t, ColinLankshear, Michele Knobel, GameDesign + uame uutture ChrisBiqum, -Generaland Michael Peters Editors

Vol.1B

EDITED BY Aty Scholder+ EricTimmerman

PETERLANG PETERLANG . . NewYork Washington,D.C./Baltimore Bern New York . Washington,D.C./Baltimore ' Bern . . . . Frankfurtam Main Berlin Brussels Vienna Oxford Frankfurtam Main. Berlin. Brussels'Vienna' Oxford NJ9 (U m IU I J F of o t ft z Game Over. End of Story. Digitalgames may be the nextmajor storytelling form, following media like n theater,the novel,opera, radio, cinema, and television. But the intersection of narrativeand interactivityremains an openquestion. Module 3 examines how gamesare expandingnotions of narrative,and how stofiellingis u informingthis newestof technologies. l.U Keywords: i nteractivity and narrative multipleauthorship

cultures of storpelling and leisure u, flat and dimensional characters the erotics of gaming algorithmic narratives managing multiplayer games evolutionaryvs. revolutionarygames

Sonic, @ Sega Corporation r5E Re:Play:Came Design+ Game Cuiture Module 3: Games as Nanative

Chris Crawford matically.God is the watchmaker,but the watch runs by itself.Now, the Interactivitv and Narrotive firct point of viewruns afoul of free will. lf commondsour everythought, PerhapsI confoment someunrest here-but with on ossertion,not a ques' then how con we acceptrcsponsihility for our octions?God made us do it! tion. I noted in your eorlydefinitions ofthe topic, Eric,a referenceto the Thesecond point of view doesn'tcompletely resolvethe question, but it at dfficulty of reconcilinginteractivity with narrative. Thisis a commonly held leastallows us to atgue that free will lies hidden somewherein the laws of beliefond one thot I reject.Thebasis ofthisfolsehood isthe beliefthot ony physics.This analogy is o lot closerto our problem than you might at first purposeful oction on the port of the user is likely to interfere with the pre- think, becauseinteractivity really depends on the user moking choices, planned plot. What if our user decides,as Luke Skywalker,not to go afier which in turn requiresthe exerciseof-free will! ln other words,the creator the missingdroid ond goof around ot home instead?Whot if Macbeth of an interactive storyworld is the omnipotent god of thot rtory world, exer- decidesthat his wife is o nogging shrew and bumps her of instead of the cising completecontrol over its development.lf, in your role as sucha god, king? There went your bestJaid plot. The error here lies in identifying one you insiston controlling everylittle event,on treating your useras o puppet porticular plot with narrative in general. Yes,if Macbeth bumps of Lady dancing under your strings,then, yes,there won't be any interactivity-and Mocbeth, then the result isn't Shakespeare'sMacbeth-but doesthat meon you'll be overwhelmedwith myilad triviol detoilsto decide.lf, on the other that it's ruined? Thereare countlessvoriations on the bosic story line that hand, you step back a level of abstractionand ueate the dromqtic "laws of remain true to the overolltheme. This does not mesn thot we must permit physics"that control your dramatic univerce,then you can aford to grant dramotically destructivebehqvior on the part of the user.Giving him choic' your userssome free will ond at the same time not be swampedwith all esdoesn't require us to give him rtupid or boring choices.V/e can still con' thosepetty detoils. The costof this, of course,is that you must think about fine him to dromoticollyinteresting options, The generalsolution to the the problem at a higher levelofabstraction. Are you wiseenough to perceive problem is to move the storytellingup to o higher levelof obstraction. Does drama in suchobstract terms? onybodyhere believethat there really was o kid named Luke Skywalker McKenzieWark who lived a long time ago in o galary for, far away? Who cares about the Narrativehas a lot of differentrelations to indeterminacy.The gameof detailsof thot story?What's important in it ore the themesoJ a boyfocing chesshas a veryabstract narrative frame, and an almostinfinite range of manhood, relationshipswith father, and so on-ond those themesdon't "stories."Satjayit Ray's film TheChess Players proposes that the game is specifi any details. My fovorite analogy here is a referenceto two kindsof moreinteresting than the story.There is morepleasure in not knowingthe religious belief, Most religions expound the principle of on omnipotent outcomeof thegame thanthere is notknowing the narrativearc. lt seems god-but exoctly how does that omnipotence monifest itselJ? One to methat contemporary games are still too muchpart of a Christianworlo, approach assertsgod's direct and explicit control over everyevent in the uni' butmight be betterif conceivedin a paganone. The Creek world of "moral verse.The motion of everyatom, the poth of everyraindrop, the rufiing of luck"might offer a moreheterogeneous space and time for narrativeand everyfeather-these thingsall tqke ploce only ot the dired ond explicit com' action(about which, see Martha Nussbaum). mand of the deity. V/hot a busybodyhe must be! Whot a boring andfrenet' BernieYee ic existencehe must endure!The other opproachdeclares thot god rulesthe Weenfoy being told, being led, following the narrative.We trust the story- universe through the indirect application of certain univenol lows' Cod tellerto leadus throughan adventurethat will move us, knowing that the declares,"Let there be physics!"and everythingis thereafier handled auto- "freedom"in ourown livesinvariably leads to somemonotony from time RerPlay:Came + Design Game Culture Module 3: Games as Narmtive

to time.What if we openedthat doorl Whatif we calledin sick,or tooka (howthis characterfeels about that characterand why),and personal rele- tripto Nepalinstead of the Hamptons?lf we did,things we mightnot feel vance(this is likethetimelwanted to killmydad). fhis lastpoint, personal ableto do,but cando, andwish we hadthe nerveto explore.l{ Macbethofls relevance,involves a specialkind ofconstruction that Rachel Strickland has hiswifey instead of betrayingthe king,it's no longerMacbeth, and embarks called "projectiveconstruction"-that is, a constructionthat projects on a newarc that maybe less "satisfling" than the traditional Macbeth arc aspectsofthe reader'slife and identityonto the representationand thereby we know.Of course,since we all know Macbeth,any explorationsof the influencesits meaning.In his booksTertual Poachers and ScienceFiclion potential prob- moralconflict and choicesfor Mr.and Mrs. Macbethwould Fans:\Vatching Star Trekand DoctorWho, Henry Jenkins articulates another ably be fascinating-if deftly handled. (lnteresting,then, that the levelof readerconstruction that exists in an activefandom. jenkins demon- fates/witcheshad known Macbeth's fate before he knewit, limitinghis own stratesthat the centralactivity of fandomis the appropriationof storyand interactivity!)Storytelling can be movedand shouldbe movedto a higher characterto constructnew meaningsthat are personallyrelevant to the levelof abstraction,but thereremains some spirit in that processthat we, reader.Hence arise fanzines, slash fiction and video, and role-playing play as organizingcreatures, want to be ableto seeas "narrative."Abstraction amongchildren ("1'll be DarthVader, you be Austin Powers"). Another thing loosensthe audience'shold on that narrativestructure relegating it from that Henryenlightened me about is that much fan-basednarrative con- the knowable(for example,the three-actstructure) to the more uncertain structionis intertextual.In fact,there are wholefan culturesdevoted to (faith?).The very concept of a Cod is a faith in a narrativestructure. lf reli- seekingout connectionsbetween seemingly. unrelated fictive worlds (for gioncan serye as an opiate,then it's to reassureus allthere is somedivine example,"LA Law" and "StarTrek: The Next Ceneration"as connected planthat will takecare of the meek.But what of thosewho seethe universe throughcharacters that are played in bothseries by the same actor). A third as an anomaly,with no divineplan) They still seek to imposean orderon levelof projectiveconstruction happens in interactivegames that arestory- it, a narrative.Perhaps for thesethere is stilla sensethat there is no Heisen- likeor thatcan be used as story material. When a playerstands in first-person bergUncertainty principle acting on us,that somehowthere are rules that relationto a characteror agent,the relationshipbetween them moves defineourexistence. The exercise of freewillain't easy in reallife, and in a beyondempathy toward identity.In otherwords, projective construction gamingsystem pitted againstnarrative, ain't easyneither. Which is why comesto thefront and heavily influences the player's choices. A remarkable interactivityplays havoc on the conceptof the narrative-whowants, to par- thingabout projective construction is that it requiresvery liftle in theway of aphraseDostoyevsky, to havefreedom when we'd ratherhave a loafofbread high-resolutionor "intelligent"structures. After a decadeofquesting after givento us,and told whatto do) That'san acceptablesolution for mostof the Al-basedanswers to the questionof creatinginteractive narrative, I did us, isn't it) Pitythe interactivenarrative designer. two experimentsthat demonstratedto me that I was barkingup the wrong BrendaLaurel tree.The first was a VRexoeriment called Placeholder that substituteda ricn I feelobliged to offerthe standardreader response theory first; namely, that all narrative(even what we call"linear") is interactivein the sensethat there Placeholderis an Interual-sponsoredvirtual real- virtualworld and interactthrough and with these projed going reader.When I am watchinga playor ity by BrendaLaurel and RachelStrickland animals,The critters perform to attractattention is activeconstruction on bythe that debuted at the EanffCenterfor the Perform- to themselves.As the visitor approachesthem, readinga book,my imaginationis activelyconstructing hypotheses about ing Arts in Canadain t992. Four animated spirit they are absorbed into the critter and come to critters live in a virtualworld, and human beings have specificcritter-inflected experiences in the causality(why a characterdid something),back story (what else was going in three different locations can enter the same on thatmight have influenced this action/moment/situation), relationships Re:Play:Came Design+ 6ame Culture Module 3: Games as Nanative 163

