My opinion is that computer games are currently both socially and emotionally conservative.

So to provide some context let me define my terms.

The word technology derives from a Greek word for art or craft, and suggests a set of techniques for making things. This definition can be broadened out to be the ways in which man brings nature under his control.

As human beings, we have always been fascinated by our tools, over the years this has for some turned into an obsession. An obsession with survival. Historically it has been our technology and tools that have moved us away from the natural world and kept us alive those few minutes longer.

The problem with technology is that it can often be a distraction. A distraction from our need for self-expression. It is important for our continued evolution that we don’t get lost in our tools.

More specifically as a technological society we need to be able to develop social skills and emotional context in virtual space.

Bearing this in mind, let us move on to the focus of this discussion, to computer gaming.

Computer games are a very modern phenomena, exploding within 20 years into to a multi-million pound market that rivals the revenues of our more traditional entertainment industries. However the market is largely made up of a very specific set of early adopters, more accustomed to seeking adrenaline-based entertainment than emotional depth.

As David Putnam said recently at BAFTA, computer games are at a similar stage as the movie industry when it started out with a lot of Cowboy and Indian movies and few attempts at creating emotional charged entertainment experiences.

I believe that as technology opens up its arms to a wider and more varied audience we need to re-visit some core values for inspiration. These values should be based around our ability to tell stories NOT just how advanced our technology is.

An example is the immersive experience found within a really good book, which is as low tech as you can get these days, whilst still providing a wide range of deep emotional connections and catharsis.

Currently, the kinds of stories told within games seem to be limited by the expressive capabilities of the medium. Right now, what we do best is direct, one-on-one conflict and action, a fact that limits our narrative range.

Technology evolves too rapidly to be stable, leading to conceptual and creative caution with genre and market exploration. Simply said the thought that goes into story and experience within game design has not evolved to the same degree as other gameplay issues.

The bottom line here is that emotion is just as much in our palette as the other tools we use in game development. Until our game designers can inspire the wide range of emotional contrast and depth found within a cinematic experience our industry will not grow up.

A conservative industry is one which preserves itself from radical change.

The issue of conservatism arises from the huge and rapid growth of the computer game industry, more specifically I mean huge teams and million pound budgets. Games are now big business with big risks. As a result of this publishers tend to invest heavily in safe properties, for example, existing game versioning i.e. Tomb Raider I, II and then III,.

It is simply that it is too risky for the business machine to invest in creative evolution and design development.

But at the same time it is vital that we are aware and intentional about what we create and how it makes people feel.

Different people like different emotional roller-coaster rides.

I believe that some of the specific challenges that face the game industry right now include:

• Evolving genre development, by which i mean pushing products for a wider audience, what about us grown-ups?

• Encouraging emotional depth, or designing games that deepen the player’s immersion and emotional attachment within the game world primarily to enrich their experience

Hollywood has arrived while our craft is still in puberty.

Let me now move on from the state of our industry to the specific challenges of game design.

When we talk about game design, what we actually mean is experience design, how we synthesis all the elements of these virtual worlds to provide a compelling and engaging experience.

The key term here is synthesis. All too often we see games without plot, with puzzles that showcase the technology not drive the game experience and with confusing levels of complexity. To move forward we need to integrate story, puzzles, characters and gameplay into a unified experience that makes sense in the context of the gameworld.

Another factor which affects the speed of evolution in computer games is that there is no commonly accepted language specific to crafting a game. Most descriptive terms, like "fun", are too imprecise to be useful, whilst technological terms, like "motion capture" do not describe the techniques we use to create a gaming experience.

Although from one perspective this lack of boundaries offers creative possibilities, the flip side is that this lack of language can cause cross-fertilisation between genres and fresh concepts to progress painstakingly slowly.

I propose looking to an older tradition, that of story-telling, to find more specific ways of creating engaging experiences.

Research has shown that story structures can match the way our minds work and play. William Calvin has said that the human mind is constructed with a fundamental "what happens next" orientation. With a characteristic "beginning middle and end" structure.

This implies that it is important to conclude and share our stories in order to completely experience them. Our conscious world is made up of stories and not atoms.

A story is a way of navigating information. But it is not just the route that is important but also the landscape. A computer game is an example of reflexive story-telling, where the storyline is influenced, although not necessarily written, by the participating audience.

One of the holy grails of computer gaming is the challenge of providing environments that enable complete player freedom whilst still directing gameplay action along a suitably challenging path.

It is often understood in a good film script that plot is driven forward by revealing character and that characters will reveal themselves while driving the plot forward, so no action is wasted or gratuitous. The extra feature in games is the player’s interaction, which must also drive the story forward and reveal character.

Most approaches to computer-generated narrative focus on the creation of paths. A decision game developers must make with regard to story is whether to use a branching structure or to tell a story in a more conventional, linear fashion.

It is often the linear stories that have the more powerful impact. Depth of experience is more captivating than a broad range of options, some of which may never be seen.

