Plots will never be as "overrated" as statistics

Say what you will about Tom Abernathy, narrative lead at Riot Games, and Richard Rouse III of Microsoft Game Studios, but they sure know how to grab attention. The duo’s presentation at last week’s Game Developers Conference entitled “Death to the Three Act Structure! Toward a Unique Structure for Game Narratives” caused some controversy with the infamous quotation “plot is overrated.”

Abernathy and Rouse’s presentation was based on two pieces of evidence: firstly that most gamers (nearly two-thirds) do not finish the games they start. Secondly, gamers don’t remember the plots from games as clearly as they do from TV shows and movies. It’s some pretty shaky evidence and their reasoning is even shakier.

Why most gamers aren’t completing the games they play.

I love Steam because it’s convenient and often cheap. However Steam does create some rather unique issues. Many of us have ended up with games libraries so vast that completing everything would be impossible.

Due to Steam sales and frequent discounts, there are far more impulse buys on Steam than there are anywhere else. This calls into question the certainty of these figures, and how relevant they actually are. After all someone who bought a game in a Steam sale at 75 per cent off is probably less likely to complete it than someone who paid full price on launch day.

(See: A gamer’s New Year’s resolution)

One of the examples given during the presentation was Mass Effect 2, which has had a completion rate of only 56 per cent. This is low for a game which had a massive collection of diehard fans, many of whom had groomed their characters from the first game.

Mass Effect 2 has been sold as part of a bundle pack with the other two games in the series, and has been sold individually in Steam sales. This means it is likely sitting on many hard drives waiting for some attention.

Gamers don’t remember plots… seriously?

Now, this is just a dumb thing to say. Look at the efforts made by some gamers to understand the plots of their favourite games. Check out the millions of essays written about Bioshock Infinite, or the book about Spec Ops: The Line. These are not the actions of a community uninterested in plot.

In fact, there are some cases—I’m looking at you Dragon Age II—where the plot is the only reason for completing a game. Do people love Final Fantasy VII for its battle system, or its graphics? No, they love it for the plot.