immersiveenvironment and the VR eouivalent of "costumes"for artificial narrativeconstruction that goes on in fancommunities. So to summarize, charactersand story managers.The environmentafforded real-time play thinkthat narrative is always interactive, and the trick is to understandhow betweentwo participantsand alsoallowed people to storeoral storiesor narrativeintelligence works so thatwe cancreate structures that facilitate comments,play them back,and arrangethem in spaceto form storylat- it. I don'tthink that thesestructures need to be complexor "intelligent" ticeswith elementscontributed by otherplayers (rather like rearrangeable, themselves,but I do thinkthat they need to be populatedwith richnarrative oral graffiti).We saw a good dealof robustdramatic play and interesting materialsthat players can appropriate and arrange (like fans) to construct storyconstruction as wellas cooljuxtapositions of storiescreated by play- meaning. ers.This happened without any Al at all.More to the point,players reported GregCostikyan having "dramatic" experiencesin the system even when their actions Storiesare inherently linear. The author specifies particular events because appearedrandom to thoseof us lookingin from the outside.I believethat this sequenceof eventsmakes for the bestand most powerfulstory. lf he thisis becausehumans are wired to createnarrative, and that, given a well- doesnot-if somealternative sequence of eventsmakes for a betterstory- designedenvironment, narrative intelligence kicks in andguides things in a he hasfailed as an author,because he did not writethe beststory available storylikeoirection. The second experiment was Purple Moon. In oneseries withthis material.To the degreethat you allow a reader/playerto alter the of games(Rockett series), I designeda simplebranching architecture with events,you inherentlymake for a lesspowerful story. Cames, contrariwise, convergingnodes fiust like in r977!),supported by a wealthof materials areinherently nonlinear. A playermust feel that he hasfreedom of action, that playerscould discoverand use to constructback story. In another withinconstraints. A storyis bestenvisioned as "beadson a string,"a lin- series(Secret Paths series), I designedan architecturethat "braided"three earnarrative; a game is bestenvisioned as a triangleof possibility,with the differentkinds of storymaterials that could be discovered and juxtaposed by initialposition at one apex,and possibleconclusions along the opposite playersin differentways. In bothof these"low-intelligence," asset-inten- side,with myriad,ideally, infinite paths between initial state and outcome. sivearchitectures, players experienced rich dramaticinteraction. I think To the degreethat you try to makea gamemore likea storyby imposing that was ableto happenbecause we designedcharacters and materials arbitrarydecision points, you makeit lesslike a game.To the degreethat that would tend to havea high degreeof personalrelevance-that is, we you try to makea storymore like a gameby allowingthe player/readerto designedthem to temptthe playerinto engagingin projectiveconstruction. makedecisions, you make it lesslike a story.I'm notsayingthat it is impos- On our website, the majorityof the "content"was created by playersusing sibleto findfruitful, and interesting,approaches in the largearea that lies materlalsfrom our worlds.In that way we activelyengaged the kind of

Purple Moon's Rockett series was designed for The Secret Paths series is a companion to young girls. The first game, Rockett's New Rockett.Two of these adventuring games were School, releasedfor PC and Macintosh in r997, released:Secret Paths to the Forest (r997) and introduced a peppy red-hairedheroine to Whist- SecretPaths to the Sea(r998). Eoth involvethe ling PinesJr. High School.The secondgame in girlsfrom WhistlingPines Jr High.As you meet the series, Rockett's Tricky Decision, gives eachgirl you discovershe has a personalprob- Rockett the choice between attending a Hallo- lem with familyor friends;for exampleone girl's ween party hosted by her girlfriends who love parentsare divorcing.You set off on an adven- and respect her, or the in-crowd party where a ture down that girl's secret path, discovering secretcrush of hers is playingin a band. things abouther that might helpher '164 Re:Play:Came Design+ 6ame Culture Module 3: Cames as Narrative

in between"game" and "story";but I am sayingthat "interaction"and let me offeranother way of thinkingabout how the relationshipbetween "story"are inherently in conflictand that, therefore, to say"gaming is a story- interactivityand narrativemight be conceived.The uniquething about tellingmedium" or "all gamesare stories" or even"true interactivestory- gamesand othermore overtly "interactive narratives" is thatthe inieractive tellingshould be our goal"is false. narrativeobject is in someway a dynamicsystem that changesin a iiteral Chris Crawford wayas a resultof useractions. I th ink that we allshare a goalof creatingmore Brenda,without denying the validityor relevanceof yourscreed on projec- meaningfulinteractive narratives. so justwhat makes an interactivenarrative tive construction,I'd liketo pointout that it remainsa reaction,not an experience"meaningful"l When a usermakes a choicein a dynamicsystem, interaction.The softwaretalks to the user;the usercomes up with all sorts the systemchanges in someway. The relationship between the user,s choice of complicatedreactions; but the userdoes not talk backto the software and the system'sresponse constitutes a system of "meanings."This (atleast in anymannerthat it canhear), and the softwaredoes not bother action/responserelationship is likea signifier/signifiedrelationship in lan- to listento the user.There are, of course,lots of wonderfulthings that can guage.When we makea movein a "languagegame," we arenavigating the be donewithout interaction, but I myselfthink that interactivityis the most interrelationshipsbetween words in the systemof language.All of the importantelement of computersfor artiststo be exploring-becauseit's words,all of thepoints of thesystem, achieve their definitions and meaning the onething that is seriously"new." by virtueof theirrelationships with eachother. similarly, when an actionis Indeed,Creg, stories are linear-but we're talking about interactive taken in a game or interactivenarrative, meaning emerges because the storytelling,and thatgerund implies a wholelot morethan just plainold designeddynamic system of thegame exists to supportthe player,saction. stories.Storytelling is a process,whereas a storyis data(in my conceptof Asthe player navigates the space of possibleactions in thedynamic system, process/datapolarity). Because it is a processrather than a thing,it can sheis exploringa possiblemeaning-space, stringing together game actions be a sourceof interaction.We've spent all theseyears talking about the to havea meaningfulexperience in theway we stringtogether words to make resultof storytelling-stories-withoutgetting our handson the process meaningfulstatements. For example, one of the reasonswhy role-playing of storytelling. garnestend to generatesuch extended and "meaningful"experiences for EricZimmerman participantsisthat decisions that users make can have a tremendousnum- | findthat the debates on theseissues tend to revolvearound terminology ber of ramifications.To usea "gamer"example, purchasing a battleaxefor -how we definethese two incrediblyslippery terms of narrativeand inter- your fantasywarrior character instead of a knifecan affectyour gameon activity.My own takeon the subjectis similarto Brenda's:that interactivity manydimensions, such as your speedin combat,the damageyou can comesin manydifferent overlapping modes, from cognitiveand emotional deliver,your ability to useyour hands (if an axerequires two hands),your participationwith a narrativeto fan-basedparticipation with a narrative movementspeed (if the axe will slow you down), the amount of moneyyou world to bonafide functionalparticipation with a narrative,which might haveafter the transaction,etc. The challengeofdesigning these interactive rangefrom usingthe indexof a bookto tappinga force-feedbackjoystick. narrativesystems of meaningis that the meaningfulnesscan emergein Narrativesare always already interactive. However, Chris, I alsoagree with manymodes-not iust in termsof the detailof a simulation(as the axe your responsethat somemodes of interactionare moreintrinsic to the exampleillustrates) but also through aesthetic richness, social interactions, mediumof gamesor to thecomputer and that these represent the vast unex- increasedmethods of interaction,plot complexily,and so on. I think that ploredterrain of whatis usuallymeant by "interactive narrative" design. Now one of the waysin which we can try to emphasizemeaningfulness in an Re:Play:+ Game Culture Module 3: Games as Narrative

