The M.I.C.E. Quotient

Orson Scott Card has the M.I.C.E. Quotient he talks about in regard to storytelling. When people talk about video games and ‘story’, I suspect they think of ‘story’ in a certain way. Let use explore ‘story’ a little more.

Reader, you are being tested!

“Who? Me?” asks the reader shyly.

Yes, you! You think you can just sit there and read all day? It is time to make you work!

The test is simple. I am going to unfold the M.I.C.E. Quotient before you, and you will tell me which one best fits the medium we call ‘video games’.

Are you ready?

“Uh huh.”

Then let’s get started!
This is the M.I.C.E. Quotient:

Milieu – The Milieu is the world–the planet, the society, the weather, the family–all the elements that went into creating that special world.

Idea – Idea stories are about the process of finding information.

Character – The Character story is about the transformation of a character�s role in the communities that matter most to him or her.

Event – Event stories focus on events which rip the fabric of the universe or disrupt the natural order and cause the world to be in a state of flux.

But do not answer yet, reader! Hold thy tongue! Let me elaborate on these points further so you can make a better decision as to which best fits the video game medium:

The Milieu Story

The whole point of the story is to discover this strange, new world.

Arrival – A Stranger from the outside arrives (by purpose or accident); he is unwelcomed and imprisoned, but gradually proves his worthiness.

Initiation – Stranger is formally welcomed into the society; taught the culture & language; shown sharp contrast between stranger�s world and present one which challenges the stranger�s own belief system.

Departure – Stranger rejects or is torn away from society, & returns home with greater self awareness.

An example of the Mileu Story would be a typical episode of Star Trek. Other examples include the Jules Verne novels.

The Idea Story

The whole point of the story is the process of discovering information by those who do not know.

A Question – The idea story begins with a question, and a scientist, a detective, or some other inquisitive character seeks to find an answer.

Quest for Knowledge – Central character(s) gathers information from a variety of sources; he may even employ the scientific method or a form of deduction to reduce the number of variables, but attempts to find an answer are complicated by many failures.

The Answer – Gradually, repented failure leads to vindication, and the question is answered.

Examples of the ‘Idea’ type of story would be, as you guessed it, your typical mystery novel. Who killed Mr. Greene in the ballroom with the candlestick? You gain clues, and you figure out the story.

But this type of story can also be something atypical. Atlas Shrugged is an ‘Idea’ book that revolves around the question of ‘Who is John Galt?’ and after countless pages later the answer alone takes like sixty pages. The author even had difficulty finding a publisher for it originally (despite previous best seller and a hit on Broadway) because it was an ‘idea’ novel. They are uncommon.

A science fiction example of the ‘idea’ story would be 2001: Space Odyssey that asks the question of what is the Monolith and what signal did it send to Jupiter? What is that gigantic monolith doing floating in Jupiter’s orbit?

And 2010: Space Odyssey is an ‘idea’ story whose question was: “What the hell happened in 2001?”

The Character Story

The whole point is about the transformation of a character�s role in his community.

Crisis – Central character becomes so unhappy, impatient, or angry in his present role that he begins the process of change (either consciously or unconsciously).

Conflict – Others resist the central character�s change, and attempt to change him back.

Climax – Character either settles into a new role (happily or not) or gives up the struggle and remains in the old role (happily or not).

The character story is the most common story you will find. It dominates the book medium, the television medium, and the movie medium. All Milleu, Idea, and Event stories all have characters, those stories can work regardless of the characters’ reactions. This is why those type of stories can work very well even if the characters are two dimensional or non-existent.

The Character Story is about a character who transforms and will affect other characters around the person.

The first Matrix movie was well received but not the second and third ones. What happened?

The first Matrix movie is very character driven. Neo makes character choices. Neo transforms into something completely different at the end of the movie than what he was at the beginning. And he affects all the other characters. The other two Matrix movies were not character driven. They were more Event driven. Characters begin to act like robots as Neo became a puppet to the ‘events’ because the plot demanded them. However, in Matrix Reloaded, the best scene in the movie was with the architect. Why? It is because Neo made a choice, and it was based on his character.

The Event Story

The whole point of the story is about the restoration of the proper order of the universe.

Departure – Heroic figure hears the call to adventure (and sometimes refuses call): he is called to restore order to the universe; he receives aid from a wizard, an elder, or supernatural force (usually in form of a magical weapon), and undergoes first trial by fire.

Initiation – Hero undergoes more trials; he falls for a goddess and is tempted by a temptress; he meets his dark father and is wounded; he finds great riches.

Return – Hero restores order by defeating evil king & returns home, older & wiser, to empower others.

James Bond is an example of the Event driven story. James Bond is a character who doesn’t change. The story moves by events. Bond undergoes tons of trials.

The TV show ’24’ appears to be an event driven story. Terrorists act out events and Jack Baur responds to them.

Ancient myths are all event driven. Myths tend not to be ‘character based’. The story is all the same with some monster overthrowing the Natural Order and a hero arises to slay the monster and restore the Natural Order.

