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Video Game Narratives: Beyond the Gameplay

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Abstract and Figures

Contemporary video games such as Mass Effect or Assas-sin's Creed emerge as a new form of media and depart from traditional games purely seen as problem-solving exercises. They are enjoyed by a broader audience, similar to those of TV and cinema. At the same time, they are significantly different from TV and cinema, since they place the user at the centre of interaction and content creation. This paper discusses the role of narratives in these new epic games as the main driver behind their appeal and commercial success.
Content may be subject to copyright.
Y. Ikeda, C. M. Herr, D. Holzer, S. Kaijima, M. J. Kim, M. A. Schnabel (eds.), Emerging Experience in
Past, Present and Future of Digital Architecture, Proceedings of the 20th International Conference of the
Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia CAADRIA 2015, 000000. ©
2015, The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong
Kong.
VIDEO GAME NARRATIVES: BEYOND THE GAME-
PLAY
ANDRZEJ ZARZYCKI
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
andrzej.zarzycki@njit.edu
Abstract. Contemporary video games such as Mass Effect or Assas-
sins Creed emerge as a new form of media and depart from tradition-
al games purely seen as problem-solving exercises. They are enjoyed
by a broader audience, similar to those of TV and cinema. At the same
time, they are significantly different from TV and cinema, since they
place the user at the centre of interaction and content creation.
This paper discusses the role of narratives in these new epic games as
the main driver behind their appeal and commercial success.
Keywords. Video games; narratives; storytelling; interactive media.
1. Introduction
Visual arts are judged and consumed in ways that are not always based on
their purely visual value. In building design, architects defer to a concept as
an idea-driving vehicle that defines architecture and justifies final outcomes.
Industrial design products are often judged on how they feel or the status
they project. Conceptual art is heavily vested in the message it manifests
through an associated idea.
Narrative is another important layer that reaches beyond literary works
and significantly defines visual and interactive arts. While this has been evi-
dent for years with design, photography, and motion pictures, it is currently
starting to make a strong impact on video games. With the continuous ex-
pansion of video game culture and the ways gaming integrates itself into
everyday life, from entertainment and education to science and employee
motivation, there is an emerging debate about the nature of this new interac-
tive and, as many see it, artistic medium.1 This broadening of video game
reach and appeal also transforms the nature of gaming itself, from linear
Y. Ikeda, C. M. Herr, D. Holzer, S. Kaijima, M. J. Kim. M, A, Schnabel (eds.), Emerging Experience in
Past, Present and Future of Digital Architecture, Proceedings of the 20th International Conference of the
Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia CAADRIA 2015, 785–794. © 2015,
The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong
2 A. ZARZYCKI
gameplay and problem solving to social activism and storytelling. Applica-
tions of gaming, so-called gamification, need to incorporate a broad range of
devices such as user input, social networks (interconnectivity), and narra-
tives to effectively address these new needs.
While these new video game frontiers may seem like uncharted waters,
they parallel the role architecture played in society in the past, where it not
only fulfilled compositional or functional needs but most importantly served
as the great mass communicator of social values, histories, and ideas. It ex-
tended the reading of the tectonic and spatial qualities of the built environ-
ment from the purely visual and aesthetic into the realm of the semantic and
cultural. In that role, architecture registered the past in petrified urban vol-
umes of monuments and building facades as collective memories (Rossi,
1982).
While architecture no longer serves as, or aspires to be, a unified social
and cultural medium, the accumulated space-making knowledge does trans-
late into other forms of immersive experiences, specifically video games.
The cinematic and narrative space created in the past by architects, and later
adapted to performative arts and cinema, is now being rediscovered through
immersive and interactive video games. This visceral interconnection be-
tween architecture and video games is best delineated by Will Wright, the
creator of SimCity and Sims games:
a more appropriate source of inspiration we have found is things like
architecture, and product design, because those are inherently more in-
teractive design fields. SimCity was actually originally inspired by
Chris Alexander, and going back and looking at design in general I’ve
found a lot of inspiration from Charles and Ray Eames, Jay Forrester,
Jane Jacobs, all the people who are sort of spanning the division be-
tween design, theorist, and a specific field you know, urban design,
architecture or whatever. I find that triangle really interesting to draw
inspiration from.2
The relatively established mind-set that video games are based not on
content, but on problems to solve,3 sees gaming in its traditional sense with-
out the modulation resulting from the introduction of the “video” quantifier.
