A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed. Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine a game studio that has made itself famous by reminding players about the power of decisions, Quantic Dream.
Life is Nothing But Decisions
Decisions, decisions, decisions – we all come from the perspective of decisions. Think about it – if not for your parents deciding to embrace each other in the throws of passion you wouldn’t exist. You reading that statement and becoming mentally scared by the thought or simply accepting the reality of nature is a decision you just made. Heck, the analogy I decided to use to make my point actually caused a subsequent decision to be made by you, the reader. The layers of making decisions – be it small ones like eating a Popsicle on a humid day or giant ones such as figuring out what to do when you’re being bullied – seemingly inspired David Cage and the people he joined when forming the gaming studio Quantic Dream some twenty years ago. While supplying motion capture devices to both film & video studios, the company has also crafted some of the most decision-driven games in history. Though QD’s first foray into the video game software world definitely left a lasting impression mostly thanks to the involvement of David Bowie in the Sega Dreamcast & PC title “Omikron”, it wasn’t until Quantic Dream embraced the idea of letting decisions dictate the story did they find their footing in the industry; starting with “Fahrenheit” (“Indigo Prophecy” in North America) – a PS2 & Xbox game based around the main characters uncovering the truth being multiple murders. Depending on what the player chooses to do, go or act, “Fahrenheit” presented a branching narrative with multiple endings. Gamer choice featuring a host of playable protagonists helped make not only Quantic Dream a gaming studio to watch going forward, but also helped establish the Playstation 3 as a must-own console with the release of “Heavy Rain”.
Players were taken through the ringer with choices be it crawling through glass or helping a drug-addicted mother incapable of caring for her child while experiencing “Heavy Rain”. Fast forward eight years after “Heavy Rain’s” release and another thrilling interactive experience featuring Ellen Page in a starring role with “Beyond Two Souls”, Quantic Dream has dropped another decision bomb of a game featuring androids, placated humans, and an imaginative future that maybe closer to reality than one could expect: “Detroit: Become Human”. But beyond the graphics, somewhat stiff & awkward controls, and obviously extensive scripts is the obvious effect of decisions driving forward everything going on in front of the gamer; directly reflecting the player’s reality. Everything we do is based on the decisions made be it minor or major. No person makes the best choice every time, but understanding & learning from those choices is detrimental to making the best life for yourself and those around you. You don’t want to be stuck in a mall screaming, “Jason!” because you took your eyes off your greatest prize.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing Quantic Dream’s games or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
