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VideoGameNarrativeandCriticism:PlayingtheStoryTamerThabet

TamerThabet2015

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DOI:10.1057/9781137525543

ToAnaPriscilla

ContentsAcknowledgments

Introduction

Playasnarration

Interplay:actionsandresponses

Analysisofgamenarratives

1 APlayersStory

Taxonomy

Performance

Substance

Aplaceinthenarrative

Handsoff

Whatisanarrator?

Detection

Theplayersexpression

Nonverbalexpression

Thecinematicnarrator

Theplayersnarration

Thegameworldsnarration

Theconflictofnarration

Theselfandthesimultaneousnarration:livingandtelling

Focalizationandperception

Theplayer-as-focalizer

Thecharacterspresence

Third-persongames

Summary

Aplayersstory

Whatplayerssay

2 GameCriticism

PenumbraOverture:theanticipationandthehappening

Confrontation

Improvising

Understandingmyfear

Thehousealwayswins

Revisitingtheunderworld

Reader-responseandgames

Sixquestions

Reproducingtheplayexperience

BioShock:welcometoguiltcity

Negotiatingmyguilt

Changingmyways

Fastcoping

ThemoralpriceoftellingBioShock

Myunfulfilledcuriosity

Whatgamesdo

Bibliography

Index

AcknowledgmentsIwouldlikethankbothmyparentsandmybrotherfortheirloveandencouragement.Thisworkwouldnothavebeenpossiblewithouttheirsupport.

I would also like to express my utmost gratitude to Professor Bart Eeckhout at theUniversityofAntwerpforhis invaluableadviceandhelp.Iamhonoredtohaveworkedwithhim.ThisisalsoanopportunitytothankProfessorKevinKeeofBrockUniversityand Professor Frederico Fernandes of the StateUniversity of Londrina. I owemuch tothem.

IntroductionAbstract:Astructuralstudyofthevideogamenarrativeisoverdue.Narrationingamesdefiestheconventionalunderstandingofhowstoriesarecommunicatedbecausethestoryistoldbothbytheplayerandthegamesystem.Inthisintroduction,wewillpresentgroundworkconceptssuchasthenatureofplayasanactofnarrationandthequestionofcriticism.

Keywords:criticism;fictionalworlds;narrative;player-response

Thabet,Tamer.VideoGameNarrativeandCriticism:PlayingtheStory.Basingstoke:PalgraveMacmillan,2015.DOI:10.1057/9781137525543.0003.

PlayasnarrationSome would say this is a story about retribution, but for me it is about treachery andmaybe patience. Iwonderedwhich quotewould fit in a story about the time I hadmynemesis, and it occurred tomehoweloquently a fictional character such asBrickTop1wouldputit:DoyouknowwhatNemesismeans?Arighteousinflictionofretributionmanifested by an appropriate agent; personified in this case byme. Now I cannotrememberhisname,but I spentquite some time trying toget him.Myarchenemywasinvinciblejustbecausehecouldfly.Heoftenruinedmyplans,butthistimethingsgotalittletoopersonal.

Itwasaregularcounter-snipermission.Myteamwastaskedtoclearsomesnipernestsacrosstheriver.Everythingwasgoingperfectlyuntilheshowedupflyingoverourcampand dropping his unlimited hand grenades on us. You do know that snipers are notsupposedtoflyandcertainlycouldnotcarryaninfinitenumberofgrenades.Nooneelsecouldfly,andso,weallhadtoabandonhideoutsandrun.Thatmorning,ifyoudidnotgetblownupbyoneofhisfrags,hissniperbuddieswouldpickyouupfromacrosstheriveratahundredyards.Alleffortstoshoothimdownwerefutile,evenwitha.50caliberrifle.Histauntinglanguagewascolorfulasusual,andhisfavoritetopicsincludednationalities,sexuality,andmother-relatedideas.Hefinallychallengedoneofustoaknifefight.Mantoman,hesaid.Nooneonmyteamwanteditforfearthathewouldhaveanothertricktocheat.Ivolunteered,sohelandedonthebridge.Irantowardhimwithmybowieknifeathand,andthenIstoppedleavingsome10metersbetweenus.Iwaited.Hedidnotcheatthistime,andhedashedatmewithhisknife.Idroppedmyknife,pulledmygun,andshothimtillhefelldeadonthebridge.Iescapedbacktothejunglebeforeherespawned.Ofcoursehewasupsetaboutmytreacheryandreturnedforhisownvengeance,but this iswhat archenemies are for, right?This is one of the true stories that happen in fictionalgamingworlds.Withsuchimpunity,millionsofplayers traversethefictional landscapesofvideogameseverydayinsearchoftheexperienceofbeingsomeoneelse.Whatwecallstories have turned into infinite opportunities for one to be transformed, immersed, andchallenged,andtheyletonelivelarger-than-lifeexperienceswhileimpersonatingfictionalcharacters.Onecouldhaveanantagonistorevenbeone.

We have read,watched, and listened to stories, butwhat does itmean to play them?Videogamesarethefictionalworldswhereplayerscanvirtuallylivestoriesandassumearole in their narration, which is a good reason for narrative and criticism theorists toengagewith theemergentrealityofplayablefiction.Ourknowledgeofhowto interpretgamestories isunderdeveloped.Surely, there is theneed todevelopamethodforgamecriticism maybe more than one method but what would a vivid portrayal of theinterpretiveproblemyieldaslongasthenarrativestructureingamesremainsambiguous?To set the expectations about what follows, the first chapter explores the narrativestructure in games to describe the players involvement in the storytelling, based onwhich,thesecondchapterbuildsaninterpretivemodelforgamecriticism.

Ourconcurrencethatgamestoriesareinteractivestartedtofeelsatisfactory,andthisismymotivatingproblembecausewecannot leavethestudyofgamefictionthere.Thenarrativeingamesistoocuriousandfascinatingtobeleftlabeledasmerelyinteractive.Whenitcomestogamefiction,theterminteractivityisaterriblydulloneanddoesnot

sayanythingabouthowtoplayastoryandhowastoryaffectsus.Interactiveconcealshowgameplayreshapes thewayweproduce,perceive,andrespond to fiction.Thefear,rage,guilt,ecstasy,vengeance,goodwill,malice,andbuffoonerythatwepersonallydealwith in game stories, in themidst of cliffhangingperils anddreads,must bemore thaninteractionsatleastforthestudentofnarrativeandcriticism.

Thereismuchmoretogamenarrativesthanonlyinteractions,andmoreshouldgointogame criticism than only reviews.There are the unanswered questions about gameplay,impersonation,simultaneousnarratives,andbecomingprotagonistsinthefictionalworlds.Butmost importantly, there iswhat the story can tell us about ourselves. This book isaboutthevideogameasastoryworld,thestoryasanexperience,gameplayasnarration,and the players narrative voice that nonverbal discourse produced by the player intandemwith the game system. In the following exploration, the game is a storyworld,differentfromtheimaginaryonesthatwrittentexthelpsusvisualizeinourminds.Thesefictionalworldsarenavigableandsmartbecauseof theprogramcode thatgoverns theirbehaviorandmakesthemrespondtotheplayersactions,whichcanturnthenarrativeintoa personal experience; it is a players own storywith a psychological dimension and auniquemeaning-makingprocess.Thesequestionsare thewaypoints tosuggestacriticalmodel for video game fiction. I might have already burdened you with three peculiardeclarations: the game is a story world, the story is an experience, and gameplay isnarration.But it allbeginswith twospecificquestions that sumup thiswork.How thisstoryistold?Andhowshoulditbeinterpreted?

Theveryactofnarrationingamesdefiestheconventionalunderstandingofhowstoriesaretoldbecausetheplayermustparticipateinthenarrationandbecausethestoryisalsotoldbytheenvironmentinresponsetotheplayersactionsallnonverbally.Thismeansthat theplayerassumesspecificroles in thestorytelling,andso, thevariousconceptsofnarration,characters,events,andtimeneedreconsiderationinthecaseofvideogames.Acomprehensive treatmentofgamesnarrativestructures isoverduebecausegamescreatesucharadical transformation in thecommunicativeandtransactionalactivityfamiliar inthestudycriticism.Fromastructuralperspective,Iwilltreatgamesasspatial,audiovisual,and intelligently responsive storyworlds inwhich theplayerassumes the rolesofaco-narratorandprotagonist.Thiswillbeclearwhenwedrawaninitialtheoreticalframeworkbyreferencingtraditionalandfilmicnarrativeconcepts.Bynow,theconnoisseurswouldhaverealizedhowhereticalthisinquirymightsoundinsomecirclesofgamestudies,butonemaycallitabookaboutnarrativetheory.

Iwill beginby expounding a few fundamental questions innarratology to shed somelightonthenarrativedynamicsinvideogames.Tosome,theconceptsIreferencemightsound outdated, but they can only be outdated as much as the periodic table can. Tounderstand the narrative structure in games, someone for once must stop ignoring thefortune of structural knowledge the fundamentals and comprehensible vocabulary already anchored in the works of Chatman, Genette, Bal, Stanzel, Barthes, Jahn, andHermanand from film theorists suchasBurgoyne,Metz, andGaudreault.Nevertheless,becausegamesforcetheplayertobepartofthetellinginanintelligentlyresponsive3Dworld, the extant theories of narrative could get us only so far into comprehendingstorytelling in games, and thus, theywill be only the starting point of visualizing theirnarrativeworkings.With this conventional frame of reference, Iwill gage themultiple

rolesoftheplayerinthenarrativeagainsttheroleplayedbythegamesystem,andtherewewilldiscovertwoconflictingnarratorstellingthesamestory:ahumanandamachine,withonedefying theotherssuperiornarrativeauthority tomakeadifference inwhat istold.

Answeringhowthegamestoryistoldpromisesmoreopportunitiesforcriticalreflectionon game fiction and culture, and so,we should start thinking of gameplay as an act ofnarration. First, thiswould be in light of basic conceptualizations such as the figure ofnarrator, voice, perception, taxonomy, point of view, and narrative situation.While notreadilycompatiblewithgames,literaryandfilmgroundworktheoriescanstilltellusalotabout the constituting elements of the video game narrative.Needless to say, this goescounter to the many opinions that believe that narrative and interactivity inherentlycontradictoneanother.

Intuitively,thefirstthingthatcomestomindistheplayerscentralityinthegamestory.Identifying the roles of the game player in storytelling will be a key to mapping thenarrativebecause this is the fictionwhere theplayergetspulled into thecenterof storyworldtotellbyacting.Narratologytellsusthattheplayersimultaneouslyassumesthreedifferentyetinterdependentrolestheprotagonistheorsheimpersonates,thenarratorwhounfoldstheplot,andtheaudience.Inotherwords,theplayeriscentraltoboththetellingandthereception.