interactivenarrative is by keepingthe player/reader/userconsciously aware Considerthe Erasmatron,certainly the most ambitiousattempt to in someway of how the systemis dynamicallygenerating the experience. implementsomething chris would consider "true" interactive fiction. From Creg'scritique of Erasmatron,for example,is basedon the ideathat players theuser's perspective, it involves moving from one location to anotherand arenot madeaware of the nonprescriptednature of the experience. engagingin conversationaltrees with characters.ln fact, underlyingthe Greg Costikyan characters,is an algorithmicrepresentation of eachcharacter's interior life Here'ssomething I've experienced many times as a paperRPC game- and a seriesof (prescripted)possible dialogue structures for differentsitu- master:I am runninga game,and the playersaretryingto figure out what's ationsand character"feelings." Yet from the user'sperspective, this feels goingon in a moderatelycomplex plot I'vedropped them into the middte likean adventuregame. The onlyway to discoverthat it is in factfar more of. Listeningto theirdiscussions, I hear them comeup with a marvelous sophisticatedand flexiblethan an adventuregame is to playit repeatedly, explanationof eventsthat hasvery little to do with my plannedresolution- experimentingwith differentactions and responses,thereby discovering but is in factsuperior to what I haveplanned. I knowit will be satisfringfor thatoutcomes are far different.Yet we areconditioned to expectthat a story them to feelthat theyhave grasped the situationand actedappropriately; transpiresonce. Like an adventuregame, few people will attemptto readan therefore,I adopt their explanation (throwing in enoughexpectation-defeat- Erasmatronstory world morethan once;their experience will appearto be ing problemsto make things interestingfor them.) This is interactive littledifferent from a static,traditional . storytelling.lt doesnot requirea machine.Let's consider the hypertextnar- Forany new mediumto succeed-andfor the durationof this argr_r- rative.The readerreads various "story segments," and at differentpoints, ment, I will acceptthat "interactivefiction" is a new,separate, and inde- canclick through to differentstory segments, or morebackground material, pendentmedium-it mustoffer something truly novel and compelling to or whatever.The readerexperience is verydifferent from the traditionallin- the reader/viewer/player/participant.The Erasmatron fails (in my biased ear narrative;you "construct"the experiencenot merelythrough what you opinion)because it failsto offersomething genuinely new. lt is not appar- readbetween the lines,but in how you chooseto approachthe narrative. ent to the readerwhy this is an experiencewith characteristicssufficiently Thisis not allthat novel,of course;Cortazar did thesame thing in printin removedfrom traditionalnarratives and from traditionaladventure games the r94os with Hopscotch.The reasonhypertext fiction is interesting(when to makeit interesting;nor doesit seeminglycontain unique, compelling, it works)is the feeling of epiphany;at somepoint, you have explored enough engagingaspects available in no othermedium. By contrast,paper role- of the storyspace to havean "a-ha"moment, a momentwhen you grasp playinggames do preciselythat: They are what Warren calls democratizeo whatthe storyis about.This is not all that differentfrom a traditionalpulp storytelling,they allow a groupof peoplemutually to improvisetheir own fiction"twist ending" story although hypertext is usuallywritten in a far more storiesby providinga supportingstructure. They depend, ofcourse, on a literarymode. But ultimately,this is not interactivefiction in the sensethat humangamemaster, who is somethingmore than refereeand something Chrismeans it; the storyin no senseresponds to the user.The storyis unchanging;all that changesis the user'spath through the storyspace. Frustrated with the limitations of commercial A common device for representingdialogue in game development, chris crawford left the adventuregames, a conversationtree allows a industryto spend yearsdeveloping a tool for writ- playerto select a single statementfrom a list of ers to createstory worlds. The result,Erasmatron, possible replies.The resulting back-and-forthis is an authoring system for interactivefiction. A called a tree becauseof the branchings such a portion of the Erasmatron was ultimately re- conversationcan have. leased as a free tool downloadableon the web (M.erasmatron.com). Re:Play:Came Design+ Came Culture Module 3: Games as Narmtive r69

lessthan a directorcum playwright.the uniquenessand value of the expe' Greg Costikyan who has playedsuch games. As I seeit, Chris rienceis evidentto anyone The problemwith your thinking, Chris, is thatstories do notsimply occur essentiallywants to automatethe gamemaster'srole. Civen how badlycom- on an abstractedlevel. Yes, we can readJoseph campbell and nod our that re-quireshuman flexibility and imaginativeness' putershandle any task headssagely about demigod heroes and the mythof resurrection,but if you this strikesme as a bad idea. try to takethat very generalized approach to storytellingand use it, you get Chris Crawford an abortionlike Return oftheJedi. story is aboutspecifics. The arc of a story yourcriticisms of the Erasmatronare offthe mark.First, Creg,I thinkthat may be sufficientlygeneralized that you can say "if Macbethkills Laoy thatthe Erasmatronis a failure.Yet your criticism however,I agree with you Macbeth,we shiftthe storyinto this stereotypevariety of tragedyinto that it. Peoplewon't see the advantageof the has a whiff of circularityto stereotypedvariety of tragedy."But ultimately,no one is interestedin they playmultiple times; yet' people exPect to Erasmatrontechnology until stereotypedtragedy; it's ihe specificsthat mafter. what staysin the mindof its advantage,therefore it's thewrong playit once,and therefore do not see the audienceafter the playis overis not a generalizedsense oftragedy; it is is not intrinsicto people,it's in the Eras- approach.The problemhere the imageof Lady Macbethconvulsively washing her handsand the so powerfulthat they'rewilling to matron'sfailure to deliversomething accompanyingline-"Out, out, damn spot.',In otherwords, to createa greatestproblem here is not with the plungeinto it multipletimes. The compellingstory your interactive engine must ultimately produce imagery storyworlds (applica- technologybut with a completelack of worthwhile actions,and languagethat strikesto the soul.you cannotsimply define tiny demos (Meetingand tions of the technology).5o fa1 we havetwo storyalternates at a high level,and hand-wavethe productionof concrete; of thetechnology's capabilities, and Brawl)that demonstratea tinyfraction effectivelittle pieces of businessat a lowlevel. you needto createa software Laura Mixon'sShattertown has are too short to have much substance. enginethat is a writer,or we'reback to scriptingall alternativesat a verylow And my own work, Le much greaterpromise but remainsincomplete. level,back in theworld of instantialbranching stories instead of algorithmic Widowhood-whenever I work Morte DArthur, suffersfrom Toolmaker's response.Let me put it anotherway: There are some things computers do systemthat I feelI must on it, I quicklysee problems with the development veryeasily, for example, crunch numbers. There are some things computers resources.The entiretech' correct.The core problem here is simplelack of find veryhard, such as naturallanguage processing. I believewhat you,re put into it' For nologyhas gotten a totalof aboutnineworker-years of effort tryingto accomplishfalls in the categoryof veryhard things. the size of the technologycontemplated (engine, editor, lint checkers, Chris Crawford lot.l'll keep plugging away. debuggers,and applications), that's not a whole creg, I disagreewith your notionthat abstractionis irrelevantto story- telling.I wouldargue that, in one sense,abstraction is the verysoul of has struck a major American city' Designed by Laura Mixon in 1997, Shattertown Catastrophe storytelling.who givesa damn about LadyMacBeth or the fact that she sky was the first work to be designedusing chris Mara is left with her Printing press, and her Crawford'sErasmatron interactive fiction author- adopted daughter 5ky is the newsPaperdelivery washedher handsobsessivelyl That imagemay stickwith us, but its person for the remaining survivors. The game ing system.Shattertown 5ky is an e-story,a text meaningexists only in theabstraction-her guilt. we can'tapply obsessive based adventurewith extensiveinteractive archi- follows Sky as she tries to solve a suspicious tecture behind the characters and setting murderand clearher name hand-washingto our ownlives. We can apply the sense of guiltto ourown lives.Of course,this notionof mine is on the receivingside of the story;

