Respawn - Gathering of Game Developers 2015

This session will take an unusual view on storytelling seeing it from two completely different directions. First a philosophical and historical view on why story for human beings is such an essential part of our life and how everything in our world is structured through stories. Secondly how story is also at the core of a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry and why even the biggest brands in the world rely on story. Nowadays one often debated question is if story is threatened by play, spectacle and technical innovations more than it was at the time of Shakespeare. And if so, does this mean that the entertainment industry at large is playing a dangerous game with her audience? In either case, in the gap between play and story lies an answer to the question why the games industry struggles so hard with story and how games can deal with story in a more natural and emotional engaging way.