What's next?

Nielsen's "Narrative" talks about the relationship between games and the narratives. Many games today are designed based on certain fictions or movies, which the plots of the games are already arranged. Game players could simply follow the story lines and find out the cues about how to get into the next level to finish the games. When I was reading the the article, one question came up in my mind: why do people still like to play narrative games if the plots are already arranged beforehand and the game players can only do a little on their own? Although many explanations have appeared in the article, I want to expand more on them.

One of the explanations that the article tells us is that game players will buy the games that include their favorite plots. According to Nielsen, "the link to the movie is what made thousands of fans buy it." One example is the Star Wars Racer. Although not much freedom and stories are given to game players in this game, Star Wars Racer still has a great number of game players because of the Star Wars series movies.

However, according to Nielson, more people prefer those games that can give them more freedom in relationship to the game setting and characters. "Many of us have tried to open doors and windows that would not move in Blade Runner, or tried to climb the tress of EverQuest." Those who love the movies and fictions will want to try out those magical buttons or characters that do not appear or are not important in the movies or fictions. Another game that gives a lot of freedom to the players is Grand Theft Auto III, in which players can do many things that have nothing to do with the missions they are given, such as stealing things and beating random people up on street, etc.

While recalling the games that I have played, those that include a lot of freedom are the ones that I like the most. By saying that, online games that most of the characters are real players attract me the most because I can talk freely to the players. In video games, many settings and actors are already set. Like cut-scenes, many things are there to be triggered by the players in order to forward the game and that is not freedom. Though the games nowadays already provide more comparing to those in the past when the technology was not that advanced, I still hope video games can allow us to do more on our own so while enjoying using the characters and scenes from the movies, we can create our own decisions, stories, and even endings.