26
How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves 1 How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of ...and+Interactivity.pdf · How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of ... Taylor Coleridge ... games to the

  • Upload
    voanh

  • View
    215

  • Download
    1

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

1

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect

the Interactivity of Video Games?

Joe Neeves

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

2

Abstract

This report examines the role of narratives in interactive experiences, beginning with

an analysis of the compelling nature of narratives themselves. Through combining a

traditional definition of narratives (Aristotle, 335BC) and a modern distinction between a

game’s context, story, and narrative, (Juul, 2001; 2002) it examines how the principles of

ludology and narratology, (Frasca, 2003) reflect both the immense possibilities for

narrative-based interactive experiences, and the inherent flaws with combining linear

stories with diverging gameplay and interactivity. Focusing on the issue of player agency, it

also examines narratives in relation to emergent gameplay (Holland 1997), extending this

to the exogenous narratives often seen from YouTube gaming content creators, forming

their own emergent and meaningful gameplay that is centred on a video game world, but

existing outside of it.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

3

Contents

Table of Illustrations …………………………………………………………………………………………………… p.03

Imagination ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… p.04

Early Game Structures ………………………………………………………………………………………………… p.05

Interactivity & A Sense of Agency ……………………………………………………………………………… p.08

Emergence & Experimentation…………………………………………………………………………………… p.17

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… p.21

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… p.22

Table of Illustrations

Figure 1: Namco (1980) Pac-Man

Figure 2: Spierling, Ulrike (2005) Interactive Digital Storytelling: Towards a Hybrid

Conceptual Approach. p.8. Available from: <http://www.digra.org/wp-

content/uploads/digital-library/06278.24521.pdf> [Accessed 12th September 2015]

Figure 3: Salen, Katie and Zimmerman, Eric (2004) Rules of Play: Game Design

Fundamentals. Cambridge Mass/London England: MIT Press.

Figure 4: Dontnod Entertainment (2015) Life is Strange

Figure 5: Sega (2005) Shadow the Hedgehog

Figure 6: Rockstar Games (2011) L.A. Noire

Figure 7: Telltale Games (2012) The Walking Dead

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

4

Imagination

The human race's enjoyment of stories is a constant in our past; going back farther

than we can record, people have created narratives in imaginary worlds to share with their

children, their friends, and almost anyone who would listen. This desire to create and share

fictional universes is so influential that in 1795, renowned poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge

not only described the ability to imagine as a “divinely-appointed attribute,” (Wolf, 2012)

but that to “develop the powers of the Creator” (Coleridge, 1795) was also our “proper

employment” (Coleridge, 1795) that is to say; our duty as human beings.

Wolf, interpreting the work of psychologists John Tooby and Leda Cosmides,

proposed a more scientific reasoning behind our desire to imagine; that of evolution. They

argue that to be able to imagine situations without acting upon them holds “great value

for humans both in survival and reproduction,” (Wolf, 2012) and that humans have

“evolved special cognitive systems that enable us to participate in these fictional worlds.”

(Wolf, 2012) This evolutionary involvement with the ability to imagine would certainly

explain our fascination with the fictional – our imagination is embedded firmly in our

instinct.

It is not surprising then, that this instinct would give birth to the multitude of media

that we now consume nigh-constantly. The fictional creations of others permeate every

aspect of our daily lives; whether it be television, films, or books. Our desire for more

worlds to experience led to overlaps in these media – books become television shows,

television shows become films, and films become books, so hungry are we to dive into

another's imagination. From this hunger, emerged narrative video games – a new aspect of

game design, in a media which offered an intensity of interactivity which surpassed even

the Jackson and Livingstone Fighting Fantasy adventure books of the 1980s. Certainly,

video games would be a fantastic platform for new narratives to immerse ourselves in.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

5

Early Game Structures

Traditionally, games didn't feature explicit narratives – board games such as

Monopoly, though originally created to demonstrate the pitfalls of private monopolies,

evolved into an experience where the context of real-estate competition is treated as

secondary to the physical playing of the game. Juul explains that this trend continued into

early video games as well, citing Taito's 1977 game Space Invaders, in which “a prehistory

is suggested … An invasion presupposes a situation before the invasion. It is clear from the

science fiction we know that these aliens are evil and should be chased away.” (Juul, 2001)

Thus, the stage is set for the game to begin.

