Games and Storytelling

Hello friends, I’m here checking with another monthly update. You know how February is the shortest month? Well that’s my excuse for why I’m still not quite finished with my current mystery manuscript like I hoped I’d be. However, I now have absolutely no doubts that I’ll be wrapping my current project in March for sure (barring tragedies and acts of god). For those of you who are joining for the first time, this mystery manuscript is the last project I’m completing before returning to work on what I intend to by my first published novel, Codetta. It has been a great learning experience, and I have to say, this is the first time I’ve felt comfortable with the quality of a piece of my writing in its initial draft.

So, I’d like to take this time to introduce another broad topic that I’d like to be posting about in the future, similarly to how I touched on the writing process in my previous post. What I’d like to talk about now is a topic that’s hopefully never too far from my personal brand (if I ever get one of those), which is gaming.

Hardly a narrow topic, what I’d like to convey here is how much gaming has influenced me as a creative person and also the role gaming has with storytelling in the modern world.

The first thing I need to parse out, is that when I say gaming, I’m generally referring to my two favorite types: video games and tabletop roleplaying games. If you hadn’t realized already, I’m an irredeemable nerd.

I’ve actually written quite a bit on the topic of gaming over the years. Long, long ago, I used to have a blog dedicated to video games specifically, and a couple years back I even tried my hand at designing my own browser games (proceed with caution, they really suck).

Since fiction writing has become my main thing these days, I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to put creative energy into writing about or designing games in awhile. However, the medium of tabletop games has been a consistent creative outlet ever since I first discovered it about nine years back.

I really don’t feel like I need to explain what RPGs are, they’re pretty mainstream these days. It seems like everyone wants to see what D&D is about, and I think that’s awesome! Personally, I can thank the hobby (it’s really more of a medium, but I’ll get into that in a minute) for my day job, my significant other and the courage I’ve gained to actually begin writing books, not to mention all the miscellaneous skills such as scheduling, organizing and public speaking that come with it.

While I didn’t get into tabletop RPGs until my twenties, if truth be told, video games were actually one of the first mediums I was ever exposed to. Television, movies and yes, even the written word were all secondary to my love for pixel art and chip tunes from an early age. I believe that my exposure to video games actually encouraged my creativity (at least just as much as it helped diminish my ability to concentrate on something for more than five minutes) more than anything else. Something about those vague, rudimentary character sprites of previous generations really cause the player to fill in the gaps with their own imagination, and to this day, the types of video games I enjoy typically allow for the player to construct a story of their own making while playing.

Take for example the indie darling Darkest Dungeon, which initially came out a few years ago. I actually recently re-purchased this game. It’s really quite a narrative experience, even though there isn’t an incredible amount of actual plot written into the game, but rather the mechanics cause the player to create their own story as they struggle to keep their heros alive in the face of eldritch horror and insanity. I really recommend checking it out if your into dungeon crawlers and Lovecraftian themes.

So what’s my point?

Nothing, I just want to talk about games!

No, but really, there’s more to it than that, and I’m going to risk sounding corny as hell, but as storytellers of the modern world, it is in our best interest to keep in mind how much the modern audience (especially young folks, who will soon dominate the market) expect varying degrees interactivity to go along with their enjoyment of narrative. While I have some issues with the modern gaming industry, I do have much love for indie games and have enjoyed seeing different narratively-focused genres blossom over the years.

To take this one step further, I also believe that tabletop roleplaying games, such as Dungeons and Dragons, are really just a modernization of the ancient human traditions of verbal storytelling. Yes that’s really nerdy and a bit pretentious to say, but I truly believe it. If you’ve never had the pleasure of enjoying an ongoing RPG campaign with your friends, then I think you’re missing out, especially if you are a lover of stories like me.

At the end of the day, games (tabletop, digital, or otherwise) are a medium we can use to teach, learn, and gain empathy, just like the myths and verbal traditions of old. On a personal note, I wouldn’t be the writer nor individual that I am without games. After all, many of my novels and short stories wouldn’t be what they are without the influence of the types of narrative and aesthetic design found in games… I’m not afraid to say how much games like Silent Hill and Final Fantasy helped shape so much of what I’ve written, and will always continue to be an inspiration just as much as my favorite books and movies.

So yeah, next time someone tries to insinuate that gaming is a waste of time, just shrug and tell them they have a fundamental lack of understanding of the human condition.

That said, next time I post, I should be done with my current novel and Codetta will once again be my main quest.

Wish me luck until then, and thanks as always for reading!