Le Morte D'Arthur is a game work-in-progressby an interactivefiction engine.Work beganin t9g8; ChrisCrawford. The gameis beingdesigned using Crawford has maintained a design diary online the Erasmatronsoftware Craw{ord develooed as followinghis progress. Re:Play:Came Desrgn+ Game Culture Module 3: Games as Narntive

it's the abstractionmade by the audience.Yet clearly it was no accident; is based on theirability to deriverthe preasuresof rinearnarratives, the Shakespearesurely intended the audienceto makethat abstraction.In interactive experienceswill neverever measure up. The form in whichwe otherwords, his own line of reasoningwould haverun somethinglike are workingrequires new kinds of definitionsand evaluative criteria. this: "Okay,so the deedhas been done, and now lwant its significance Greg Costikyan to startto seepinto the perpetrators.lwant them to start squirming. I'm sensitiveto the notionthat appreciatinga form requiresan under- Whatif I haveLady Macbeth washing her hands obsessively..." You point standing of its aesthetic.which is why manyriterary readers don't ,,get,, out thatthe detailis whatmakes the storygo, and I agree,but thatdetail sciencefiction, andwhy I don't"get" iazz. My probremis that r canrook at does not simplyappear out of nowhere.lt's not mereiysome brilliant, hypertext fiction,and I get it, and I understandwhy it's interesting-but I inexplicablestroke of genius.There is somelogic behind it as well:lt is haven't seenanything that's very interesting. And I canlook at Erasmatron derivedfrom someabstraction in the artist'smind. story worldsand see that they'reduil (and haveChris teil me that they But now I come to your most worrisomepoint, the argumentthat would be wonderfulif only if onry,and feera hearthydegree of skepticism computerscan't computethe step from abstractionto specific.First, I until he hasa concreteexampre). But rthink it's prettypointress to say, certainlyagree with you that somethings are not computablein the fore "Thisthing I imaginewhich rcall interactivefiction is wonderfuland can seeablefuture. I am not blithelyoptimistic about their capabilities. In fact, only be appreciatedwith a novelaesthetic that you do not yet possess,,, I will go so far as to agreewith you that theycannot handle the jump from whenwhat you're talking about is somethingwholly in yourimagination. abstractionto specifics-bythemselves. The questionis, could a collabe Or canyou point to an instanceof somethingyou think is satisf,iingon its rationbetween computer and artist be successfulin this regardiI thinkthat ownterms "interactive as fiction"llf not,lwill continueto feeliustified in it's possible,and that'swhat the Erasmatronis all about.lt's a hugecom- doubtingthe utilityof thewhole debate. plicatedmachine that tries to bringcomputer and artisttogether, permitting EricZimmerman theartist to expresshim/herself in termsof roles,actions, motivations, and Followingare a few examplesof participatoryexperiences in digital and otherfamiliar terms, and the computerhandles these things in the num- nondigital mediathat I havefound to be notonly satisflingly narrative, but bersthat it canhandle. So far-l don'tthink that I haveyet gotten the right havealso expanded my ideaof whatnarrative might be: balance-it's still too far {rom the artist.That's why so few artistshave . Thevisceral cinematics of a euakedeathmatch developedan interestin it. So I workon versionz, whichmoves the system ' Thethrillerlike opening levels of Harf-Life,comprete with shaky, a littlecloser to the artist.Will it movefar enoughl I don't know.ls it pos- POVcamera sibleto moveit farenough? I think so. Stay tuned... . Thestruggle of nurturinga communityto lifein SimCiry EricZimmerman ' zelda:Link's Awakening, with its richcast of characters,interre- Creg,let me makethe general comment that you speak about stories and latedevents, and evolving protagonist narrativesas if theyare some kind of objectswe're discovering in nature. ' Navigatingthe new dinosaurexhibit at the Museumof Natura, As generalterms that describe widely varying cultural processes, your def- Historyin NewYork City, where the spaceitself embodies not only initionsof narrativeand storyare strangely narrow and for me describe a (pre-)historicalnarrative, but alsothe narrative of thediscipline particularcultural forms rather than a generalmode of experienceor set of paleontology of exDeriences.lf the criteria we usefor evaluating"interactive narratives" . CertainSurrealist language games Re:Play:Came Design+ Came Culture Module 3: Games as Narntive

. Well-executedimprov comedy structureof the story.We know its core characters.ls anyonesurprised . LARPingwith a high-calibertroupe of players that Gereand Robertsend up togetherat the end of RunawayBride, for . My R€:PIAYexperience. example)But the pleasureis how the charactersget there, and there are Narrative,whether "interactive" or not, for me is at leastas much about manydifferent routes one could take to workthrough their initial antago- the{ramingof the experienceas it is aboutthe actualwork of the author. nism and arriveat a more satisfactoryresolution. We might eventake Steven Poole pleasurein makingsure those two neverend up together-thereis always Chris,about process and abstraction:First, storytelling is a processwhile a satisfactionin rewritinggenre stories so theydon't follow the prescribed storyis data,true. But whatyou then claimis not logicallyproven: that rules.Many of us couldhandle this story at leastas well as Carry Marshall becausestorytelling is a processit is thereforeamenable to interaction. did and perhapsbetter. There has never been a bettertime to democratize The performanceof a concertpianist is a processbut we do not tolerate the storytellingprocess. One of the critiquesof contemporarycinema is audiencemembers shouting out, "Playthat bit againl"or "Hey,why don't that filmmakershave lost the abilityto tell good stories.lwould argue, you modulateinto C minor?"Second, you ask, "Who gives a damnabout rather,that in manycases, they have lost the needto tell storiesbecause LadyMacbeth?" arguing instead that the whole point of the playis to con- they havean audiencethat alreadyknows most of the storiesthey are vey abstractissues of guilt and so forth. lf that indeedwere the whole goingto tell.The modern audience in a media-saturatedsociety has been point,why didn't Shakespearemerely state the abstractions,instead of told more stories-andvariants and reworkingsof thosestories-than constructinga huge,messy, and highlyinefficient linguistic vehicle from wouldhave been possible at anyother time in humanhistory. Out of that which thoseissues may be abstractedby the audiencelAnswer: because experiencecomes the tremendous desire to becomea moreactive oart of that isn'tthe pointof literature. the stofiellingprocess. In cinema,this translatesinto a moreelliptical HenryJenkins styleof editing,a more evocativestyle of storytelling,that pointstoward I agreewith Cregthat thereare certainly stories that would be damagedby narrativesby referencingfamiliar icons, story situations, and themes, but allowingme to take over the driver'swheel from the originalstoryteller. doesn'tneed to fleshout allof the parts.In games,the potential for a more When I am watchinga Hitchcockfilm, for example,I wantto surrender interactiveexperience is evengreater and the disappointmentis that few controlto a masterwho will constantlycatch me offguardby his abilityto gamesreally take this opportunity seriously. What's missing) Well, for one selectivelyreveal and withhold information and turn eventsin unexpected thing,the compellingmaterials that makefoining into the storytelling (but ultimatelyaltogether convincing and satisfring)directions. lf I could processexciting or interesting.I tire of movingstick figures around the getwhatever information I want,whenever I want,then there would be lim- screenand I becomeenraged when charactersI care about in another itedpossibilities for suspense,and the structureof suspenseis inevitably media are reducedto the cartoonishstereotypes found in most games. builtupon seemingly arbitrary choices made by the director about what to Obviously,some people are finding the story materials in gamesreasonably showus when.We surelymust let the newHitchcocks spin their spell on compelling.I know people who investa lot of themselvesin the persona us and a worldwhere there was only interactive stofielling would be a sad theycreate for Doom and Quake.But I think beforegames reach a larger one indeed.But I wouldsay that these are only one class of stories.Much population,they are going to haveto developa broaderrange ofcharacters of popularculture depends on genrestorytelling, where the core narrative and situations.Few games offer the kindsof richnarrative worlds neces- vocabularyis sharedby the stofieller and the audience. We know the basic saryto providethe resourcesfor the kindsoffan fictionBrenda describes. Re:Play:Came Design+ Came Culture Module 3: Games as Narntive