This mind-set fails to see three-dimensional immersive video games as envi-
ronments that people inhabit spatially and emotionally, and which they con-
sider as direct and continuous extensions of their offline lives. Three-
dimensional immersive video games are no longer games in the same cate-
gory as chess, board games, or even early video games like Pong.4 There is a
different sensory engagement in playing a chess or Pong game than in more
contemporary games like Myst or Mass Effect. The sense of inhabiting the
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VIDEO GAME NARRATIVES: BEYOND THE GAMEPLAY 3
virtual world is much closer to Martin Heidegger’s concepts expressed in the
book Being and Time (1996) (Being in the World essay) than a problem-
solving exercise.
Much as film departed from still photography, Mass Effect and Assassins
Creed emerge as a new form of media and depart from games purely seen as
problem-solving exercises. They are enjoyed by a broader audience, similar
to those of TV, cinema and architecture. At the same time, they are signifi-
cantly different from TV and cinema, since they place the user at the centre
of interaction and content creation.
Figure 1. Main character, Desmond Miles navigates virtual urban environments
2. The Increased Complexity of Video Games
Video game narratives are becoming increasingly complex and engaging. In
the near future, they will compete favourably with other already established
genres such as books and movies. The Assassin’s Creed series combines
good quality graphics with historically situated narrativenot much differ-
ent than historical fiction novels, such as The Name of the Rose by Umberto
Eco. The game is based on historical events and conflicts, starting in the
Third Crusade with the medieval Knights Templar (fig. 1), then moving to
the Italian Renaissance in Venice (Assassin’s Creed II), to reemerge during
the American Revolution (Assassin’s Creed III). The visual aspects attract
players to the story in a way a book would not be able to. Assassin’s Creed
III brings the eighteenth-century world to life in a dramatic and deeply satis-
fying way. Players on their quests meet historical figures including Thomas
Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington. They become part of
historical events as their character moves along the game plot. Although the
game is not strictly accurate in its depiction of the American Revolution, the
gameplay is deeply satisfying, highly engaging, and almost addictive in its
appeal.5
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4 A. ZARZYCKI
Another similar example, the Mass Effect trilogy has been highly valued
for its engaging cinematic narrative, and it is seen by many as one of the
most effective alternatives to traditional motion-picture arts.6 The critical dif-
ference, and the upgrade from a traditional narrative, lies in the players’ abil-
ity to direct their experience. The decisions made by the main character in
the first two games of the series determine the outcome in the third. This is
unique to gaming, making the narrative highly engaging and reflecting the
consequences of players’ past actions. Virtual characters have to live with
their past decisions.7
The differences are also significant. Since game-based narratives allow
for multithread scenarios providing individualized stories, with prolonged
series there may also be a narrowing range of possible outcomes converging
on a single or reduced set of solutions. This was keenly visible with the end-
ing of Mass Effect,3 which left players with only three choices.8 Many play-
ers were looking for a more meaningful or “real” conclusion, as expressed in
one of the online forums: “It’s not about a happy ending; it’s about an end-
ing that makes sense.” 9 Perhaps this video game trilogy departed too much
from its gaming roots and followed the mainstream approach of the Holly-
wood genre defined by the Matrix or Harry Potter movies.
3. New Focus on Gameplay
The narrative qualities of video games are visible in the mechanics of the
gameplay. The use of cinematic techniques in the introduction, setting the
game context, and in the transitions between levels reinforces the use and the
role of storytelling. While the introduction is often necessary to place the
player immediately into the action and events (e.g., the original Star Wars
opening sequence), cinematic pieces are often introduced into the gameplay
to make level switching and loading seamless and less interrupted.
Successful video games position themselves on the border between mis-
sion-oriented, problem-solving games and storyline-based games. This is
present in the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series,10 where players need to com-
plete the majority of the storyline missions to progress through the game and
to unlock various content and parts of the city. However, there is not a par-
ticular time frame that drives the progression of the game. Players can com-
plete tasks and missions at their own pace. When not fulfilling storyline mis-
sions, players can roam freely and engage in other side activities. Side
missions, also called sub-missions or odd jobs, depart from the main story-
line and involve participating in street races, car thefts, and assassinations.
