Letter 1

From: Yoav [email address deleted]
To: Audrey Wells
Subject: Why Games Don't Make Us Cry?
Date: Sat, 03 Jun 2000 02:08:56 +0200

Hi,

My name is Yoav, I'm a 22 year old male, and gasp an Adventure game lover (yes, apparently a few of us are left, though I do sin with an occasional 3D-shooter). I read your article about "Why Games Don't Make Us Cry" and would like to comment a bit.

First I'd like to state that I am not the crying type. It's very hard to squeeze a tear out of me. I rarely read books (though I have a few I'd like to read one day) and in the movies I usually find it very amusing when the "tear effect" starts. However games are different and depend on how much you can relate with the character you are playing.

A good example would be King's Quest 4, which is rumored to have made quite a few people cry the time it was released (I'm not making this up, Sierra themselves actually wrote it in the KQ collection manual and used the slogan "Can A Computer Game Make You Cry?" in their advertisements). For me KQ4 was just another adventure, I actually didn't like Rosella much either.

A game which touched me directly was actually an RPG/Fantasy game. It's called Final Fantasy 7. The graphics may be odd, there may be no speech in it whatsoever, but it was one of the few games I fell in love with the characters. And one particular scene in the ending of the first CD got to me. No tears were shed, but it made me really sad. On the other hand, Final Fantasy 8 has amazing graphics (still no speech though) but I think the characters are extremely annoying.

Another game that was very emotionally impressive is Dreamweb, it is perhaps one of the most violent adventure games out there (point and click doom if you will), so much killing takes place you either end up loving it or hating it. I put myself in the "loving" category, not because of the violence but because of the attention to details (aka red herrings). The game was filled with useless objects, mugs, rocks, papers ... etc. ... Many people hated it even more because of that. It drew me in because it felt like the characters were real. For example, all kinds of different mugs had different stories behind them, you don't get that much attention to detail these days. I ended up feeling sorry for the main character I was playing. I really did pity him. Now that I call an achievement!

Well, if you made it here you must be really bored ;) hope this isn't taking up too much of your time.

Personally I think games (especially adventure games) can make you cry, the creators just never gave it their best shot. Think of an adventure game with a male and female playing the hero parts (a-la Gabriel Knight), now if you could relate with one completely and suddenly have to deal with their death (in one of those melodramatic sequences), I think it would have more impact on me than a 2 hour movie. After spending hours with both characters being left with just one leaves you with an empty feeling. Wouldn't you shed a tear then?

All the best.

Yoav

Audrey's Response:

Yoav,

Thanks for your response! I think it's pretty obvious that we have different views about emotions. I like to be drawn into the emotion of books, movies, and games. Perhaps you consciously (or unconsciously) restrain yourself from this, since you're not the crying type. I wrote the article from my own experiences with books, games, and movies and I've noticed that games rarely evoke emotion in me compared to books or movies. We both agree on the point that you will feel emotional when you feel a bond with characters (as you did with FF7). I have gotten emotional with certain games but nothing has actually made me shed tears (though I've come close). But to give examples from the other industries, The Green Mile (movie) made me nearly choke on tears and Jane Eyre (book) also affected me this way. I think GK3 is the closest I've ever come to crying for a game. As I said in the article, I think graphical limitations, etc. play a part in this withholding of emotion.

You said, "Think of an adventure game with a male and female playing the hero parts (a-la Gabriel Knight), now if you could relate with one completely and suddenly have to deal with their death (in one of those melodramatic sequences), I think it would have more impact on me than a 2 hour movie." I think that the fact that it is a game--presumably the death isn't permanent or written into the script since it is the main character--the death of your character is seen as an annoyance rather than a melodramatic sequence. You'd have to reload and retry. There isn't much emotion involved there unless there was a really involved cinematic sequence! It's just my opinion that movies and books do a better job of invoking emotion because they're not controlled by the player, if that makes sense. If there were two main characters, and one dies, that would be pretty affecting, however, as you mentioned. :)

Thanks for your input and opinions!

Letter 2

From: Heidi Schempp Fournier [email address deleted]
To: Audrey Wells
Subject: Why games don't make us cry
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2000 00:41:57 -0600

Hi Audrey,

I really liked your article. In fact as I was reading it I was thinking of Amber, which is probably the game I have closest come to crying over. It made me think though, as I had just finished crying over Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, how you are so right!! I love to kick back with a really sad movie and cry my eyes out! Maybe we are the neglected majority (us criers that is) or maybe the gaming world hasn't caught up with us women yet. None the less, I really liked your article.

Heidi Fournier

Audrey's response:

Hi Heidi!