They are stiJlmore often invorvedin rimitednarrative universes to force theright to participatein thenarrative. gut themto fit intothe gamegenres. a goodstoryteller can,t keep us l thinkthat's why Brenda's pracehorders from participating.(A great storyteiler may be a different was so successfur_-itcreated an arenathat matter.)when we encouragedusers to activery heara good join story we demandthe rightto participate.perhaps the storytellingprocess. And r agreethat we woutd the processofstoryteiling was do better to thinkabout our interactionswith stories perhapsmore importantthan the by-product-the or withtechnoiogres stories.what fandom that seethe prospect has of interactivityas emergingfrom the nexus offeredpeople is the chanceto enterinto the between storyteilingprocess ano what the storyteller providesand the sociar/curturarenvironment to seeit as a collective,coilaborative sociar process, that ratherthan one con_ readersinhabit. trolled by stofieller gods.Some of the stories producedare great,more EricZimmerman compelling than anphingin the original.Usenet's Twin peaks reacheda Thepurpose of morar definingsomething like "narrative" in thecontext comprexitynever imagined by DavidLynch himserf of game becauseit wasthe designis notin scientificaily collaborative nairingdown a "proper,'definition. Instead, the effortof thousandsof stofieilers.sometimes the worksare valueof sucha definitionis in patheticallybad, its utirityfor designers.I tend toward a broad worsethan you courdever imagine. gut whatis important and inclusiveidea of narrativebecause I is that we haveentered into seetoo manydesigners trying to the processtogether to createstories based on replicatein "interactivenarratives" the preasures sharedand meaningfurmateriars and experiencesof non- and that freedomand that senseof cor- interactive media'To exprore and expand the mediumof participato lectiveeffort is exhirarating!| rove the ideaof gettrng ry narra- to makechoices for tivedesign we need to stretchour definitionsof whai narrativemight Macbeth,even in a worrdwhere we haveto pfayagainst be- thefates who wanr whichmeans enlargingand ,,narrative.,, to ensure not narrowingournotions of that their prophecyturns out right in the r have end despitemessy very pedagogicalreasons detailslike for definingterms in the way that I do. I individuarfree wit. whateverstory emerged wourd also be meaning- acknowledgethat others ful because havedifferent agendas and projectsand different I readit in rerationto the shakespearestory | arready knowback- usesfor the samevocabulary. ward and forwardbecause I havebeen told it all of my life.I don,t need Greg Costikyan Shakespeareto tell it to me again;I needShakespeare to getthe hellout of one of theproblems the I havewith the notionof definingtheme at a high way and let me try teilingit my own wayto see revel if it turns out briiliant andfilling in the detailsat a rowrever is that I readfiction for noverty, (unlikely)or banal(probably). r've suggested ersewhere mainry. that part of the That is, many people ,,for problem read fiction entertainment,,that reifies is our language-interactivefiction, interactive therr media. such expectations.They like vocabularies the third bookin a massivefantasy series because holdonto the ideathat the storyteileris the one grants who us theyget the same worid andthe same characters and the same kind of story that they "Twin alreadyknow they rike. They rike Peaks"was a television serial drama from romancenovers because they for- cult film director, David Lynch, and W maker low the samearcs and furfiil the sameexpectations. Mark pacific Theylike cozies or cat Frost. Set in the Northwest. the mysteries show or policeprocedurars because exploredthe writhing underbellyof small they get what they expect.But town America through the eyes of an FBI agent when I readfiction, I look insteadfor storiesthat entertainnover ideas- sent to investigatethe murder of town sw-eet- heart, one of the reasonsthat, as ,,the Laura Palmer The show ran during r99o a teenager,I was so drawnto SFas litera_ generating 9r, a total of32 hours ofeoisodes: tureof ideas."sF is, in a sense,the genrethat defies "genre";it today fans re-animatethe town of Twrn peaks is extremery through diverseand notas easily onlinestorytelling using elements from subjectto categorizationas mysteresor romances the show t|rtn Heaks Module Games as Narntive Re:Play:Came Design+ Came Culture 3:

or thrillers.lt occursto me that if Chrissucceeds in his project,what he Greg Costikyan may (to his dismay,no doubt) produceis not a greatnew interactiveart "Theadventure game" is aboutdelivering an experience that someone will form; he may producewhat Fritz Leiber(in "The SilverEggheads") calls playthrough once. Let us sayI do an onlineadventure that four to sixteen "wordwooze."That is, Chrismay succeedin automatingthe creationof peoplewill find enloyable. They will play it once,maybe two or threetimes, trulyinteractive fiction that adheres strictly to genreconvention, that being if l'm lucky,to explorealternate paths. In a boxedproduct, I get $25out of easiestto defineat a high levelfor purposesof interaction. the player(after retail discount). How do I getenough money out of peo- McKenzieWark plewho playonline, once, to repaydevelopment cost? Other avenues for I thinkBrenda was on theright track with the claim that all narrative is inter- multiplayeronline games seem more productive, in termsof development active.lt's a questionof lookingat what peopleactually do with culture, cost to hoursof playerenjoyment (and that's not merelya statementof ratherthan what the makersof it mightlike to thinkpeople ought to do with economics). it. Thereare of coursedifferent kinds of interaction.One can identifrwith Marc Taro (or against)a characterin a narrativethat movesof its own accord,or one ls it possibleto designa multiplayeradventure game? Sure! Camers have canassume the roleof thatcharacter's identity and enact it for yourself.For beendoing it for years.MUD/MUSH games allow players to addcontent example,there's an episodeof "Friends"where Rachel dresses up as Prin- to the gameworld; this is a kindof simulationof penand paper RPCing. cessLeia because it turns Rosson as a sexualfantasy. Here a narrativetext Thiskind of two-waycommunication is a greatway to createan adventure. hasappropriated an instanceof roleidentity and offeredit to the viewerfor No singlecreator can say they know the whole world inside out; we canall his or heridentification. lts justthe tip of a veryintertextual (and very weird) participatein the adventure.That sort of open-endeddesign may be the iceberg.So in short,not everythinghas to be put in the game.lt's a ques- only lastingkind of multiplayerexperience. Cames like EQ and UO are tion of puttingthe gameinto the full rangeof interactivecontexts. basedon MUDsbut they've left out the main concept. They don't allow the users to enlargethe world. lt certainlywould be possibleto createa BernieYee MMORPGthat allows users to uploadcontent. The barrier right now is the M ultipl ayer N a rratives complexityof the graphics.The typical user doesn't have the time, mone;, The odventuregame has been soloplay only-but its cousin,the RK (role- or hardwareto makegood quality content. lf a concertedeffort was made playing gome) hos given rise to mossively multiplayer games like EQ to createa toolset,similar to a leveleditor, that was designed to allowstory (EveQuest) ond UO (Ultimo Online). Thesegames are allowing playen to participate in o stats-drivenexperience. How do we begin to think about MMORPC is short for MassivelyMultiplayer Online Role-PlayingGame, typified by Ultima Ietting playerc-even on a four- to sixteen-playerscale-porticipote in a Online, EverQuestand Asheron'sCall. The first narrotive experience?Is it possibleto designa multiplayer adventuregame? wave of these games emerged between r997 and r999, anchoringhundreds ofthousands of role-playersto their computers for hours a week, fightingto kill monsters,win and build rela- tionshipswith othergamers.

