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'Coming of Age...' in videogames?
bsjezz
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm an English teacher and for an upcoming unit I'll be focusing on 'Rites of Passage' narratives, especially those that explore the transition to adulthood. In our scope and sequence there's a call to focus on multimedia and visual texts: my class of teenage boys has been pretty good this term so I'd like to push forward with something new and engaging for them and look at a videogame or two, if I can find some.
I'm looking for games that explore this as a primary theme. I'm searching my head and not coming up with much. Passage comes to mind: indie games like this are optimal because often the mechanics are part of the discussion about how ideas are represented, rather than just a shooter or an adventure game with a coming-of-age element to the cinematics. Can anyone else think of anything that might fit the bill?
I'm looking for games that explore this as a primary theme. I'm searching my head and not coming up with much. Passage comes to mind: indie games like this are optimal because often the mechanics are part of the discussion about how ideas are represented, rather than just a shooter or an adventure game with a coming-of-age element to the cinematics. Can anyone else think of anything that might fit the bill?
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It's also got a prohibitive classification, sadly
Gone Home is a super good idea. I haven't played it myself but I might give it a run through to see what I can come up with
Not sure how mature you want this to be, but Broken Age kinda meets a lot of the bildungsroman tropes. You've got two adolescents living in their parents' world/structure, who reject that structure and try to escape it or surpass it, get themselves into trouble in the process, grow a bit away from their parents in the process, begin to recognize their parents as just ordinary flawed people instead of superbeings etc. However, the treatment of all of these themes is extremely light, so I don't know how well it would work for an in-depth classroom discussion.
Psychonauts by the same studio also has bildungsroman elements. The lead character runs away from his parents' home, which he feels trapped by, finds a new "voice of authority" / surrogate parent figure to look up to, gets himself mixed up in a lot of trouble, makes up with father at the end, etc. But once again, the bildungsroman elements are very light, so not sure it makes for a good classroom discussion in that respect. All the "video gamey stuff", which has little to do with the bildungsroman stuff, takes front and center for 98% of the game.
Most JRPGs (Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, etc) could be seen as a bildungsroman (they're basically japanese anime The Goonies with monsters and hit points). But again, there probably isn't anything super substantial in there for a great discussion.
I think Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a pretty strong recommendation, and it might even make for better discussion since there is no actual text---everything in the story is sort of emoted or implied through behavior. That could make for good conversation as everyone discusses how they interpreted in any given situation what each brother was going through and how each brother changed based on observed behavior. (For example, if you haven't played the game,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Alone_(video_game)
It's about a young indigenous Alaskan girl overcoming trials to save her village. There's narration rather than dialogue, but overall I really enjoyed this game.
Does that make it an actual coming-of-age story, though? Or just a story about a young boy's particular situation?
Usually these stories have a number of tropes in common, give or take:
--Young person's parent(s) is either dead, becomes dead at the beginning, or else is otherwise absent for all or most of the story. (It's debatable whether Earthbound meets this one.)
--Young person grows weary of the values and way of life at home (may even resent their parents / authority figures) and so they reject it and set out to prove they can do things on their own and make their own ideal life with their own values, etc etc. (Earthbound: Set out on their own? Check. Rejecting parents' life/values? Not so check.)
--The young person often goes on a journey that takes them from "small quaint place" to "huge urban/foreign place". It doesn't have to literally be traveling from the farm to the big city, but that is usually the visceral feeling of the journey undertaken. (Earthbound: Check.)
--Young person faces a number of challenges on the journey, but their greatest struggle is against themselves. (Earthbound: Facing external challenges: check. Facing internal challenges: Other than homesickness, not so check.)
--Heavy emphasis on achieving independence / being independent all throughout. (Earthbound: Debatable. This is a game where you regularly suffer from homesickness and have to call your parents and ask for money, etc, and this is characterized as a positive thing--i.e. as opposed to independence from this being the positive thing.)
--Reflection/Introspection (Earthbound, and video games generally, don't seem to do this often or well.)
--Usually there is an ultimate "moment of truth" where a thing happens that suddenly puts everything into perspective for the young person. Often times this moment of learning will be accompanied by an explanation or reflection from an adult-surrogate-parent figure as the young person is still in the moment of coming to terms with this growth. (Earthbound: can't think of one.)
--Young person often reconciles with parents' (or other authority figures') values / way of life in the end or sees their parents' values / way of life from a new, more appreciative/understanding perspective. (Earthbound: Nes never really struggles against his parents or the world in an internal way, so this never really happens.)
JRPGs present themselves as coming-of-age stories in all the external ways. Kids set out on their own, go on a journey, there are struggles, there are no parents, they learn things about the world, there is an "ultimate" moment at the end (final boss confrontation!!!) etc. But the problem with JRPGs is that they are entirely concerned with the external and/or interpersonal, whereas coming-of-age stories are all about personal growth. JRPGs give you levels and experience points that simulate "personal growth" as a quantity, but that strips everything meaningful from personal growth. For this type of story, there is a lot going in the character internally, but JRPGs (and video games generally) are not usually very good at (or particularly concerned with) conveying that part of the story.
(Note: Sorry for huge walls-o-text, but it is very rare that I encounter people talking about games in a literary way so when I see it I get a little ENTHUSIASTIC.)
The coming-of-age elements in the MOTHER series, including several that you mentioned, are a little more explicit in the first and third entries. I think they also have a bit more literary merit than Earthbound itself, much as I love it.
Itoi likes to infer things indirectly, and his coming-of-age is a bit more Hemingway-existentialist (a beginning in innocence, with adulthood coming about through exposure to death, loss, assumption of responsibility for others) than the more Romantic/Byronic thing that a lot of traditional coming-of-age stories do.
As far as more traditional coming-of-age stories go, the first one that pops into my mind is ICO.
Also, it's pretty much omnipresent now, but Undertale works.
Is a shortish platformer that can be completed in a couple hours also
I agree with this recommendation. Child of light is, as per the writer/developer, a coming of age story told through a fairy-tale lens. However, it does have a 15-20 hour playtime, which probably won't work so great for a class. It might be possible to burn through in less time if you stay to the main story all the way through and play on easy.
Definitely think the Mother series is the closest to fitting the bill, particularly Mother 3.
The World Ends With You sort of works. Neku's arc involves growing up from a self-centered, asocial teenager and caring more about the people around him. The game also has some interesting things to say about how teenagers try on many different clothes and looks as they grow into their own personalities. I'm thinking of Shiki's arc in particular here.
Another, simpler example is the Indie game "Loved." Basically a simple 2D platformer, but one with an overbearing authority figure (generally assumed to be a parent) issuing orders, and the world changes based on whether you follow those actions. That said, it's a short game, so you'll probably only get 5-10 minutes, possibly twice that if you get both of the endings.
Never Alone is a really rad game with co-op play, and if you want to know more about it you can just ask one of the developers, he posts on the PA forums (and he's also a mod).
Yeah good idea. Persona 4's got too much lol Japan anyways.