Most interesting is that many plots religious are event driven. David kills Goliath not based on David’s character or because David had an idea. It was because he had the Power of God. Christ dies on the Cross to restore the Heavenly Order. Christ’s character on the Cross is no real different than he was when he was a boy.

Now that you know the M.I.C.E. Quotient, reader, what is your answer? Have you picked one of the four?

I cannot see how video games can be anything but Event driven stories. Like the ancient myth, each video game starts with the Order of Society being usurped by some monster. You, the hero, are supposed to destroy the monster. Once you destroy the monster, order is restored and peace once again reigns. And the game ends.

Let me throw up a NES classic. When the ‘story’ scrolls you can see that it is clearly an ‘event’ driven game. The monster has messed up the Natural Order of things and you, the hero, are to eliminate it. This is how most myths and legends are.

But the reader protests. “Come on, Malstrom, that is a space shooter. What story could those have?”

Then let us look at this game. There is characterization, but none of it matters. The game is entirely event driven.

The monster [Kefka] messed up the Natural Order of Things [the goddess statues of magic] which resulted in the destruction of the world. The game ends not when Kefka is destroyed but when the goddess statues power of magic leaves the world resulting in a fulfilling of the Natural Order again. And birds, and bunny rabbits, and peace reign. The end.

You see ‘event’ driven story in all video games. In Castlevania, the bad event is caused by the return of Dracula. Simon Belmont kills Dracula. The End. In Dragon Quest, the world is suffering because of the Dragon Lord. A hero arises. You kill Dragon Lord. Peace returns. The End.

What has been the story structure of Metroid? Space Pirates (or Metroids) [i.e. monsters] are ruining the Natural Order of the Universe. A hero arises [Samus Aran] who kills the monsters. Then peace returns. The End.

While this seems like a very ‘primitive’ story to game developers today, it is actually extremely complex because the player is enacting the role of hero in a myth. This type of event story differentiated video games from other mediums and its power of myth attracted many people. Much of the ‘story’ takes place in the hero’s journey. The events that occur to the player, that the player does (such as jump on Goomba) end up becoming the ‘story’ that the player will tell to other gamers. “You should have seen this. I was on 2-1 and this stupid Goomba thought he was king of the mushroom platform. But I showed him! I jumped on him, and he was no more.”

The events that take place when many people play Mario 5 creates an interesting story. The story is the events of the players.

But is this any different from the ‘story’ that is created from playing a game of real life baseball?

The ‘story’ of a game ends up emerging from the actions and choices the player makes. Civilization is interesting because of the ramifications your choices make from your first city to the end of the game. It tells a ‘story’ even though there are no characters and no true plot.

My favorite target of derision is Sakamoto’s “Other M”. This is because “Other M” is being designed as a ‘Character’ game instead of an ‘Event’ game. The game is about exploring Samus Aran’s character. Will this work?

Has there been any character based video game story to work? No. Does Sakamoto believe he can overturn this all completely by himself? He probably does. It won’t work.

Why must video games be event driven? One reason could be the input. The player can only input his actions into the game. He cannot input his emotions or ideas. Perhaps in a hundred years, players will be able to input emotions or ideas. But not today.

When a gamer plays a video game that is designed to be something other than event driven, I believe the gamer will interpret the game as ‘event driven’ even if the game designed not to be. All the stuff that is not ‘event driven’ will be interpreted as ‘bloat’ to the game experience.

Let us pretend an art seeking game developer made a game with tons of cutscenes depicting scenes and emotional reactions. What will the gamer’s response be? Gamers will play the game as event driven and express annoyance about the ‘bloat’. The gamer’s complaint will be vocalized as ‘there are too many cutscenes’. Is the problem the cutscenes? After all, Pac-Man had cutscenes too and no one complained about them. But Pac-Man wasn’t trying to be something other than an event driven game.

When a gamer complains about ‘bloat’ in a video game, this has to be an indicator that there is ‘junk’ bouncing around in the player’s experience. If it is true that players will experience video games as ‘event driven’ no matter what the developers do, then ‘idea’, ‘mileau’, and ‘character’ driven events will be interpreted as ‘bloat’. From the developer’s point of view, the cutscenes of characters and all is very rational. But to a gamer whose brain is wired for event driven responses (because his input consists of button presses and waving a controller around), he can only consume the cutscenes as ‘bloat’.

A very common complaint against modern Zelda is ‘bloat’. In one Zelda, I am talking to Grandma. Why? I don’t know. But I must do so in order to continue the game. In another Zelda, I am herding ram. Why? Who knows. In the same game, I must wrestle a Goron off the mat. Why? Because I have to do it. All these things get interpreted as ‘bloat’ to the gamer.

Miyamoto gives us a major clue as to how the bloat might be made. Let us listen closely to an answer he game in ‘Super Mario Galaxy 2 Iwata Asks’…

Iwata
Ah, I see. The concept of resonance can explain an awful lot.

Miyamoto

You can apply it to figuring out the difference between interesting TV shows and uninteresting ones. Rather than wondering whether the general scenario is interesting or not, what’s important is whether the characters that appear in it are realistic.

Iwata

What kinds of characters appear in what kinds of situations.

