Do you like Reading in Video Games?

It really depends on the game, but usually yes. I read everything the first runs I had with Skyrim and Fallout 3+, and back when I played WoW (before the first expansion, I believe) I read the quest text as well as books laying around the cities (and carried that through Guild Wars 2). Read the emails and stuff in the newer Prey / Deus Ex games.

I even loved the Mass Effect lore so much I read not just every Codex entry, but the descriptions for every planet. Even the stats like temperature and such. Halo didn't have much until Terminals became a thing but I read those as well (and also like every book that's been made of the series). And you can't leave out Persona 4/5.

I have bad vision and a big tv to combat that problem while playing games. Reading some stuff is fine, but I like RPGs like dragon age. They have books of texts in that game and I have a problem reading it on my tv cause they almost never put any sizing abilities into game. I would read it all if I could transfer it to a screen better set up for my personal taste.

For the most part, when a game pops a wall of text at me, I don't bother reading it. Only sometimes when I'm really invested in the game.

Other than that, when it just makes sense for the game to give me lots of text, I'll obviously read it. Like the Ace Attorney series, love those games and love the story. And the game is pretty much all about reading.

If it's short, like two paragraphs maximum, I'll read the whole thing. I usually start out reading everything, but eventually my will depletes. For instance, in Fallout games I'm probably not going any reading past the 20 hours mark.

Some stuff, like, Mass Effect, is so dense that I don't even bother from the jump. It goes back to the most basic rule of storytelling: SHOW DON'T TELL. Granted, those games sometimes do a decent enough job of showing, or showing just enough that you become interested enough to look at the "telling."

Depends on how it's presented. The witcher 3 has good writing all around, but reading notes/diaries was a pain because of how tiny the text is, and it was presented in the standard UI interface font. Then you have games like gone home where a large percentage of the game is reading, so they go the extra mile to present it in a really cool way (high res scans of documents made in the real world).

@zebasteroid: I agree with this. I've been replaying Oblivion and love the books and other little bits of lore, but most of the time when I'm actually talking to people I just skip through the dialogue. There's exceptions like Sheogorath and the DB stuff but most NPCs I'd rather be getting on my way.

Journal Entry #3032: I've been hearing scary noises at night, they sound like they are headed right for me, oh no they ARE headed right for me! As I currently write this journal entry the scary monster noises are inside my room, but I'll keep writing this journal I will! Now I see the scary monster noises are indeed attached to actual monsters! I know this because they are eating my flesh! Stop eating my flesh scary monsters! You're interrupting my journal writing! Well, I guess I'm dead now, that sucks.

Like a lot of people in this thread, it depends, it's not a flat out yes or no, some writing is abysmally silly, some really adds to the lore and is almost addicting to unlock and read.
More people write journals and diaries in video games than in real life that's for sure.

I prefer written over voiced dialogue. I really enjoyed the speech bubbles of golf story. When it comes to lore and background I like to read it in horror games.

I feel like written content has a lot of untapped potential, for instance it could have been used in smarter ways for Wticher 3. Making you really research stuff.

@zolroyce: The ratio of dead or alive people who write diaries in games is heavily weighed towards the dead. If you want to make it out of a hostile environment, don't leave notes around for the next adventurer to find on your corpse. Although maybe they died because they were too busy writing these notes instead of trying not to die.

I'm staunchly in the "show, don't tell" camp. Besides, text on a screen is hard to read for extended periods of time. Narration (especially narration I can play over actual gameplay) helps, but if the game wants to dump a load of lore on me, I'm probably not playing the right game for me anyway.

I guess if it's good? Don't love it when games just dump loads of optional exposition on you at once (datalogs) but there are some games where writing is one of the main attractions.

I enjoy reading. Ideally I prefer it when it's not the only method of storytelling - but there are a ton of cases where voice acting or other similar alternatives are awkward or unrealistic for a game's size/scope. I'm totally okay with reading dialogue or other text-based narrative.

I'm a reader so I enjoy reading in my video games. Something like in Bethesda games is nice and back in the day I loved all that Morrowind had me read.

It really depends on the context. If it's handled in bits and chunks, doled out appropriate times, absolutely. But I remember absolutely hating the delivery of the side-stories in Lost Odyssey, despite how well written they appeared to be. If I want to read a book, I don't want to do it on my TV screen.

If the writing's good then I'm happy to read it. Also would prefer just text instead of bad voice acting, ruined FFX for me. I like a long, well written story to lose myself in, the methods/medium don't matter to me so much.

I feel like there are some games where you REALLY miss out if you aren't reading all the flavor text/memos etc.

There's a lot of stuff in those that wouldn't feel right being shoe-horned into the main narrative/dialogue but really help you better understand the world, setting, and background of a game. Even things like posters on a wall really add to a game's atmosphere.

I think it's a real shame that a lot of people skip this stuff.