But in Space Invaders, just as in Monopoly, the context of the game is entirely

irrelevant to the playing; “If we play Space Invaders, we find that we cannot actually restore

the initial state; we cannot win since every wave of aliens is followed by another.” (Juul,

2001) The narrative is entirely static, and regardless of the outcome of the game, it will

remain static forever more. In this way, it could be seen that the contexts of such games

are too insufficient to be classified as narratives at all. In Poetics, Aristotle wrote that not

only does a narrative require a beginning, middle and end, but also that “an end … is that

which itself naturally follows some other thing, either by necessity, or as a rule, but has

nothing following it.” (Aristotle, 335BC)

Space Invaders has a beginning; that of the start of the invasion; and arguably a

middle; the experience of playing the game. Yet as Juul describes, there is no end; the

invasion cannot be defeated, the player doomed to endlessly repeat the process until they

are finally defeated. Whilst this solemn expression of futility is certainly thought-provoking,

it comes from a lack of finality programmed into the game, rather than an intentional

abstraction of the game’s context. This trend carries through a large number of early

games – in the original version of Namco's 1980 game Pac-Man, should the player be able

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

6

to complete the first 255 levels, instead of ending, the game instead malfunctions, creating

an impossible 256th level, ending the game through the inability to complete it.

Arsenault argues that Aristotle's definition is insufficient now, describing how “the

term 'narrative' has acquired a number of distinctive definitions … becoming an

increasingly engrossing and complex word.” (Arsenault, 2005) This is particularly true given

that it wasn't made with respect to video games, or even digital media of any kind. His

tenets, however, still apply so rigorously to other forms of narrative-driven media that it

would seem exclusionary to not subject games to the same narrative expectations we hold

of other art forms. In the case of Space Invaders and Pac-Man, it is difficult to consider

what little context they provide as a narrative. The interaction allowed is minimal at best,

and the games instead rely on what Holland would term emergence; a phenomenon he

likens to ant colonies or the global economy, where “the behaviour of the whole is much

more complex than the behaviour of its parts.” (Holland, 1997) In other words, simple rules

beget complex situations. The rules of Space Invaders and Pac-Man create effortless

interaction with the game's systems, but not with their narrative – or lack thereof.

The key difference that must be addressed is that of interacting with a game, and

interacting with a game's narrative. More traditional emergence-based games gave way to

a more modern style of progression-based game, as Juul describes: “Progression games

Figure 1: Level 256 of Pac-Man becomes impossible to complete.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

7

are historically new, beginning with the adventure game.” (Juul, 2002) The first games

developed were little more than new versions of old, physical games. Atari's 1972 release

PONG – what most would consider the first commercially successful video game – was

simply electronic table tennis. It is only in more recent decades that developers have made

games centred on a narrative – some more literally that others, in the case of Bioshock,

whose entire world began from Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. These games, among

others, make use of what Juul describes as “progression structures”; (Juul, 2002) systems –

often presented in the form of a small quest – which move the player along a storyline

when certain criteria are met. This evolution from emergence-based games to games with

narrative elements continued, with even more recent games becoming entirely narrative-

based, such as The Chinese Room's Dear Esther, or the variety of choice-driven narratives

from Telltale Games. From this evolution, a new type of experience can be derived from

video games – the same intellectual stimulation that we feel from reading a book, or

watching a film.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

8

Interactivity & A Sense of Agency

A common criticism of narrative-heavy games is the lack of interactivity they

provide. Dear Esther was critically acclaimed for its atmosphere and artistic direction, but

many questioned its status as a game. Games journalist Tadhg Kelly wrote: “a game is not

defined simply by the ability to walk, but to cause meaningful change within it.” (Kelly,

2012) He argues that a game must give the player a sense of agency, or be one-

dimensional and shallow.