Asheron'sColl Module Games as Narrative Re:Play:Game Design+ Game Culiure 3:

yore.Would scriptingand world building, the communitycould then create their own sucha productbe financially viablel I hopeso, because I think it stories.A gamesimilar to EQcould suddenly offer an unlimitedand ever- holdsa lot morepotential for democratizingthe narrativeprocess than anything changingnumber of scenarios.Here at BioWare,we're very interested in elseon the horizon. BernieYee this idea. BernieYee Smallernumbers of peopleare more prone to fluctuation.So if youlose ro people Theuser-added content is aninteresting debate. The issue I runup against froma worldof too,that's a seriousloss. All the M M POCs out there parsetheir is, in a MUD,the userbase is smallerand more policeable (smaller soci' communitiesto servers-sothat EQ'ssubscribers are separated into etiesbeing less unruly). When you're serving looK+ users,how do you differentworlds. That is much more manageablefrom a game play parsethat content?How do you guaranteequality controll And do you standpoint.But smallworlds of ro to roo needto be stableand large chargeto playthis gameonlinel Because if youdo, you need to guarantee enoughnot to be cliquey,and provide a goodcommunity to keepplaying. Rob a levelofexperience that most ofyour usersexpect' Bartel My company,BioWare, finally announced one our projects,a Rob Bartel of current multiplayerrole-playing game entitled Nevenvinter Nights (related in spirit, one must takea closelook at the numberof peopleyou actuallyinteract if not in form,to AOLs earlyonline classic of the samename). Among with in anysingle play session in a plus-rooKuser online world. Even using someof the keyfeatures that hold somerelevance to thisdiscussion are the broadestdefinition of the term, few of us everdeal directly with more thefollowing: than ro peoplein a six-hoursitting (theopportunity to launcha full-scale assaulton Freeportbeing the rareexception). why not maket,ooo smaller Initiallycoined as squishyname for an From Neveruinter Nights is a tool set roto roo peopleeach, ratherthan one filled with too,oool You another BioWare, worldsof online experience(after MUD), MUSH is now for Dungeon Masters (DMs) to run their own stillmaintain the largermetacommunity of peopleinterested in andplaying said to stand for Multi-User Shared Halluci- D&D games over the web. Augmenting old fash- nation. papermaps lead behindso manyofthe headachesassociated MUSH offers tert-based collaborative ionedgraph and miniaturefig- your product,but you leave real-timeonline play.MUSH is basedon Tiny- urines, Neveruinter Nights provides a range of with the massivelymultiplayer game worlds. Allowing people to establish MUD, one of the early MUD'derivatives,tuned graphicsand the abilityto script dialogueand more for human Nights functions as moreactive communities communicationand character add monsters.NeveMinter a theirown serversalso encourages self-regulating, developmentthan combat. fantasy adventure constructionset; still, the and removesall the overheadassociated with runningyour own seryer architectureof the game encourages real-time hand holding: groups of playersare expectedto structureas beingthe true farm.Quite frankly, I seethis smaller,grassroots playwhile the DM watchesand guides their expe- inheritorof thestrong game model provided by the MUD/MUSHgames of rience. Neverwinter Nights rs expected to be releasedin late 2ool. (NeveMinte. Nights was also the name of an online experiencederived from the S5l series of Cold Box D&D based games,available on AOL in the early9os.)

Nevewintcr Nights

Everquesl r80 Re:Play:Game Design+ Game Culture Module 3: Games as Narrative t8r

t. Strongfocus on tellinga rich,engrossing story within the context pre*y pennyby beinghuge repositories of a multiplayerenvironment. of user-createdcontent, so crearry there'sworkabre business moders for z. At Neverwinter'sheart is a powerfulbut user-friendly suchan idea.As far as a massrve editorsuite world versusa lot of sma, ones...I thinkthere's to be shippedwith the game(part of our attemptto democratrze a rotof benefits.yes, you willend up interactingmostry with the storytellingprocess). ro to roo peopre,or ress.But howwirl you meettheml Cet on a loo-personmini-world 3,The inclusion of a DungeonMaster client that allows someone to andhope they,re not too cliquishand disinterestedin new members, enterinto the gameworld in a storytellingrole, manipulating, and thatthey have tastes rn common with you to boot) or get on a managing,and reinventing the narrative experience hugeworld, and find that out of of theplayers ro'ooo people,7 arefans of the sameobscure (allowingfor a far more interactivenarrative environment). fantasynover you rikebest, andthey have a guildyou can joinl We're very excitedabout the project and, from the passionate iudging We're building an areafocused on beinga hangout responsewe're receiving on our messageboards, so is a significantbody for newplayers, basedon my observationthat of the gamingpublic. people*ho ,r. n", to an onlineplace will tendto be in a modeof meeting Dr. Cat and makingnew friends for theirfirst few weeksor months, andthen shiftinto a modeof mostlysticking It soundslike what a lot of peopleare speculating about here is the kind with the of gamemy partnerand I have beenworking on developingFurcadia into A MUcl(.Multi-t]ser chat Kingdom)is another Alpha lvorld is an online three-dimensional for the lastfew years. we stillhave a ways go varietyof the Muhi-User Dimension, to with the project,but I think offeringthe murti-u:er spece buirt by worrds chance Inc. Tens of for playersto interact together in a text it's worth a look.we definitelybelieve there's a lot of usefullessons thousanJsofp.opre gatherto wander the virtual to be edventure MUCKs were derived from-the more trnar..p" and chat with other visitors. payrng learnedfrom the MUsH community,which partner MUD offspring, TinyMUD. The participants my is veryactive in, :T^"".-t-t::::r] cen build theirown rn"."r, ,"rJi,ng drnerencesbetween these two engines rieprima- in a wide varietyof onrine includinga sortof "gamemasterless"mode of running rily 3D worrds ro*pror". Rpc-styleinterac- in some relativelyarcane aspects of MUD architecture tions.Although you won't find Dating an "anyonecan build new areas any time" from 1985, Habitat was an early Lucas- model in thecombat MUDs like Lps and Dikus, you can certainly find it in MUSEisanother MUD variant, orering murti. :1il"'fffftr:ir::'J:,i,"r6li::1.i1f,iffi: player online the someof text adventure environments. seruices the socialMUDs like , MUCKs, MUSEs, and so on. Of courdrog on to crub caribe,move their MUSEs are typically employed for non,violent, course,places ,u.rrr rrorio a virtual landscape,inte.act with like Alphaworld havehad veryunrestricted user building non-fantasticsettings. MUSE is said to stand for otf.,", piry.rr, pick up and use Multi'user objects, and par- for years Simurated Environment. some ticipate now,and I thinkthe recentFujitsu remake of Habitatmay have as in a remarkabredraft of the future of MUSES are oriented towards fantasy/science. well' As fiction online social for monitoringcontent*well, siteslike Geocitieshave made a onrine.pr.r, r", oneMUSE .*o,.o"l [il'.1i1;"i"ti:l;tjr*ffi recreates BattleTech "r..pi", in text with giant fighting modem, and was eventuallya*"i*"J ,"1, , robots. But MUSEs were also plcked up b! _or" ."1i. rich product LP is a variety of MUD, the originar text-based by Fujitsu. Habitat Moo stands for MUD, obiect oriented. An schools and educationarinstitutions; some earry encounteredearry many ofthe issuesthat prague online multiplayergaming experience-Lp MUDs extension of the popurar MUSEs recreated rvlurti-UserDomain ancient Egypt, or a Native more technologically are distinctive in evolved online games that they allow the players to online experience,Moos allow playersto build AmericanvJrage manipulatethevirtual 'Jilii#rl"J'r";. worldthroughasimplified content in the game world. The most abiding :"#f programming language,LPC. tpc is a language MOO server is LambdaMOO, *hil: which is packed as onlin€multiplayer for building objects entertainmentoioneers. for the MUD, which can with individuaily created spaces described with then be uploaded into the game, provided you extensivetext and filled with devices and virtuar Ceocities,which debuted in r994 and soon have attained sufficientaccess to that particular characterswho will respond to and interactwith became the LP MUD most visible site for hosting free community to edit the game worrd. the gamers enteringthe space.The expansive web pages,hosts millrons of sires, anJ sells while it opens up the potential for user contri- nature of a Moo precludessome of the ihemed advertisements butions, the to cover their costs. Ceocities LP MUD system architectureis said storyteiling emphasized in some of the other cameto be a known to encour:ge combat-oriented as a home for amateurnon- gaming. onrine experiences-a Moo is often more of a commercialweb publishing,and was eventuaily freeform place to play. purchasedby the web portal yahoo rn r999. Re:Play:Came Design+ Game Culture Module 3: Games as Narrative r8l

