The Game Awards for 2016 have come and gone. Every year, Geoff Keighley aims to bring the best in business to one room and awards those which have earned the right to hold gaming’s greatest honours. We are shown games we know and love while also learning about the ones we may have missed. Without fail, I have been left with a truly memorable experience that will stick with me for a long time yet. This year was no different.
There have been a plethora of games that have made an impact this year, probably one of the most packed years for gaming this current generation has seen. Overwatch came out swinging and has taken the world by storm, gamers are littering the battlefield with bodies in WWI, others are chasing their latest Final Fantasy, but one game has gone above and beyond in terms of making an impact.
That Dragon, Cancer was an independent game created by Ryan Green and his loving wife Amy Green at Numinous Games. The overarching story was a heartbreaking and completely surreal journey that was loosely based on their son Joel. As you may have guessed by the title, the game will take you through the emotions and struggles that are caused by their sons diagnosis of cancer as a baby through to his unfortunate passing.
Ryan Green created this experience for many reasons, and I say experience because it is more than just a game, but winning awards was not one of them. Nominated for the “Games for Impact” category against several well received titles, such as Orwell and 1979 Revolution, it was clear it would be a tough race. So when That Cancer, Dragon was announced as the winner, Ryan took to the stage as humbly as a man walking to collect his coffee he had only just ordered a few moments ago. However ,once he was given his moment to speak the emotions instantly gripped him and was left visibly fighting to hold back the tears. As a viewer who was on the other side of the world, I felt his pain and his burden instantly. I wanted nothing more than to join in on the crowd’s thunderous applause to encourage Ryan to speak.
What followed was so pure it made almost everyone that listened filled with empathy and overwhelming joy at the same time. To see this man, a gamer, a father, pour his soul out over the most crippling experience of his life to the world made me remember how important games can be to us; the bond we’ve made with our families, our friends and those we’ve found along the way over countless nights of digital mayhem. Some of us have lost someone very close to us and it affects us all differently but what Ryan has achieved with That Dragon, Cancer has brought other people to together in ways that a one on one golden eye match on Complex can’t achieve.
In his acceptance speech, he explained that videogames are often crafted in a way where the creators are able to tell the story the way they want you to experience it. But what happens when the story is thrust upon you, where you can’t hide your fears or weaknesses, that despite your best efforts at coping, the world will have a different plan for you. Ryan Green wanted the world to know that you don’t always win and you don’t always look like the hero but you are not alone and the world can still be beautiful. His vision for this game was not to set the standard for gameplay – the point and click adventure is admittedly a little clunky – but rather to make an impact and immortalise what he and his wife had with their son Joel.
During his speech, the crowd, and I can only assume the world, was left speechless and even Geoff Keighley was struggling to hold back tears as he tried to transition to the next segment. Geoff even stated that this was the reason he made this awards show, to celebrate developers who contribute to the industry because they want to make an impact.
“You let us tell the story of my son Joel. In the end, it was not the story we wanted to tell. But you chose to love us through our grief by being willing to stop, and to listen, and to not turn away. To let my son Joel’s life change you, because you chose to see him and experience how we loved him. And I have hope that we are all willing to see each other, not just for who we want to be, but who we are and who we’re meant to be. This act of love and grace can change the world. Thank you.”
It’s times like these when we can all take a moment from the console wars, take a step back from our mouse and keyboards to celebrate the gaming industry and to unite as gamers. We always see the heads of the industry telling us about what’s coming out but we seldom get to see and hear about the emotional journey that goes unseen. The graphic designers who spent the last year in a tiny room to create huge worlds that most gamers don’t notice, the women who spent months creating the sounds we take for granted and the writers who pour their soul into a script to have their name forgotten once the credits roll.
Who knows how long That Dragon, Cancer and Ryan Green’s speech will be remembered for. Months, years? I for one hope it inspires many to think differently about games we take for granted these days and know that they really are a gift to us as the players.
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