A recent survey has revealed that gamers feel that video games will soon equal or surpass other forms of entertainment in emotional impact.
More than two thirds of all video gamers feel that video games already surpass, or will soon at least equal movies, music and books in delivering an emotional impact, according to a study released by Bowen Research, a firm that studies consumer attitudes and behavior regarding high tech products, consumer electronics, software and web sites.
Hugh Bowen of Bowen Research said: ...half of all gamers think conveying emotion is extremely or pretty important which suggests that games which can achieve more of this will be extremely popular."
Role-playing games evoked the most powerful emotions, but despite the explosive growth of multiplayer online role-playing games in recent years, most respondents still feel it is the single player role-playing gaming experience that delivers the greatest emotional punch. The next two most emotional genres are first-person shooters, followed closely by action games. Flying games and flight simulators ranked lowest on the emotional scale.
While competitiveness ranked as the top feeling conveyed by games, it's interesting that honor/loyalty/integrity, awe and wonder and delight also were mentioned frequently.
Respondents overwhelmingly cited the Final Fantasy series of role-playing games from Square Enix as the most emotionally rich games, and the death of Aeris in Final Fantasy VII was the scene many people said made them cry.