Thisbringsustocriticalquestions.Whatdoesthestorymeanandwhatdoesittellus?Howdoesitaffectusandwhyitissignificant?Ifindmyselfthinkingintraditionalcriticalways.Butagain,thisisadifferentstory;itisaplayersownexperience.Thepropositionthatwillbemadelaterisaboutananalyticalmodelforgamefiction.InspiredbytheideasofNormanHolland regarding the literary text as a privateworld, readers identity, andself-discovery, thismodel isawayofreflectingonthegamestory,what itmeans to theplayer/critic, and how this meaning evolves during play and replays. This will be anexplorationofhowtoaccountformeaning-makingthroughthereproductionofgameplayexperience as apost factum narrative, which is not a novelty; it is a common culturalpractice that has not yet been called a genre, so what we will do later is accept suchpracticeasanincubatorforcriticalmusing.Ifitwantstobebasedonthespecificnatureofgamestories,ourinterpretivemodelmusttakeintoaccountthecentralityoftheplayeringame fiction and, therefore, must value the subjectivity of the analysis since the storymirrorstheplayerwhoismuchmoreimmediatelyinvolvedinthecreationofmeaning.Byexploring thestructuralpeculiaritiesofstorytelling invideogames, thebookdevelopsacriticalparadigmtoexplaintheinterrelationshipofgameplay,fiction,andself-discovery.

Interplay:actionsandresponsesThe various acts of reading, seeing, watching, listening, navigating, controlling, andeffectuatingareaffordedinafictionalworldprogrammedtomakeitsvisitorliveandtellapersonal story through gameplay. The notion of world in games is parallel to that oftext inwrittenfiction that is, ifwewant tobe inspiredbyreader-response theorists:Rosenblattsaysthatthetextistheblueprintthatguidesourreading;Iserassertsthetextisfullofgapsthatreadersfilltocreateastory;andHollandstressesthatreadersturnthetextinto a privateworldwhere they dealwith their fears and desires.2Whywould not this

applytovideogames?Isitbecausethemetaphorsofblueprintandprivateworldarenolongermetaphorswhenitcomestovideogames?

Beforedivingintointheconstructionsandabstractionsofstructuralism,itwouldsoftenour landing to think about the readers relationship to fiction through reader-responsenotions.Inthefieldofliterarystudies, theconceptofinterplaybetweenthetextandthereader has been lengthily argued. Reader-response theorists assert that readers activelycreate meaning through different reading-related processes such as retrospection andanticipation.3 Louise Rosenblatt maintains that the text itself acts as a stimulus4 thattriggers the readers responseandcreativity, and that it has a constraining functionas ablueprintthatcorrectsandguidesthereader.Writingaboutthesimilarconceptofthetextasaguidetothereader,Iseraddsthatifcommunicationbetweentextandreaderistobesuccessful,clearlythereadersactivitymustalsobecontrolledinsomewaybythetext.5We also learn from this line of thought that while reading and according to theiraccumulatedknowledge,mood,culture,andvariousideologicalandsocialorientationsreaders fill textual gaps, interpret, judge, assume, and bring their own personalexperiencesintothetext,whichmeansthatreaderscreatethemeaningoftextsduringtheirreading in a transactional practice.These ideas help us realize how readily video gamefictionlendsitself toreader-responsecriticismandhowapplicablereader-responseideasaretogamenarratives,especiallyintermsoftherelationshipbetweentheplayerandthegame world: the latter not only stimulates, guides, and constrains the player but alsochallengeshimorhertoco-narrateandeventotellthestorysubversively.

Our real motive is to arrive at an interpretive model for game fiction, and this goalcannotberealizedwithoutunderstandingthenarrativestructure.Adeeperinsightintothemechanism of the game narrative shows that the telling and reception are synergic andinterdependent as the player assumes the role of co-narrator while in the perceptualpositionoftheprotagonist.Iwillnothastentosaythatgameplaychangeseverythingweknow about narratives, because it does not; it only makes narratives simultaneous andmorecomplex.ThisshouldechoincriticismbecauseunlikeobservingtheprotagonistinAynRandsnovelAtlasShrugged, I am theprotagonist inBioShock.6The story is nowaboutwhatIseeandhear,whatIdoandfeel,whatIperceiveandlearn,andwhatitmeanstometheplayer.Thisis justonetypeofcritical treatmenttodealwithgameplayasameaning-makingprocess.

Critical theoryexamines the typesofquestionsoneasksaboutworksof literatureandrepresentationalarts,sotheonequestionbefittinggamesinthisbookis,whatdogamestellusaboutourselves?ForthisreasonthechoiceofcriticalreferencewouldbeNormanHollands theory on response to fiction. Holland maintains that we actively transactliteraturesoastore-createouridentities.Duringreading,heasserts,thereadersturnthetextintoaprivateworldtoworkouttheirfundamentalpsychologicalneeds.Hollandcoinsthe term identity theme to describe the pattern of psychological conflicts, defensemechanisms, andcoping strategies that readers are confrontedwithwhile responding tothe text.7LateronwewilladaptHollandsconcept togamefiction inorder tocomeupwithaninterpretivemodel,andwewillnotembarkonthistaskwithoutapplications.Ourexamples such asPenumbraOverture andBioShock illustrate thatwe can treat thegame story as the players own experience, where fears, desires, and anxieties are

projectedontothefictionalworld.

Nevertheless,weshouldkeepinmindthatmostofthereader-responsenotionsaddressprintedfictionandbelongtoatimebeforevideogameswereintroducedtothedebate.Theinterrelationshipsbetweentextsandreadersthathavebeentheorizedaboutsofardonotamounttomorethanmentalprocesses;8thatis,thetraditionalreader-responseinteractionsrefertoemotionalandpsychologicalprocessestakingplaceinthemindofthereader.Invideogamefiction,bycontrast,suchreciprocityisnotjustmetaphoricalsincethereaderisreplacedbyaplayerwhorespondstothegamesystem,theauthorialagencyinchargeofdepicting and managing the fictional world, in a more material manner, and since thegame world adapts itself to the new situation and responds back to the player. SimonPennypointstothegeneralreciprocityofbehaviorsingames:theusersbehavioroccursinresponsetotheimageswhiletheimagesbehavioroccursinresponsetotheusers.9Theplayer inputsactual information into theworld thesetting,characters,andevents towhichthelatterinturnreacts.Theresponseinthiscaseisnotonlymentaloremotional,but also actual and mutual: the transaction is real and not merely imagined, becausecharactersreactandeventshappenandchangeundertheplayerspersonalinfluence.

Gamescombinevisuals,sounds,andprintedtexttocreateacontainingmilieu,andthenthey are governed by a program code to control their behavior, allowing the player tomove through, interact with, and influence the happenings. In 3D game stories, playamounts to the act of telling because it refers to the coordinated acts of listening,watching, showing, sequencing, decision making, and controlling that make the playerexperiencenotjustperceivethegamestory.Buthowdoyouexperienceanything?Thedictionarys definition of experience is the active involvement in an activity orexposuretoeventsorpeopleoveraperiodoftimethatleadstoanincreaseinknowledgeorskill.10For someone toexperience, themereuseof senses toperceiveevents isnotsufficient;theymustpartakebydoing,acting,anddeciding,whichisthecaseduringtheimmersioninamake-believeworld.

AnalysisofgamenarrativesInordertocreateanadaptableandextendiblemodelforgamecriticism,wemustexplaintheintricaciesofthegamestorytellingandtheforcesofimpersonationanddefiancethatshape the story. Manfred Jahn asserts that the narratologist dissects the narrativephenomena into their component parts and then attempts to determine functions andrelationships.11 He defines narratology as the study to investigate and describe thestructure of the narrative, which is our disciplinary strength in this book. Traditionalliterarynarratologyprovidesboththetheoreticalgroundworkandthelanguagethatenableus to initiate our exploration. However, because the theories of literary narratologyoriginallyaddresstheprintedformoffiction,weneedanothertheoreticallayertosolidifyour examination of narration in games. Film narratology provides this theoreticalenhancementduetothecommonaudiovisualnatureofgamesandfilmmedia,aswellasthemannerinwhichfilmnarratologyaddressesthedualisticnatureofnarrativevoiceandnonverbal communication. Therefore, we will consult the concept of the cinematicnarratorlaterontohelpusthinkaboutnarrationingames.Moreover,itisusefultolearnhowfilmtheoristshaveinterpretedandemployedtheconceptofnarratorinfilmanalysis,

whichwasatasksimilartoouraimtounderstandnarrationingames.Sincevideogamesareclosertofilmsthantheyaretowrittentexts,theideaofafilmicnarratorallowsustoformulatetheconceptofthegamesnarrator(s)moreeasily.

Mainly because of game narratives distinctive interactivity, they do not promptlysubscribe to existing literary-analytical approaches. Narrative theory is simply notpracticed indealingwith readersbeing realpartners in thestorytelling. Ihave just saidreaderssimplybecausenarrativetheoryisnotyetsoreadyforthetermplayers.Weknowitsastory.Butdowewatchit,listentoit,orreadit?Throughplay,astoryistoldasiftooneself, and while gameplay requires reading, hearing, seeing and acting, the playersinteraction invalidates the terms reader and viewer in favor of the term player.Nevertheless,narrativetheoryanditsvocabularyshouldnotbediscreditedinthestudyofvideogames.Thekindof interaction ingamenarrativescalls for the reconsiderationofmostofthefundamentalconceptsinliterarytheory,suchasnarration,voice,perception,time and space, and perhaps most importantly the idea of a reader/audience/receiveritselfbecausetheplayerincertainwaystellsthestory.Thisplayerassumesdifferentrolesingamenarrativesandisgivenalimitedauthorityovertheeventsbytakingonapartin thenarrationandbyprojectinghisorherownnarrativevoice,avoice thatdefies theothernarrativevoiceproducedbythegamesystem.Sofarthisisjusttalk.Weneedtofindhow it is possible to support the idea of a narrating and a discourse-producing player.Besides,anotherclaimmadehereisabouttheplayersroleasaperceivingcharacterinthestory. Focalizer is now an archaic name for the perceiving character in the narrative,whichwewill use every now and then later in the book. The player impersonates theprotagonistinthevirtualspaceofthestoryandthusactsastheperceivingcharacterwhileactivelyprogressingandunfoldingtheplot.

Before we jump into the structural analysis of the game narrative, here is my shortdisclaimer: The games I speak of in these pages are narrative based games only; othergames such as sports and racing games fall outside of our scope. This work is alsopredominantly focused on first-person 3D games, and it only briefly discusses third-persongames,soourattentionissufficientlyfocusedtobeabletooffsetthecomplexity,novelty,andabstractionof thesubject,aswellas toavoidthewoolgatheringthatwouldalmostinevitablyresultfromcombiningdifferentgenresinanunfamiliarmediumwiththemanyabstractconceptsofnarratology.

