story n. - An account or recital of an event or a series of events, either true or fictitious game n. - An activity providing entertainment or amusement Mankind has been sharing stories and playing games since the beginning of time. Stories have evolved from simple accounts of hunts to deep, complex, epics such as The Lord of the Rings . Games have also evolved from small games played with sticks and stones to complex, strategic games, like Chess. Each are refined arts that can take a lifetime to master, if ever. Since a story is essentially an account of an event, all stories must have a protagonist. It could be a human, an object, or an idea. The story revolves around the protagonist and his trials an d tribulations. There is also a structure that every story must follow. Games, on the other hand, are about you, the player, overcoming some obstical. Whether it be a puzzle, a strategic game, or a sport, you must overcome an obstical in order to ''win'' the game. You usually play with at least two players, both trying to outdo each other in order to ''win'' the game. Up until recently, stories and games were different ordeals. If you wanted a story, you could read a book or listen to someone tell a story. If you wanted to play a game, you could play Chess or play Bridge. The idea of combining games and stories was hideous. Not even your imagination could achieve such a hybrid because it does not adhere to defined laws required for a game. But then, in 1974, Dungeons and Dragons, a role-playing game (RPG), was created. Dungeons and Dragons was an innovative game that captured the gameplay of earlier war games with a set of defined rules, and the player took the role of a protagonist. The player would then create his own story, as long as it adhered to the rules. The player would try to further develop his character, by fighting or by other means. This was a huge success, and a whole generation of kids grew up playing it. With the advent of the computer, they saw that they could use the computer to regulate the rules in the game so that they wouldn''t need a person to control the game. This is how the Computer Role-Playing Game (CRPG) was created. Over the past few years, games have ''evolved''. Better types of gameplay have been bred with other good types of gameplay, and certain gameplay concepts have become extinct due to natural selection. So now we have a lot of different genres out there, and just as many genre-breakers. There is a spectrum for games, with story being on one end and gameplay being on another. There is a constant battle between the two camps. The story camp would like to play a game where they can get involved with their characters and make or play through a story. The gameplay camp thinks that games are meant for the gameplay, and that a game with a story is "like a porno with a story". There have been some genre breakers, which turn out to be successful, but it is very difficult to make such a hybrid. If you make a hybrid, you have to make sure that the player gets good gameplay, but they also have a good story. You have to make sure that the player doesn''t feel constrained in your world, but you have to put some limits on the player so that they can see the story unfold correctly. Do you think it''s possible to make well-balanced hybrids?

To answer your question: yes. Half-life is one of those typical examples. The story is extremely simple: aliens invade earth after failed experiement. The gameplay is just as simple: shoot everything you see and push all buttons (more or less). Neither the story or the gameplay would have set it apart unless it was a good mix of the two.

quote: Do you think it''s possible to make well-balanced hybrids?

Yes, it is and has been done, as in the example usser cited. I also personally think it is critical to the future of the industry because it is through that hybrid, which has familiar elements of story and not so familiar elements of gameplay (to a larger segment of society) where the fabled mass market games will come from. It is possible to cite Sims as an example of a mass marketed computer entertainment product, but it is not a game. Look at what Will Wright named it. He knew what he was designing.

This kind of design is all I focus on.

Stories I think don''t have to have a protagonist, there can be an antihero or antagonistic story as well. Don''t know how popular an antagonistic story would be, but films have been made of the subject.

I am not so certain there is a battle between the two camps or if people are just comfortable with their strengths and market objectives. Both kinds of games are financially successful, and both kinds of games have their own kind of artistic rewards for the designers. Perhaps it is instead just the contempt of two artistically successful opposite ends of the field in view of each others approaches and style and technique, much like different types of metal music have contempt for each other though both are still metal music. What matters is the end user anyway, and artistic opinion will always be artistic opinion, and everybody has one of those.

I come from the storyteller camp, decidedly. I will always be in that camp, and I think the industry is going that way and I am betting my career on it, so I''m going to have that kind of opinion, going to have that kind of perspective. This is a new field, in many ways still, and a lot of us are still in the ''who cares?'' camp because we are still just in the place of digging what we do and believe it will work in the marketplace.