I am shocked I am in the minority in this one. I do love a good book, but reading in a game is a rare thing for me - I do have some cases when I do read every last bit, but I must really like that game to do that. That being said I do give it a shot in every game that uses this - for example when I buy the new Prey one of these days, I'll probably read everything during the first hour or two and then decide if it's worth it. Ussually it's not.

Depends on the game. But yeah I tend to like heavy writing when it's good. Don't have much patience for meh or bad stuff though.

If the lore is interesting, absolutely.

@maelstromtear: Hah, that is a very good point, it's like the rules of survival in Scream, but for games. Don't ever write a journal or you are dead and it's your own bloody fault.

Not really

If I want to read something I'll open an actual book or something

In games I want an interactive experience that doesn't involve much reading. This explains why I disliked Witcher 3. That game has enough reading material to make you mental.

It usually adds flavor to a setting or gives you more insight into information that may have been brought up in passing without much explanation. Reading in "story driven" video games is a must, and it usually works out to the benefit of the game depending on the level of writing.

It depends on how long it is, and what the content is. Take, for instance, the worst kind, in my opinion, is the myriad of books in Skyrim with a handful of pages talking about incidental details about the world at large. Perhaps it's just because I don't care for Elder Scrolls enough, but all of that is a bore to me. When it comes to those kinds of things in games, I don't like it, otherwise, I'm fine. Well, to be honest, if something takes me more than three minutes to read in a game, I don't care for it unless the content that's in there is important to fully understand what's going on. I sometimes sigh, scoff or groan (or something like that) when something is more than one page too. To me, it has to be important enough to the story for me to care. Rarely that's not the case though. I am not a huge fan of Quantum Break, but there's one good bit of text in there that keeps coming up throughout about a guy writing a script for a movie he's trying to sell someone on, and it's a bit funny.

The writing isn't "always weak". It's weak in most mainstream games, yeah. But some of my favorite games of all time work solely because of their writing. Planescape Torment, Nier, Undertale, A Thousand Years of Dreams from Lost Odyssey, Fallout 1&2 (the only good Fallout games, though New Vegas is okay). Hell, pretty much anything trying to tell a story pre-PS1 era had to rely on writing. Also funny that you point out Skyrim. The actual story in Elder Scrolls games is godawful.

Edit: Almost forgot, Pyre is another good one that I finished recently.

Depends on the game. Been a while since I've played it, but I remember Okami having a crazy amount of reading and I hated it.

I don't mind it when there's clearly been some thought as to font size choice and contrast with the background. Being able to zoom in on text is a must, too.

I don't mind it, usually, but sometimes it gets a bit much. I almost never skip it regardless, though.

I think its a decent way to have a story going on in the background if you don't want it taking focus or won't make sense as dialogue. (I assume you mean games with lore books/diary entries/text logs/ etc.)

I like reading, but I also enjoy a voice reading it for me.

Even if I deliberatly choose to deactivate voice action and enable subtitles I still find myself enjoying the game. So its a double win for me!

Hell no, I barely want to read dialogue boxes so codecs/lore text/books are an absolute zero on the give-a-shit-o-meter. I could not care less about the stupid made up history of a shitty game story.

I can play through text-heavy or story-heavy games, but I never engage in the facet of games like Fallout etc. where there is so much environmental text. Logs after logs, people leaving behind books of lore etc. I think it's awesome that stuff is in there, but while I'm quietly exploring a cavern or something, I would rather have that information spoken to me while I play than have to sit through a mountain of text about some guy's food rations on his weekend hiking trips. And it's not like that stuff is uninteresting to me, it's just the pace-killer of stopping everything to read it.

I like reading good books and I like reading well written videogames.

Try playing Supergiant Games' Pyre.

The whole, "If I want to read I'll read a book," argument sounds so bizarre to me. It sounds like a philistine comment, yet it's only excluding one particular medium from the other, so I don't know what to call it. I hear people make the same argument about subtitled movies, and it holds no water there either to me. Good storytelling should always be welcomed, and bad storytelling shouldn't be, no matter the format. Not liking it is fine, but to have this black and white view that games are this and books are that is letting yourself be limited by arbitrary rules you've placed on yourself. I don't watch a movie and go, "Gaaah, if I wanted talking I'd watch a talk show!"

Most mediums have told stories in written form in some way. Video games are no different; they've been like a mixture of movies and books (and sports) for almost as long as they've existed.

As for The Elder Scrolls series, the books and writing in Morrowind are pretty great at times, but the other games . . . no.

If the writing is good yes, but most games have tons of lore items and stuff that is so dull and poorly written.

@brunothethird: lol what do you think people are implying by saying if they want to read they'd read a book? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it means they don't like reading whilst playing a video game. I really don't know why that seems so bizarre to you. You can't simply tell somebody what should and shouldn't be welcomed to them, that's no how the world works.