Thetwotermsstoryandnarrativearefrequentlyused,andtherefore,itisimportanttomake the technicaldistinctionbetweenboth termsearly.The termstory refers toasequenceofeventsinvolvingcharacters,whilethenarrativeisthewayinwhichastoryisrendered.Thenarrativeistheconcreteembodimentoftheactofstorytelling:itreferstotheactualrepresentationofaneventoraseriesofevents,12whereasthestoryisourmoreabstractreconstructionofeventsaftertheyhavebeennarrated.Nowitistimetoputnarratologytotest.

Notes1 BrickTopisaBritishcrimelordplayedbyactorAlanFordinthe2000filmSnatch

2 Rosenblatt,TheReader,theText,thePoem(p.88),Iser,TheActofReading(p.167),&Holland,DynamicsofLiteraryResponse(p.30)

3 Iser,TheReadingProcess,p.64

4 Rosenblatt,TheReader,theText,thePoem,p.11

5 Iser,TheActofReading,p.167

6 ThegameislooselybasedonAtlasShrugged

7 Holland,Unity,p.125

8 Regan,p.139

9 p.83

10 EncartaDictionary

11 Jahn,Narratology

12 Abbottp.193195

1APlayersStoryAbstract:Throughliteraryandcinematicperspectives,theapplicationofnarrativetheoryshowshowtheplayerofagamestoryco-narrates,becomestheperceivingcharacter,andreplacestheprotagonistbymeansofplay/performance.Gameplayisanactofnarrationfulfilledbytheplayerandthesystem.Ontheonehand,theplayersactionsandresponsescreateaformofsubjectiveexpressionthatsubstitutestheconceptofvoiceinnoninteractivegenres.Ontheother,theplayerscontrolofthecameraisastorytellingfunctioninthefilmicsenseasitdetermineswhatisfocusedonandwhatisignored.However,theplayerisnottheonlynarrator;thegamesystemalsonarratesbymeansofamorecomplexandauthoritativenarratingagencythatchallengestheplayersowndiscourse.

Keywords:filmnarratology;impersonation;narrativetheory;playersnarration

Thabet,Tamer.VideoGameNarrativeandCriticism:PlayingtheStory.Basingstoke:PalgraveMacmillan,2015.DOI:10.1057/9781137525543.0004.

TaxonomyThe first questionweneed to ask aboutgamenarratives concerns their standingamongothernarrative forms.Wewill startwith an extensivequotationbyRolandBarthes thatoffersausefulframeworkforpursuingthisquestion:

Therearecountlessformsofnarrativeintheworld.Firstofall,thereisaprodigiousvarietyofgenres,eachofwhichbranchesoutintoavarietyofmedia,asifallsubstancescouldbereliedupontoaccommodatemansstories.Amongthevehiclesofnarrativearearticulatedlanguage,whetheroralorwritten,pictures,stillormoving,gestures,andanordered mixture of all those substances; narrative is present in myth, legend, fables, tales, short stories, epics,history, tragedy, drame [suspense drama], comedy, pantomime, paintings (in Santa Ursula by Carpaccio, forinstance),stained-glasswindows,movies,localnews,[sic]conversation.Moreover,inthisinfinitevarietyofforms,itispresentatalltimes,inallplaces,inallsocieties;indeednarrativestartswiththeveryhistoryofmankind;thereisnot,therehasneverbeenanywhere,anypeoplewithoutnarrative;allclasses,allhumangroups,havetheirstories,and very often those stories are enjoyed by men of different and even opposite cultural backgrounds. (AnIntroduction,237)

ManfredJahnhasorganizedthedifferentgenres,forms,andmediareferredtobyBarthesin the following taxonomical diagram, encouraging his readers to add unaccounted-forgenres to the tree structure: If you come across a genre not accounted for by anyprototyperadioplays?hypertextnarratives?comicstrips?...tryfittingitin.1

FIGURE1.1ManfredJahnstreeofgenres,http://www.uni-koeln.de/~ame02/pppn.htm

In Jahns tree structure above, video games would have to be located among theperformed narratives: Genre > narrative > performed > video games. Game fictionbelongs to performed narratives for two reasons: the performance involved in thestorytellingandthesubstanceofwhichgamefictionismade.

PerformanceDrawingon thestudiesbyHuizinga,Laurel,Pearce,Whitlock,Newman,andHand,wecanclaimthatperformanceisanintegralpartofthestorytellingingames,justasitisinfilmandtheater,wherethestorycannotbetoldwithouttheactorsperformance.

InHomo Ludens, Huizinga identifies two overlapping functions of play: it functionsboth as contest and as representation.2 The element of performance is especiallyemphasized in the functions of play since to him the aspect of representation alwaysinvolvesadisplaybeforeanaudience.CeliaPearcedescribessixnarrativeoperatorsinvideo game narratives. The second narrative operator she identifies is that of theperformative: The emergent narrative as seen by spectators watching and/orinterpretingthegameunderway.3Shearguesthatthenarrativeingamesistheproductof

playandthatconflictingamesproducesaperformativeaction.Thisholdstrueinalmostany3Dfirst-personvideogame.Forexample,inBioShockwefindthattheplayerdecideshow the protagonist is presented: as the indifferent person who gets shortchanged andparalyzed by his/her lack of responsibility, as the altruist who experiences the worldsplightwithminimal strength and impact, or as a selfish figurewho takes advantage ofchaoswithimpunity.Boththeconceptsofperformanceandplayimplytakinganumberofactions,andthedifferencebetweenperformanceandplayisthatthefirstgenerallymeansapreplannedandoftenrehearsedseriesofactsaccordingtoascript,whilethesecondmeansperforminganumberofactsaccordingtoasetofgeneralrules.

KatieWhitlockargues thatplayinggames isperformancedue to interactivityand thatthe narrative houses this performance,4 whereas James Newman in Video gamesunderscores performance as an integral component in games narrativity andmaintainsthat aplayersperformancecreates theplot andestablishes the communicationbetweentheplayerand thesystem.5Similarly,RichardHandrefers togameplayasperformance,andhemaintainsthatthisperformanceisanimportantpointofaccesstostudyinggamesfrom a dramatic perspective.6 Play is conceptually performative, and it is an obviouscomponentofgamefictionbecausetheplayerisaperformerinthestory.

SubstanceAnotherreasonforplacingvideogamesamongtheperformativegenresisbecauseofthesubstanceofwhichtheyaremade.HereitisusefultorepeatalinefromBarthescitation:asifallsubstancescouldbereliedupontoaccommodatemansstories.Barthespointstothepotentialthatallsubstancescanbeusedinstorytelling.Thevideogameasavehicleof narrative is made of a mixture of written language, cinematic clips (cut-scenes),pictures,graphics,andthethreefilmicsoundtracks(dialogue,musicandeffects).Filmsaregenerallycreatedfromanorderedmixtureoftext,pictures,andsounds,andthefilmiccomponents in video games bring them closest to the cinematic form. Based on theirperformative aspect and their substance, 3D games can be considered a performativenarrativegenre,andtherefore,wecanaddthemasaseparatenodeonJahnsgenericmap:

FIGURE1.2AdaptationofManfredJahnstreeofgenres,http://www.uni-koeln.de/~ame02/pppn.htm

Note:Iaddedthevideogamenodetoillustratevideogamesstandingamongothergenres.

Source:ThisfigureisManfredJahns.

AplaceinthenarrativeLucHermanandBartVervaeckexplainthestructuralistapproachtonarrativebyadoptingand systematizing Grard Genettes method of dividing the narrative text into three

differentlevels:narrative,narration,andstory.7Firstisthelevelofnarration (narrationinGenettesFrenchoriginal),which refers to theconcreteway the story is toldand thelevel on which the narrating agent is situated. Then Genette speaks of narrative level(rcit),whichisthelevelthatcontainstheeventsandcharacterspresentedtothereader.The organization of narrative elements is central to this level in terms of chronology(temporalorganization)andperspective(thecharactersperception).Thefinallevelisthestory(histoire):Onthislevel,thenarrativeelementsarereducedtoachronologicalseries.Story is an abstract construct not readily available to the reader. Regardless of theinteractivity of the medium, video game narratives have the standard three levels ofnarrative, inwhichwewill lookfor theplayers influenceasanarratingandperceivingagentnarratorandprotagonist.

MyaliaswasPhilipwhenItraversedthehorribleworldofPenumbraOverture.BeforeIbecamePhilip,thestorybeganwiththemourningofapassingmother.Afewdaysafterthe funeral, a letter from a long-thought-dead father instructed Philip to destroy thecontents of a bank deposit box: a book, some personal notes, and a map of northernGreenland.AfterPhilipslossofhissingleparent,thefeelingofabandonmentmadehimholdontotheideathathisfathermightstillbealive.Asaresult,hedidnotcomplywithhis fathers instructions; he kept the contents of the box and traveled to Greenland insearch of his father.After the briefing, I imagined Iwould start the game and becomePhilip.Theproposedprotagonistwas supposed to find specific answers,whichwasmyjob as a player. In this story, there is a narrator and a protagonist, and I foundmyselftakingovertheseroles.

Innarrativetheory,thereisageneralagreementthatthenarratorisametaphoricalagentthat isoftenanthropomorphized.Thenarratorsvoice isalsometaphoricaland imaginedby the reader with the help of textualmarkers as if there is someonewho actuallyrecounts and comments on the events and characters. The narrator and the perceivingagent, thecharacterwhoseperceptionpresents theaction,are treatedseparatelybymostnarratologists since the narrator represents the texts narrative voice or, in otherwords,answers thequestionWhospeaks? in the text,while theperceivingagent (alsocalledfocalizer)isthecharacterwhosees(or,moregenerally,whoexperiences)inthetext.Boththe narrator and the focalizer have different sets of types and properties that can bedeterminedby textual indications,8 and theybelong to twodifferent levels: the narratorplays a roleon the level of narration,while the focalizer is tobe foundon the level ofnarrative.This isadepictionof the theoretical spacewhereweneed to locate thegameplayer.

HandsoffWhathappenswhenyou,thevideogameplayer,takeyourhandsoffthecontrolleramidaplay session?The answerdependson the specific game sceneyou imagine at this verymoment.Isitanenemychargingatyou?Orisitascenewhereyoustandstillinareal-time environment? Before we get to these answers, let us review some relevant andfundamentalaspectsoftheliterarynarratorandwhatitdoes.

It is said that by definition narrative art requires a story and a story-teller.9 Mostnarratologists argue that theremust be a narrator, or amediating agent, that projects a

voiceintothetext:Insofarasthereistelling,theremustbeateller,anarratingvoice.10Whether it be Seymour Chatman, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, Gerald Prince, LubomirDolezel,GrardGenette,MiekeBal,RolandBarthes,FranzStanzel,orMarie-LaureRyan,eachassignsanimportantnumberofthetextsfunctionstothenarratingagenttheycallanarrator.

