An interactive story that is to be consumed by a large number of people is difficult to make. In older games, the cut scene was the game developer's primary way of giving the narrative of a game. This temporarily removes player control to force the main character down certain paths or to make certain decisions. This does allow exposition to occur and keep a nice flow for the game, but they force the character you are controlling (effectively forcing you) to make decisions you don't want to make. Some cut scenes will even give you a choice in response to a question where both answers are the same ("Yes." or "Of Course!"). This can cause the player to feel constrained or alienated. Cut scenes have been criticized as an out for poor game design. For this reason, developers are trying to resort to other methods to tell the story.
Some developers are straying away from linear storytelling to branching stories where game designers make a world and situations that the player must react to. "What we then have is not a story but a story is what we may get" (183). It is an innovative way to involve the player in the creation of the story, actually giving the character free will in place of an illusion of free will. Quest-style games where players are given a variety of quests they can choose to complete or ignore. This is a sort of in between style of storytelling where the player still has some say of what they want to do, but their actions are pre-scripted (kill this bad guy, deliver this letter).
The biggest difference between reading a story or watching a movie and playing a video game is that you are involved in the story. A book can be written in first or third person, while most games are second person. You are the main character or at the very least, the main character is under your control. Giving this amount of control to the consumer drastically changes the way stories are told. The story isn't even really told at this point, it is lived. It is truly difficult to allow a player full free will in a game. If you could kill one of the main characters, he or she could not be involved in later portions of the story. This is the difficulty of having a deep narrative in games without constraining the character, there are just too many possibilities. Possibly in the future, computers will have the processing power to allow for a story to unfold in an infinite number of different ways subtly counting on each action of the player, but that seems unlikely.
Thought Question: When you play games, do you ever feel constrained by the storyline or do you feel like the constraints are necessary for you to enjoy the game?
Well, after I read your article, I think constrains are necessary because as you said, there will just be too many possible outcomes if there was not a single constrains in the game and it is just too hard to achieved by game developers. However, I feel like having as fewer constraints as possible is more enjoyable for me.
ReplyDeleteI, personally, enjoy my games linear, because it gives me a sense of purpose and forward motion while playing. In games like this, I keep playing because I want to find out what happens in the story.
ReplyDeleteIn "branching" or "quest-based" games, I continuously feel discouraged from continuing because I get distracted by all the options, and want to run around trying them all at once, causing me to spend too long in a single stage of the game and get bored of it. The lack of a single driving narrative disengages me from the story and makes me care less about moving it forward, meaning I won't be as motivated to push through a particularly difficult level of the game.
That's just me, though - I'm the guy who cares more about terrorizing the populace in Grand Theft Auto than I do about finishing the game, simply because I have that option and it's easier.
I enjoy those games that are.. more freedom, but I would also there to be storyline as well. If there is such an example, Final Fantasy Tactics might be a good example of how much I care about freedom and the storyline itself.
ReplyDeleteI would like to try out as much things, but I do think story is very important (as long as it's a good one) and without a story, game can be another junk.
I agree with Bahk as long as the storyline is good and keeps my interest then i have problem with it, however when i run into a game that presents a storyline that i don't find very believable or interesting, it can potentially ruin the game and gameplay itself.
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