Emotions from playing videogames [Spoilers]

[McDincht]

Researching for my dissertation I am focusing on the videogame industry as a basis and although I have explored various routes that I could specify on the topic of videogame and human emotions whilst playing them has come up.

I want to look at how the industry has had to develop games by developing characters and storylines so that games are much more 'hollywood' based with epic storylines and character development among other things such as music.

Playing videogames effects us all in different ways and we all play videogames for different reasons but I wanted us to share our most memorable experiences from playing videogames and how it has affected you emotionally, what games have made you angry or frustrated , and which have made you cry or feel sad :'( or maybe one that made you really happy.   ... and specifically why they have done this to you.

Although this would be very helpful for my research I also think it could be a good topic to discuss and maybe for us to nostalgia all over our classic/favourite games.

Please if you will put any spoilers within spoiler tags, however also be prepared for some people that might not have done that, so there will probably be visable spoilers in this thread.

[undetz]

When Aeris died.

For me, no other scene from a videogame has evoked anywhere nearly as strong emotions.


I have tortured the knight of the realm and thrown him to the horned reaper when he turned to my side. I have beaten my minions to death just because I could. I have covered formerly peaceful lands with darkness.
I have knowingly and wilingly let a village starve, killed peasants, taken their daughters as slaves. I have mercilessly killed my opponents to further my own goals, I dumped my goody-two-shoes girlfriend for her sexier sister.
I have dropped nuclear bombs on cities, killing millions in one strike and obliterating the enemy's defenses in order to allow my troops to march in (I also cleaned up the pollution, climate change is BAD for the economy, it lowers food production). I have laid siege to my opponents while we were technically at peace by moving in diplomats first and then parking military units on the same spot, literally starving their cities to death.
I have battled my way through a research facility that was besieged by both aliens and the military, I have averted the end of humanity just to be kidnapped by a man in black with a suitcase.
I have had amnesia and fought for survival in a nuclear wasteland where the laws of nature no longer apply as they should, navigating the occasionally deadly politics and often deadly geography of a place I knew nothing about.
I have left my home and my friends to search for my father in a brave new world, I have saved a settlement from obliteration, eaten the corpses of those who had previously tried to kill me in order to survive, I have pondered the question of what measure a human is.
I have exposed and thwarted the plans of an evil organization bent on world domination with nothing but my wits, my camera, and a pirate broadcasting station. (The last game segment doesn't count!) I have seen the person who took care of me since I was born die in my arms and come back to life.


But only one game has ever truly moved me.

Other games may have been amusing, challenging, impressive, or even thought-provoking. But as for emotions, so far there's only one.

[Louise]

I'm going to reference from Tales of Symphonia for the first one. For many reasons, not really gameplay but the story it was built around. The entire time it was "what if" and a strong feeling of not knowing what could happen. I always found myself thinking "What is going to happen next?!" whenever Colette's Illness got worse. In sad cutscenes I did feel myself tearing up at times to be honest. I'de cheer when something good happened, Basically my emotions during gameplay got tied to the emotion of that cutscene, or situation...such as trying harder in an area because I "Had" to get Colette something important for her to get better. The more I played, the more connected I felt to the story, the gameplay & details polished the experience off nicely & It was actually the first game I never got bored with and played through entirely.

Secondly, Jeanne D'arc. I'm a history junky at times, and I got curious with this game even with the extremely mixed reviews. I have to say...It is one of the best PSP games i've played. Like Tales, the story dragged me in & the longer I played the more connected I felt. It was quite emotional, Like the scene were Jeanne's friend was burned at the stake & Jeanne went missing. I cried quite alot actually. After that scene the story seem'd hopeless and slow, I was quite sad that it happened. but then Jeanne returned & Everything felt extremely better at once.

Thirdly, Vindictus. The opening cutscene got me in the correct mood for the storyline, infact gave me spine chills. It combined the opening with a quick tutorial that made it interactive & made me feel involved in what was happening.

Dont know if anything I said will be any help, just felt like ranting...

[Arveene]

I'm just going to say this now. There will be game spoilers in this thread.

[McDincht]

I'm just going to say this now. There will be game spoilers in this thread.

Ooops, yeah.

Thanks for changing the title, I'll edit the original post.

[METALINGUS]

hmm At the end of Halo 3
when Lord Hood is giving the speech about people who died in the war
on the memorial thing there is 117 etched in it
idk but that stirred me up
Silent Hill puts fear in me

[Sosseres]

FFX, the scene at the lake where the two characters swim in the water. It is just so well timed to the music, I got chills watching that scene. Then I went and watched it on youtube afterwards...

Then there are tons of visual novels, especially the Kana VN made me cry.

[shabutie]

Katamari Damacy, Unreal, and Serious Sam all put me in a good mood/make me happy when I'm feeling down.

Devil May Cry always made me fell like a total badass 

Never really cried or got overly emotional during a video game or anything... 


I've mainly played video games as a form of bonding with my friends and family.  Some of my most treasured memories are of me and my friends setting up 3 xboxs in the same room just to play Morrowind (For those who don't know, Morrowind is a single player RPG),  my brothers and I playing Rock Band over Easter (which always reminds me, no matter what my parents do, where we are, or who we become... we'll always be there for each other), and sitting online with my friends I've known for as long as I know,  we may no longer see each other every day due to college, work or w/e, but we always keep in touch due to gaming.



