Ive brought this topic up before, but its come to my attention once again through more media coverage. Basically, theres this 'Baroness' - Susan Greenfield - and she's done all this 'research' into gaming and young minds. One of her statements was as follows: "..well when you read a book, you care about the Princess [who you're trying to save], but in a game, you don't care at all, do you?" To which news reporters and talk show hosts ignorantly nod their heads and agree. Um..on behalf of the gaming community, do you have any clue what the hell you're talking about??! What are your thoughts guys, I come here, to you because this is a great forum for gaming discussion, especially of this sort.

I dunno, I've never been that attached to characters in books.... both mediums are a bit different as books require more imagination, but I definitely feel this is an unfair categorization promoting books over video games.

I may not care about nameless pedestrian #1232 that I run over in Saints Row 2, but I did care about Carlos in the game. It really all depends on how the author develops the character in order for you to care about them, and that applies to both books and games.

1st provide links
2nd whats the point in this thread(discussion or bashing)

Sounds like News stations doing nothing more than looking for ways to blow a few minutes of their show.

I personally feel attached to characters from all mediums if its done well, books, films, tv, games. If done well i usually feel sad should any characters die but if done badly i will just laugh at the characters.

I hadn't heard about Greenfield getting involved in the whole gaming furore, and if she is then I'm disappointed because at the moment she's a well respected brain scientist (what's the specialist term for that, it's slipped my mind?) who has done a lot of good for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. So if she actually has some real evidence I may be more inclined to listen to her than that imbecilic cretin of an American "doctor" who has set up clinics for gaming "addiction".

If you could link to what she's saying, I'd be very interested to follow it up - I'm a little apprehensive about commenting further until I have all the details. Having said that, from the brief section you quote I can sort of see her point in as far that often "saving the Princess" is just an objective, and I care more about completing the objective than I do about the "Princess" herself (Princess here obviously being a substitute for any generic rescue scenario or whatnot). On the other hand, there are games in which I have felt an attachment to a character in the same way that I feel an attachment to a character in a book. So as I said, I'd like to know more about what she said.

EDIT: SPaG

She must be bored because character attachment just seems like a non issue. Honestly, I could care less about the princess in the book or on the screen, in a movie etc. And she seems to apply this logic to everyone.

She needs to get off her dumb ass and study something more worthwhile, like why stupid hag bitchy old intellectual women conduct studies on stupid shit no one cares about.

She's already been attacked for this "assumption"

Wiki:
Greenfield has expressed concerns that modern technology, and in particular social networking sites, may have a negative impact on child development.[5] This was criticised by Dr Ben Goldacre, who argued that "this is Baroness Greenfield unfortunately abusing her position in order to give extra weight to conjecture and opinion".[6][7]

Links: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7909847.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/feb/25/social-networking

TL:DR - Carol Vorderman may be good at Countdown, but would you trust her diet book/hair care regime or insurance adverts? Same with Baroness Greenfield, I believe her studies into Parkinson's/Alzheimer's have far more worth than just making up new truths, like "Doctor" Gillian McKeith.

Sounds like she understands games just fine.

Whether the prize at the end is a princess, a prince, delicious and moist cake, "A winner is you" announcement or OMG PONIES, it's pretty much the same thing unless somehow loaded with more significance. Which most games have no need to do.

Just another bunch of gaming nay sayers and news folk bored out of their pointless dull lives

I challenge this Baroness to find a character that people care about more than Dogmeat.

I wonder what research she has done on this. Probably about the same about as the people who booked her to be a talking head on the boob tube. None to very little.

Clearly she never played MGS3 to the end. That was harder than finishing any book with a tragic ending I've read. Doing an action can add emotional weight to a situation.

I love a good book, and I love a good game. But generally, I'm more attached to the game characters, because unlike the book, gaming is an interactive medium, where you impact the outcome of events. Books are great, but passive. Gaming is much more active.

I do care about the person i'm trying to save, if a game has a good story to go with it, in a book they make you want to save the princess if it doesn't it's not doing it's job right but in a game it's more than a story it's graphics, gameplay, story and more.

To be honest that has an elemnt of truth in it. But then again, games are made to be played and not perhaps, for some sort of epic story.
There are however, of course games that have a huge emphasis on Story lines.
Obviously I'm not going to get all that attached to Gerneric soldier #1347 in Generic shooter #63. However if we're talking about my dog in Fable II, or Kaim in Lost Odyssey then it's a completley different story !

TPiddy:

I may not care about nameless pedestrian #1232 that I run over in Saints Row 2, but I did care about Carlos in the game..

Poor Carlos. *Sobs*

OT: I do care about the person I'm trying to save. I get more attached to characters in video games then I do in books, movies, or television shows.

In Fable 2

joystickjunki3:
I challenge this Baroness to find a character that people care about more than Dogmeat.

I nuked him the first time I saw him.
In my opinion, animals and pets(this includes NPCs I have to escort) in games are slightly less worthless than game breaking bugs.

I would also like to suggest Alyx from Half Life 2. Valve has really attempted to get the players emotionally attached to her.^{(I do hope I got this sentence right)} She's not some ball&chain you have to carry to the next checkpoint, she has a personality and can defend herself.

