Computer games can be a story in which the player is able to integrate different forms of interactivity while making decision on how to play and intermingle with the narrative elements. There are computer games that involve the player into a simple selection of narrative sequences, while others involve a simulation substrate, allowing the player to act in pre-authored time structures within different time scales. In these two forms of game activities, the player becomes an active participant of the story construction, which leads to a play experience that unfolds the story based on the decisions and actions performed. It is evident therefore, that there is a narrative sequence involved in playing computer games, by which story elements are being integrated to form a narrative drama that represents reality.
Games according to Walsh
According to Richard Walsh, playing computer games can be similar to narrative storytelling, although he emphasized more on the use of emergent narrative. Walsh stated,
Emergence is a feature of complex systems: the term refers to phenomena or behavior produced by a system but not apparent from an inspection of the elements of the system and the laws governing it. (Walsh 73)
Emergence therefore, constitutes “a pattern in time” (Johnson 20), and an emergent narrative comes out by means of dramatic improvisation, in which a group of actors (or players) interacts as elements of the system and create a dramatic effect. The player becomes an active element of the system by interacting well with the other elements. However, there is more in playing games than merely constructing a narrative. According to Tinsley Galyean, in playing computer games, players construct their own narratives. As stated,
We all construct narratives out of our daily activities to help us remember, understand, categorize and share experiences. It is this skill that many interactive systems exploit. They give us environments to explore.
(Galyean 27)
With this, there is more to playing games than just performing and interacting as an element of a system in an emergent narrative, especially if the game provides an interactive environment that features reality, by which the player can make choices and experiences. Players have their goals, and in this a narrative emerges from the game system, by which players can combine the elements of space for them to capture their goal. Jenkins, however, argues the differences in the variety of games, in which others are not designed to tell stories.
Games according to Jenkins
Based on the article written by Henry Jenkins, there is a question on the relationship formed between games and the story narrative behind it, since there is always interaction involved, and interactivity appears to be the opposite of narrative (Jenkins 1). However, according to Jenkins, “not all games tell stories games may be an abstract, expressive, and experiential form, closer to music or modern dance than to cinema” (1-2). With this, Jenkins expressed that the experience one has in playing computer games should not be reduced simply to an experience of telling a narrative (2). There are some factors that do not have anything to do with storytelling. This is because game designers do not focus on simply telling a narrative story but center more on designing sculpt spaces, in which events are being translated into game environments. These constitute game spaces in which the narrative of the game is “to explore, map, and master contested spaces” (Jenkins 4). It does however, form a narrative drama by using game spaces to structure spatial stories. What they create therefore, are spatial stories that highlight the narrative embodied in the environment spaces.
Conclusion
There is a narrative sequence involved in playing computer games, in which the story elements are being integrated to form a storytelling drama. As Jenkins mentioned, games are not just about telling stories but about designing sculpt spaces, in which the player’s goal is to map and explore the game spaces. In doing this, there is a narrative that emerges when the player tries combining the elements of space with their goals, since a narrative or story is said to be a product of goals and interactions, as players navigate their game experiences. An emergent narrative comes out through successful, fruitful interaction between the player and the simulated environment. Games are a form of representation (Walsh 76), representing the spatio-temporal environment to reproduce reality that should influence the player’s behavior. It is in this narrative game that players identify themselves as an important element of the environment system, and they create experiences through narratives constructed in games.
Works Cited:
Galyean, Tinsley. Narrative Guidance of Interactivity. PhD Dissertation. MIT, 1995.
Jenkins, Henry. Game Design as Narrative Architecture. 2011. Web. 11 June 2016 <http://interactive.usc.edu/blog-old/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Jenkins_Narrative_Architecture.pdf>.
Johnson, Steven. Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1995.
Walsh, Richard. “Emergent Narrative in Interactive Media.” Narrative 19.1 (2011): 72-85.