A narrator is the speaker or voice of the narrative discourse . He or she is the agent who establishescommunicativecontactwithanaddressee(thenarratee),whomanagestheexposition,whodecideswhatistobetold,howitistobetold(especially,fromwhatpointofview,andinwhatsequence),andwhatistobeleftout.(Jahn,Narratology,N3.1.1.,emphasesinoriginal)

Chatman describes narratives as textual structureswith a content plane (which he callsstory) and an expression plane (called discourse). Discourse is how the content ispresented, which is the narrators responsibility. In Story and Discourse: NarrativeStructure in Fiction and Film, Chatman maintains that the narrator is the teller, thetransmitting source,11 which has the function to recount, record, and report.12 DidierCoste describes the narrator as the conveyor of narrative discourse.13 Drawing onDolezel, Genette, and Lintvelt, he defines the narrators functions as representative,controlling, and interpretive.14 Like Coste, we will focus on the narration as an act ofcommunication in general and on the narrators act of communication as he or shecommunicatesinformationthroughalanguagesystem(verbal,nonverbal,orboth)thatisdependentonthemedium:forexample,therealhumanvoiceinoralnarrative,thepostureinballet,orthewrittenlanguageinnovels.

Whosthenarratorinvideogames?Whoisthetellerthatcommunicatesthediscourseor, inmyownwords, progresses the narrative?What qualifies the gameplayer to be anarrator?During theplay session inPenumbraOverture,when I as the player takemyhands off the controller for some time, the plot halts as a result of my inactivity. Thedepictionoftheworld,however,doesnotstop.Icanstillwatchthedogbehindthebarredgate moving, and I can still hear the Morse code iteration continuing. Nevertheless,nothing substantialhappensanymore.The storyscontent isnotbeingpresentedandnosuchthingasaplotisbeingdevelopedanyfurther.Theonlydiscourseatthistimeisthegame systems. In this case, an external viewer would only see a scene in which thecameraisshootingfromastationaryposition.ThecamerathatI,theplayer,controlisnotmoving,andtherefore,theviewerisdisconnectedfromthegeneralcontext;thereisonlyafixed frame that shows a dogmovingback and forth behind a barredgatewith a radiocontinuallysoundingMorsecodeinthebackground.Iftheplayerdoesnothing,nootheragenttakesoverthenarration.Bymeansofvisualrendering,thesystemwillcontinuetotell its sterile partwaiting for the player to trigger an event towhich it can react. Thesystemwill not report an event until the playermakes it happen; that is, the player isresponsibleforgettingtheprotagonisttoopenthebarredgateintheabsenceofanyotheroptions.Similarly,andforthesamereason(thelackofalternatives),itistheplayerwhomustgettheprotagonisttodecodetheradiomessage(solvetheriddle).Tobeblunt,whenIastheplayeraminactive,thenarratorismuteandthestoryisnotactivelytold.ButI,theplayer, do not control the dog and its actions.Many other environmental events in thestoryarealsooutofmycontrol:Idonotcontrolthedepictionoftheplaceortheresponsesof theothercharacters.The story scene ispresentedbyboth theplayerand the system.This is just a clue, and therefore, it is also important to explain how the players

performance projects his or her own narrative voice (metaphorically). To that end, wemustunderstandhowanarratologistcandetectthepresenceofanarratorinatext.

Whatisanarrator?According to Jahn, the narrator is temporally, spatially, andontologically distant fromus invented, imaginary, not real.15 Chatman defines the narrator as a teller whosepresenceispresumedbytheaudience.16Costealsoexplainsthatthenarratorspresenceisimaginarybutaddsthatitisvitalfornarrativecommunication:

Thecritic-as-readerexpresseshisdesireofbeingtalkedto,hisneedforaspecialaddressersomewhere,whichisavitalpartofliterarycommunication,notthefactofahumanpresencehere,whichremainsalwaysphantasmaticatthisendoftheactofcommunication.Thereforeweshallcallvoicetheproductofthereadersquestfortheoriginofthetext.Avoice:suchisthevague,emptyanswerthatwemustgivetothequestionofwhospeaks. . . .Thenarratorissaidtobeanabstraction,buthehasafunction,orbetteramissionortask;ourtheoristsspeakofhimasifhewereahumanbeingorperhapsaspirit,withoutapersonality,butstillcapableofgoodandillwill,successandfailure,authorityandinterpretation.(Coste,164166)

HermanandVervaeckexplaintheinevitableinclinationtoanthropomorphizethenarratorasfollows:

Onecannotdenythathereagainstructuralismcatchesatextualaspectinalltoohumanterms.Mostnarratologistsusethetermnarrator,andwewilldosotoosincetheuseoflessanthropomorphictermssuchasnarratinginstancedoesnotpreventthisinstancefrombeingcharacterizedbymeansofsuchanthropomorphiccriteriaasreliabilityanddetachment.(81,emphasesinoriginal)

Chatman emphasizes the presence of the abstract figure of the narrator based on thevitalityofitsfunctionthetellingbuthedoesnotinsistonthenarratorshumanness,especially in film: As Sarah Kozloff puts it, simply but incisively, Because narrativefilmsarenarrative,someonemustbenarrating....Orifnotnecessarilysomeone,atleastsomething.17 We may conclude from such discussions that the narrator is a kind ofagencyimpliedbythecommunicativenatureofthetextandananthropomorphizedfigurethatexistsonlybecauseofitsnarrativefunction.

Thiswasourstartingpoint.Thenarratorisanabstraction,amethodbywhichthestoryis told. This method is anthropomorphized. We can detect the presence of a narratorthrough themood, both cultural and social orientations, beliefs, values, political biases,andsoon,plusthroughthefactthatthishumanvoiceinourheadsdirectsitsspeechtouspersonally.Now,ifwewishtoclaimthatthevideogameplayernarrates,firstwemustaskhowwedetectanarratoranyway.

DetectionManfredJahnintroducesthreedifferentwaysthathelpusformanideaaboutthenarrator.InthecourseofananalysisofJ.D.SalingersTheCatcherintheRye,hepointsoutthreeidentifiablevoicemarkersinthetextinotherwords,thetextualelementsthatprojectanarrativevoice.Firstisthecontentmatter:therearenaturallyandculturallyappropriatevoices for sadandhappy,comicand tragic subjects.Forexample,HoldenCaulfield inTheCatcherintheRyeoftenexaggerateswhenhespeaks,whichpushesagainstthelimitsof natural or cultural appropriateness, thereby putting them on display. Jahn calls the

second type of voice marker the subjective expressions that indicate the narratorseducation, his/her beliefs, convictions, interests, values, political and ideologicalorientation,attitudetowardpeople,events,andthings.InSalingerstext,wedonotonlyget an idea about the narrators age and background, his discourse is full of valuejudgments, terms of endearment, disparagement, and expletives.18 The third type ispragmaticsignals: expressions that signal the narrators awareness of an audience andthe degree of his/her orientation towards it.19 Here we should pay attention to Jahnssubjectiveexpression.Itistheindicationofnarratorspersonality.

Sometimesit isdifficult todetectsuchvoicemarkers ina textwhenthenarratordoesnotrefertohimself/herselfandrefrainsfromprovidinganycoloringtohis/herdiscourse.Oneofthenarratorspropertiesasithascometobeexploredbynarrativetheoryisrelatedtohis/hervisibility;thenarratorcanbeeitheranovertoracovertnarrator.Thelattertypeof narrative agent does not refer to himself or herself in the text and does not addressanyone, such that this narrator doesnot leave tracesof his/her presence and thus is notsignaled in the text throughvoicemarkers.Thispropertymakes thenarratorevenmoreabstract, to the point where even his or her gender becomes indeterminable. Manynarrative theorists feel compelled to anthropomorphize the narrator in order to countersuchabstraction.AnexceptionisMiekeBal,whohasonoccasionchosentorefertothenarratorasit:

WhenIdiscussthenarrativeagentornarrator,Imeanthelinguisticsubject,afunctionandnotaperson,whichexpresses itself in the language that constitutes the text . I shall here and there refer to the narrator as it,howeveroddthismayseem.(Bal,16)

Hereisthemaindifferencebetweengamesstoriesandtheonesweread.Thenarrationingamesreliesonarealhumanbeingandnotananthropomorphizedtextualentity.HoffmanandMurphyscitationbelowtypicallysoundslikeanarratologist talkingaboutnarratorswholiveinwrittentexts.

Itisimportanttorememberthatbothconcepts[i.e.,pointofviewandnarrativevoice]aremetaphoric,thatthefigureofpointofviewhastodowithhowtheactionisseenorexperiencedandthatthefigurativenarrativevoiceisreallysilentandrequiresustosupposefromthewordsonthepagehowthatvoicemightsoundifsomeonewereactuallyspeakingthem.(HoffmanandMurphy,7)

Now,weallknowthatyou,thevideogameplayer,arenotametaphor,butwehavenotyetestablishedwhatqualifiesyoutobeanarrator.Whatisitthatyoudointhegametocreatediscourse?

TheplayersexpressionInordertoestablishthattheplayernarratesandcanbeconsideredanarrator,wehavetoask the following questions: Since it is the narrators function to express and beresponsibleforhowthecontentispresented,istheplayerlikewiseresponsibleforhowthecontentispresented?Doestheplayerexpressanything?Theanswerisyes, theplayerisresponsibleforhoweventsarepresented.Theplayerisresponsiblenotonlyfortriggeringevents (e.g. doing something or entering a place in order to provoke a systemsresponse)butalsofortheexpressionofeventsandtheirpresentation.Theplayerhastwomeansofnarrationathisorherdisposal:controlandperformance.

Control in literarynarratologyrefers tooneof thenarratorsfunctions:fonctiondecontrloufonctiondergie.20Lintveltpointsoutthatthecontrolfunctionisessentialforthenarratorsinceheorshecontrolsthestructureofthetextbyreportingthediscourseoftheactors.Invideogames,however,itistheplayerwhocontrolstheprotagonistsactionsand decisions (within the options allowed for by the game system). Thus, the playerproduces the discourse by means of his or her subjective expression: when reading anovel, we piece together the narrators image by assembling textual clues such as thenarrators subjective expression that indicates his or her education, beliefs, values,political and ideologicalorientations, attitudes, andother characteristics that are alreadyembedded in the text. But in video games, instead of an already formulated textualnarrator, the player projects his or her own narrative voice through his or her ownexpression,whichleavesapersonalmark.Playrepresentsaseriesofactsbytheplayer:moving,effectuating,interacting,choosingthesequence,anddecidingonthecharacterspresentation,allofwhicharecontrolledbytheplayer.

Storytellinggamesgravitatetowardthecategoryofperformativenarrativesbecauseoftheplayersactionsandtheirquasi-filmicnature.Ifwelookattheperformativeactionsoftheplayerasrelatedtothecontrolfunction,wefindthattheplayerchoosesfromawidevarietyofactionsrepresentingchoicesthatinfluencetheoutcome.Oftentheplayercandosimilar actions in different and meaningful ways, each of which affects the contextdifferently.AgoodexampleisBioShock,afirst-persongamethatcreatedacontroversybyofferingtheplayerthechoiceeithertosaveorkillanorphanchild.Thegamepresentsthestory of a city plagued by a vicious circle of greed and insanity inwhich the player ispresentedwiththreedifferentchoicesregardingawanderingorphan:toignorethewholesituationandmoveon,tosavetheorphan,ortokilltheorphan.

