What's the story morning glory?

I read a really interesting interview with Shigeru Miyamoto today on Wired

This interview raised some interesting points with me concerning the importance of story telling. One of my professors at college continually referred to games as "interactive stories". We sat through multiple lectures comparing modern games to Hollywood movies, and exploring techniques for character development and story driven plot. We discussed the methodology behind telling stories, and how to obtain emotional reactions from players, just like movies. He said, more than once, that he will feel video games have reached a high point when a game impacts him enough to make him cry, like so few movies have. While I think these are all viable, important, and interesting topics worth of discussion and thought. I don't feel that games are about telling stories, but about providing an experience.

Mayamoto mentions "I’ve always felt that the Mario games themselves aren’t particularly suited to having a very heavy story, whereas the Zelda series is something that lends itself more naturally to that idea." He goes on to say that he intends for Mario Galaxy 2 to have as little story as possible. Being the polar opposite of what I was instructed in college, this made me think.

Do games really need stories? Are games interactive stories? what's the purpose of a story? The more I thought on this, the more I realized that linking games with stories is restricting gaming in a major way. I apologize to my college professor for rebelling against his teachings, but games don't have to have stories to be great. Did Pac Man have a story? I remember going into the Arcade as a child and being awed by the hundreds of different things I could be. I could grab a gun and be a cop on the beat dispatching the bad guys ruthlessly. I could jump in the cockpit and be a fighter pilot, touching the heavens and claiming the sky as my own. Or a martial arts master, beating down anyone foolish enough to enter my arena. Each game gave me an avenue to make my own story. Sure, there were games that had minor story driven elements, but with each experience I would dream up my own little story to accompany my game play. The game provided the experience, not the story.

I feel like our games have come full circle. The old arcade machines were about fun, giving you a quarter's worth of a thrill. Hopefully thrilling you enough to put in another quarter. Then came the consoles that didn't need the thrill to force you to pump in another quarter. Justifying the price of a whole game by giving you not a short, cheap high. But a long adventure with tons to do, and a story to enjoy. With modern hardware and systems, I see more and more games turning their backs on the story and focusing again on the experience. The Nintendo wii has seen huge amounts of success with nothing more than simply getting a player more involved. Get up, move around, play with your friends, just enjoy yourselves. Who cares why you're playing tennis? Or bowling? You're playing cause its fun, and that's all you need! Based on the announcements from E3 this year, Microsoft and Sony are right behind Nintendo with this mindset.

This is one of the reasons games amaze me so. No matter what you are looking for, you can find it in the gaming world. Do you want to be told a story about a far off land and a beautiful princess? Or do you want to get together with your friends and pretend you can play guitar? Are you simply in the mood to steal some cars and shoot random hookers? Maybe you want to sit down and learn to cook? Whatever it is you want, you can find it in the gaming world. With each passing moment there are thousands of people working their asses off to make sure that you can get whatever experience you want at your finger tips.

I find myself really excited for the new age of gaming. With the huge success of the Wii, and the announcements at this years E3. We are seeing the comeback of the thrills, and a less story dominated market. We are re-learning that games can simply be about fun and don't need a story to be successful. Paired up with the use of games as social tools, as the MMO market has shown, and we are in store for some really amazing products as these lines blur and bleed into one another. Before we know it, we will stop 'playing' games, and start simply experiencing games. Not only will we experience games, but we will be able to do it in a highly social environment where we can make our own stories with our friends, or we can experience a story created for us. Either way, it should be a helluva lot of fun.