peoplethey know. They'll shuffle offinto the areas they build for their cliques 4. Metal Cear Solid,which (amongother things)puts forth a andguilds, then, and hopefully the starting area will remain a fertileground strongand passionately held anti-nuclear conviction. for the nextcrop of new playersto meeteach other. I alsothink largecom- Chris Crawford munitiesgive people a feelingof beingpart of somethingmore special, in Yes,interactive media have so much more potentialthan we are now tap- a way.I knowthere'sa verydifferentsortof patriotismand pridethat lfeel ping!lt's just that games have grabbed the initiative and now everything in aboutmy homecountry than I do aboutmy hometown,even though I like interactivityis definedin termsof games.lt is imperativethat we workhard them both. lf you give peopleany sort of way to make even the most to builda broaderentertainment base, lest we be ghetto-izedjust ascomics abstractsort of progresstoward a perceived"community goal" in the were.lt still saddensme to think that Mausnever sot the audienceit de- game,lthink this canbe strengthenedstill more. Of coursea largeplayer servedbecause it was"comics." basealso makes it easierto getenough attendance to justit all sortsof spe. GregCostikyan cial eventsand conteststhat are hardto pull off in microcommunitiesof Uh, ChrislI reallydon't think you cansay a PulitzerPrize winning book 'comics'." too. Yes,there are developmentand operationalcost issuesinvolved in "nevergot the audience it deservedbecause it was Who'shearo makinga hugedistributed server system work, but I don'tthink they have to of Maus?Chris says: "l verymuch doubt that one in a hundredreadershave be as dauntingas somepeople would assume, if you'reworking with the heardof Maus."Nonsense. This is a man who appearsfrequently in the rightkind of gamedesign to makeit practical. New Yorker,the TimesBook Review, whose wcrk is consistentlyreviewed in nationalmedia, etc. What do youdefine as "a reader")Last I lookedatthe BrendaLaurel numbers,6%o of theAmerican population reads fiction for pleasure.You're Beyond"recreation" maintainingthat of thal 6%o,a merer/rooth, or .o6/", or aboutt5o,ooo Computer games have grcwn up in the category of "recreotion." Yet other peoplehave ever heard of Maus.I don't knowthe salesfigures, but I would forms of narrative--epic, dramatic, novel,film, ond maybe even television bevastly surprised if Maushadn't SOLD more copies than that, never mino progromHan engogeculture at deeperlevels. Authorc use such narrative peoplewho've never read it but areperipherally aware of it. Forthat mafter, forms to consciouslyarticulote the ethos ond mythosof a time or a society. peoplelike Caiman and Mooreconsistently sell comic books and graphic Can interactive media hove the same cultural depth? Are there any exam- novelsin highernumbers than this. There may be peoplewho "sneerat ples? lf not, why not? comics,"but it's fewerand fewer. Greg Costikyan

Gamesthat Articulate a CulturalEthos: Mous is a stark blackand white graphic novel by t. LizzieMagie's The Landlord Came, a directprecursor of Monopoly, Art Spiegelman.As the narrator interuiewshis father, a Holocaust suruivor,we see the horrific designedas a didactictool to explainthe politicalphilosophy of eventsfrom Europein that era retoldwith eachof the primaryparticipants as animals:the Jewsare HenryCeorge. mice, the Nazis cats,and the Americansdogs. z. MarkRhein Hagen's Vampire: The Masquerade, an explicitattempt The graphic comic book format and the meta- phors for such intensesubject matter won Maus to capturethe spiritof theCoth subculture. wide acclaimwhen it was releasedin r q85. 3. HiddenAgenda, an explicitattempt to explorethe nature of power Maus in a dictatorshio. r84 Re:Play:Game Design+ Came Culture Module 3: Games as Nanative r85

McKenzie Adrienefenik Wark Ithink engagementon deeperlevels is possiblewith computerart/enter Camesand Stories tainment,butwe arestill figuring out how to do it. Lotsof moneyhas been Doesthe interactivegame changethe popular understandingof whot a investedin miningthe fear/response.For me, workingoutside the corpo- story is?Does it changethe nature of narrotive,or merelyimplement nor- rate developmentenvironment, I'm not committedto developingin the rstive? ls noruativereally essentialto the act of playing games?Or is it sametimeframe or thesame large market as industrygame developers. In morc o port of the marketingof the game? Can there be gameswithout approachingmy developmentthis way, I mayend up beingable to discover/ stories? Whot role does chonceplay in stories-ond is it the same role as catalyzean audiencethat wouldn'tbe targetted by the industry.Harwood's it plays in games?Will gamescreate new stories,or do they cannibalize The Rehearsalof Memorymoved me at times.I havebeen moved when at existing stories? "the place"by Olia Lialina.When my BoyfriendCame Back from the War BrendaLaurel hasmoved me. I wasuproariously laughing at NormanYonemoto's recent I don't thinkthe interactivegame changes the popularunderstanding of InternetTheater experiment "Cycle drama." These are all art piecesand whata storyis. In popularculture, people talk about characters and worlds unfortunatelyhave had very limited audiences. From my own experience,. in relativelymedia-independent ways. In common speech,the named don'tthink the problem is just in production.Distribution networks need to "story"actually refers to the centralbundle of potentialcreated by charac- be developedthat cansupport other models of gaming,I'm interestedin ters, worlds,situations, histories, and so forth, ratherthan to a specific the recentlyannounced Markle funding in this respect,and seethe efforts instantiation(for example, Star Trek, Care Bears, Myst). So this indicates to that Intervalput into learningabout other markets "outside" of thosecur- me that peoplealready have a notionof storythat subsumesmany media rentlybeing exploited, as vitalefforts. types."ls narrativereally essential to theact of playinggames)" I thinkthat McKenzieWark peopleconstruct narratives in realtime in mostgame play situations, even I'm just completelyunconvinced by the statedpremise of this question, thosethat seemnot to havenarrative content or structure(like Pong). The that other forms of narrative"engage culture at deeperlevels." Surely narrativemight simply be, "l'm gettingbetter at this,I seehow this works." gamesare just as deepin the muck.lt seemsto methat the pleasureof ver' In nonnarrativegames, the story is constructedalmost purelyfrom the tigo associatedwith the cultureof fortuneis just as centralto the pleasure of closureassociated with the cultureof fate.These aspects of culturejust Pongwas the firstglimpse many Americans had ofvideo games.Two opponents square off, each get distributeddifferently at differenttimes, dependingon the available controllinga paddle,whacking a ball of light around the screen.Ralph technology.Television, for example,might havea biastowards narrative Baermade a versionfor the first home video game system,the Magna- closureand fate-iust watch any cop show.But it also containsgame vox Odyssey.After playingthis versionin 1972, Nolan Bushnell as closeto the heartof the cul' engineeredit into an arcade shows-"Wheelof Fortune"-that areiust machine.Thus was Pongthe firstwidely popular ture.lthink gameshave as muchto learnfrom otheraspects of the culture coin-operatedvideo game. Soon Americawas inundated with Pong clones,and Bushnell's of fortuneas from the cultureof fateand narrativeclosure-in factprobably company Atari releaseda version for the home a lot more. that initiated their brief reign as the leading makerof home videogames. Module as Narmtive Re:Play:6ame Design+ Came Culture 3: Games