I couldn't care less about the princess.
I did care about Andrew Ryan though.
And Dogmeat.

I also think that princesses have lost their lustre. It's hard to care for Zelda when she gets kidnapped every god damned week!

Huh couldn't it also be said that the book princess is just an objective as well? Save the princess progress the story. A good writer can make you care about the princess regardless of the medium. And the writer can make you not give a rat's ass about the princess if they suck at thier job.

mmmm nah i disagree - its such a generalisation, games are evolving, sure there are still the casual gamer sorts of games where the storyline is well...lacking.. and as a result you dont really care, you just wanna shoot shit up (GoW) But in something like FF7CC, you get preeetty attached to Zack.

EDIT: was meant to be a reply to an above post:
"Sounds like she understands games just fine.

Whether the prize at the end is a princess, a prince, delicious and moist cake, "A winner is you" announcement or OMG PONIES, it's pretty much the same thing unless somehow loaded with more significance. Which most games have no need to do."

That is the most asanine, misinformed thing that I've heard anyone say in a while. How does interacting with character in a semi-physical way make them harder to attach oneself to? It doesn't! It does just the opposite, interacting with characters makes you grow more attached to them because you experience a level of interaction that no other medium provides.

Jon Etheridge:
Sounds like News stations doing nothing more than looking for ways to blow a few minutes of their show.

Exactly what I was thinking. Nothing livens up a slow news day like a sensationalist report on those scary gamers and their deadly, brainless murder simulators.

Truth be told, I care a lot more about characters in games than I do characters in books, because the kinds of games I like to play allow me to impart a tremendous amount of personal attributes and traits onto those characters.

Legends such as Flavius Julius, the Rome: Total War general who lived past eighty and conquered all of Gaul, all of Spain, and a good chunk of turf in Germany that the real Romans never managed to penetrate into, achieved a 10-star general's rating, and kicked so much ass that if a real person had done everything ol' FJ had done, he'd be regarded right up there with Genghis Khan and Napoleon.

Legends such as my Oblivion and Morrowind characters---no explanation is necessary if you've played those games.

And finally, there's Dogmeat. The defense rests, "Baroness".

She's obviously never played Ico.

really it sounds more like someone who hasn't played a videogame in 20 years

solidd:
Ive brought this topic up before, but its come to my attention once again through more media coverage. Basically, theres this 'Baroness' - Susan Greenfield - and she's done all this 'research' into gaming and young minds. One of her statements was as follows: "..well when you read a book, you care about the Princess [who you're trying to save], but in a game, you don't care at all, do you?" To which news reporters and talk show hosts ignorantly nod their heads and agree. Um..on behalf of the gaming community, do you have any clue what the hell you're talking about??! What are your thoughts guys, I come here, to you because this is a great forum for gaming discussion, especially of this sort.

We shall let her play halflife 2 and see how she feels.

or plenty of examples in the FF series...

She obviously hasnt really played any realy games, she probably thinks we all still play pong..

I'd like a game where the pricess doesn't need rescuing, she's kicking ass somewhere and you look foolish.

And this proves....what? Like, what is she trying to get from this research? If she's doing the standard jackoff argument that games cause violence by pointing out that you're emotionally unattached to the game, that really contradicts her point, doesn't it?

No one touches my princess!

LIGHT WARRIORS? You impertinent fools. I, Garland, will knock you all down!

I will punch that bitch out! How dare she badmouth my princess?!

...

Wow.

Just...........

...

Wow.

TPiddy:
I also think that princesses have lost their lustre. It's hard to care for Zelda when she gets kidnapped every god damned week!

I really agree with this statement. No one cares about princesses in games anymore. Because they're all a bunch of clueless, blonde bints who are only adept at getting kidnapped. Gaming has evolved far beyond that.

Anyway most scientists are bullshit artists. People still talk about guys like Newton, Einstien and Hawking because they actually bother to learn things about the functions of the universe which move our species forward. The other 99.99% are pretty much just paid to discover things we already know through common sense, like that girls talk too much. Seriously, that was the result of a recent study.

And you can't really trust the media either. They aren't about keeping you informed, they are about ratings, hype, paranoia and selling you crap you don't need. I watch the news for about 15 minutes, if I feel like it, in order to get the gist of things going on and to see if it's going to rain. No need for more than that, sez I.

Pffft. Sounds like another reporter taking a grab at parents and conservatives. God, if that woman had actually spoken to a gamer or two, she'd realise how wrong she is. Yea, I'm not attached to characters in say, GoW, due to the characters in that being stupidly unrealistic, but in most other cases I do care, quite a bit.
I found myself feeling sad for Alex Mercer, or more exactly, ZEUS and I even cried during a scene in Star Ocean 3 ( I'm a guy, mind you ). That pretty much derails her agruement right here. And, to top it all off I just finished a 8 hour quasi-marathon or Baroque and let me tell you, I feel fucked up.
The thing that makes all of these emotions stronger is the fact that I'm the one doing the actions at hand, whether it's slicing people into salami, putting a bullet through my mentor's head or killing my own brother... thrice.