Narrative in the Gaming World

  Did you ever met my friend Aristotle? Well, he was a Greek Philosopher that came up with three poetics that applies to narrative, these are known as the Arristotle Poetics:

1) Beginning

2) Middle

3) End 

  These are pretty key in how books, films and games are created. Imagine if the book you were reading had no ending, or you started watching a film half-way through, it would be infuriating wouldn't it?

  With literature and other media of that sort using those poetics, you could say that as the audience; you were experiencing it in a linear way, from point A, to point D at the end. But is it different in video games seen today?

Are Video Games today changing traditional narratives?

  As video games have become increasingly interactive and graphically immersive the way the story or plot is told can change depending on the player's actions throughout the game. Games typical of this are RPG's (Role Playing Games) where the player usually creates a character from a various array of selections i.e. race, power, clothes etc. This straight away makes it a unique experience as the main character used in the story is different to everyone else playing. In a book for example, everyone reading will have the same description on the page in every copy, imagination creates the character's looks but primarily the character is who the author wants him/her to be. This begs the question of whether or not authors are actually dying out, not the books; this will be looked at later on in the post.

  An RPG that uses this 'player-told story' is the Fable series by Lionhead Studios. Fable 2 released in 2008 really played on the idea of changing traditional narratives. Check out the video below from an interview with one of the main creators, Peter Molyneux:

The 'Free-Roaming' World

A quote from the biginning of the clip is a great example to use that stresses the point that Aristotle's Poetics are not being re-written but changed and altered, "...has an incredable story that morphs around what your [the player] like and allows you to be whoever you want to be, whether its good or evil, pure or corrupt." Moloyneux talks about how the player can get married and buy houses, this really allows the story to be experienced at a unique pace to someone else. He also keeps using the word "free-roaming" when he talks about the world that the story is set, this is an epitomising point because it really contradicts the idea of a linear path typically seen when reading books. Molyneux seems like he's homing in on changing the traditional narratives seen in the Modern Warfare franchise when you follow a set path through check points and triggers. 

Take a look at this other video with interviews from some writers and other fans of the game and how in-depth the story is:

The player in Mass Effect

  Another game that experiments with different narrative methods is Mass Effect. This game series by BioWare really focus's on in-game choices. The main area here to talk about is the conversations. In this game the player can choose which line of dialogue to say allowing the conversation to unfold differently every time. This is similar to Fable as it gives the narrative a more user-controlled feel rather than the script writer's. Choosing different lines of dialogue can create tension between the player and the crew member, can create a love story within the main story and can even unlock various parts that would not be accessible because the player did not choose to get to know that person well enough.

  In games like Mass Effect or Fable the in-game choices allow the story to unfold around the player ultimately creating a completely different ending to the story. In Mass Effect for example, during the game you may wish to have more evil morales to that of one of your companions, that companion leaves the party and therefore doesn't join you at the end for support during a massive onslaught. Or if you are enemies with a party member he/she may not listen to your commands at he end of the game resulting in their demise. This links to the idea that authors are somewhat not the main element any more, they lay the foundations for the player (audience) to create their own experience. Are the players actually becoming the author? I suppose we do certain things within the story that catalyse the story to unfold but in my opinion, the idea of a game having a beginning, a middle and an end is still apparent but the rate at which they are experienced differs.

 Another quick game to look at, Heavy Rain. This is a different take on traditional games mainly because it is a different genre all together. Heavy Rain is solely an interactive book, the main strengths in its production and experience is its story.

See how the choices that the player can choose floats dynamically around the main protagonist. This game is extending the power of what traditional novels provide: an immersive experience from beginning to end. The same is for Heavy Rain except it allows the player to deviate from the beginning point to the end point freely.