Whilst agency is certainly a key factor in determining one's enjoyment of a game,

Murray explains why games must explore the different aspects of gaming, and experiment

with what makes the media great; “the key to [developing film making] was seizing on the

unique physical properties of film … By aggressively exploring and exploiting these

physical properties, filmmakers changed a mere recording technology into an expressive

medium.” (Murray, 1998) Though Dear Esther didn't make use of the interactivity that

games make possible, it still provided a new experience; similar to a film or audio book, yet

with a unique exploratory aspect that could only occur within a game. Even in The Chinese

Room's second game, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, the game had a “nihilistic, languishing,

pervasive horror,” (Ellison, 2013) despite being “mainly a linear sightseeing tour.” (Croshaw,

2013)

Murray explains how this is possible; “Procedural environments are appealing to us

not just because they exhibit rule-generated behaviour but because we can induce the

behaviour. They are responsive to our input.” (Murray, 1998) By simply allowing the player

to input commands, there is interaction, even if said interaction is only skin-deep. This

argument stands in stark contrast to Costikyan's, however, who argues that “Interaction

has no game value in itself. Interaction must have a purpose.” (Costikyan, 2000) A Machine

for Pigs provided little more interaction than Dear Esther did before it; the linear path was

spotted with the occasional puzzle or scare, but at no point could you change the course

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

9

of the game. It is entirely static; the puzzles have only a single solution, and until it is

reached, the game is halted. By Costikyan's words, the interaction is meaningless – success

or failure means nothing within the context of the game. The player either succeeds and

continues, or doesn't, and the game is over for them.

The conflict of opinions between Murray and Costikyan only scratches the surface of

an ongoing debate between narratologists and ludologists. Frasca summarises their points

of view thusly; narratologists focus on the role of “external observers [who concern

themselves with] what has happened,” (Frasca, 2003) whilst ludologists deal with “involved

players [who focus on] what is going to happen.” (Frasca, 2003) It is the differences in how

the subject is approached that this debate stems from, highlighting an important

difference between how the two schools of thought approach games as as form of

entertainment. Arsenault cites the 2002 title Splinter Cell when discussing these directions:

“The game relies on the importation of elements external to its system (in this case, a

player’s expertise at aiming, and his knowledge of the room layout and of the guards’

positions) rather than the manipulation of its internal elements.” In Splinter Cell, the lack of

in-game progression manufactures a scenario where success depends on the real-world

skills of the player. The game is always consistent, and the entertainment is provided

through real-world perseverance and the acquiring of new skills, much as a non-digital

hobby, such as painting, does. If mechanical interaction can create this kind of

entertainment, then surely the same can be said for the enjoyment of immersion in a

narrative of a book or film.

When it comes to agency, Spierling discusses Crawford and Stern's argument that

“an artwork is “really interactive” only if it not merely “talks” to the audience, but also

“listens” and then “thinks” over suitable reactions.” (Spierling, 2005) In her diagram, she

explains how the point at which the player is allowed to interact determines how much the

main character is controlled by the game, and conversely, how much autonomy the player

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

10

can exhibit whilst playing.

At the lowest level of agency, the player only has control over their 'Cursor

Feedback' - the most basic of interaction with the game's surface systems. Manipulating

the user-interface, walking, and character customisation all fall under the umbrella of

cursor feedback. In general, this kind of interaction with the game offers significant control

over the places you walk to and the way you look. These are – within the realm of

narrative-driven games – entirely inconsequential.

This problem demonstrates the lack of fluidity within digital game structures. Wolf

describes how “Worlds, unlike stories, need not rely on narrative structures, though stories

are always dependent on the worlds in which they take place.” (Wolf, 2012) In this way, it is

easy to see why narrative games are often so restricting. They provide an experience in

games whose interactivity cannot be rivalled in literature or cinema. Juul argues, however,

that in order for a narrative to be considered as such, it “must be retellable in other media.”

