You're not supposed to be emotionally changed by a game. In fact, if you feel like a changed person after a game ends, it probably means you're gullible. But the same thing happens with any form of entertainment: movies, books, Cirque du Soleil, whatever.

The best entertainment can do is change you for small flickers of moments or, at best, the full experience. At the end, you'll probably just return to your normal self (perhaps a little changed but just a little). Even after reading such a sweeping classic like The Odyssey, I still feel like myself. Much like after you play Final Fantasy (place any digit here), you're not going to be anyone except yourself. So to say that games will change your philosophical outlook or your spiritial core would be farfetched. But if a game can make you change just a little then it has done its job to have some meaning.

"No", he said. "If I'm going to invest my time in entertainment, I want it to have meaning. There's no meaning to games".

There's a vast group of people that want something more than just a fun diversion; namely, those that watch movies and books. If we "gamers" keep "games" to the "I just want to have fun" demographic, then we limit games at the same time. I, for one, want to see games flourish beyond that point and have an impact on as many people as it can reach.

"Until games can offer the emotional range and depth of the entertainment, many of these people will never be lured into playing games."

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	zigfried - February 10, 2006 (09:05 PM) I don't have much to say in response right now (except that I'm gullible), but I did want to acknowledge that someone in the world did read this. //Zig
	janus - February 11, 2006 (10:22 AM) But for any any movie or book to have lasting impact it needs to be a fun diversion first of all, otherwise what keeps you watching or reading it? I think that those games that are fun often carry plenty of impact -- I find Call of Duty 2 on Veteran difficulty to be a far more evocative depiction of war than Saving Private Ryan. I'm not so sure about "meaning", but I play games for challenge. Can any movies or books give you the same sense of achievement you get when you beat Halo on Legendary? I found plenty of meaning in this, because I was pushing myself, and I can't get this anywhere else (unless I start athletics or something). If people would rather sit through the latest Tom Hanks movie than play a game with the depth and range of something like Ocarina or Panzer Dragoon Orta then that's their loss.
	draqq_zyxx - February 11, 2006 (03:20 PM) Yes, that is true. A game has to have sound gameplay mechanics and, well, entertain. That's there job. Part One. But my gripe is many games stop at part one, some may get to Part Two with some aesthetics and adequate storyline, but very few get Part Three and beyond.