The Gamer's Quarter

SuperWes · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 3:18 am Post subject: The Soap Opera Game

With the Wii's message of bringing games to the non-gamer I've been thinking a lot lately about types of audiences that videogames don't really go after at the moment. This brought me to soap operas. Soap Operas appeal primarily to 30-50 year old women by my estimation, and often have several absurd stories running concurrently and being stretched out and morphed over the many years of a show's lifespan.

What is it exactly that draws older women to these "stories," and is what type of videogame could capture the essence of a Soap Opera without abandoning its gamedom? Is this even possible or do you think the appeal of Soap Operas would be totally lost when interactivity is added in? I'd encourage any responses to think less recreating a soap opera in game form and more on coming up with a game that meets whatever entertainment needs are met by that style of TV show. Any ideas?

-Wes
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dessgeega · Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 3:32 am Post subject:

you should talk to chris crawford.
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xvs07 · . Joined: 22 Sep 2005 Posts: 160

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I have always said that Trauma Center could have been liscensed as General Hospital the game. It has everything that makes a soap opera (minus the sausy sex). I think that if the Wii really does what Nintendo hopes it will that we could see an insurgence of Dating Sims here in the US (TokiMiimo!), or even just games like Cooking Momma with outrageous Plots (not saying that cooking game=middle age stay at home women, but cooking momma has no plot and like Trauma Center has the ability to contain any story).
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Also, how about just a sims expansion with a focus on middle-aged love rather than "young love"?

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

I agree with simplicio. The Sims appeals to middle-aged women, and an expansion like that would sell really, reallly well.

Also, my mom used to spend an insane amount of time playing some free version of Yahtzee we got in a package of Cheerios. If something like that came out on the Wii that'd be a really good way to spend time for families to spend time playing videogames together, which is something that Nintendo's aiming for.

SuperWes · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:07 am Post subject:

Yeah, simplicio hit it right on the head by mentioning The Sims. It's pretty much the perfect example of what I was looking for. I wasn't really thinking of something that can do horrible, drawn out stories like a Soap Opera, but more for something that appeals to the same group of people for the same reasons. The Sims is a game in which your mind creates Soap Opera-like stories while you play, making it one of those things where the player's always focused on the game, but can't put it down because they want to see what happens next.

Is this type of appeal confined to something like The Sims though? Unfortunately, it would seem so. I wonder if Will Wright considered the Soap Opera potential when he came up with the idea for the game in the first place.

-Wes
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Or something similar to the sims at least; playing as a middle aged housewife and the challenge came from keeping up the housework and the career and the kids and managing to start up some covert dallying with the rakish young gardener on the side. Sort of a combination between Harvest Moon and Desperate Housewives, without the humor of the latter (I don't think you can sell humor in games to 1st generation non-gamers).

The problem may be that stories in games tend to be very young and idealistic. Harvest Moon really has a pre-marital view the whole way through. Lost in Blue may be slightly more mature in its depiction of a work-based relationship, but I haven't gotten far enough to really tell.

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

I'd think you'd need to keep the humor for that concept to truly work.

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

I think you might need to take it one step at a time with this new "non-gamer" audience. Having an unfamiliar form trying to pitch humor or emotion at them right off the bat might be alienating. If you were to screen an episode of Mr. Show to your mother, how would she react, as opposed to some of your peers? The Sims is emotionally successful in that demographic because the player can project their own feelings and imagination onto the gameplay, rather than being saddled with a linear story they may not understand or agree with.

SuperWes · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:14 am Post subject:

sawtooth · . Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 419

i would play a passions game.
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Six · . Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 313 Location: montreal

Uh, you guys have seen this, right?

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

Kind of off-subject, but I think a Trauma Center-clone using the House liscense would be badass.

Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

Animal Crossing has part of the appeal of a soap, ie. strictly limited exposition per day. You only get to see a bit of the world at a time, and it keeps introducing new things. This strings you along so you want to see more, it would also probably suit older players more to have a game where you can play it in short bursts rather than being a game suited to playing for hours on end in one go.

SuperWes · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 9:11 am Post subject:

ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

I wonder how well Facade has done.
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Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

This thread reminds me of the Adrian Mole computer game that I once played long ago

http://www.crashonline.org.uk/23/adrian_mole.htm

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

So, kind of on the subject, the Desperate Housewives game has been released. It looks like a bad Sims 2 mod but with a Poker mini-game.

Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

It seems to me that one of the most important things would be to have a focus on real issues, like Wes's Issue 5 write up on Chibi-Robo, instead of the typical gamer-y focus on "which weapon is better!" and solving things through defeating the boss-character.

It would be great to see a game like this, where there would be decisions with short-term and long-term advantages and disadvantages. Just like in life.

edit: My Summer Vacation also sounds like a good starting point for making this sort of game,
Insert Credit says of it:
"No, Portable Island cannot be Boku no natsuyasmi "for adults," because Boku no natsuyasumi is already "for adults." The game is not merely a "simulator" of a vacation. It is a retelling of an actual, specific summer vacation, one experienced by a young boy, taken to his aunt and uncle's country home in 1975. There are characters who talk about themselves. There's a girl whose brother died. Each day begins with calisthenics and breakfast and ends when you go to bed. There's a ghost story. In addition to collecting and trading fighting beetles, you will witness a young boy learning about others and learning about himself over the course of one bittersweet summer. The game reminds you that nothing, even (or especially) carefree days, lasts forever. This is a tale for adults who have grown up; kids look at Bokunatsu and think they'd rather play Pokemon. This, right here, is a game for the wisened men of the world.

Portable Island contains no love interest, no murder mystery, no ghost story.
"