They can keep the player occupied for a long time without the need to con-
tinue with the main narrative. In this aspect, Grand Theft Auto and Assas-
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VIDEO GAME NARRATIVES: BEYOND THE GAMEPLAY 5
sin’s Creed function to some extent like sandbox games such as Minecraft
that present the players with no specific goals to accomplish, allowing them
freedom in choosing how to engage with the virtual world. This combination
of gameplay, narrative, and an open world provides a very potent framework
for current video games, and in many ways reflects actual lives with a simi-
lar combination of direction, story, and freedom to make choices.
This inhabiting of the virtual space associated with sandbox games is
reminiscent of the ways people function within real urban environments.
When playing and engaging in virtual environments, players adopt similar
behaviours as when they visit new and unknown cities as tourists. They
wander around looking for clues and in search of meaningful moments to
frame their experiences.
4. Contextualizing Narratives: Feeling, Not Only Knowing
For years we valued literature for contextualizing narratives in historical and
cultural settings. Hemingway’s depiction of human struggle in the frame-
work of the Spanish Civil War is just one of many examples. We looked into
literature to bring us the realities of the past and to educate us. Naturally,
films followed the same pattern. Particularly, early twentieth-century movies,
with their extensive and expensive sets, large number of actors, and epic sto-
ries, resemble the current genre of epic video games.
Figure 2. Mirror’s Edge game with its spectacular urban landscapes
While epic video games (fig. 2) continue the scale and magnitude of past
productions in other media such as architecture, literature, panorama paint-
ings, and later cinematography, they have been evolving into more simula-
tive environments. They directly reference the era of grandiose world expo-
sitions (fig. 3) or epic movies characteristic of the early twentieth-century
cinematography. However, epic gaming worlds not only look grandiose but
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6 A. ZARZYCKI
also feel and behave like the worlds they simulate. In games such as World
of Tanks (WOT), individual tanks (players) possess properties that closely
correspond to historical military vehicles in their performance parameters.
Learning about the successes of the Battle of Kursk or Stalingrad acquires a
new relevance once the player experiences the differences in virtual combat
between heavily armoured and precise shooting German vehicles such as the
Tiger or the Ferdinand, which excelled in distance combat, and less precise
but more mobile Soviet vehicles such as the T-34, which had short barrels
and inflicted high damage but were effective only in close battles due to the
aiming precision and perhaps the training of tankers. These virtual realities
provide firsthand experience in understanding both logically and viscerally
the nature of these historical facts and topics. They provide a very potent
narrative reality that is comprehended in highly intuitive and visceral ways.
Figure 3. World’s Fair: Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893
5. Are Video Games a Uniquely Problem-Solving Medium?
When we try to make sense of what we read or watch, we do go through a
form of problem solving. Memento is a movie each individual viewer must
try to make sense of. It is not a problem-solving exercise in the narrow defi-
nition of the term; however, it does provide multiple lines of reasoning and
possible scenarios.
If you consider David Lynchs comments on Mulholland Drive, you
could consider watching a movie and making sense out of what we see a
form of problem solving. The clues11 that directors put in their movies are
there both to comfort us and to challenge our understanding of reality, thus
holding on to our attention. The fact that the human brain always tries to
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VIDEO GAME NARRATIVES: BEYOND THE GAMEPLAY 7
make sense out of the surrounding chaos of nature makes movies, or any
narratives, which play with this Pavlovian reflex an interesting genre.
Muholland Drive is not an isolated example; Memento and, to some extent,
Hitchcock’s movies such as Psycho have a similar approach. Similarly,
books like Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum and The Name of the Rose
are literary examples of problem solving focused around unlocking a puzzle.
Even if the narrative is linear and non-interactive, what happens in a view-
er’s or reader’s head is purely problem solving—running various scenarios
and trying to make sense of what we see or read.
The viewer experience was further reflected by one of Muholland Drive’s
lead actors, Justin Theroux, who stated that “the whole turns out to be more
mystifying than the parts.”12 The actors projected this sense of confusion into
the movie scenes and made it more authentic.
