Narrative

Chapter 8 of Nielson's text talks about Narrative in video games. Nielson makes the argument throughout the chapter that video games can be seen as an Narrative. Neilson says "when we talk of stories, plots or narratives in video games, we are referring to a scripted succesion of events that the player has to perform in a specific order." Nielson goes into great detail about the components of a narrative game and what goes into a game falling under this category. He talks about game space storytelling and cut scenes being very important to narrative games.

Cut scenes are specifically important because the audience ready to play the game, they shape the narrative in a certain direction and they compensate for missing game narrative, they also provide the audience with information. Personally when i have time i really enjoy wrapping myself into a narrative game and getting caught up in the story, but from personal experience i can tell you that cut scenes are crucial to playing a narrative game and being successful at it. Sometimes when i play grand theft auto i may skip a cut scene because i want to get straight to playing the game, and by the time i start playing i have no clue what to do or where to go. Narrative games are specifically setup this way to lead the audience through a story and a paint cinematic picture of what is going on.

Neilson then goes onto explain the progression of narrative games and what goes into each chapter of the game and also how often times a players decisions during a game will effect the ending of the game. This is personally what intrigues me about narrative games and what attracts me to them. I like the fact that my actions can control the outcome of the game, this makes them funnier as well as more interesting. In some cases when you are done playing a good narrative game you will feel like you watched a good movie.

Towards the ending of the chapter Neilson talks about the players experience and how it effects the game. Overall i felt that chapter was a good read, Neilson did a good job of summing up narrative gaming and also broke down all the elements that are involved in the gaming experience.

Lastly i leave you with you this question Do you agree with Neilson's arguments in the chapter, and do you personally enjoy playing narrative games opposed to regular games?