Game Narrative

As a medium, games have the unique power to grant their user ownership over many levels of the game's narrative. By allowing the user to shape the course of the story, whether implicitly or explicitly, the narrative crafted int he player's mind will always be more meaningful than anything crafted by the game's creators. The level of ownership granted to the user caries from game to game, all with different effects on the user. This can range from minor emergent or randomly-generated events, to a carefully crafted network of cause and effect the gives the player the illusion of ownership, with no explicit narrative laying somewhere far to the outside.

Randomly-generated events, ones that come about through a complex series of computations and probability tables, may take the form of random accidents of physics, through to the plethora of results emergent from a system comprised of a few simple, synergistic components. I could, for instance, be making a map in the CryEngine and mistakenly create a bunch of trees the wrong way, and, through a random act of physics, the trees start stabbing the ground wildly, as if forced into service by an angry god. While not of particular narrative weight, still something that I can own as a unique experience.

Most scripted endeavors could take the form of perhaps the guards in Elderscrolls IV: Oblivion, and their reactions to violence in the city. I had one instance wherein a character from whom I received a quest asked me to kill someone I liked. I refused, and the character struck me in plain view of one of the city's guards. Because the guards' AI system tells them that "violence bad, kill violent offenders", and the character simply has "avoid law enforcement", later that game-day I walked through the city to see him chased down and killed by guards. A unique occurrence as the result of the interaction of a few simply components.

Other narrative takes the form of a complex series of cause/effect relationships in a story-driven game. Knights of the Old Republic, MassEffect, and Heavy Rain, are excellent examples of this form of multi-branched narrative structure. Given a high volume of choices, each player's experience is a unique result of how they chose to progress through the game. Perhaps someone didn't gain as much insight into one character's backstory and I did. This creates "water-cooler" moments where players talk about the unique experiences they had playing the game. To each person, the narrative they crafted through their choices is incredibly powerful, and sometimes the player will think of their narrative-track as the "right" one.

Other games still eschew narrative altogether in favor of providing unique worlds and problem-solving situations. Limbo, a game solely focused on getting from Point A to Point B, with simple puzzle obstacles in the way, gives the player the opportunity to read the work as they choose based on evidence given to them. The title of the game is "Limbo", the world is dark and desaturated, I have to save someone, there's evil creatures in my way. From there player's craft their own story. Minecraft, another example of this narrative structure, drops the player onto a beach and says nothing. From there, and the complex arrangement and combination of a few simple components, the player can craft their own wildly fantastical narrative for the game, which is, as I said, more powerful than anything anyone could ever write for Minecraft.