Miyamoto

So even though a television drama may feature a general milieu that would usually be of no interest to you, if the characters that appear in it look like real people in your own life, the show will resonate, and you’ll be able to get into it. I think video games are the same way.

Iwata

Today’s discussion is a little deep. (laughs)

Miyamoto

It’s something that has been interesting me greatly these days. (laughs) Along with how games are unique for their interactive nature.

What we can gather from this is that Miyamoto is looking at games from a ‘milieu’ point of view. What does milieu mean for a video game? Well, looking at the definition above, a ‘milieu’ game would concentrate on the player being a ‘stranger in a strange land’. It would focus heavily on the natives of the strange land not trusting the player. But the player will do things to win their trust and respect.

And this is the pattern we keep seeing in modern Zelda. When you start a game in Zelda, you get stuck in the beginning village and must talk to the people. You start off not as Link the Warrior but as Link the Dumb Kid. And Link the Dumb Kid only becomes ‘Link the Warrior’ by doing something to win the villagers’ trust which will win the sword from Grandma. Or you could be stuck on an island and you must win the respect of a bratty kid gang. Or there are some Gorons who do not like you. They will not let you pass unless you wrestle a Goron off the mat (using your steel boots of course). And once you save the Goron chief, the Gorons then begin to like you and respect you. Over and over, there appears to be a pattern in Zelda where…

1) Link travels to new place.
2) Natives distrust Link.
3) Link does something to win the trust of the natives.
4) Natives become Link’s friends.

This is the milieu style of story telling. When the developers are brainstorming and coming up with ideas, I am sure this all sound very appealing. But is it fun to play?

When you play Zelda, do you really want to talk to Grandma? Do you want to ‘win the respect’ of bratty kids? Do you want to wrestle a Goron on a mat?

Or when you play Zelda, do you want to slay dragons, explore ancient caves, and save the world?

Let us pretend for a moment these milieu events occurred in the early Zelda games. In order for Link to cross the ocean with his raft, he must first win the respect of the natives in the town. In order for Link to get Master Sword in Link to the Past, he must first solve a sliding puzzle. In order for Link to slash the curtains in Hyrule Castle that leads directly to the wizard about to send off princess Zelda to the Dark World, Link must get the approval of a small mouse who has sewed up the curtain so tightly that Link must do what the little mouse says. You can see where this is going…

It is becoming clear to me that Miyamoto and his developers are speaking a different language than gamers are. We are speaking different languages. When the gamers say, “Remove the bloat! Remove the cutscenes, the constant dialogue, and everything else that doesn’t belong,” this does not make much sense if you are looking at the video game from a milieu context. As Miyamoto expressed in the Super Mario Galaxy 2 Iwata Asks, he thinks it all adds to ‘resonance’.

I’ve been trying to conjure up what Miyamoto exactly meant by ‘resonance’. But now it appears ‘resonance’ is the same way as saying ‘milieu’.

But let us use Galaxy 2 for an example. When you get done with a level in Galaxy 2, you get to talk to our big purple POS called Lubba. And you get to ‘relax’ on a spaceship that looks like Mario’s head. If players consume the game in the context of event driven way, they will see the dialogue with ‘Mario’s new friends’ and spaceship Mario as “bloat”. They will do their best to ignore it as they go on to the next level. If they complain, it will be worded as ‘bloat’.

Miyamoto is talking the language of milieu but gamers can only play with the event driven form of story. The more milieus Miyamoto creates, the more the gamer scratches his head and wonders why it is there. It would be like in the middle of Super Mario Brothers, once saving a castle, Mario would have a conversation with Toad. “It would add to the resonance. Milieu adds resonance,” Miyamoto says. But Mario does not need to have a conversation with Toad. The player is ready to go to the next world. He doesn’t want to read conversations between Mario and Toad. The gamer would try his best to ignore the conversations and, if the gamer complains, he will label it ‘bloat’. “Can’t you cut that out?” he asks. But the “Can’t you cut that out?” sounds very different to a milieu perspective. From the milieu point of view, cutting it out sounds like deflating the milieu.

If players interpret video games only through an event driven story basis, then the best video games would be focused on event driven story. Who makes most of the events? Why, the player. This is why the gamer is a player and not a viewer. This is perhaps why gamers love ‘replayability’ in their video games. When they say ‘replayability’, what they are really asking for is for the game to be event driven. The game should shift and twist based on the events you perform. A game like civilization is different every time because the events you do in the game echo across time. 2d Mario is very much liked, in one great part, because it is event driven. Each level can be played differently each time. But 3d Mario tends to require the same type of play each time you get the same star.

What is the most common request for a Zelda game? It is for Link to start with a sword and have him pick a direction to explore. This request is really for Zelda to be event orientated. It is for the player to create an event such as exploring that cave in the south and the game’s story shifts because of that event. (By story, I mean what the player will talk about his adventure when he is done playing.) It is never fun to talk to gamers about your game experience when everyone has the same exact play experience.

This could be the smoking gun reason behind why Zelda games continue to have so much ‘bloat’ and Nintendo keeps leaving it in. Miyamoto is interpreting his games to be milieu driven when the customers are expecting the games to be event driven.