Thefirstchoiceresultsintheplayersinabilitytotraversethegamesworldandescapethecity; theplayerneedstoextractamutagen(chemicalagent thatmodifiesthegeneticsubstanceof theplayerscharacter) fromtheorphan,andfailing tocollect thatmutagenwill result in the players physical weakness and inability to survive the dangerousenvironment.Thesecondchoice is tosave theorphanbyextracting the rightamountofthemutagen,whichwill improve theplayers chance to survive thedystopia.The thirdchoice is to extract twice asmuchmutagen,whichwill kill the orphan butwhich alsoresultsinagreatimprovementoftheplayersabilitiesandthustheplayerensureshisorhersupremacyinthecity.

NonverbalexpressionThe players expression (i.e. his or her narrative voice) in the fictional world of videogamesisnonverbal,whichshouldnotbeconsideredananomaly,sincenonverbalnarrativecommunication is customary in many storytelling forms, including film. Earlier, ouradaptationofJahnsgenericmapresultedinplacingvideogamesamongtheperformativenarrative genres mainly because of the performative nature of play. Literary and filmtheorists recognize that the narrative voice canmanifest through nonverbalmeans. Forinstance,Chatmanwrites:

Every narrative is a structure with a content plane (called story) and an expression plane (calleddiscourse)....Theexpressionplaneisthesetofnarrativestatements,wherestatementisthebasiccomponent

of the form of the expression, independent of andmore abstract than any particularmanifestation that is, theexpressionssubstance,whichvariesfromarttoart.Acertainpostureintheballet,aseriesoffilmshots,awholeparagraphinanovel,oronlyasinglewordanyofthesemightmanifestasinglenarrativestatement.[Voice]refers to the speechorotherovertmeans throughwhich eventsand existents are communicated to theaudience.(Story,146,153,myemphasis)

Chatmanstressesthatweneedtoconsidertheactsofspeechandthoughtingeneralasasubclass of acts in order to understand the concept of the narrators voice.21 Thus, ingames,justasinothernonverbalformsoffiction,thereisalanguagesystemthatunderliestheplayersnarrativevoice,andinthecaseofgames,whenitcomestotheplayersnotthesystemsnarration,thevoicemetaphoricallyreferstothemeansbywhichtheplayercreatesthediscourse.Intheearly1970s,filmtheoristsbegantoworkontranslatingandapplying narratological concepts to films, resulting in the understanding that the filmicform has its own language, a language of visual and audio codes different from, butrelated to, the language of the printed form. Christian Metz maintains that theselanguagesarenotallfoundonthesameplanewithrespecttocinema:Speech,noise,andmusic were annexed at a later time, but film was born with image discourse.22 Thefollowing excerpt from Metzs book helps us realize that the video game can beunderstood as a communication system that produces a specific discourse that is asstructurallycomplexasthemediumthatproducedit:

Certainsystems(eventheleasthumanones)arecalledlanguagesif theirformalstructureresemblesthatofourspokenlanguages:Thisisthecasewiththelanguageofchess(whichdeSaussurefoundsointeresting)orwiththebinary languages of computers. At the other pole, everything that expresses man to himself (even in the leastorganizedandleastlinguisticway)isfelttobealanguage.(FilmLanguage,65)

In the context of game fiction, Metzs description of the systems language shouldremindusofBrendaLaurelstheorythatduringthecommunicationbetweenpeopleandcomputers, thewordscanbe replacedbygraphic signs,nonverbal sounds,oranimationsequences.23

Since a discourse, in the wider application of the concept, may also be creatednonverbally, narration through play is a valuable conceptual tool for understanding theplayers role in the fictional world of a games story. However, this concept remainsunderdevelopedwhenweincludeonlyliterarynarratology(narratologicalconceptsrelatedtoprintedformsoffiction)intheanalysisbecausethistypeofnarratologyalonedoesnotprovidesufficienttheoreticalgroundsforconceptualizingtheplayersnarrativefunctioningamestories.Literarynarratologydoesnotgetusfarenoughincomprehendingaplayersposition inacomplexmediumcomposedofavarietyof substancesandcontrolledbyacomputer program that simulates aworldwith artificial intelligence.Hence, in order toformabetterideaaboutnarrationingames,itisvitalforthecurrentinvestigationtorelatetothetransitionofnarratologicalconventionsfromliterarynarratologytofilmnarratologyandhownarrativetheorieshavebeenappliedtothecinematicform.

ThecinematicnarratorAsadynamicprocess,narrationdeploysthematerialsandproceduresofeachmediumforitsends.(Bordwell,183)

In early studies of film narratology, film narration refers to two types: the voice-overnarration and the filmic agency responsible for the films discourse. The presence of a

cinematicnarratorasanagency isamust,even ifsuchanarratorcannotusuallybereferredtoasasingleintentionalagentinthewayweareusedtoinwrittenfiction.Inthiscontext,Metzwrites:

Theimpressionthatsomeoneisspeakingisboundnottotheempiricalpresenceofadefinite,known,orknowablespeakerbut to the listenersspontaneousperceptionof the linguisticnatureof theobject towhichhe is listening;becauseitisspeech,someonemustbespeakingsomegrandimage-maker(grandimagier)whoisfirstandforemostthefilmitselfasalinguisticobjectsituatedsomewherebehindthefilm,andrepresentingthebasisthatmakesthefilmpossible.(FilmLanguage,2021)

Alongthesamelines,Burgoynealsowrites:Narrationreferstothetechniques,strategiesandsignalsbywhichthepresenceofanarratorcanbeinferred,whichin literature takes the form of certain pronouns and verb tenses. In film, however, the category of narration isassociated with both voice-over or character-narration, and with the more elusive concept of general cinematicnarrationinvolvingallofthecodesofthecinema.(96,myemphasis)

Differentfilmnarratologistsusedifferenttermsforthefilmicnarrator:Metzreferstoitasthegrandimagier;24SarahKozloffusesthetermimage-maker;25DavidBlackcallsittheintrinsicnarrator;26andAndrGaudreaultcalls it the fundamentalnarrator.27Chatmanjust calls it the cinematic narrator. Like others, he insists that the cinematic narratorsvoice should not be confusedwith the voice-over narration (the speaking character) infilms. Chatman asserts that the cinematic narrator is not a human being but rather theoverallagentresponsiblefortheshowing.Thiscinematicnarratorshouldnotbeconfusedwith the voice-over narrator. This narrator is the composite of a complex variety ofcommunicationdevicesonauditoryandvisualchannels:forexample,noise,voice,music,image (of actors, locations, or props), and cinematography (lighting color and camera[distance, angle, and movement]). From these communication devices, the cinematicnarrator is synthesizedby theviewer throughasemioticprocess.28From that,wecouldinferthatthereisatellingauthorityinfilm,adecision-makingagencyresponsiblefortheshowing.

TheplayersnarrationDecision-makingisnottheonlyfactorthatqualifiesaplayertobeadiscourseproducingnarrator; also through controlling the camera, the time, and the sequence, the playerqualifiesasadiscourseproducingnarratorbecauseheorsheisabletoorganize,arrange,select,andgiveefficient,sufficient,andrelevantinformation.First,theplayerprojectshisor her narrative voice through the voice marker that Jahn refers to as the subjectiveexpression: actions that indicate the narrators education, political and ideologicalorientations, beliefs, convictions, interests, values, and attitudes toward people, events,and things. For example, in Penumbra Overture, whether or not Philip (the maincharacter) faces his fears, and whether or not he takes a confrontational approach, iswhollyuptotheplayer.Inthatsense,theplayerdecideswhethertonarrateastoryaboutavictimorastoryaboutapersonwhoresists.ThisconceptcanbefurtherclarifiedthroughgameexamplessuchasBioShock,MaxPayne,andIronStorm.Theoverallagencyofthegame,orthegamesystem,mayleaveadditionalinformationfortheplayertopresent.Ifignored, this additional information does not affect the progress of the plot, but ifpresented, itwill add a certain depth and a significant influence on themeaning of the

narrative. It is the players decision to include or ignore either some or all of thisadditionalinformation.

InBioShock, theplayermoves througha fallencitycalledRaptureand learnswhat isnecessarytoknowsoastoactwithandontheunfoldingplot.Thegameworldprovidesthenecessaryinformationindifferentways(e.g.throughtheworldsdepiction,cut-scenesand/orothercharactersdialoguesduringtheplaysessions).Ontheotherhand,theplayeracts on other information that adds depth to the story and thereby influences it. If theplayerchoosestoignorethetaskoffindingandreleasingthisadditionalinformation,theoutcomewilldiffer, and itwill affect thecharacterization.Theadditional information isscatteredthroughoutthecityintheformofposters,writingsonwalls,andrecordedvoicediaries of other characters, which the player can search for, collect, and listen to. Theplayer has no control over the incoming radio communications received from other(nonplayable)characters,becausethesemessagesunlikethediariesarecontrolledbythegamesystemandarenotoptional.Onecharacter,aladybythenameofTenenbaum,helpstheplayerthroughoutthegameandurgeshimorhertosavethestrayorphans.Sheis very grateful to the player every time he or she saves an orphan. Tenenbaumcommunicates with the player, who gradually comes to understand that she is veryattachedtotheorphans.

If theplayerreliesonlyontheradiomessages,heorshewill learnlaterfromanothercharacterthatTenenbaumwasoneofthoseresponsiblefortheatrocitiesthattookplaceintheorphanageyearsago:shewaspartoftheteamthatconductedmedicalexperimentsontheorphansoutofcommercialinterests.Inthiscase,thenewscomesafterarelativelylong cooperation between the player and Tenenbaum, and so, it represents a shockingdisclosuretotheplayer,whowillbegintodistrustherandreevaluateherintentions.Theother scenario occurs when the player chooses to listen to two of Tenenbaums voicediariesearlierinthegame.Inthefirst,sheconfessesherroleintheorphanage,andinthesecond, sheexpressesher regret,whichexplainswhyshecaresabout theorphansat anearly stage of the plot before Frank Fontaine (another character) reveals to the playerTenenbaumsprevious involvement in theevil,whichhedoes inanattempt todissuadethe player from an alliance with Tenenbaum. The timing of releasing this information(Tenenbaumsremorse)iscriticaltothewayinwhichthecontentofthestoryispresented.Andthechronologyoftheinformationreleaseisultimatelyinthehandsoftheplayer.

