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Bowen Research recently conducted a survey among gamers who concluded that more than two thirds of those surveyed felt that videogames as a medium surpass books and movies in terms of emotional impact. The genre most responsible for taking gamers over that edge between reality and fantasy, thus making them cry like little girly-men when something unexpected happens, was (drum roll….) Role Playing Games. And we’re not talking about MMORPGs but rather single player gmaing experiences. What do you think the game most mentioned was? You got it! Final Fantasy! Can you guess what incident caused the most tissue use? You got it again! The death of Aeris in Final Fantasy VII.
“It is striking that young people today look at games as an entertainment medium that surpasses or will equal the more traditional things that touch us deeply, like books, movies, and music,” says Hugh Bowen of Bowen Research. “Half of all gamers think conveying emotion is extremely or pretty important which suggests that games which can achieve more of this will be extremely popular.”
For the record, no game reviewer in the history of CCC has ever cried, nor became teary eyed during a videogame. Okay once, but we just weren’t expecting Darth Vadar to be Luke’s father when we played LEGO Star Wars.