The Pointer UW-Stevens Point Student Newspaper
Near the end of January, Scott Cawthon released “FNaF World,” the latest installment of his “Five Nights at Freddy’s” series.
While I’ve never played any of his games, this franchise has developed a substantial following over the past two years. As a result there was a great deal of excitement surrounding this new title.
However, in the wake of some poor reviews and fan reactions, Cawthon pulled “FNaF World” off of Steam four days later, promising a refund for everyone who bought it along with a more polished version of the game which will be available online for free.
While Cawthon may not be the first developer to recall a game after its release, this incident has had me thinking a lot about the role and power of the creator in video games as opposed to other story-telling mediums.
After all, once a book or a movie is released to the public, the ability of the author or director to change their work is severely diminished.
While some artists like Ridley Scott, George Lucas, or Chuck Palahniuk have been able to do this over the years, the newer versions or editions of their films or novels are always considered separate from the original material and thus always compared or contrasted against it.
However, when it comes to video games it seems like the artist never loses their ability to sculpt, polish, and build on their work.
Despite the fact that “The Witcher 3″ was released back in May, CD Projekt Red is constantly releasing patches and adding new features to the game’s world and mechanics. And Bungie took their post-release involvement a step further, replacing the voice work of “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage in their title “Destiny” with new voice-overs from Nolan North.
Of course, the notion that a video game will continue to be reshaped, revised, and expanded on after its release is in many ways built into the industry as it exists today. Downloadable content is available for nearly every major franchise on the market, providing both small additions like new skins or weapons along with massive new playable areas and hours of new storylines.
Take “Fallout 3” for example, which introduced an expansion called “Broken Steel.” This expansion simultaneously raised the level cap from twenty to thirty, introduced an entirely new part of the world to play in and explore, and even changed the fundamental structure of the core game’s conclusion.
In many ways, all this speaks to what might be the most important lesson that “FNaF World” and Scott Cawthon have to teach us.
Video games by their nature are an interactive medium in which the passive viewer is given agency in engaging with them, and through that process is transformed into a player. In this regard, perhaps this form of storytelling demands a transformation of its creators as well.
Paul Grosskopf
Reviewer
Pgros301@uwsp.edu
