IT UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN WORK Class code: Name of course: Course manager: Course e-portfolio: Thesis or project title: Supervisor: Full Name: Birthdate (dd/mm-yyyy): E-mail: 1. @itu.dk 2. @itu.dk 3. @itu.dk 4. @itu.dk 5. @itu.dk 6. @itu.dk 7. @itu.dk Abstract This paper focus on the enacted experiences in games. The game in question is Planescape Torment. Quest theory, enacted experiences and the importance of context will be used in the analysis of the game. The final result of the paper is that because the game and subsequent play session is both the player and the artifact some of the presented theories does not truly hold up. This does not mean that it is wrong but can be used to further a debate. Keywords Games, Players, RPG, Enacted Experiences, context, Quest theory Introduction Quests are an essential part of most digital role­playing games. One can say it is part of their nature. Both in order to let a player progress in a story, but also to get the player to engage in tasks that sometimes are not necessarily tied to the story but more as a progression of a given player. The act of questing comes in many sizes and shapes. Some are simple fed­ex quests meaning that the objective of it can be summed up as following; collect the sword, deliver it to the owner and get a reward, while other quests can be more elaborate and deep. Quests in role playing games are often a lot more open for interpretation than similar quests in more linear games like first person shooters like Halflife [8]. This is because of the game genres focus on players leveling up their characters and focusing on progression of that character through the choices that the player make. This choices of newer roleplaying games such as Dragon Age [7] and Mass Effect [6] offer choices that are meaningful for the player by either introducing consequences that matter or making the choices morally grey, so the player are forced to think about the best choice. New role playing games tend to follow the focus on the morally grey area, where the choices you make matter and have consequences in some foreseeable future. However at the end of the day the use of quests, as a mechanic, are for the designers to guide the players to complete a game in a way where the players more or less know how it will end. However there are also games that takes another approach to quests, where a quest is more up for debate and ultimately interpretation from the player. Planescape Torment [1] is such a game, where the quests throughout the game are very open for interpretation and where it is not entirely clear what the proper way to complete these quests are in order to advance the story correctly. The quests throughout the game are still from a game design oriented perspective used to advance and complete the story of the game, but because of the ambiguity of what is at stake throughout the game, one can not “blindly” play the game by completing quests and expect to get the normal results associated with them. One can argue that to completely understand the story you have to understand the journey and the central themes of the game, which is one of self discovery with no right outcome. This means that the player has to actively get more involved in the story to both properly address the issues at hand but also to make the “right” decision, which can be difficult when the story is ambiguous. The ambiguousness of playing Planescape Torment [1] also present another interesting issue. it can be difficult to analyze by the perceived stance on games in both ludological and narratological circles, where the preferred way of analyzing games are as systems, be it through mechanics or narratives (Aarseth, Espen, 2004; Howard, Jeff; 2008). One problem with this focus on games as systems are that they neglect the importance of the player and the act of playing, which is equally important. One can argue that a game is not a game without the act of playing (Stenros & Waern, 2010). If the importance of analyzing video games is not only about the game as an artifact, but equally about the player, then some of the ways of analyzing games in traditional way needs to be updated. Focus of this paper By looking at games as enacted experiences the context of analyzing games change and this means that some of the older models will also change. This paper will focus on the game Planescape Torment [1] and analyze it through the lens of Stenros and Waern’ (2010) theory of enacted experiences but also look into prior research such as quests and how they can both push the story forward but also help the player to narrate their own story within the games confines in search of meaning. The reason for using the prior research that focus only on the game is both to anchor this paper, but also to see where some presented theories might change when the context change. The question that this paper in particular will try to solve is: how do the presented quest theories hold up in Planescape Torment when it comes to narrative, when analyzing through the lens of enacted experiences? Literature review As mentioned in the introduction, this paper will both focus on quests and the act of questing in RPG in order to describe narrative and enacted experiences. Before going into the analyzation of the role playing game Planescape Torment [1] in order to elucidate how the player can have a meaningful impact on the story, it would be wise to look at the previous theories associated with the act of narrative and storytelling in games, either through quests or other means (Aarseth, Espen, 2005 ; Howard, Jeff, 2008), the term enacted experiences (Stenros; Waern) and the importance of context (Dourish, Paul; 2004). Quest based narratives and how to define meaning From the humble beginnings of video games where a quest consisted of little more than presented texts to much more elaborate and complicated quests of games like the Baldurs Gate Series[1], Fallout series[5], Mass Effect[6] and Dragon Age series[7] where the player is presented to complicated choices and consequences a quest has always been a way to guide the player. The core mechanics when it comes to a quest in games have not changed. As Tronstad suggests, a quest is an objective that gives the player incentive to complete it. Tronstad furthermore states; “When the quest is done and the player has found meaning, it is over and not be repeated again” (Tronstad, 2001 as cited in Howard, Jeff; 2008; p. 20). The definition of meaning is hard to define and some would argue that quests which are linear and repetitive become boring and uninspiring really quick. Susana Tosca (2003) describe how students that play games often find quests that fulfill the linearity and predictability to become unrelated to the character’s physical and emotional development and therefore the meaning of the quest is lost and the overall story can become uncertain and ultimately futile. A meaningful game, as in where the narrative and the activity of play conjoin into a meaningful action is still up for debate. Espen Aarseth (2004) is still sceptical of the narrative based game, because of the video games inability to achieve a true sense of narrative, where the player can do what they want inside the game. Espen Aarseth (2004) points out that narrative adventure games still have problems because of “the limited result that they achieve”, which means that characterization, extremely derivative actions plots, and for the most part, no metaphysical themes are very rarely/not present (Aarseth, Espen; Quest games”, p.367 as cited in Howard, Jeff; 2008). Quests can be divided into three subcategories when it comes to the definition of meaning, which is meaning as initiation, meaning as narrative and thematic meaning (Howard, Jeff; 2008). Because of the complex nature of meaning, when playing a game and completing quests, it is important to get these three terms in order to decipher meaning out of a game. Meaning as initiation focus on the quests as meaningful because of its ability to immerse the player into the game world. This can be done through drama or conflict, but the idea of initiation is also to gradually ease the player into the various aspects of the game (Howard, Jeff, 2008). Meaning as initiation can be done three ways as in the impact of the player’s accomplishment, a narrative backstory that convey urgency and tell the player why they are doing what they are doing and lastly an expressive, semantic and thematic meaning, which focus on the ideas that is symbolically encoded within the gameworld. This can be done either through landscape, objects or challenges of the quest and can be enacted through it (Howard, Jeff; 2008). Quest Theory Espen Aarseth (2005) writes in “from Hunt the Wumpus to EverQuest: Introduction to Quest Theory” that all quests follows a similar pattern in games and that this pattern can be broken down to several subcategories. However all in all a quests most simplified function is to get the player from point A to point B. There are three basic quest types, which is the place oriented, time oriented and objective oriented quests (Aarseth, Espen; 2005). These three types of quests are usually not only one form, but a variation of one, two or all of the three basic quest types.