(Juul, 2002) Though moving a narrative from a game to a more static medium would

certainly remove the interactivity the game allows for, the story itself – or at least one

instance of the story, in the case of choice-based games such as Life is Strange – would

easily make for an enjoyable viewing experience. This transition from game to book or film,

Figure 2: Levels of agency and it's effect on the control and autonomy of the game.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

11

is harder to accomplish in the opposite direction.

As Juul describes, “there is no such thing as a continuously interactive story.” (Juul,

2001) There will always be limitations to the experience; there will always come a point

where the player has to be restrained. Narrative games are games of progression, not of

emergence, and so “everything that happens in a branching narrative is explicitly pre-

determined.” (Juul, 2002) At the edge of the game world, there will inevitably be an

impassable barrier. In a conversation, there is always a limited selection of responses.

Costikyan argues that in “try[ing] to make a game more like a story by imposing arbitrary

decision points, you make it less like a game.” (Costikyan, 2000) By forcing the gameplay

through funnels, it constricts the amount of autonomy the player has, thereby limiting their

interaction with both the game's systems and its narrative.

This is as much a technological restriction as it is a developmental one – as

Arsenault describes; “it is impossible for a game designer to write and implement a

storyline with enough branching narratives to suit every possible unfolding of a player’s

experience.” (Arsenault, 2005) Unlike a real-life role-playing game such as Dungeons and

Dragons, in video games, there are no Dungeon Masters that can use their imagination to

improvise a suitable response to anything the players say or do. Video games are not

infinite worlds in and of themselves, and so at some point, when telling a story, the game

must set the player back on the course the story requires them to be on. Until technology

evolves to develop games that can “listen and then think over suitable reactions,”

(Spierling, 2005) true interaction cannot take place.

Compounding this effect is the way in which the player interacts with the

game itself, regardless of the existence or non-existence of a narrative. In order for a player

to feel connected to a playable character, they must be able to act entirely as they wish.

Often, this is achieved through a first-person camera, and a silent or quiet protagonist. In a

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

12

2003 study, Brand and Knight discovered that, of the games studied, “only 41% of the lead

characters spoke and only 10% spoke frequently,” (Brand & Knight, 2003) leaving 59% of

protagonists studied completely silent, so as to not contradict the player's role play of the

character. Despite this, the limitations of a forced narrative often eventually separate the

protagonist and the player, usually when the story continues in a direction that the player

could have avoided, if the game allowed for it.

New technologies also suffer from this issue; in the teaser for Abductions: The Hum

– a virtual reality game which sees your baby kidnapped by aliens – you see a mother,

rushing to her baby's room because of a bright light and loud noise. Her voice is distressed

and her breathing ragged, but the player, unable to open the door, simply stands back, as

the mother continues to shout. Instead of trying to force the door open, the player stands

still, creating a disconnect between the character and the player. Arsenault describes this

type of disconnect in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, in which, after effortlessly

dealing with half of the boss' health, he “then had to watch a confusing cut-scene in which

[his] allies were saying things like 'Unnnh….he’s too strong…..' 'Don’t… give up…we can…do

it…'“ (Arsenault, 2005) He summarises the issue by arguing that “an emergent game-play

system can not be used with a pre-written storyline without resulting in a “system shock”,

or discrepancy, between the two.” (Arsenault, 2005)

This is not to say that games cannot provide any meaningful interaction or

emergent gameplay whilst also featuring a narrative. Though true, unlimited interaction

might be impossible, current technology can create an illusion of interaction instead. Salen

and Zimmerman explain the concept of interactive narratives in video games as the ability

to both follow the story and shape the narrative you experience. If you can choose which

parts of the story you experience and which you avoid, you have enormous power over the

game's narrative, even if the choices you're given and their outcomes are all pre-

determined.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

13

Murrey discusses how Joseph Weizenbaum's 1966 conversation simulator, ELIZA,

was so persuasive and coherent that even those “who knew very well that they were

conversing with a machine soon forgot that fact, just as theatregoers, in the grip of

suspended disbelief, soon forget that the action they are witnessing is not 'real'.” (Murray,

1998) Of course, in 1966 few people had a concrete grasp on the power of the computer,

and so it was much easier to fool the user into forgetting what they were talking to. The

concept of suspended disbelief, however, very much still has a place in video games,

particularly choice-driven narrative experiences such as the aforementioned Life is Strange,

or the many title from Telltale Games.

