Cover for the game Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
Emotional investments, what is ment by this? Well basically, it can be to do with literally anything that you have any significant care for and interest in what happens to this person/thing.
More specifically, in the worlds of film and games design, which I think are becomming further and further linked over time due to a players ever increasing expectation of the game they are playing and the life like graphics that are now being created; making an emotional investment is to care about a character/ story or any aspect of a games or film product enough to grasp your concentration and ultimately keep you hooked on it, enough to purchase the product, enjoy it and possibly buy the next installment should there be one.
This theory is also very business orientated, as the producers ultimately want this empotional investment of the specatotor/player because it means that they will be selling the product which of course means money... We do however, expect a certain level of quality and interest when we make these purchases, so these creators arent getting their money for nothing, especially in this ever evolving age of technology and innovation which as a result means that it takes more and more to satisfy us the customer.
Why the hell am I going on about this so much? :/
Because, in order to gather a lot of interest, revenue, and overall success for your product, whether it be a game film or even somethin to do with flash, one of the most important and deciding factors rests on your abilty to make people care about what it is you are making.
Why did so many people tune in to watch the live episode of Eastenders not too long ago? Because many people must have at least cared remotely about Bradley and enough to get them to tune in an watch to find out his fate. The same principal applies here.
For me, just one of many examples of a game that has captured my attention in the past made me become emotionally invested was Street Fighter. At the time, I had a Sony Playstation One and was relatively new and novice to the field of games such as this one. The theme of the game was very simple, the player can either fight against another opponent which could be a friend or the computer controlled AI player, or you could compete in the arcade mode to try and concure each character in which was the 'meat and potatoes' of the game.
Protional poster showing many of the character from the game
What made this game, which to complete, did not take much time, nontheless so compelling to me was the fact that each character/fighter had been so carefully crafted and built up. It wasnt as if the game consisted of a load of crazed maniacs attacking eachother for the sake of doing so. Rather, each character had their own story which gave us an insight into their lives and why they are doing what they are doing. There was a lot of variety and I found that there were at least some character who's style and technique I felt I could relate to. This encouraged me to play the game more and spend more time playing each character, honing their craft and distinguishing each of their different nuances, moods and personalities as well as fighting style.
The reason I used Street Fighter as an example of an emotional investment was because it represents how a game that isnt particuarly multi platformed such as its counterparts at the time (ex. Spyro) can still have longetivety and cause the player to emotionally invest in the game.
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