Big Daddy Stories
A recent trend in storytelling within games is to have a “daughter” character. This isn’t just any games, but the three biggest stories within the last year and a half. As has been mentioned earlier, storytelling has a major part of gaming, and how it works. Games have begun to change as the player gets older, which means side characters take on different roles. The problem comes when it is applied, but still trying to fit the images, and thoughts of previous stories.
Before we go in, it is probably best to talk about the games themselves. Bioshock Infinite, and Last Of Us pretty much have the same overarch in their story. A man suddenly needs to team up with a young girl who is special. He has to protect her and keep her safe, as she randomly throws ammo at you. In the end, you go onto a madcap spree to protect her no matter what.
The Walking Dead Game is not as well known to me, but it follows a decision tree. You end up trying to take care of the little girl no matter what, and deal with the undead and other characters decisions. Whatever you decide effects the little girl, and her safety.
These games came out within a year and a half, and deal with many of the same problems, thoughts and ideas. Last Of Us has won numerous awards. Bioshock Infinite is no slouch in the top game awards either. Walking Dead was one of the top games of 2012. In other words, these stories are resonating, and touching critics and players alike.
As was discussed in an earlier post, there are three basic overtypes of gaming. We can discuss which is more important, story, gameplay, or the simulation, but the right game mixes them perfectly. Mario Brothers emphasizes gameplay, but has a story that is told as you learn to play the game. Sim City is a simulation, but a toy none the less. Telling a story within a game can bring people to see what is going on and why. There have been numerous games that have emphasized story and been successful.
So why are we getting so many stories about Father/Daughter relationships? The answer appears to be that game makers, and gamers themselves are getting older. Before hand, it was ok to have a secondary player be a partner, or in need of protection. Half Life 2 had Alyx Vance, who would tag along with you to fight the Combine. Resident Evil 4 had a young girl that was viewed in a partner, or little sister fashion. In both cases there was never a feeling that this was a daughter of some type. In fact, Half Life 2 had children specifically taken out of the game.
Half Life 2 Episode Two came out in 2007, and Resident Evil 4 came out much earlier. Both were also considered top of their game, and received numerous awards. There were other games, notably Silent Hill that dealt with father daughter relationships as well, however they were not as direct as Bioshock, or Last Of Us.
Even the original Bioshock had some Daddy Daughter conversations between the little girls, and the creatures known as Big Daddy. The good ending of the game has the hero rescuing the little girls, and escaping the evil within the underwater city.
Some of these stories have had the same game designers. It appears that the reason why the game stories began implementing children, is because the majority of game players began having children. Most gamers are Generation Y or Millenial. Games are designed with the player’s age in mind. The previous generations had mostly teenagers, or college students. As the generation gets older, it is expected that they would have kids. This emotional connection to protect offspring is very strong. If Generation Y began at 1983, and ended around 2000. Although some in this generation are teenaged, the majority will be starting families of their own.
It works the same with game creators, the majority of artists, designers, and programmers are in the same Millenial generation. They are also starting families, and working 9-5 jobs. For them, the story of a man protecting a little girl as if she were his daughter would ring very true. The reason for the male to female situation is likely from the fact that the majority of game players, and game makers are also male. A little girl is seen as needing to be protected more than a little boy. Also, the attempts to make motherly instincts a part of a story have fallen flat. It should be expected for many games to begin telling stories that involve a parent more and more often, instead of a single lone wolf type character.
The final question is about any of this really working. There are some major problems, and the first of which is that they are placing the lone survivor character with a child. Trying to make the daughter useful, and not in the way becomes difficult, especially since the gameplay is designed for enemies to attack the male entirely. A complaint about Last Of Us is that Ellie can talk and yell all she wants, but the enemies don’t hear her. The father daughter relationship feels a little flat when you realize the connection needed would require longer than just a few hours of time.
I won’t go into details, but I have actually been in that position, and the Last Of Us, and Bioshock Infinite fall flat. The desire to protect the girl does not come off as real and touching in the ways the game makers desired. The reality is that they are trying to have their space marine, and give him a daughter. It doesn’t work that way, kindness, and love do not equal screaming hardened criminal. The softening of the character is more than just kindness, it makes you kinder to everyone else in the world. Yes, the tense situations of having to worry about her life do happen, and there are times where screaming at someone because your little girl is hurt is a very real thing. The difference is that you stop wanting the big violent response, you can get angry, and even throw punches, but they aren’t you anymore.
Everyone knows the stereotype of the angry dad with the shotgun. What no one tells you is that its a great excuse to get a gun. If you really trust your daughter, you want her to experience life. This includes idiot boyfriends who think that they can talk behind your back. What they don’t know is that Big Daddy is what that sweet wonderful girl views as a good man.
I haven’t played Walking Dead very much, so there may be more of a reality to it. Based on Bioshock and Last of US though, gaming doesn’t appear to have changed enough. We should expect that more and more games will have main characters that are parents. The big game storylines will likely be about protecting children as a father figure. This is expected because a parental love can make a human do amazing things -like give birth. More and more gamers are becoming parents themselves, and game makers will try to hone in on those emotions. Although the games released recently have won many awards, they sort of fall flat in the connections trying to be made. To many games are trying to have a Space Marine/Daughter story instead of a Father/Daughter relationship. Instead of complain about it, lets look forward to the changes that this will mean for gaming, and the stories we tell.