Figure 3: Diagram showing multiple paths through a single narrative.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

14

This kind of interaction, though not emergent, does sit highly on Spierling's 'Level of

Agency' diagram – second only to God Games, where every aspect of the game world is

editable. These games bear the most resemblance to Jackson and Livingstone’s Fighting

Fantasy game books in their style – they are almost entirely narrative driven, where the

main interaction with the game comes from frequent dialogue options, or a choice of

paths. The choices the player makes determine how the story plays out, and which

characters are amiable towards them.

Figure 4: Life is Strange is driven almost entirely

by the player's choices during conversations.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

15

In Shadow the Hedgehog, the player's route through the level and their play style

determines which level they progress to next. In order to achieve a specific ending, the

player must play a certain way. This aspect of the game was freely visible to the player at

any point – the choice also being displayed at the start and end of every level. In recent

releases, narrative-driven games have increasingly made use of an easily approachable

choice-tree system; a system which not only grants the player clear control over the course

of the narrative, but also gives immediate and obvious feedback on how the player's

choice might affect the events to come. The reactions of suspects in L.A. Noire's highly

expressive, almost caricatured faces made up a large portion of the game's experience, and

though more subtle than Telltale Games' signature “[character] will remember that” pop-

ups, carried the same implications of agency.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

16

These games are built entirely on the illusion of player agency – none of the

gameplay is emergent. Juul argues that “The progression structure is in many ways less

interesting than emergence” (Juul, 2002); to him, much of the gameplay is meaningless. In

terms of real-world impact, Juul is correct – the choices of an individual player in a single

game has no meaning outside of the game world. Costikyan describes this meaning as

endogenous; “A game’s structure creates its own meanings. The meaning grows out of the

structure; it is caused by the structure; it is endogenous to the structure.” (Costikyan, 1994)

This type of endogenous meaning is featured in all forms of media. If a character

dies in a television program, that death only has relevance inside the magic circle of

suspended disbelief. That actor went home at the end of the day, and continued their life.

But to viewers, the death of that character will likely mean the end of their appearance in

the show. The enjoyment gained from their actions comes to an end, and by the simple

fact that their albeit fictional existence created entertainment, it is, in itself, meaningful.

In this way, the distinction between true agency and the illusion of agency is not as

serious an issue for narrative experiences as could be expected. Provided the player is

immersed enough to suspend their disbelief of the game's fictional world, illusions of

agency carry the same narratological power as true agency. So long as the player's agency

Figure 6: L.A. Noire used motion capture technology to get realistically moving faces,

though they were often exaggerated.

Figure 7: In The Walking Dead, characters often remember choices the player makes.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

17

– or their belief in it – remains, the player exists in a state of unquestioning immersion,

where their knowledge of the game as fictional is replaced by their enjoyment of the

experience.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

18

Emergence & Experimentation

Emergence is a concept which is difficult to achieve in narrative-central experiences.

Juul describes emergence as “somewhere between a designer completely specifying what

can happen, and leaving everything to the user,” (Juul, 2001) which makes it difficult to

generate consistently. In gameplay-central experiences, emergence is much easier to

implement, so long as the game provides a platform for the unexpected to occur. Salen

and Zimmerman describe how The Sims creates a “pre-generated, embedded narrative

frame” (Salen & Zimmerman, 2004) which “contextualizes all of the emergent events that

happen during play.” (Salen & Zimmerman, 2004) This type of emergence mimics the

emergence of traditional board games, where the game itself almost becomes secondary

to the interaction between the other players. Except in video games, the other player is the

computer.