player'sexperience, whereas the storyof a more narrativegame involves itself.I meanthis both metaphoricallyand literally:For instance, in a first- moreauthored materials (characters, environments, and so on) in its con- personshooter, such as Quake,the playermay eventually notice that under struction.Always, however, it is the playerwho is constructingthe story suchand such condition the enemies will appear from the left. That is, she eventhough large chunks of it maybe "given"by the author. or he will literallyreconstruct a part of the algorithmresponsible for the Lev Manovich gameplay. In myview, narratives of manygames are very similar to simplealgorithms. Chris Crawford so thereis an interesting(and not accidental)parallelism between the tech' I wouldreverse your question and ask, can there be games without stories) nologicalstructure and the "cultural"structure here. Computer games are fl-hatis, economically viable games.) My answerto thatquestion is a def- alwaysexperienced by their players as narratives.Why? In a game,the player inite "no." I won't ruleout the possibilityof substantialchanges in the is givena well-definedtask-winning the match,being first in a race,reach- currentmarketplace, but neitherdo I seeany reason for optimism.On the ingthe last level, or reachingthe highest score. lt isthis task that makes the theoreticalside, I think l'vealready demonstrated that interactivestory- playerexperience the gameas a narrative.Everything that happensto herin tellingis within our reach,but it remainsa horrifinglycomplicated enter- a game,all the charactersand obiects she encounters, either take her closer prise.Last, in movingfrom gamesto stories,"chance" becomes "fate," to achievingthegoal orfurther awayfrom it. In a game,from a user'spoint anddevelops a kindofpurposefulness. of view all the elementsare motivated (that is, their presenceis iustified). BernieYee Oftenthe narrativeshell of a game(You are the speciallytrained commando With the hypethat hasaccompanied games like Half-Life and the critical successof gameslike System Shock, lthink it's a marketplaceimperative who hasiust landed on a lunarbase; your task is to makeyour way to the headquartersoccupied by the mutant base personnel) masks a simplealgo- to developgames with more emotionalresonance than pure shooters. rithmwell familiar to the player:kill all the enemies on thecurrent level and Storyelements are beingused in veryprimitive ways now throughbasic collectall the treasuresit contains;go to the nextlevel and so on untilyou charactersketches, FMV story sequences, and so forth,and I seemore halt- reachthe lastlevel. Other games have different algorithms. Here is an algo- ing attemptsto integratenarrative into gameplay. I hope. rithm of the legendaryTetris:when a newblock appears, rotate it in sucha McKenzieWark way so it will completethe top layerof blockson the bottomof the screen, It seemsto methat the minimal unit of narrativeis presentin everygame. makingthis layerdisappear. The similaritybetween the actionsexpected Somany games involve getting things or losingthings; fighting something from the playerand computer algorithms is too uncannyto be dismissed. or losingthe fight with someone. But those elements can be subordinated computergames appear to be ruledby another logic-that of an algorithm. that a playerexecutes an algorithmin orderto win. An alge FMV is shortfor FullMotion Video.When video Theydemand gamesharnessed the massivestorage potential rithm is the keyto the gameexperience in a differentsense as well.As the of CD-ROMs,video clips of actorsappeared to interrupt play game she graduallydiscovers the rulesthat the interactive of a with playerproceeds through the game, filmed bits of narrative. In one famous early operatein the universeconstructed by this game.She learnsits hidden examoleof FMV StarWars veteran Mark Hamill the game play performed on-screenin Wing Commander lll logic; in short, its algorithm.Therefore, in gameswhere (r994). These types of play interruptionsare departsfrom following an algorithm,the playeris stillengaged with an algo- generally refered to as cut scenes; today ren- dered computer graphicshave largely supplanted rithm,albeit in anotherway: she is discoveringthe algorithmof the game FMV in cut scenes. Wing Commanderlll Re:Play:Game Design+ Game Culture Module 3: Cames as Nerative t89

to series,in the form of narrative,orcan becomean end in themserves,as they havenot only BrendaLaurel in gamesbut alsoin actioncinema (which happens aboutthe sametime It's notthe technology that needs as gamesbecome popular). The reallyinteresting to improve-it,sthe interactivestructure, thing is Chris'scomment whichtends to be basedon on chanceand fate,as the latteris a key paftof command-and-conqueror ski,-and-action. a lot of fairystory type narratives. Thesemay be greatconstructions Thatwhore probrem and its rerationro of gamepray but theyare not particurarry juicy gameculture is raiseddirectry phantom constructionsof sex. The in The Menace,in rerationto the eroticsof game playmight be greatly pod racescene. enhancedby structureinvolving seduction,prot".tion, exploration, ambi- Greg Costikyan guity,discovery, and so on. Thesethings are not hardto do. They,re hard lust Lev,it's truethat gamesshare something for eroticatycha'enged people with storiesin that both (steree to thinkof. He,, romancenovels aren r typically)involve a series verytechnology'intensive, but they of obstacresovercome in sequence.But to say suredo workfor a veryrarge audience. thereforethat "games Theerotics of gameplay might arearways experienced as narratives',is farse.Exprain alsobe enhancedby thinkingof a different to me the storyin Chess. audience(for example, adult Or Tempest.Or Tetris.To put it anotherway: We women)during the design process. learnvia play(games are McKenzieWark structuredpray); we integrateour experiencesoy makinga storyout Perhapsit's a questionof thinking of them.rt's natural for prayersto constructa storyfrom of theerotic very broadry, as the tactire a gameplay experience, and sensualquality of an experience, but it is not inevitable,nor is the storythe game. ratherthan as the directlysexual. There'scertainly a viscerarthriil in somegames, but this seemsto me to McKenzieWark be at odds with the overt "sexiness" of, say,Lara Croft, which is actuarlv very The Eroticsof Caming uneroticin the senseI'm givingit. How will Dr. Cat the eroticsof game play developos the technologyimproves? BernieYee Americansstit aren'tnearry ascomfortabre with reftingtheir mass media Eroticismin game play presentsexuarity as some other is inevitable-oris it) I wonderhow much thrs countriesare. Eventhe kind of casuar, refersto the distinction nonsexualnudity that you might betweentoys and games.rt's perfectryacceptabre seeon a JapaneseTV commercialwould for film or booksto havean neverbe allowedhere. on theother eroticcomponent, but if gamesare viewed rike hand,they certainry do a rot morewith toys more than expressive eroticimagery and situationsin art forms (not that toys aren,texpressive art their computergames than the game forms),then the culturar industryin theUnited States does. dissonancebetween toys and eroticismmay pre- Whatwe do havehere is onlinegames vent utilizationof eroticism where peopleprovide the erotic interest in game pray.l hope that's not the case, and romancefor eachot"f,er. rt though,as the eroticerement oozesthrough the cracksin our is definiterytoo powerfuran emotionartoor media.What the contentproviders won,t to ignorein narratives. providefor the public,they improvise for themselves.Back when it was still The Phontom Mcnace one of the biggestonrine services, prodigy wentfrom beingc-rated to The Phantom Menace, the first ofthe Star Wars XXXovernight when they added unmoderated peopre preguel trilogy released onrinechat. wi, use in r999, explores the technology early life ofAnakin Skywalker, in this kind of wayevery the boy who grows time,whether it wasdesigned for it or up to become Darth Vader in the later movies. not' The first "romancesover the wires" The Phantom Menace makes that red to rearweddings took extensive use of place digital technology and backin the r8oos,when special effects. Much of teregraphoperators wourd fit theirfree time the film's narrativewodd has been exported to by usingthe linesto ,,chat" video qames. in Morsecode.