I must admit though...  Trophies and Achievements really break games for me now...  Nothing is worse than watching a beautiful turn-point cutscreen only to hear BLOOP BLOOP! and see "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!:".   Breaks so much immersion...

[McDincht]

I must admit though...  Trophies and Achievements really break games for me now...  Nothing is worse than watching a beautiful turn-point cutscreen only to hear BLOOP BLOOP! and see "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!:".   Breaks so much immersion...

This is a very good point, although it is part of the competitiveness aspect of games by wanting to get recognition of your achievements to your peers there's nothing worse than it, this is most definately a point that I will look at in more depth.

[kurandoinu]

When Alice dies again in Shadow Hearts 2. It made me cry so much and no game before or since has managed that.

It was just heart wrenching to see someone go through so much to try and bring his love back from the dead, only for it to look like it was working for long enough for her to tell him that she loves him. I think it probably affected me so much because Alice is so much a primary focus of the games. You see her and Yuri from the very start of their relationship, and you see it grow into something beautiful.

... I could probably better explain this to you in person. Get me to play more of Shadow Hearts again so I can show you my reaction IRL.

[BrownMasterV]

Eh, this has nothing to do with storyline, but
Team Fortress 2- RAGE. W+M1 Whores everywhere.

Ontopic:

Crysis - got me all pumped up near the end.

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Far Cry 2- Fuckin' pissed when all your friends betray you. Then happiness that you get to kill them all

[pipitugaboy]

Quite a few actually...
I do must say.. Regarding real life.. I have no apathy for anyone what so ever.
I don't feel remorse for people or what so ever.. I really lack apathy =P
Tho when it comes to games... It's the only thing that can actualy... "move"  me O.o
Now let's see if I can remember them...

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

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I had the good ending (I first thought it was the bad ending)
There is a lot of discussion about it wether he died or not but ok.
Knowing the character, his history, and as well who becomes his mother and that he goes back to his love. Together with the music. It was quite moving.. I nearly had to wash a way a tear XD
1 of the best endings I've seen.

Kingdom hearts 2

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Roxas his story is just plainly sad...
As well that he ends up being nothing but a part of Sora.
Quite moving to know that he had friends and then eventually.. They don't remember him.

Will post more when I remember >_>

[McDincht]

So I just rented and played through Heavy Rain, and although I didn't think much of it from a game point of view, it was nicely presented. Very movie-driven as regards to storyline and camera shots, they do well in building up relationships with characters and certain things throughout the game are used to evoke emotions with the player/viewer... I can see why so many parents would find this emotional.

At the beginning of the game your child becomes lost in a crowd of people in a very busy shopping center, your character shows visable panic as well as emotional, the music changes.. the camera begins to shake and you yourself feel the urge to find you child pushing past people.

[vuzedome]

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Far cry, shoot them Nigerians~!
Dante's Inferno, meh.......
Dragon Age Origins, I thought I get to do the golem as well. 
Need for speed series, I miss knocking cop cars to 20 feet in the air.
Half-Life and all, the only one that I actually payed attention to the story.

[McDincht]

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Far cry, shoot them Nigerians~!
Dante's Inferno, meh.......
Dragon Age Origins, I thought I get to do the golem as well. 
Need for speed series, I miss knocking cop cars to 20 feet in the air.
Half-Life and all, the only one that I actually payed attention to the story.

I found while playing through the Half life's that the character animations and expressions were (at the time) some of the most realistic, very believable dialogue helped develop character styles.

[AceD]

Only a few FF games, can't think of much else....probably because there story driven, not much emotion on MW2.

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Aeris Death...ofc, didn't expect a main character to be dieing so early in the game

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At the end when Zidane returns to the castle after the final battle....great scene  

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My fav game ever perhaps...when Tidus fades away at the end...had to hold back some manly tears then, also...when Jecht dies as well.

[Hiero]

Only a few FF games, can't think of much else....probably because there story driven, not much emotion on MW2.

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My fav game ever perhaps...when Tidus fades away at the end...had to hold back some manly tears then, also...when Jecht dies as well.

This right here *Kat William's voice*, I don't get why people hate on FFX..they're losing out.

[McDincht]

I think with something like that and for various other scenarios the game developers/story writers are not only developing storylines such as Tdius and Jecht but something that could relate to actual real life events. I'm guessing this would relate to people who themselves have had issues with their father, sharing some of the same emotions that Tidus has towards Jecht.

[McDincht]

I think with something like that and for various other scenarios the game developers are not only developing storylines such as Tidus and his father, Jecht ... but also something that could relate to actual real life events. I'm guessing this would relate to people who themselves have had issues with their father, sharing some of the same emotions that Tidus has towards Jecht and thus we can relate to Tidus and share the same emotions as him?? I'm speculating of course.

edit: Don't know how this post got in here, guess it was a glitch or something, I don't double post... let alone double post quoting myself

[wolkec]

When "Wander" runs to his girl. Everyone who played that game should know

Also, deus ex and deus ex 2 endings made me think...