Creating Compassion in Video Games (How to take games like Skyrim from art to Art)

by Lindsay Comeau

In pursuit of creating games that are open and as close to reality as we can get visually we have forgotten to make games fell 'human'. It breaks the veil of illusion when NPCs (non-playable characters) lack human qualities like emotion or reaction to extreme events. It makes the whole experience of the game unbelievable as a tangible (virtually of course) universe. This also brings up the argument of games as Art, which needs to be better defined first before we can make that arguement.
Back in 2011 Dennis C. Scimeca wrote an article called "Skyrim is Soulless" for the Escapist. Scimeca talks about an interaction he had with a NPC that lacked human feeling. He describes that after killing everyone in a particular fort the only character left was an old woman named Angis. Angis worked at the fort as a cook and housekeeper for whoever occupied the fort at the time. Given that Scimeca just slaughtered her captures/employers he assumed that she would have a natural human reaction such as fear or shock, instead she says this: "I just cook and clean and do whatever they ask of me,". She gives a few more variations of dialogue but nothing that could be seen as a logical reaction to her surroundings. She even sweeps around the dead bodies that lay naked on the floor (Scimeca of courses looted them of anything valuable) and never reacts to them.
This causes a problem for gamers and developers because a video game is suppose to be immersive and this sort of situation is like breaking through the 4th wall strapped to the front of rocket. Here you are, believably existing in this world of dragons, dungeons and magic. You trust that your every move dictates the world around you and BAM! you realize your nothing but a regular guy (or girl) playing a virtual avatar in a virtual world. Unfortunately this is what happens in Skyrim. I have experienced this, and so did Robert Rath as he explained in "Desperate Housewives of Skyrim" in the Escapist back in November 2012.
A few months ago Bethesda came out with a DLC called Hearthfire. In this DLC you can build your own house, get married and adopt children. Building a house is pretty straight foreword but getting married and adopting children are pretty serious life decisions and are usually very emotional. According to Rath, this isn't the case in Skyrim. Having a spouse or children in this fantasy world involves nothing more then empty rhetorical dialogue. You cannot physical connect with your spouse (or children) other then attacking them. You can't hug them, kiss them, or (in the case of your spouse) take them to bed with you. Rath even explains that many players have admitted to murdering they significant others, and he doesn't blame them. The dialogue that is available is mind-numbingly repetitive. Its no wonder why people are driven to murder.
For a game to be successful we need to care about the characters that populate it's virtual world. This concept is where games merge with Art. I capitalize Art because art (the consumer product we buy at Walmart and hang on our walls) and Art (the creative constructions that make people THINK as well as LOOK) are different things. If a game can make you feel a particular emotion then I would consider it a work of Art. In my experience (former Art student) that method of influencing a persons emotional response is what Art is all about. A game can be visually stunning, like Skyrim, and that would make it art worthy. To make it Art worthy would be to make us feel emotionally attached to the world we are exploring.
To wrap things up, Bethesda missed the boat on making a wholly believable experience in Skyrim (though still enjoyable). In order for games to advance from art to Art we need to bring back that 'human' connection being over looked in modern, open world games.


http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/criticalintel/10056-Desperate-Housewives-of-Skyrim
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/firstperson/9265-Skyrim-is-Soulless