Is it not better to give players some genuine immersion within your story rather than the illusion of freedom offered by branching narratives with huge worlds to explore? It is worth pointing out that quite often in these experiences, perceived freedom is more important than actual freedom. If the player thinks they are in control, it can be as good as if they were.

FINAL FANTASY VII does a wonderful job of allowing you to explore each of its locations with some degree of freedom. Players rarely feel constrained or stuck to a path, even though they are. The reason lies in the game's emphasis on character development. The designers recognised that freedom of movement would eventually interfere with the advancing plot, so they emphasised systems that allow players to create unique alter egos who respond to scripted events in ways that are often within the player's control. This feature allowed them to tell a better story with more interesting characters than a lot of non-linear games.

A key technique for engaging players in your fictional world is the provision of compelling and believable characters. Emotional attachment and empathy with key game characters can pull people into a more personal relationship with the game.

An example of this is a classic text adventure called Station Fall by Infocom, where it becomes obvious that in order to progress within the game, it is necessary to sacrifice a robot you’ve become friendly with called Floyd. Years after the game has disappeared into the shadows, players still reminisce about their agonising over what to do.

Emotional responses need to be used to make the characters we encounter believable and engaging. For example, if we walk into a virtual bar and everyone there had distinct personalities, the scene would be immersive and a believable social situation.

Another factor to be aware of is that the player can have a very different experience than the game designer originally planned, but if the story is strong enough, the gameplay will maintain immersion.

One of the challenges of developing great games is in correctly pacing the action and interweaving story, characters and gameplay into one integrated emotional experience.

So let us look at some of the common emotions experienced within current genres of game...

Frustration

• From missing stomps in a Mario game to watching an energy level drain too quickly

Revenge:

• When you get slapped down too quickly, this is the emotion that comes up from multi-player games like Quake or the feeling when you get to turn the tables. Pacman getting to go after the ghosts for a short while.

Nervousness

• The LucasArts-style of jumping from one pylon to the next. Precision is required and one false step sends you back to the beginning.

Blasting overload

• The classic space of the game Defender. The "Shoot everything..." reaction.

Boldness

• Feeling that you have to commit everything, and the flush of joy when it works.

Mostly these are base emotions that are triggered by the low-level brain adrenaline surge that washes through our bodies whenever we feel under threat. This is a powerful and strong drive but as humans we are capable of more refined feelings, such as empathy, love, loyalty, desire, sorrow, well the list just goes on.

Now that we have discussed the importance of story structure within games, looked at approaches to interactive narrative and identified the importance of emotional engagement I would like to show you a taster of screens for a game currently in development called Dreamer.

Dreamer is an original, made for the media, game experience being developed by BAFTA-winner Alex Mayhew.

'Gaming for grown ups' best describes the fundamental principle of Dreamer. Essentially a platform game, Dreamer builds an interactive fictional world that combines high action, immersive game play with emotional drama.

It is a journey in which the player drives the plot through a surreal nightmarish dreamscape with arcade-style gameplay.

Our key character, Max Reno, has been asleep since he crashed his car. However, he suffered no apparent physical injury, and it appears that his refusal to wake up may have psychological origins. In the course of the game, the player encounters the people who are most important in Max’s life, and helps him face and overcome his fears in the hope that he can wake up and be reunited with them.

The player is led, in the form of a butterfly, into Max's hospital ward and inside his head.

This is a dreamscape populated by distorted versions of his family and friends and by two groups of insects: butterflies, Max's allies, and wasps, the enemy, led by the dreaded Mayor Night. The Mayor Night seizes every thing that is precious to Max and processes them into bad dreams with a device known as the Night Mayor Machine.

The player is gradually exposed to the events that led to his predicament and the reasons why he is frightened to wake up. The player discovers the interactivity by experimentation and exploration.

Part of Dreamer’s interactive charm will be centred on giving the player the sense that they are discovering for themselves. There will be various characters that will act as agents or guides if the player becomes stuck.

The player doesn't play a particular character in the game, but inhabits and controls various characters and creatures at different times, including wasps, butterflies and Max himself.

Gameplay and story will be woven together as one. This forms the basis for the player's navigation through the game. By moving forward you are not only revealing, but also creating a story. The player will be a vital passenger on this journey.

Dreamer looks to exploit the potential of the medium in order to engage people emotionally, as well as giving them an adrenaline rush. Interaction has a potential to really help the player empathise with the characters. In this game it is not only the player that will win or lose, but also all the characters they have formed relationships with. Their destiny will be in the players' hands.

So hopefully I have expressed why I feel the computer games industry is unhealthily conservative as well as identifying some of the ways I feel we can drive our tools forward.

Technology offers us more choice, as to what depth of interaction with our media we desire. It is all about the level at which we choose to get involved. Computer technologies make it easier to explore worlds with self awareness and control.

But It is important not to forget that there is another level of absorption in narrative.

That people will always want to surrender attention to another’s vision.