AndrGaudreaultsapproachtothecinematicnarratorisbasedonthemergingoftwomodesofcommunicationinfilm:monstrationthroughthecameraandnarrationthroughediting.AccordingtoGaudreault,onthemimeticlevel,monstrationisthenarrativeactofpresenting events in the present time, where the monstrator uses the camera to showeventsmimeticallyas theytakeplace,whereasonthesecondlevelandaccordingto thecinematic narrators point of view, which Gaudreault ascribes to editing, the cinematicnarratorcreatesamorecomplextemporality;thatis,editingallowsthecinematicnarratortocreateanarrativepastwithinthemimeticpresent,shownbythecamera.29

If the player of BioShock decides to linger and take the time to examine thecommercials, theposters, theartwork, andother installations inRapture, itwillbecomeclear howgrotesque and corrupt the citys value systemhad become before its demise.Theplayerscontrolofthecamera(whichalsorepresentsboththeprotagonistspointof

viewandmovement)means that theplayer selects, deselects, andarranges information.Thisisnotonlyamonstrationorshowingabilitybutalsoanactofeditingsimilartothefilmiceditinginconcept.

Another example comes frombothMaxPayne and IronStorm, where the player canoptionallyspendalongtimewatchingin-gameTVduringtheplaysessions.TheTVsetsarescatteredinthegamesworld,andthetypeofcontentprovidedintheTVprogramsisrelevanttothestoryasitprovidesbothcommentaryontheeventsandbackgroundforthecurrentsituationfromadifferentperspective.InMaxPayne,examiningthebillboardsorthewallgraffitirevealsadditionalcommentaryonthefilmnoirambianceofthestoryandoftencreates thediscourseelement thatJahndescribesascontentmatter,which is thekind of voicemarker by which the narrators presence can be detected (i.e. the cynic,comic,ormelodramaticfeelthatcharacterizesthestory).

ThegameworldsnarrationThereisanarratorwhodepictsthestorysworld,thespace,thetime,andthecharacters,and it is certainly not the player who portrays that part. In Burgoynes, Jahns, andKozloffswords,filmnarrationisanagency,andwefindasimilaragencyinvideogamefiction.Jahncoinsthetermfilmiccompositiondevice(FCD)30todescribetheshowingagencyorwhatwasdescribedbyother theorists as a cinematicnarrator.Hedefines theFCDas

[t]hetheoreticalagencybehindafilmsorganizationandarrangement,assumedtobeguidedbymaximsofgivingefficient,sufficient,andrelevant information.TheFCDselectswhat itneedsfromvarioussourcesof informationandarranges,edits,andcomposesthisinformationfortellingafilmicnarrative.AfilmshowsuswhattheFCDhasarrangedforustosee.(FilmF4.1.2)

IwillbrieflyborrowJahnsterminordertonamethegamesnarrationagencythegamecompositiondevice(GCD).TheGCDistheoverallagencythatcreatesandmanagesthefictionalworld.Theprogramcodeofthegamemaintainsthesetupoftherepresentationalvisualandaudioobjectsaswellastheinteractiveobjectsinthegameworld.Itmightbeabad idea tocomeupwith thisclunky term,GCD,butwewillnothave tocarry it foralongtime.Iamnotfondoftermcoinage,butitisanecessaryevilthatwillhelpuspushtheideafurther.GCDwouldrefertothegameworldasnarrator,andIpromisetodropitassoonaspossible.

FollowingJahnsdefinitionofsuchagencyinfilm,wefindthattheGCDistheoreticallyidentical to the FCD, with one significant difference that grants video games theiruniqueness: the narrating device in games (GCD) allows the player to co-narrate byhandingoverpartofthenarrativeagencytotheplayer.TheplayersagencyincludestheaspectshighlightedinJahnsdefinitionof theFCD:theplayercontrols theprotagonistsactions and choices and so is able to organize, arrange, select, and give efficient,sufficient,andrelevantinformation;moreover,theplayercontrolsthecamera.

RobertBurgoynedrawson the theoriesofSeymourChatman,DavidBlack,ChristianMetz, Andr Gaudreault, Sarah Kozloff, Francesco Casetti, Raymond Bellour, TomGunning,andGrardGenettetoconcludethatthegeneralargumentfavoringanarratorinfilmiscongruentwiththeviewofmanytheoristsofliteraturewhobelievetheconceptof

thenarrator is logically necessaryof [sic] all fiction.31He defines narration in film asthediscursiveactivityresponsibleforpresentingorrecountingtheeventsorsituationsofthestoryandidentifiestwokindsofnarratorswhooperateinthefilm-text.Thefirstisthepersonifiedcharacter-narrator,whosevoice ismanifestasavoice-over,acharactersvoice.However,itismoreimportantforustonotethatBurgoynedescribesthefunctionofthe second type of cinematic narrator as the overall control of the visual and sonicregisters.Hedescribesthissecondtypeoffilmicnarratorasanimpersonalextradiegeticnarrator, who manifests itself not through verbal discourse but through a range ofcinematiccodesandchannelsofexpression.Thisimpersonalnarratorisresponsibleforthe larger narration produced by the ensemble of cinematic codes, the overarchingdiscourse.Itisthenarratorwhorendersthetextinnon-verbalform.32Thisnarratorsnonverbal voice arises through cross-cutting, rhyming images, superimposition,manipulationofpointofview,andexpressiveinterpolations.Althoughthesearetheonlyexamples of cinematic presentation techniques Burgoyne himself presents as thenonverbal equivalent of the narrators enunciation in a novel, there are obviously stillother techniques of presentation in film, such as the size of the shot (close-up shot,medium shot, long shot), the camera angles, the camera movements, the editing, thesound,andsoon.Burgoynedescribeshissecondtypeofnarrationastheprimarysourceofnarration.Inthecaseofvideogames,thisnarratoristhegamesystem,ortheGCD.

Burgoynestressesthatmaterialsuchastheactorsappearance,thelocationorsetting,the mise-en-scne needs to be perceived as the fictional world itself that is, todistinguish the fictional world itself from the narrators discourse as the type ofexpressive interpolations which might be analogized with Genettes narrative voice.33Otherwisewecannotdistinguishbetweenthenarratorsstatementsandthefactsoftherealworldofthefictionaluniverse.34Hereinvideogames,thislaststatementbyBurgoynecanbe a perfect template to understand the duality of narration in games. The narratorsstatementsarerepresentedbytheplayersplaywhilethefactsofthefictionaluniversearewhattheGCDcreates;thegamesworldandrules.

DrawingonMarie-LaureRyansmodelofimpersonalnarrationinliterarynarratology,Burgoyneadaptsthismodelforfilm:theimpersonalnarrationcreatestheworldandthenpresents it as autonomous and as if it pre-existed the narrators discourse, while thepersonalnarration(ofthecharacter-narrator)reportsandevaluatesthisworldaswitnessorparticipant. InBurgoynes view, this concept allows the narrator to be conceived as thesource that both creates and reflects the fictional world, thereby producing a type ofdiscourse interpreted by the audience as the facts of the real world of the fictionaluniverse.Asaresult,weareabletodistinguishbetweenthemimeticstratumofthefilm-textandtheshapingactivityofthenarrator.35Thisapproachisusefulinthesensethatitprovidesatheoreticalgroundworkfortheconceptofgamenarration:theshapingactivityofplayer-as-narratorandtheworld-creatingdiscourseoftheGCD.

TheconflictofnarrationThenarratorisviewedsinglyinprinciple,eventhoughhemayendupsubdividedormultiplied.(Coste,166)

TheGCD is the fictional-world-creating agency that controlswhat the player does not:otherexistents(charactersandsettings),events(actionsandhappenings),andtherulesof

presentation.Thereisneverasinglevoiceandasinglenarratoringames,butrathertwoconflictingnarrativevoices,bothnarratingsimultaneously.AlthoughtheplayersagencyisinarguablymorelimitedthanthatoftheGCD,itisenoughtoallowhimorhertotell,topresent content, and to select and deselect the information to be presented. The playerpresentsthisinformationbyevaluating,makingdecisions,andtakingactions,allofwhichcreateaplayersownsubjectiveexpressionthatshapesthediscourse.BoththeGCDandthe player formulate and shape the discourse: the GCD by presenting the world, itsexistents, events, and rules; and the player by assuming essential narrator functionsgrantedbytheGCD.

TheGCDcreatesthemimeticstratum,butitcannotbedescribedsimplyasmimetic.Italsofunctionsasadiegeticdeviceinvariousways:itisabletostopeventsandrunfilmicscenesthatshoweventsinthepast(thusperformingakindofdiegeticsummary);itisabletoprojectnarrativevoice-oversorcommentaryinprintedtext,andinmanyinstances, itcan control the camera and the players actions. InBioShock, for instance, the player suddenlyinjectshimorherselfwithadrug:thisactionisseenthroughtheplayerseyes(the eye-mounted camera) but it is not a voluntary action by the player, even if it ispresented as if the player (i.e. the protagonist) did it willingly and out of necessity.AnotherexampleistobefoundinPenumbraOverturewhere,atacertainpoint,theplayerlooksbehindunwillinglyandthenlosescontroloftheprotagonistsroletotheGCD:itisnot uncommon in games to be confronted with moments when the players agency issubordinated to theGCDs.Thisaspectof therelationshipbetweentheGCDsnarrationand the players narration upholds the order in the world of play and ensures that theplayers input does not jeopardize the integrity of the fictional realm. Herman andVervaeckdescribetheramificationsofthepresenceofmorethanonevoiceinanovelforthereader:

FollowingBakhtin,[JamesPhelan]doesnotconsideranarrativetextasasingle-voicemonologuethatsupposedlyaddressesthereaderinacompellingmannerbutratherasanexchangeofvoicesinwhichthereaderhasanactiveroleinweightingonevoiceagainstanother.Whenreadingastory,areaderhearsthevoicesofallkindsofnarrativeagentsbothinsideandoutsidethestoryandtriestodistillfromthispolyphonyoneharmoniouswhole.Thisisprecisely thewayinwhichthereadergetsactively involvedin thestory. In thisactiveprocess,ethicalvaluesareshaped.Becauseofthepolyphony,thesevaluesoftenremainambiguousandgoagainstasimpledivisioningoodandevil.(123)

The video game player gets involved by projecting his or her own narrative voice tochallenge the authorial voice of the games world. Challenge is the predominantcharacteristic to describe the relationship between both narrating agents in games:simultaneously, while the GCD tells the story of a constantly imperiled character, theplayerstellingconveysthatthesamecharacterisresistingtheadversitiescreatedbytheGCD.SothisisasituationwhereIco-narratethegamestoryIamplaying,andwithoutmy part of the narration, the protagonist is assumed to be simply the subject of themenacesandpuzzlementoftheworldcreatedbytheauthorialgamesystem.

