Group Play

Game and Watch

There are two key elements that have been crucially overlooked in the vast majority of games shows, factors that make people sit up and take notice: an intriguing story, and the demonstration of extreme skill.

Plot Holes
Story has never been best friends with videogames. Sure, they've had their trysts, their improbable days in the sun, and they're certainly getting to know each other better; but few of these dalliances have actually proven capable of going the distance.

And yet, there remains something compelling about watching a game with a strong narrative thread played to completion. To surrender control and observe as someone else weaves their way through plot twists and character developments is very close to the experience of watching a movie, with the added bonus of being able to interject your own comments and suggestions and solve the puzzles and problems posed by the game by consensus.

I used to share a house with a friend I met through a similar interest in music. He had a battered GameCube and a smattering of titles - yearly sports updates and bargain-bin impulse buys, all. He was far removed from the common stereotype of a gamer. One night, sitting downstairs in front of the TV, I decided to boot up Resident Evil Zero. My friend wandered down shortly afterward, sat himself on the sofa and dedicated the next three hours to watching me shoot zombies and pop leeches, dishing out refreshingly un-gamer-like puzzle advice ("just shoot the door if it's locked!") and squealing, eyes hidden behind a pillow, where appropriate. It was a win-win situation - he knew he had neither the time or the skill to get through the game on his own, but was hooked on the fairly basic story. And I enjoyed the company, keen as I was not to be left alone in the dark with zombies.

Watching someone else play through a videogame can often be the gateway drug into a deeper interest in the medium. A friend and I recently found ourselves outlining the basic concepts and controls behind critical darling Portal to another, decidedly non-gamer chum. After a quick trip to the supermarket, we returned home to find her navigating her way through the corridors of Aperture Science. GLaDOS impersonations have been her forté ever since.

Titles like Portal and Resident Evil present a wildly different view of gaming from the outdated "you got the high score!" portrayal of gaming, which so many televised videogame events lamentably reinforce.. In the place of lightning-fast deathmatches and impenetrable beat-'em-ups, presenting mature, measured titles on established media could do wonders for the image of games, a positive reinforcement of values oft overlooked by those on the outside looking in.