting with ideas. However, it's not to say that 80s games weren't storytelling games at all. It's just in the 90s it became more focused on.  I liked the stories for Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus, etc.. Final Fantasy is still going on too. It's just the stories seemed more of a backdrop for the action depending on the game. But cool concepts none the less.

2000s seemed more action driven like the 80s.  Personally, I think the focus of the 2010s will probably be trying to make more simulation based virtual reality type experiences, as we are seeing with microsoft kinect and nintendo's new console. After that has taken its coruse in terms of realism, then everything will be combined in terms of adventure and so forth. I can't say how long that will be.

[MusicallyInspired]

I have no idea what will happen but I hope it changes for the better rather than staying as stagnant as it is. At least in AAA games. I'm finding more and more that indie games are where it's at nowadays. I've lost almost all hope in the big game publishers. I've also discovered that I dislike games with more story than gameplay. Thanks, Telltale.