Theselfandthesimultaneousnarration:livingandtellingAsweget closer to exploringgamecriticismand themeaning-making ingames, it is aproper timetostart talkingaboutmebecauseIamnotonlyaco-narrator; Iamalso theprotagonist in this story. InATheoryofNarrative, Franz Stanzel distinguishes between

three narrative situations, although he calls them no more than rough descriptions ofbasicpossibilitiesofrenderingthemediacyofnarration:36

Itischaracteristicofthefirst-personnarrativesituationthatthemediacyofnarrationbelongstotallytothefictionalrealmofcharactersofthenovel:themediator,thatis,thefirst-personnarrator,isacharacterofthisworldjustastheother characters are. The world of the character is completely identical to the world of the narrator . It ischaracteristic of the authorial narrative situation that the narrator is outside the world of the characters. Thenarratorsworld existsonadifferent levelofbeing from thatof the characters.Here theprocessof transmissionoriginatesfromanexternalperspective.[I]nthefiguralnarrativesituation,themediatingnarratorisreplacedbyareflector:acharacterinthenovelwhothinks,feelsandperceives,butdoesnotspeaktothereaderlikeanarrator.Thereaderlooksattheothercharactersinthenarrativethroughtheeyesofthisreflector-character.(45)

Beforewegoanyfurther,areflectorisjustanothernameforfocalizer,whichusedtobe the technical termfor theperceivingcharacter.Whereas the languageStanzeluses todefinethethreesituationsmaysoundpromisingandrelevanttoourexplorationofgamenarratives,thetheoreticalstructureitselfisnotflexibleenoughforustoapplyittogamefiction, because it claims three different situations and does not discuss a possibility ofoverlaporexchange.Afterall,Stanzelisonlyreferringtotheprintedformoffiction.Hisgoal in developing his typology of the three narrative situations is to examine typicalnarrative patterns that result from different combinations of narrative features, such asinvolvement, distance, knowledge, reliability, voice, and mood (Genettes term forfocalization). His work on the first-person narrative situation nevertheless provides uswith an interesting opportunity to further identify a narrative situation specific to gamenarrativesintermsofmediacyandtemporality.

StanzeldistinguishesbetweenthenarratingIandtheexperiencingIinfirst-personnarration.37Inthissituation,thenarratingIknowsmorethantheexperiencingIandisusually older andwiser.Herman andVervaeck provide an example in their analysis ofTheMap,ashortstorybyDutchwriterGerritKrol:thenarratingIismorematurebutisnolongerfascinatedbymaps,unliketheboywhoisenthralledbyjustseeingthenameofhisvillageonamap.HermanandVervaecksanalysisillustratesthatthenarratingIhas lost his ability for childlike enchantment. Such realization is possible when thereaderrecognizesthedifferencebetweentheboyandthenarrator.ThisanalysisissimilartoStanzelsanalysisofThomasMannsConfessionsofFelixKrull,ConfidenceMan:TheEarlyYears:therehetalksofthetensionbetweentheolder,maturedandmoresensibleIasnarratorandtheIashero,stillcompletelyengrossedinhisexistentialsituation.38

Thisliterarysituationmakesusrealizethatthesamepossibilityisnotavailableingamefictionasfarasmediacyandtemporalityareconcerned,becausewhentheplayernarrates,heorshedoesnottellthestoryofapastpersonalexperiencebutastoryasithappens,andtherefore,theplayersnarratingandexperiencingselvesmerge.Theplayerexperiencesashe or she narrates, and the temporal or diachronic demarcation of narrating andexperiencing selves cannot be assumed, because character development is synchronizedwithanddependentontheplayersprogress;thatis,theplayerwhoisimpersonatingtheprotagonist cannotbe inapositionwhere thenarratingandexperiencing selvesare twodifferentroles,becauseunlikewhatisthecasewithatraditionalfirst-personnarratorthe player has not grownwiser before the storytelling began in order to accommodatetellingthestoryinthepasttense.Gamefictionisaliveexperience,whichimpliesthatthistype of narrative is told in the present tense. To be sure, such a claim may seem to

contradict many obvious examples in game fiction where we find the narrating andexperiencingIsituationthatStanzeldescribes.Thus,forexample,PenumbraOverturetakes the shape of an epistolary narrative and begins with a letter from Philip, theprotagonist,beforetheplayerimpersonateshim.Philipreflectsonthesequenceofeventsthat has just come to an end and provides information towhich the player has had noprevious access. This realization brings us to the most elusive narratological aspect ingamefiction:in-gameandout-of-gamesituations.

Thefollowingtablesshowthatthenarratingself,asdistinctfromtheexperiencingself,is generated by the GCD through an aesthetic technique, which injects a past-tensenarratingvoice(aletterfromPhilip)todeveloptheepistolaryfeelofthenarrative:TABLE1.1Out-of-gameself

TABLE1.2In-gameself

Games make use of the kind of interpolated narration that Herman and Vervaeckdescribeasfollows:

Forinstance,inanovelactioncanbealternatedwithaletterthatprovidesacommentonit.Insuchacase,thereisalwaysmore than one narrative level. An epistolary novel has the story told in the letters (of the letter-writingcharacters),and(attheotherlevel)thestorytoldaboutthesecharactersbetweenthoseletters.(87)

Likewise,whilenarration ingames iscarriedoutby theplayerand theGCDduring theplay sessions, the GCD may decide, in order to sustain the consistency of the storysstructureandasameansofguidancetotheplayer,toinsertnonplayablesegmentsthattheplayerhasnocontrolover.StanzelsdistinctionbetweennarratingandexperiencingselvesbecomesartificialinthiscaseandisonlyuponoccasionsimulatedorstagedbytheGCDtocreatediegetic temporal depth. Inmanyways, theGCD takesover thenarration andspeaks for the player who is already in character; that is, the GCD imitates theprotagonists voicewhile the player impersonates him or her, inwhich case the playerreceivesinformationabouttransitionalpointsinthenarrativeinordertocoherentlymoveto the next chapter. During the play session, when the GCD does not force a filmicsequence upon the player or intervene with a statement (vocal or written) that theprotagonist (the fictionalcharacterandnot theplayer) says, theplayernarratesasheor

sheperceivesandexperiences,bringingtomindthegrammaticalequivalentofthepresenttense,where the temporal andpsychological distancebetween thenarrating I and theexperiencingIiszero.40

H.PorterAbbottsdefinitionofdistancereinforcesthisconceptsincehetalksofthenarratorsemotionaldistancefromthecharactersandtheactions(thedegreeofhisorherinvolvementinthestory).41Thisdistanceisannulledinvideogamesbythefactthattheplayerinfirst-persongamesisanarratorwhoalwaystellsastoryofpersonalexperienceas it takes place. This fact directs us toward a narrative situation that is particularlygermane to game fiction: simultaneous narration. Herman and Vervaeck describesimultaneousnarrationanditseffectsasrequiring

theuseofthepresenttensebecauseonlythatenablestheperfectcoincidenceofactionandnarrationtocreatetheimpression[thenarrator]tellsyoueverythingthemomentithappens.ifthenarrationwerereallytocoincidewiththeaction,thenarratorwouldbetalkingandexperiencingatthesametime.(p.87)

Jahns definition of simultaneous narration further supports the indications that it bestdescribesthetypeofnarrativesituationingamefiction:

Atypeofhomodiegeticnarrativeinwhichthenarratortellsastorythatunfoldsass/hetellsit.Theproblematiclogicofthistypeofnarrativesituationdemandsthatthenarratordoesnotknowhowthestoryends,thattherecanbenoobjectiveflashforwards,thatalldiegeticsentencesareinthepresenttense,andthatthenarratingandexperiencingselvesoverlapandmerge.(Narratology,N3.3.11.)

WhatismoststrikingaboutJahnsdefinitionisthatthepresenttenselogicallynecessitatestheimpossibilityofthenarratorknowingtheendofthestory,whichisobviouslythecasein game fiction. Genette writes that simultaneous narration clears the narrative fromtemporalmanipulations:

[Simultaneousnarrating]...isinprinciplethesimplest,sincetherigoroussimultaneousnessofstoryandnarratingeliminatesanysortofinterferenceortemporalgame.Apresent-tensenarrativewhichisbehavioristintypeandstrictlyofthemomentcanseemliketheheightofobjectivity,sincethelasttraceofenunciatingthatstillsubsistedintheHemingway-style narrative (themark of temporal interval between story and narrating,which the use of thepreterit[e]unavoidablycomprises)nowdisappearsinatotaltransparencyofthenarrative,whichfinallyfadesawayinfavorofthestory.(218219)

Ingamefiction,temporalmanipulationsexist,buttheyareembeddedinthepresenttense,defining experience. For instance, flashbacks in games represent different time zonescreatedbytheGCD:zonesinwhichtheplayercouldbetransformedintoaviewerwithnocontrol(e.g.duringanoninteractivecut-scene).However,theflashbackmayhaveanothermeaningingamesaswell:theplayercanalsobetransportedfromthepresenttoatimeinthepastwhereheorsheplaysandnarratesinthepresent(ofthatpast).

Herewe should have a look atDorritCohn,whowrites extensively on simultaneousnarration inTheDistinctionofFiction.She summarizes the acceptedconventionamongliterary theorists, suchasPaulRicoeur,ShlomithRimmon-Kenan,KateHamburger,andRobertScholes,thatanarrativecanbeinonlythepasttense:liveortell(inthewordsofRoquentin,theprotagonistinSartresNausea.42Cohndescribesherstudyofsimultaneousnarratives as a response to themodernist trend of creating a narrative discourse in thepresent tense. She reminds us that, despiteHamburgers argument about the obligatorytemporal distance between the past of experience and the present of narration, it is

generally accepted that intermittently shifting tense frompast to presentmaybebrieflyused to enhance vividness in third-person narratives. In Charles Dickens DavidCopperfield, for instance,we find a narrative in the past tense that shifts to the presenttenseintheburialsceneofDavidsmother,andthenitshiftsbacktothepasttense.Cohnmaintains that such short present tense usage is deemed structurally harmless in thetraditionalnarratologicalviewonlyifthepresenttenseisembeddedinthenormaltensualsurrounding.43 To her, first-person narratives are traditionally wholly in the pastbecause they imitate autobiographies, memoirs, letters, oral confessions, and journals.Cohnwantstobreakwiththetraditionalviewandclaimsthatfirst-personnarrativesinthepresent tense are neglected if not denied.44 Among the various examples of present-tensefirst-personnarrativesshementions,hertextualparadigmisJ.M.CoetzeesWaitingfortheBarbarians.Cohnzoomsinonfirst-personnarratorswhotelltheirstoriesentirelyinthepresenttense45andassertsthatthistypecannotbesubsumedunderothernarrativecategories but rather constitutes an independent category: Its innovation, to state itbluntly, is to emancipate first-person fictional narration from the dictates of formalmimetics.46

