BioWare: Annual Video Games Lecture 2011

Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, co-founders of the pioneering studio behind BAFTA-winning Mass Effect 2, told a packed audience how video games can be art.

Speaking at a BAFTA event the pair, who helped develop Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect, analysed games using Tolstoy’s definition of art.

“Tolstoy wrote that art is about sharing feelings and emotions,” said Muzyka.

“Any media that can be used to relate emotion can be art. Games are one of those things. Our hypothesis is that all nascent art forms are at some point controversial. So being derided by the mainstream isn’t a bad thing.”

Muzyka and Zeschuk founded BioWare back in 1995. Since the beginning the studio has gained global recognition for acclaimed open-ended role-playing games. Something which Muzyka says gives players a unique emotional experience.

“We’ve been exploring non-linear narratives for two decades,” he said.

“We’re passionate about it because we’ve seen the impact it has on the players – it’s profound. It allows players to revisit experiences and try out new emotional outcomes and feel different things.

“What’s really powerful is when the creator asks the players to make difficult choices, like who lives or dies, when they’ve spent hundreds of hours forming relationships.”

Muzyka also spoke about how games can be influenced by film. Saying their games are designed to be “cinematic” and “use the language of film but in a video-game way”

He asked whether this could become a conversation where what he called “linear media” is influenced by the endless possibilities video games produce.

“It’s an interesting challenge to see if linear media can take some of these aspects that have been developed in a non-linear format to enable choice,” he said.

“Some TV shows are now allowing things like fan voting to see what happens to characters in future episodes. I think some of those things have been driven by the engagement [they’ve seen] players have in video games and trying to capture some of that.”

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