Figure 4. Choose-your-own-adventure possibility tree for The Mystery of Chimney Rock
6. Engaging the Audience
Is the ability to explore parallel worlds and life scenarios unique to video
games? The choose-your-own-story possibilities tree (fig. 4) looks very
much like a typical game tree. The difference lies with a number of compet-
ing variables and with what defines a win state. In video games, you would
not choose whether or not to enter a house out of simple curiosity; rather,
your actions are driven by the overall objective and a score count. In games,
you may have a dilemma of whether to choose a strong and slow, or weaker
but faster character. The choices are usually about competing benefits that
are closely balanced to provide a high number of possible scenarios. The
right choice is determined locally, based on the types of other players in-
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8 A. ZARZYCKI
volved and missions undertaken. Values are more contextualized and as such
less predictable than in other narrative media. In literature and film narra-
tives, the choices and dilemmas characters face are usually global and com-
monly shared by a broad audience. This broad appeal is necessary, since the-
se media do not provide viewer-specific narratives.
7. Goals versus the Win State
While most games have an objective, this does not constitute a problem-
solving proposition in the same sense as with games that have a win state.
Building a castle or Star Trek’s Enterprise in Minecraft may be a suitable
goal, but it is not in any way better than accomplishing another virtual struc-
ture. Even having an end goal that is a win state in many cases may feel like
a default solution—the “unbearable lightness of playing. In Assassin’s
Creed, a heavily narrative video game, while all the missions build up to-
ward an ultimate endgame, there is no inverse time mechanism that would
compel players to achieve the goal in the shortest, best way possible, with
the exception of timed side missions. At any time, a player can wander
around and explore historic settings without penalty. There are mechanics in
place to encourage a player to progress within the game and narrative, in-
cluding the need to achieve certain missions to unlock new parts of the king-
dom.
8. Games without a Goal
While a rough definition of video games as problem-solving activities is es-
tablished in the literature and in discussion blogs, there are major limitations
to this approach. This definition has been challenged by the increased popu-
larity of sandbox games such as Minecraft, particularly in its less competi-
tive “creative mode,” where players not only do not have to fight for survival
but also do not need to have a clear objective. Although building a world can
be a suitable goal, it is not a game, in the same sense that building with Lego
blocks is not. In both examples there is no single condition or even class of
conditions that could be defined as the “win state.” Any outcome is equally
good.
9. The Need for the Narrative
The idea of virtuality as an extension of physicality, not only as a spatial
construct but also as a chronological scale, is probably best foreseen by
Adolfo Bioy Casares (1940) in his seminal The Invention of Morel. The sto-
ry revolves around multisensory immersive projections (environments), not
unlike proto video games, which ultimately outcompete the physical reality,
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VIDEO GAME NARRATIVES: BEYOND THE GAMEPLAY 9
at least in the actions of the main protagonist. The book provides an uncanny
and poignant, yet plausible, scenario of future virtual environments where
virtuality is framed by an infinitely perpetual narrative-without-a-narrative:
like a pure form of gameplay without the storyline, without the deeper pur-
pose, without the meaning.
The pure gameplay (without an active narrative) resembles the circular
projection recording provided by Morel’s invention. It results in the endless
repetition of the gameplay mechanics leading into the self-referential envi-
ronment. In this scenario, a narrative becomes the only device enabling an
entrance to and escape from this encapsulated virtual world. While the dia-
lectic nature of The Invention of Morel fits well into the current debate about
the relationship between virtual and physical realities, it also underlines the
role of the narrative as a bridging structure between both realities. In a simi-
lar way, narratives in contemporary video games provide a natural transition
framework into virtual worlds through emotional engagement and personal
identification.
10. Final Thoughts
Interactivity in games breaks the monodirectional mode of traditional me-
diaincluding architecturewhere a creative centre and the audience have
strictly defined roles with no ability for information exchange, narrative
feedback loops, or crowdsourcing. The limitation of traditional mass media
such as radio and television was recognized early by Bertolt Brecht, who
pointed out that “radio is one-sided when it should be two-. It is purely an
apparatus for distribution, for mere sharing out. So here is a positive sugges-
tion: change this apparatus over from distribution to communication.” 13
While radio and television have evolved little to satisfy Brecht’s aspirations,
video games and electronic technology in general provide an effective appa-
ratus to move media from distribution and sharing out to communication,
collaboration, and collective authorship. Video games’ potent immersive na-
ture and ability to engage users in the content creation naturally moves video
games to new territories of narrative arts that cannot be fulfilled as effective-
ly by other established media. While this seems to be evident, there are still
semantic questions of whether these new narrative games are an extension of
current game arts or a genetic transposition between multiple lineages and
genres forming a new, perhaps unified creative medium.