Cohnbringsintofocusthreeinterrelatedfeaturesofsimultaneousnarration.First,thereistheincongruityofitsnarrativesituationinthatsimultaneousnarrationischaracterizedby discouraging questions aboutwho narrates and not calling attention to the temporalrelation between narrated experience and narrating instance. Second, the semanticimplicationofitsnarrativetenseisthatpresent-tensefirst-personnarrationcreatestension,instability, flexibility, and ambiguity. Third, the absolute focalization of the narrativeexperience (focalized self-narration) presented in simultaneous narratives reduces thetemporalhiatusbetweenthenarratingandexperiencingselvestozero.47Whenwetrytoapplythistovideogames,wefindthatitisnotquiteclearwhethersimultaneousnarrationin gamesmay also be said to discourage questions about the narrator and diminish theattention to the temporal relation between narrated experience and narrating instance.However, the second and third features are clearly just as applicable to simultaneousnarrationinfirst-persongamefiction.Thesecondfeatureoftension,instability,flexibility,andambiguityiscrucialtotheexperienceofgamesbecausetheplayerispresentinalivesituation, which means that his/her lack of knowledge affects the possible outcome ofconfronting the fictionalworld. The third feature, namely absolute focalization and thecollapseofdistancebetweennarratingandexperiencingselves,bringsustothestudyoftheplayerssecondroleinthegamenarrative:theplayer-as-focalizer,whichresultswhentheplayerassumestheroleoftheprotagonist.Bywayoftransition,weshouldlookagainatwhatStanzelwrites:

Thesimultaneousconcentrationof the focusofpresentationon theexperiencing self canalsobeobserved in thequasi-autobiographicalfirst-personnovel,althoughonlytemporarily.[I]nfirst-personnovelssuchasHuckleberryFinn,TheCatcherintheRyeandIrisMurdochsUndertheNet,thenarratingandtheexperiencingselfcanhardlybedistinguished,sincethepresentationisfocusedherealmostentirelyontheselfinitsHereandNowofexperience.(225)

FocalizationandperceptionTheplayerssecondfunctionisonthelevelofthenarrative.Thisisacognitivefunctionas

theplayerassumestheroleoftheperceivingcharacteralsocalledfocalizer.MiekeBalmaintains that while the narrator narrates, the focalizer is an aspect of the story thisnarratortells,48andManfredJahndefinesthefocalizeras

Theagentwhosepointofvieworientsthenarrativetext.Atextisanchoredonafocalizerspointofviewwhenitpresents(anddoesnottranscend)thefocalizersthoughts,reflectionsandknowledge,his/heractualandimaginaryperceptions,aswellashis/herculturalandideologicalorientation.(Narratology,N3.2.2.)

HermanandVervaeck,49Coste,50andJahn51allaffirmthatpointofviewisproblematicandambiguous.Simplyput,thenotionoffocalizationissituatedinbetweenthetwolevelsofnarrationandnarrative.Ontheonehand,whenanimportantsourceonnarratologysuchas Herman and Vervaecks Handbook of Narrative Analysis presents the concept offocalizationonthelevelofnarrativeratherthanonnarration,thisjudgmentappearsvalidsincefocalizationisbydefinitionanchoredtoacharactersperception.Ontheotherhand,the fact that the narrator may be present among the characters muddles the clear-cutseparationbetweennarratorandfocalizer.GenetteandChatmanassignfocalizationonlyto characters (focal-characters), but many other narratologists follow Rimmon-Kenanwhensheacknowledgestheexistenceofanarrator-focalizer,inwhichcasethefocusofperceptionisattributedtothenarratorhencethedistinctionbetweeninternal(character-focalizer:charactersfocusofperception)andexternalfocalizers.

Originally,thenotionoffocalizerwasmeanttodistinguishbetweentwoquestions:whospeaks? (pertaining to thenarrator)andwhosees? (pertaining to thecharacter).But therevisionsofthisconcepthaveresultedintwoadditionalconsiderations.First,thequestionshouldnotbe restricted toonly seeing, sincemore senses, aswell asmental responses,might be involved, and therefore, focalization has come to designate the center ofperception. And second, if the narrator is a character, as in first-person narratives,narration and focalizationmay often overlap. Indeed, the identification of focalizers inprintednarrativesrepeatedlyturnsouttobeimpossible:

Thefocalizercanbehardtodetermine.AtthebeginningofthenovellaSugarplums(Suikerpruimen)byHuubBeurskens, the character Stein appears to be the (internal) focalizer, but certain passages suggest (external)focalizationby thenarrator.AtonepointSteinandPattyJohnaresittingonarestaurant terrace:Inbetween theprivateyachtsandthesmallfishingboats,thedarkwaterreflectedthemanylittlecoloredlamps.Whoseesthis?Steinorthenarrator?Impossibletodecide.(HermanandVervaeck,73)

In spite of suchdifficulties,Chatman,Herman andVervaeck,Genette,Stanzel, andBalinsist upon theusefulness of treating the aspects of perception andnarration separately.Genette founds his definition of mood (his term for focalization) on the grammaticaldefinitionofmood in theFrenchLittrdictionary:Thedifferentpointsofviewfromwhichthelifeoractionislookedat.52

Chatmandistinguishesbetweennarrationandfocalizationinthesamemanner:Pointofview does not mean expression; it only means the perspective in terms of which theexpressionismade.53Baladvocatesforadistinguishingbetweennarratorandfocalizerinordertobetterunderstandthepossibleinterrelationshipamongtextualagents:

When the connection between these two agents is not self-evident, it becomes easier to gain insight into thecomplexityoftherelationshipbetweenthethreeagentsthatfunctioninthethreelayersthenarrator,thefocalizer,the actor and thosemoments inwhich they do or do not overlap in the shape of a single person.This non-overlapalsoholdsfornarrativesinvisualmedia.(Bal,1920)

The distinction between player-as-narrator and player-as-focalizer is needed for tworeasons. First, it helps us distinguish between the narrative voice and the center ofperception,adistinctionfavoredbymostnarratologists,whichgivesusaclearer ideaofthe players access and involvement on different levels of narrative communication.Second,followingBalsviewsontheseparationofnarratorandfocalizer54atthisstageofstudyingvideogamenarratives,weneed tounderstandeachagent separatelybeforewestudy the overlap between them and their ramifications in game fiction. Although ourprimaryfocusliesontheoverlap,studyingbothagentsseparatelyshouldneverthelessbeanassetinthefuturewhenthecurrentworkisexpandedtogamenarrativesinwhichtheoverlapdoesnotoccur(e.g.inthird-personandisometricgames).

Theplayer-as-focalizerThedistinctionbetweennarrator and focalizer is not as difficult tomake in the case ofvisual media (to which video game narratives belong) as it is with written texts. Wealready discussed that the players control of the camera (i.e. the camera is virtuallymounted on the players eyes in first-person games) gives the player a level of controlregardingwhat is seen: the player selects the information presented or, inGaudreaultsterm,isamonstratortypeofnarrator.Infirst-persongames,theplayerisgiventheabilityofwhatiscalledthemouselook(alsoknownasFreelook),whichmeansthattheplayercanusethecomputersmouse(oranothermeansofcontrol)torotatetheprotagonistscameraviewandcreatetheillusionthathe/sheisactuallylookingthroughtheprotagonistseyes.In thismode, theplayergetsa realistic rotatable360-degreeangle,avisual illusion thatlocatestheplayerinsidethecharactersbody.

Thesenseofcontroloverthefieldofvisionalsoresultsinanactofperceptionbytheplayer. In most first-person games, the player does not see the character he or sheimpersonatesduringtheplaysessionunlessthegameworldinterveneswithacut-scene(acinematicclip)showingthecharacterinthird-personperspective.Butmostofthetimetheplayeristhecenterofperceptionandcontinuestoembodytheprotagonist.Unlikethird-persongamenarratives,inwhichtheplayerismoreofapuppetmaster,first-persongamenarrativesasaruledonotshowtheprotagonistduringplaysessions.Wecouldevenarguethat it is theplayerwho isactually theprotagonist,while thesystem-generated fictionalcharacterdoesnotrepresentmorethananabsentavatarwhosenamebecomestheplayersaliasinthefictionalworldinordertoenhanceimmersionandgettheplayerincharacter.In themany genres of storytelling games, it is not difficult to determinewho does theseeing (and listening) as it is almost always the player, despite those brief and rareoccasionswhenthegamesysteminsertsacinematicsequenceshowinganothercharactersperception. In first-persongames, thevirtual camera is placed in theprotagonists eyes,whichcreatestheillusionthattheplayerhasembodiedtheprotagonist,andwhichdefinestheplayersengagementinthestoryworld.

ThecharacterspresenceInnoninteractivefictionalforms,suchasnovelsandfilms,themaincharacterissomeonethatweadmitasawholebeing;thatis,weadmitthecharacterasaphysicalformwithasetofpsychologicalcharacteristicsandassomeonewhoperformsaseriesofactions.We

familiarize ourselves with this character through observation, and thenwe analyze andjudge. The character is a question of relative interest; for example,WaltKowalski, theprotagonistinClintEastwoodsGranTorino(2008),isalonelymanwithacrueltemperwho constantly uses derogatory language. That language is a defining attribute of hisdisgruntledcharacterandrepresentsoneofhispersonalitytraits.

IfGranTorinoweretobemadeintoagame,andiftheplayerwereabletopushabuttonthat releases a derogatory term during the play session and while impersonatingWalt,would theplayerdecide topush thatbuttoneverysooften?Theanswerdependson theplayer:someplayerswouldandotherswouldnotpush thederogatory termbutton.Thismeans thatWalts personality trait is now an action determined by the player. InGranTorino,thehypotheticalfirst-persongame,Waltscharacterwouldbepartitioned.Playerswho have seen the film already know aboutWalt, but in the vastmajority of games gamesthatarenotbasedonfilmstheplayerlearnsabouttheprotagonistfromonlythegameworldandpromotions.Theprotagonisthasahumanform(abody)aswellascertainabilities, attitudes, anda rangeofpossibleactions.Thispackage isdividedbetween theplayerandthesysteminawaythatmakestheprotagonistdisappearmostofthetime,tobereplacedbytheplayer.Inafirst-persongame,theplayergetstheprotagonistseyesandsometimes arms and legs, all decided on by the system. But the protagonists personaltraitsandactionsarereplacedbytheplayersown.Insomegames,thisremainsthecaseuntil the system takes control and exposes the players fictional self onscreen in acinematicsequence.Nevertheless,duringmostof theplayexperience, theprotagonist istheplayerwhoexperiencessincethequestiontheplayerasksnormallyis,whatdoIdo?rather than what would my pretend character do? The player is dazzled by thesurroundingsandvisuals,preoccupiedwithdiscoveryandsurvival,andoftenunawareofthesplit-personalitysituationheorsheiscaughtin.Therearetwoidentitiesatplay:theplayers own personality and the fictional personality the player impersonates. Yet theplayers own personality is clearly dominant for as long as, and to the extent that, thegamepermits.

Chatmans definition of point of view takes into account not only the perceptualconnotationoftheterm.Italsotakesintoaccountthreedifferentmeanings:thephysicalplaceorideologicalsituationorpracticallife-orientationtowhichnarrativeeventsstandinrelation.55Inthefirstinstance,Chatmanreferstotheliteralorperceptualpointofview(e.g.somethingisseenthroughsomeoneseyes).Inthesecondinsta