Thanks for your enthusiastic response to my article. I think that watching a tear-jerker movie tends to give us a release of emotion that we've built up from our everyday lives. Perhaps that's why they make me feel so much better (after I get over the initial sadness of it all!) ;)

Letter 3

From: "Chris Ushko" [email address deleted]
To: wellsae@hotmail.com
Subject: Emotional Adventures
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000 08:39:58 MDT

Hi there,

I just read your article concerning the emotional effects that adventure games fail to induce. You've made some very strong points in that article but being an over-emotional person myself, I have located a few games that have also brought me to the brink of tears. Here is some that I can recommend you try out if you get the chance.

FINAL FANTASY VIII (8)

You've probably heard of it somewhere. It may be an RPG, but it has many adventure elements in it. The reason I'm recommending this one is because, despite the fact that is a lot of frustrating step-by-step fight sequences, it can deliver a strong emotional blow by the time you reach the end. I swear. I showed the ending to my mom, she didn't know what was going on, but her eyes were watering. The entire twenty-minute end sequence is done without dialogue, just a song and some powerful visuals. As for the game itself, it has a lot of heartfelt moments. The first disk of the CD is primarily based on conflict and competitiveness, but as the game progresses, it becomes more serious and a lot of character changes take place. If you want a good emotional game, this is the best I can recommend. If you don't mind at least 30-40 hours of difficult gameplay, as least it's a game that is worth it.

KING'S QUEST IV (4)

Although I'm not fully recommending this one, and there's the possibility you may have played it, from what I understand when this was released in 198-something and presented to a group of businessmen, there was a lot of tear-flowing going on as they just watched the introduction alone. I don't blame them. The music and story plot go together nicely for a terrific emotional effect. This is an older game, but not fully recommended.

Anyways, that's all I have to say for today.

Bye!

Letter 4

From: Droluk [email address deleted]
To: wellsae@hotmail.com
Subject: tears
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 23:40:07 EDT

Dear Ms. Wells,

I am a 49-year-old male. Last night I finished Septerra Core and cried. I would like to comment on your article. I think rpg's can be more 'emotional' because the character development lends itself to a stronger sense of identification. Also most adventure games rely on puzzles to advance to plot. Solving them is a cerebral, not emotional, activity. Combat, on the other hand, is more emotional in and of itself(fear and excitement) and give rise to a sense of heroism and empowerment. In other words, to come to an ending after defeating a powerful bad guy is more emotional than by figurung out the combination of a lock. We are then more prepared or primed to cry.

Sincerely, Bruce Newman

Audrey's Response:

Bruce,

Though I have little actual experience with RPGs, I would probably agree with you, should I get the chance to play more. I've heard a great deal about RPGs like the Final Fantasy series and how utterly moving they are.

I agree completely with you about the standard lock-combos found in many adventures. I mentioned in the article how I prefer third-person adventures over first-person "Myst" games. As I explained, first-person games are generally less emotional because of that lack of character interaction. Instead these types of games will commonly resort to mechanical (etc.) puzzles like lock combinations you mentioned.

I do have to disagree a bit about the combat. Though it is an emotional thing in theory, when a game is based on combat (like most RPGs) the fighting just gets tedious and monotonous after time. The only purpose of it is to gain skill and items. I can see your point about fighting a major end battle, but I personally would not (I think) be affected emotionally by it. I usually succumb to sad things when emotion is involved.

Thanks for your input and time!

Audrey

Letter 5

From: "Degn, Jay" [email address deleted]
To: wellsae@hotmail.com
Cc: randy@justadventure.com
Subject: re: Why Games Don't Make Us Cry
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 07:43:31 -0700

Audrey,

I agree with your article, many games have involved emotions from within me, some as in Zork Nemesis, deep emotions. But none until now have actually made a tear stream down my face. This weekend, I finished The Longest Journey. During the final scene with the old woman, it was all I could do to hold back tears from streaming down my face. As I turned to see what that noise was my wife was making, I noticed she was scrambling for the box of tissues, as she was in a downright sob-fest.

Part of the emotion was the touching ending to the greatest adventure I have ever played (and I have played most of them all). The other part was that this wonderful game was over. I bought it one month ago and played almost every night for about an hour. I am proud to say that I only used the UHS (hints) once and found that I had just overlooked one tiny detail, my fault.

If other people and readers see this message, I have one for them in return: BUY THIS GAME. Do it now, don't wait. You can order it online from England at http://www.softwarefirst.com or from CDAccess.com.

I'm at a loss as what to do now, DreamCatcher has several new games this month, I can only hope that I will find one that is one-tenth the game The Longest Journey is.

Jay Degn