The discussion of whether video games require narrative becomes irrele-
vant, since the evolution of media arts, literature, theatre, and film unavoida-
bly intersects with the emergence of video games as a new immersive and
fully interactive form of art. Perhaps these interactive, narrative-based, and
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10 A. ZARZYCKI
user-driven environments should be called something else, but certainly they
are a genetically derived offspring of video games and media arts. Pervasive
Media Studio’s proclamation that “video games are the new cinema”14 seems
increasingly accurate. While contemporary narrative-based video games are
significantly defined by other narrative media, including architecture, the
prospect of the unified narrative medium encompassing architecture, cine-
matography, and interactive arts emerges on the horizon.
Finally, it is also important to consider the feedback mechanism enabled
by current video game developments toward other disciplines: how interac-
tive, immersive, and narrative-based virtual environments redefine the phys-
ical world and people’s expectation towards architecture and cities.
References
Rossi, Aldo: 1982, The Architecture of the City, MIT Press, Cambridge
Casares, Adolfo Bioy: 1964, The Invention of Morel, New York Review of Books, New York
Heidegger, Martin: 1996, Being and Time, State University of New York Press, Albany
Endnotes
1. Rothstein, Edward (1994-12-04). A New Art Form May Arise from the Myst.’” The
New York Times. (www.nytimes.com/1994/12/04/arts/a-new-art-form-may-arise-
from-the-myst.html) Retrieved 2014-01-12.
2. Wiles, William. Will Wright Interview.” ICONEYE Online Magazine.
(www.iconeye.com/news/news/will-wright-interview) Retrieved 2015-03-10.
3. http://www.jamespaulgee.com/
http://www.jamespaulgee.com/node/52 (based on Situated Language and Learning,
Routledge, 2004)
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pong and http://www.ponggame.org/
5. http://www.thegamescouts.com/2012/11/assassins-creed-iii-review.html
6. http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/12/why-mass-effect-would-make-an-awesome-
movieand-why-it-wouldnt/
7. http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/12/why-mass-effect-would-make-an-awesome-
movieand-why-it-wouldnt/
8. http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/
http://agreeordie.com/features/gaming/251-mass-effect-3-ending-explained
9. http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV
11. Contained within the original DVD release is a card titled David Lynch's 10 Clues to
Unlocking This Thriller. The clues are: (1) Pay particular attention in the beginning
of the film: At least two clues are revealed before the credits. (…)
(3) Can you hear the title of the film that Adam Kesher is auditioning actresses for? Is
it mentioned again?
12. Arnold, Gary (October 12, 2001). Smoke and Mirrors: Director Lynch Keeps Actor
Theroux Guessing.
13. Brecht, Bertolt. “The Radio as an Apparatus for Communication,” 1926.
14. Pervasive Media Studio: www.pmstudio.co.uk/collaborator/simon
794
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
A New Art Form May Arise from the 'Myst
  • Aldo Rossi
Rossi, Aldo: 1982, The Architecture of the City, MIT Press, Cambridge Casares, Adolfo Bioy: 1964, The Invention of Morel, New York Review of Books, New York Heidegger, Martin: 1996, Being and Time, State University of New York Press, Albany Endnotes 1. Rothstein, Edward (1994-12-04). "A New Art Form May Arise from the 'Myst.'" The New York Times. (www.nytimes.com/1994/12/04/arts/a-new-art-form-may-arisefrom-the-myst.html) Retrieved 2014-01-12.
ICONEYE Online Magazine
  • William Wiles
Wiles, William. "Will Wright Interview." ICONEYE Online Magazine. (www.iconeye.com/news/news/will-wright-interview) Retrieved 2015-03-10.
Smoke and Mirrors: Director Lynch Keeps Actor Theroux Guessing
  • Gary Arnold
Arnold, Gary (October 12, 2001). "Smoke and Mirrors: Director Lynch Keeps Actor Theroux Guessing."
The Radio as an Apparatus for Communication
  • Bertolt Brecht
Brecht, Bertolt. "The Radio as an Apparatus for Communication," 1926. 14. Pervasive Media Studio: www.pmstudio.co.uk/collaborator/simon