In many ways, ELIZA was one of the original forms of emergence that attempted to

evolve beyond that seen in board games. Through a combination of procedural

generation, as well as ELIZA's limited form of artificial intelligence, Wizenbaum created a

system which combined the roles of the game's systems and the other players. As

technology evolved further, games began to be able to react with more precision and

coherence than any computer before could. Through the interaction between the player

and the game, alongside modern technology and online culture, a whole new level of

interactivity was born – that seen in YouTube gaming content creators and in blogs such as

Burkinshaw's Alice and Kev. Costikyan critiques this style of game, arguing that “SimCity is,

in a way, no game at all, a mere software toy.” (Costikyan, 1994) He explains that despite

these games having no win-state, or explicit goals to be achieved, they are “susceptible to

so many goal-directed behaviours,” (Costikyan, 1994) that they are still enjoyable. Juul

describes these games as experiences which “spawn narratives that a player can use to tell

others of what went on in a game session.” (Juul, 2001) The narrative framework laid out by

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

19

games such as The Sims or Cities: Skylines allows for exogenous narratives to be formed –

a spontaneous interaction which exists outside of the game world, between the player and

their spectators, but is still inherently entwined with the game's systems.

These narratives play out like interactive fan fiction; Burkinshaw describes that in

making Alice and Kev, “a surprising amount of the interesting things … were generated by

just letting go and watching the Sims’ free will and personality traits take over.”

(Burkinshaw, 2009) This suggests that the exogenous narratives these games prompt aren't

entirely exogenous. The story reacts and can be influenced by the game's systems;

mimicking the relationship between a Dungeon Master and a player in a game of

Dungeons and Dragons. Through games which provide a narrative framework, the player

can compensate for the game's inability to improvise by taking the majority of the

narrative away from the computer.

This kind of exogenous emergence isn't solely limited to sandbox-style games, or

games which are lacking story. Toby Fox's Undertale addressed the transient nature of an

individual's interactions with a game's narrative. The player has the ability to 'reset' the

world, as they do in many games, by either restarting the game entirely, or going back to a

previous save file. But the game addresses it – at the end of one route, a character talks

about how, should they wish to, the player could reset the whole world, and that nobody

would remember it. They could go back and change something they did wrong, in an

attempt to get the perfect result they wanted.

Juul argues that “narratives are basically interpretative, whereas games are formal”,

(Juul, 2001) but in Undertale, the game is interpretive as well. The game can be enjoyed as

a single experience, telling the story of a child that falls into a ravine and tries to find their

way home. But the game is much denser than a single play through will reveal, verging on

the size and complexity of transmedia franchises, which “can often be difficult to see in

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

20

their totality.” (Wolf, 2009) Just as other games come complete with maps, books, or other

paraphernalia, Undertale hides its secrets in its game files, and through community

collaboration and theory crafting, fans have been able to unravel the mysteries the game

sets up.

On top of this, the existence of the game after the player is finished with it is also

interpretive. As Lees describes, despite being able to choose the type of person the

character is, “the only choice you really have in Undertale is the choice to start this loop

over … otherwise this thing just exists infinitely.” (Lees, 2015) The uncertainty that the game

creates about the state of the world led to a fascinating real-world narrative that hasn't

been seen before with such force – players don't want to experience the game again after

they have their ending. They actively refuse to play the game again, regardless of how

much they enjoyed it, because they don't want to invalidate the narrative that they created

in their most recent save file.

This kind of real-world consequence isn't unique to Undertale. Games, along with

films, books, and all other types of media, have titles which approach real-world topics in

an attempt to start discussion. As Alexander describes, “Games are often one of the best

places to play with ecosystems, rules, and cause and effect,” (Alexander, 2014) and so are

great platforms to use exogenous narratives to provoke discussion. Tim Wicksteed, the

creator of Big Pharma – a game about developing and producing drugs – described how

“you'll likely start to have increasingly unsettling thoughts such as ‘I won't bother removing

that side-effect as it'll make me less money’.” (Rad, 2015) The questionable decisions the

player has to make are entirely emergent though, and despite the game being designed to

put the player under financial pressure to help the player reach that conclusion, the way

they approach it, and the meaning they take away from it, is entirely up to them.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

