How do models of narrative taken from Film Studies/Theory help us to understand the kind of narrative experience presented by contemporary video games? Revisiting the debate on the relationship between games and narrative. Ellis Grimes Table of Contents Introduction: Revisiting the debate ………………………………... 5 Uncharted: The Interactive Action Film …………………………. 14 God of War: The Continuous Emotional Epic …………………… 22 Until Dawn: Narrative Game or Interactive Film? ……………….. 29 Conclusion: Looking to the Future…………………………………35 Bibliography……………………………………………………… 38 2 Glossary of Terms Terms written in bold in the main text are listed below AAA – (Pronounced Triple-A), Classification for big-budget games released by major publishers Camera – When used in relation to games it is referring to the controllable first-party lens through which the player views the game world. Cinematic – In terms of games, this refers to cutscenes that are more cinematic in nature, in some older games this is more noticeable as the graphics would be vastly different Fixed Action – an action performed by the avatar that is prompted by a player interaction, this often takes the form of a specific animation. Hack and Slash – A style of game defined by its core mechanics of fighting large groups of enemies with flashy attack combinations. Menu Screen – A screen that is separate to the gameplay, which often comes up when the game is paused, it contains different features such as saving, quitting to the main menu or options. Open World – A game where the player is free to explore a sandbox world with little constraints Quick-time Event – An instance within a game where players get to interact with a cutscene by pressing buttons at the prompted moments to make the avatar perform an action. Role Playing Game – A genre of game where the player picks what role their avatar will take, often gives a lot of agency to the player. Visual Novel – Traditionally a Japanese video game, a visual novel consists of text and still images, with a story the player can influence based on options of dialogue. Wave – A term used to describe different groups of enemies attacking the player in different stages 3 Abstract The debate surrounding the narratological qualities of videogames and their importance within the medium seems to have dried up since it was first considered in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. There has been no significant development in the field since this time period other than the odd text that explores the debate such as Screenplay: Cinema/Videogames/Interfaces (King & Krzywinska, 2008). This raises a problem for narrative studies within video games as there is no evolution with the ever-changing medium. This leaves no consideration for the hyper- realistic games, a handful of which will be analysed in this essay. With the next console generation impending and a new host of narrative driven games to be released alongside; it is a fitting time to revisit the debate and try to modernise it. Spoilers incoming! 4 Introduction: Revisiting the Debate The debate in question centres on the two perspectives of critique within video game studies; Ludology and Narratology. The former is the antithesis of the latter and aims to distance games from other media so they can be studied separately. The ludological perspectives such as that of Jesper Juul or Markku Eskelinen have held integrity to this day, with the base claim being that videogames cannot be narrative in form because they are intrinsically interactive. Ludologists claim that games began as intrinsically non-narrative experiences such as Pong (Atari, 1972) or Pac-Man (Namco, 1980) (Figure 1); therefore, all narrative experiences that have evolved within videogames are superficial, something to enhance the gameplay rather than define it. However, these perspectives have not been significantly built upon or challenged since the close of 2000’s maybe with the exception of Salmose & Elleström’s (2020) critique on transmediation between cinema and videogames which considers how games use qualities of cinema and vice versa, which this essay also aims to address. Figure 1 – [Left] Pac Man (Namco, 1980), [Right] Pong (Atari, 1972). 5 Juul (2005, 23-54) defines a game as ‘a rule based system with a variable and quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are assigned different values […] the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome, the player feels emotionally attached to the outcome and the consequences of the activity are negotiable.’ For a game to function as such, it must be bound to a set of rules the player can interact and respond to, whilst also giving players agency to explore different outcomes. A continuation of inputs is expected, as a suspension of interactivity inferred by taking a narrative perspective would detract from the game. Eskelinen (2001) actualises this concept stating, ‘If I throw a ball at you, I don’t expect you to drop it and wait until it starts telling stories.’ A game of catch has a simple set of rules but several outcomes depending on players interactivity with said rules. One must throw a ball to another and receive the ball back. Alternatively, if one was to throw the ball harder the other may not catch it. Although this gives us a solid definition of the simple principles of games, it should be noted that these principles have to be taken as just that. This means that they should not fundamentally define the medium of video games as simply an interaction with the rules established by a developer, and nothing more. Therefore, this essay will aim to argue that games can hold intrinsic narrative values whilst not diminishing the qualities that define them as games. It will analyse a variety of games from a narrative standpoint and explain how the elements of interactivity have evolved to become somewhat synonymous with the narrative presented; even enhancing the experience of other traditionally narrative mediums such as cinema. Games have evolved substantially since the debate surrounding narrative paused and have developed the ability to tell compelling and complex narratives. These contemporary 6 titles juxtapose the simplistic games of the 90’s that were centred around gameplay rather than building a rapport between player and character. Disproving Ludology Filmic narrative models from the likes of Bordwell (1985), Metz and Guzzetti (1976) or Chapman (1978) need to be considered here. For the basis of his particular theory, Bordwell first turns to Aristotle who focuses on narration in terms of classical poetry in his Poetics. Aristotle (cited in Bordwell, 1985, 1) makes the distinction between the means of imitation, the object, and the mode of imitation. From Aristotle’s distinctions Bordwell brings forth two perspectives upon narrative that derive from this idea of perspective and the mode of imitation; Mimetic and Diegetic. For the sake of simplicity, this section will focus on Mimesis to illustrate how narrative may be applied to a game and will later bring forth other narrative theories. Mimetic theory takes narrative as a ‘presentation of a spectacle,’ and is essentially an imitation, which is the derivative meaning of the word Mimetic from Greek. With any application of a mimetic theory of narration “perspective” is key to understanding the narrative. ‘[An] object of perception is presented to the eye of the beholder,’ (Bordwell, 1985, 4). Perspective has evolved over time to be the connecting factor between object and subject. When relating film to early Greek theatre, Bordwell (1985, 5) speaks of ‘A rule-governed, measurable scenic space organised around the optical vantage point of an implied spectator.’ Perspective in theatre would therefore be thought of as the object working towards the optimal viewpoint of the subject to give an idealised perspective upon the narrative events. 7 ‘Narrative significance is conveyed through an idealised spectacle and an idealised perception [of said spectacle]’ (Bordwell, 1985, 5). In other words, when conveying a certain event to a spectator the significance of the objects depends entirely on the perspective of the perceiver. But in the case of theories of perception such as these, the spectator is disregarded as an active participant in the narrative and is instead placed in an idealised location to see exactly as the camera does. With this established viewpoint, what happens to the significance of events when perspective is a set point? Certainly, in paintings it would seem there is one fixed perspective by which the still image is being viewed, a “window” by which the subject can view the object. Similarly, in literature the perspective the author takes, whether that be first or third person, is that of a fixed point looking in on the events. The narrator therefore becomes the conduit between subject and object, taking the place of the window showing the perceiver what to perceive. This window analogy translates quite literally to that of a film camera and therefore creates the role of an invisible observer, where ‘a narrative film represents story events through the vision of an invisible or imaginary witness,’ from the fixed point of the camera lens (Bordwell, 1985, 9). These assumptions about perspective lay the foundations for one of the most basic, but extremely successful theories for narrative cinema. Applying this to contemporary games, (especially open world games), and the free moving “camera” controlled by the player, it could be derived that what is significant within the narrative is based upon what the perceiver views through their own window. The window in many contemporary games is less a fixed pane and more of a transparent sphere, where the observer is situated at the centre and has a full 360° view of the existing environment. This is 8 reminiscent of Eisenstein and Kuleshov’s plans for a paradoxical rehearsal hall in which the multiple stages can rotate in order to turn the action towards the spectators at the right time (Bordwell, 1985, 12).