And by Accounts, Witcher Story Experiences Are Meant to Differ
This comes from Witcher Story Director Marcin Blancha. At least, it’s not a work of art in the sense of film and ‘actual’ art. But before we get swept up in technicalities, better to clarify his meaning. As far as the video game medium is concerned, devs like CD Projekt RED make content to be unraveled by the gamer the way the gamer chooses. Players are The Witcher story director, and this likely entails CDPR’s philosophy going forward. Perhaps to greatly affect current and future generation gaming.
Observe his exact words from his interview with Wccftech:
I’ve participated in such discussions many times, although I was never particularly convinced because, to tell you the truth, I don’t know. I know that games are an important part of culture – this is undoubtable. But whether they can be art or part of it? I guess so, but not en masse, meaning not every game is a work of art… And there are cases where a game is a work of art or nearly a work of art. With a game like The Witcher, I don’t think so, but there are artists who express themselves by creating games. It’s a similar form of expression to painting a picture or writing poetry.
As a result, well, we have games like The Witcher 3. You may remember The Witcher 3 made 2015’s Game of the Year, winning in multiple outlets with plenty of praise for CDPR and their direction. Furthermore Blood and Wine, The Witcher 3‘s expansion released earlier this year, continues winning awards even as an extension of the main game. You can find our own coverage by clicking here.
If Marcina’s ideas bring exemplifications of gaming like Witcher 3, then maybe thinking of gamers as “director” brings about the methodology to creating the best gaming experiences. He then went on to elaborate:
Film or visual arts are different from games in that they are directed from the very beginning to the very end. There certainly are such forms of art – especially modern art – which assume a degree of interaction, that play with the audience. But one can assume that traditional art is much less interactive than games. In the case of games, artists are scriptwriters, but it is the gamer who is the ultimate director, because it’s the gamer who decides about what will ultimately happen in the game, and in what form events will happen. This is a controversial issue, I don’t feel competent enough to discuss it, but I can see a certain clear difference between Bergman’s films – say Wild Strawberries – and a game. Firstly, a game is usually not designed with the intention of becoming a work of art. Secondly, we have a gamer who makes the ultimate decisions on how the game will follow.
So what does the gamer think? Are we better off when story content lets us mold it to our liking? Can reputable story developers like Bioware and CD Projekt Red be the champions to this idea? Comment your thoughts down below and let us know.