21

Unlike books and films, this kind of emergent meaning is something which can only

exist in games. The issues that Big Pharma present aren't issues which are unknown to

huge swathes of people – but until the game pushes the player to the point where they

choose to take a morally questionable action, it's difficult to understand the issue. By

experiencing the lead-up to the situation that caused the decision first-hand, the player

understands the issue much more intimately than if they had read a book, or watched a

programme about it.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

22

Conclusion

Just as emergence-based games originated from traditional board games thanks to

technological advances, so too did narrative-centric games evolve from classic video

games. The inclusion of narratives in video games poses serious problems for the

interactivity of said games, not least of all the current limitations on artificial intelligence.

By limiting the player to a linear, or only slightly branching narrative, the game restricts

the possibilities for unique and unexpected moments to occur. Whilst current technology

does not allow for a game to truly react and innovate a response for every stimuli, through

a combination of player agency and branching narratives, games can certainly allow for

interaction with both their mechanics and their narratives in ways other media cannot. This

interaction allows for games to influence a person's opinions and preconceptions about a

topic on a much more personal level, creating not only a more finely tuned experience for

each player, but also allowing these games to make a significant change to the awareness

of issues it presents. As the genre evolves, new methods of creating and fostering both

endogenous and exogenous narratives will certainly appear, and through continued

experimentation and celebration of that which pushes technology to its limits, new

gameplay experiences will emerge to further satisfy the demand for interactive fictional

experiences in new and exciting ways.

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

23

Bibliography

Aristotle (355BC) Poetics. Translated from Greek by M. Heath, 1991. New Ed edition.

London: Penguin Classics

Arsenault, Dominic (2005) When Game Design & Narratives Unite. Digra. Available from

<http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/abstract-of-dynamic-range-when-

game-design-and-narratives-unite/> [Accessed 17th October 2015]

Bogost, Ian (2015) Video Games are Better Without Characters. Bogost.com. Available

from: <http://bogost.com/writing/video-games-are-better-without-characters/>

[Accessed 19th November 2015]

Bone, Stacey (2014) How Have Fairy and Folk Tales Been Used In Video Games? Available

from: <https://net.nua.ac.uk/wiki/_media/library:bone_stacey_1100706_rr_1_.pdf>

[Accessed 18th June 2015]

Brand, J. and Knight, S. (2003) The Diverse Worlds of Computer Games: A Content

Analysis of Spaces, Populations, Styles and Narratives. Digra. Available from

<http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/the-diverse-worlds-of-computer-

games-a-content-analysis-of-spaces-populations-styles-and-narratives/> [Accessed

17th October 2015]

Burkinshaw, Robin (2009) Alice and Kev. Wordpress. Available from:

<https://aliceandkev.wordpress.com/> [Accessed 20th December 2015]

Costikyan, Greg (1994) I Have no Words and I Must Design. Digra. Available from:

<http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/05164.51146.pdf>

[Accessed 14th December 2015]

Costikyan, Greg (2000) RE:PLAY: Game Design + Game Culture. Online conference.

Croshaw, Ben (2013) Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Zero Punctuation. Available from:

<http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/8158-Amnesia-A-

Machine-For-Pigs> [Accessed 16th September 2015].

Ellison, Cara (2013) The Horror of Sequels – The Chinese Room on Amnesia: A Machine for

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

24

Pigs. The Guardian. Available from

<http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2013/oct/15/horror-amnesia-

a-machine-for-pigs-chinese-room> [Accessed 16th September 2015].

Ernest Adams (2013) The Designer's Notebook: Three Problems for Interactive Storytellers, Resolved.

Gamasutra. Available from:

<http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/189364/the_designers_notebook_three_.php>

[Accessed 1st Janurary 2016]

Frasca, Gonzalo (2003) Ludologists love stories, too: notes from a debate that never took

place. Ludology.org. Available from:

<http://www.ludology.org/articles/Frasca_LevelUp2003.pdf> [Accessed 19th October

2015]

Frasca, Gonzalo (2003) Simulation versus Narrative. The Video Game Theory Reader. New

York and London: Routledge.