@frodobaggins: I didn't really say that, I said if you don't like it it's of course fine, good or bad, but there's no need to separate the mediums entirely with a knife if you can choose to not read that optional material. I just stop playing or stop reading the logs and whatnot if they're badly done or particularly intrusive.

I don't think I told anyone else how to feel or made a comment that shows deep misunderstanding of how the world works.

Absolutely, in most cases. I especially like finding writings that tell their own ongoing stories piece by piece as you play through yours. Beats audiologs any day. (with exception, of course... BioShock's audiologs are still Best In Show)

if I just don't find the story interesting/it's not a game I play for story, then I'll just skim for keycodes or secrets or whatever and move on without a thought.

Two games I'm playing right now are a good contrast: Amnesia and Sniper Elite 4. Every time I replay Amnesia, I have to read the lore. It feels as much a part of the gameplay as the actual stealth and puzzle solving. Sniper Elite 4 (and previous entries)? No turkey to be had at this Fucksgiving. Just point me at the Nazis and give me plenty of rifle ammo, set Xray cam to frequent, throw on some music, everything else is just taking time away from schüt.

This really varies from game to game, but since you caught me at the end of going through the excellent first person puzzler The Turing Test, yes. Reading through some of the crew reports on their situation is oddly gripping and really got me into the backstory. Also, it's clear the people who made the game are really into space exploration and astronomy as they sprinkled in quite a few cool details in the game. It adds a great deal of flavor if you feel like seeking it out.

@brunothethird: I just think it's short sighted to think it's bizarre that people wouldn't like reading in a video game, or wouldn't like subtitled films as you bring up that's all.

@frodobaggins: I didn't say that is the only thing I take an issue with. I would agree completely if I had said I found it bizarre some people don't like reading in games, but I actually didn't, I centered my confusion around the "If I want to read I'll read a book," version of the argument specifically.

I also didn't say I found it bizarre some people don't like subtitled films. I was saying I found it bizarre when people said they didn't like them and use that same phrase I quoted.

With all respect, I don't think I was being short-sighted. I think you've conflated my issue with the wording of that argument with an issue regarding people's dislike of reading in games in general.

@brunothethird: ok. I do wish the writing it video games was better. Snippets here and there but for the most part blah. Probably is a smart idea to read a book if I want to read, the writing is much better lol.

So a poorly written book is better than a well written game, because it's a book? Or all well written books are automatically better than all well written games? I didn't know something being written down one way versus another automatically made it better or worse, or even comparable in the same ways. Book good, game bad. I'm a big fan of the middle-ground, personally. It's smart to read anything good if it's in your lap in any context, not only read one type of thing that's good. There's room for both.

Games have a history of poor writing, but there are some amazing highlights in that mire, and it'll continue to improve I hope.

@brunothethird: I didn't say that

Now you're the one putting words in my mouth mate ;)

In summary, I don't like reading in video games. Seems most do however. Great. I'm happy there are countless different types of games to suit all players. Thanks for the chat.

I asked you two loaded questions, and I did assume it was one of those two based on your previous comment, but I was being somewhat rhetorical in all honesty. It drives my mother crazy!

I don't like reading in games in general either, by the way.

Yes, I love reading the lore in Dishonored and Skyrim as their worlds fascinate me and I want to know more about them.

No. Only if it's small pieces in a form of documents like The Evil Within 2 and Silent Hill. Long draggy stuff bore me to death. I struggled playing Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. I literally fell asleep halfway, which is something I've never done before. Boring as hell! Hotel Dusk: Room 215 on the other hand was super fun because it's has a great balance of dialogue and puzzle solving.

Something like Zelda, sure. Something like Pillars of Eternity (which I'm really trying to like)? No. But not because I've always hated reading. I used to love it and I would read entire fantasy anthologies no problem.

About 4 or 5 years ago, I was moving a couch for a friend. Picked it up, something went wrong and my vision got blurry and I went deaf. Lasted about 10 minutes. Idk wtf actually happened, but ever since then I get motion sick (which is triggered by weird things) and I have trouble concentrating and comprehending when it comes to reading for more than a few paragraphs. I sometimes have to read something 2 or 3 times to make sure I understand it.

So no, not fond of reading much anymore.

@zebasteroid: Does it ruin your enjoyment of the game by having the Subtitles on like that?

@jameskond: Do you feel that they add anything to the game world or are they just filler?

@nicksmi56: Have you ever read a book about video game lore? The Halo books come to mind.

@pavlovianhell:I do completely agree with your observation but i feel that if the question was "Do you like reading good writing in video games?" would have polarized people in one direction over the other, asking a more generic question lead to better answers i think.

It sounds odd when you end characters' dialogues in the middle of their sentences. So yeah, a little bit. I think I'd prefer having subtitles and no voice acting, rather than voice acting and no subtitles.

I play visual novels, which are more or less nothing but reading. My main issue is that I’m a slow reader, so it can take me longer to play through a game compared to other people who skim or read faster than me.