Haden Blackman at Stanford Computer Games converence

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Do games need stories?

--“Do games need stories? No! Any questions?” starts LucasArts producer Haden Blackman. Odd first words, perhaps, for the keystone panel of a conference on storytelling and computer games.

 

Conference debates video games as art

Lowood focused on the graphics in one game, “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic,” and the sheer amount of data that was displayed onscreen in that game.

 

“[it is a] beautiful virtual world . . . with more than meets the eye,” he said. “This could be ancient Greece.”

 

Haden Blackman, producer of the Star Wars game, disagreed with the idea that great graphics equal instant art, even though his game is displayed in a theater — like a film — at the museum.

 

“It helps if you have a beautiful game, but if it doesn’t have good gameplay it’ll be no fun,” Blackman said.

 

To the question, “Do games need stories?” Blackman answered, “No. Do they need good storytelling? Absolutely. I think the storytelling in games has gotten better, but the quality of the story is not any more complex than the structures of 10 to 15 years ago.”