Hamilton, Kirk (2014) A Heart-Monitoring Horror Game That Gets Tougher As You Get

Scared. Kotaku. Available from: <http://kotaku.com/a-horror-game-that-gets-

tougher-as-you-get-scared-hoo- 1517631289> [Accessed 16th August 2015]

Holland, John H. (1997) Emergence. Philosophica, Issue 59, p.11-40. Available from:

<http://logica.ugent.be/philosophica/fulltexts/59-2.pdf> [Accessed 19th October

2015]

Jackson, Steve (1983) The Citadel of Chaos. Fighting Fantasy. Icon Books.

Juul, Jesper (2001) Games Telling stories? Gamestudies.org. Available from:

<http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/juul-gts/> [Accessed 18th October 2015]

Juul, Jesper (2002) The Open and the Closed: Games of Emergence and Games of

Progression. Jesperjuul.net. Available from

<http://www.jesperjuul.net/text/openandtheclosed.html> [Accessed 17th October

2015]

Kelly, Tadhg (2012) What Dear Esther Is Not. What Games Are. Available from:

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

25

<http://www.whatgamesare.com/2012/02/what-dear-esther-is-not.html> [Accessed

16th November 2015].

Lees, Matt (2015) Undertale: It's Bloody Brilliant. Cool Ghosts. Available from:

<http://coolghosts.net/cool-stuff/2015/10/29/undertale-its-bloody-brilliant>

[Accessed 30th October 2015]

Leigh Alexander (2014) New Social Issue Games Tackle Education, Big Pharma.

Gamasutra. Available from:

<http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/228463/New_social_issue_games_tackle_edu

cation_big_pharma.php> [Accessed 19th November 2015]

Murray, Janet (1998) Hamlet on the Holodeck. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Rad, Chloi (2015) How Big Pharma speaks with its systems. Gamasutra. Available from:

<http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/254670/How_Big_Pharma_speaks_with_its_sy

stems.php> [Accessed 19th November 2015]

Rand, Ayn (1957) Atlas Shrugged. London: Penguin Classics.

Salen, Katie and Zimmerman, Eric (2004) Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals.

Cambridge Mass/London England: MIT Press.

Spierling, Ulrike (2005) Interactive Digital Storytelling: Towards a Hybrid Conceptual

Approach. Available from: <http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-

library/06278.24521.pdf> [Accessed 12th September 2015]

Stenros, Jaakko and Montola, Markus (2011) The Making of Nordic Larp: Documenting a

Tradition of Ephemeral Co-Creative Play. Digra. Available from:

<http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/11301.57224.pdf>

[Accessed 30th September 2015]

VideoGameTourism (2013) "Games are architectures for an emotional experience" - An

Interview with Dan Pinchbeck. Available from:

<http://videogametourism.at/content/games-are-architectures-emotional-

experience-interview-danpinchbeck> [Accessed 16th September 2015]

How Does the Use of Narrative Affect the Interactivity of Video Games? Joe Neeves

26

Wolf, Mark J.P. (2012) Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Subcreation.

New York: Routledge

Videography

Bain, John (2013) BioShock Infinite - Final Conclusions. Available from:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hAPfxD3u4k> [Accessed 16th September

2015].

Totwise Studios (2015) The Hum: Abductions Trailer. Available from:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFIz_ZhZ4Cw> [Accessed 12th October 2015]

Ludography

Bethesda Game Studios (2015) Fallout 4

Chinese Room, The (2012) Dear Esther

Chinese Room, The (2013) A Machine for Pigs

Dontnod Entertainment (2015) Life is Strange

Fox, Toby (2015) Undertale

Irrational Games (2007) Bioshock

Irrational Games (2013) Bioshock: Infinite

Namco (1980) Pac-Man

Positech Games (2015) Big Pharma

Rockstar Games (2011) L.A. Noire

Sega (2005) Shadow the Hedgehog

Supermassive Games (2015) Until Dawn

Telltale Games (2012) The Walking Dead