What 360 Video Creators Can Learn from Gaming: Skyrim and the freedom of choice
Choices+Consequence=Story
Video games and virtual reality storytelling share a lot in common. That’s why over the next few weeks I want to write short essays everyday on my findings. I will be sharing them here daily.
360 video has nothing to do with video and much more to do with gaming. Think, we’ve been playing first-person games for years and these first person perspectives lack headsets but emulate the virtual environment. We can learn a lot about what innovations may hold as we sit down and study these innovations of the past.
360 video creators have trouble giving the user free choice. For years, they have gotten so used to directing the user’s focus so directly that there is a tried and true tool set to manipulate viewer’s emotions. But the other side of that luxury is the anxiety that if they aren’t able to place the camera right where they want the user to look, the experience will be ruined.
But as I entered the first village in Skyrim, I was struck with my opportunity of choice. I didn’t need to follow the game’s guided story. This was in fact my experience that allowed me to make my ultimate choice and face the consequences.
If I wanted to spend my time bartering and talking to the locals, I could. If I wanted to follow my companion into another fellow’s house and learn more details on the story, I could. If I wanted to pillage the entire town and loot their goods, I could.
Each of these experiences is valid within the game because of the consequences that arise. In fact, by giving the user such a free choice, it actually felt more real. If I missed important story bits by not paying attention to a conversation, it was up to me to try to find that out by other means.
But if I wanted to ignore the story altogether, that again is a choice that I must live with.
We need to get away from the perfectly focused narrative. In VR/360 — there’s no longer such thing because life’s narrative isn’t perfect. If you don’t pay attention to your friends, you’ll lose friends. If you don’t pay attention in class, you could fail the test.
Choice must lead to consequence, and we must react from our consequences by making more choices.
But this is exactly what makes life interesting. We make choices and we must live with them.
Regarding 360/VR, rather than focusing on singular, powerful narratives, focus on the pillars of experience that you can build for the user. The rules of the game, how these rules reflect in the virtual world, and how this world can be affected by the user.
Once the user sees that his choices have consequences, they’ll be interested. Just not in the exact way that you may have intended.