We ooh and aah over the cinematic techniques used in Wing Commander. I note with sadness that our attachment to the cinematic metaphor has less to do with its intellectual robustness than with its emotional appeal. If only we had some of that Hollywood stuff, maybe we could be like them. It really is pathetic, this displaced penis envy of ours. What is pernicious about the cinematic metaphor is the way that it distracts our attention from interactivity, the central essence of what we offer to our audience.
Movies have zero interactivity.
All the cinematic wisdom in the world cannot advance the interactivity of our products one iota. Camera angles, animation techniques, pans, zooms, plot twists, and character development can, at best, improve the supporting elements of our interaction. At worst, they crowd the interactivity right out of the design. I am not advocating the total abandonment of the cinematic metaphor. Instead, I am arguing for moderation, for putting the cinematic metaphor in its proper place as an occasionally useful means of expressing difficult concepts in game design, rather than the centrally defining metaphor of our industry.