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02/01/2003 Archived Entry: "Documentary videogames"

Brian-Mitchell Young writes:

Think about the notion of a documentary videogame. not a documentary about a videogame, but a videogame that is a documentary. Such a thing doesn't seem possible does it? Think about the implications of that...

Well, with that provocation, I did! The response that follows appears (more or less) in comment sections on the JCCalhoun Popular Culture Gaming blog:

Why could you not make a video game documentary? This would be an interesting use of the medium, say, if you were looking at an interesting culture/subculture (Trekkies, Buena Vista) or event... I think this was along the lines of what the group producing Aux Deux Mondes was trying to do-- model a real life confrontation... Aux Deux Mondes sought to explore the real life gentrification of an ethnic neighbourhood. Presumably, by playing the game you could get a sense of the real life challenges of this situation. The fact that it may not turn out exactly as it did in the real life situation may actually be a plus-- it serves to universalize the experience. Unfortunately, I can't find online info anymore (I know it was produced by French artists). But they were featured in the final issue of Artbyte (*sniff*, we miss you!) with a few other groups...

...Documentaries need not only document events, that have a historically fixed solution (i.e. what "really" happened). Docs can explore cultures and processes that, as systems, seem natural to adapt to games. Not only that, you can allow the player to take multiple perspectives and engage themselves in the issues...

...The movie/documentary division can be a fine line. Often the distinction is in narrative (although I've seen narrative in docs) and focus (telling a story vs recounting reality/faux-reality). Some docs are movie-like, some movies are doc-like. I'd consider The Royal Tenenbaums, for example, a fake documentary with narrative vignettes. So, say for example we're making a Buena Vista Social Club game-- we simulate that very real environment, we recreate 'characters' or allow players to take on characters, we build our challenges on the real life challenges of people in that environment...

A good documentary producer constructs a beginning and ending, characters, and viewpoints from their raw material. Its not just a data-dump. The film medium then dictates a certain organization of that material. Using that material in the game medium would be different, to be sure, but that's not to say it can't be done! And I think it opens up an interesting possibility for the medium.