Chronologically Nonlinear Techniques in Traditional Media and Games Gail Carmichael David Mould School of Computer Science School of Computer Science Carleton University Carleton University Ottawa, Canada Ottawa, Canada [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT known? Fortunately, being able to control the story is less Although stories in games have become more sophisticated important to most players than experiencing traditional in- over time, their use of nonlinear techniques has not yet be- teractive gameplay. Therefore, as long as compelling game- come as prevalent as in traditional media like novels and play is maintained, chronologically nonlinear techniques can films. Writers have largely excluded nonlinear techniques be successfully used in games. from their toolbox, possibly because of fears of introducing Through observations of how and why flashbacks, rewinds, inconsistencies when player actions alter past events. How- framing devices, memory issues, and episodic storytelling are ever, as we show through a survey of common nonlinear used in both traditional media and in modern videogames, techniques seen in television, novels, and film, games can we will show that gameplay agency is compatible with chrono- and have avoided these inconsistencies while maintaining logically nonlinear storytelling. We conclude by discussing gameplay agency. Many players prefer a high quality static potential uses of nonlinear storytelling in games that incor- story incorporated into strong gameplay, making the insight porate story agency as well as gameplay agency. from this discussion immediately useful in designing nonlin- 1.1 Definitions ear game stories. We also discuss some ways in which non- linear techniques can offer both gameplay and story agency, In the following, we refer to chronologically nonlinear sto- hopefully bringing the quality of game stories one step closer ries – that is, stories that depict events out of chronological to their traditional counterparts. order – simply as nonlinear. Note that we use the term “nonlinear” in this sense even when discussing videogames, Categories and Subject Descriptors where “nonlinear” usually refers to branching narratives or stories with multiple endings. In the context of games, we K.8.0 [General]: Games consider a story nonlinear when events are presented out of chronological order with respect to the character’s timeline General Terms (what Juul [20] calls “event time”), and not necessarily the player’s experience of the story (what Juul calls“play time”). Game Design We also distinguish between agency related to gameplay versus the player’s ability to change the story. We call the Keywords former gameplay agency: the analytic and performative ac- nonlinear, story, games, agency tions the player takes in order to master the challenges posed by the game. Much of the “immediate, moment-by-moment 1. INTRODUCTION agency” that Mateas and Stern [26] call “local agency” is gameplay agency, though not all. Story agency, on the other Traditional media such as books, films, and television hand, occurs when the player is able to affect the story, ei- shows often tell stories nonlinearly. Authors can use tech- ther through changing the story’s outcomes, its interpreta- niques such as flashbacks and framing devices to tell inter- tion, or its portrayal. esting stories. Nonlinear devices serve many purposes, from In this paper, we do not aim to discuss games that tell providing context when it is needed to increasing dramatic their story primarily through setting. For example, the en- tension. vironmental storytelling game Gone Home [41] tells its story Techniques like flashbacks must be used with care so as to nonlinearly: the player character is not experiencing most avoid potential chronological inconsistencies. How can play- scenes firsthand, but rather learns about past events through ers meaningfully affect a story whose outcome is already artifacts found in the environment. While games like this may have interesting lessons for nonlinear storytelling, our focus is on games that present event time out of order and include gameplay in anachronistic scenes. 2. CHALLENGES OF AGENCY IN NONLINEAR STORYTELLING A player experiences game scenes in an order that may be different from the order in which they are lived by the character. We distinguish between the following three main players. While this approach removes story agency, many ways to present a scene to a player: players do not mind. At least two surveys of modern game players have been • Cut-scene . The player watches what happens with- conducted in the last decade to determine their attitudes to- out any opportunity for interaction. wards stories. Mallon and Webb [25] discovered that players • Game-playable scene. The player interacts with the actually prefer episodic and directed story experiences over scene via game mechanics, but does not in any way unrestricted freedom. More recently, Lebowitz and Klug [22] affect the story for scenes not yet experienced. conducted a survey to learn what types of stories players prefer. They found that while the majority of players place • Fully-playable scene. The player interacts with the great importance on a game’s story, they do not require full scene via game mechanics and is able to affect the story control over it. In fact, the favorite type of story was what in upcoming scenes, even if only in a small way. the authors called traditional interactive storytelling: sto- ries players could interact with but whose plot they could Fully-playable scenes offer the highest potential for player not significantly affect. Players’ second favorite story struc- agency given that they are able to support both story and ture was a branching story with multiple endings. Neither gameplay agency. However, if we wish to aim for this level of these require strong story agency. of agency in a nonlinear setting, there are several issues to According to Lindley [24], there are three types of players contend with. with respect to enjoyment of a game’s story. The first prefers In a nonlinear story, a scene can depict events that have to feel part of a passive audience; such a player wants to be occurred in the past relative to the current scene. In a told a great story more than they want to affect it. The playable story, events that have occurred in the past should second, the performer,wantstoessentiallybecomeanactor have some effect on what happens later on. However, it does that plays the role of a character. The third type, the im- not seem possible to affect the story in a scene the player mersionist, wants to become completely immersed and blur has already experienced. As Juul [20] points out, “doing the line between him or herself and the characters in the an interactive flashback leads to the classical time machine game. problem: the player’s actions in the past may suddenly ren- If the aforementioned surveys are to be believed, then we der the present impossible, and what then?” It is possible to can say that most players fall into the audience and per- suggest in the current scene that the player is changing the former categories, since neither requires full story freedom. future (say, to avoid the bad things that they now know are A passive audience only wants to experience (not change) supposed to happen), but this technique is not applicable the story, while a performer is likely to be satisfied with game unless time travel, prophecy, or the like are present within mechanics and quest options that fit well with the role they the depicted setting. are playing [24]. In both cases, most of the player’s sense In addition to this practical problem, there is the artistic of agency will come from gameplay rather than interaction question of whether a player should be able to affect the with the story. story. There are nonlinear storytelling techniques that may Despite the importance of gameplay agency, story agency require taking at least some story-related control away from is still desirable for some players. In these cases, authors do players for the technique to be effective. The story’s pro- not need to give full control to players; instead, stories can gression may need to remain in the hands of its writer in be crafted to give an illusion of control [25, 35]. This can be order to ensure it is not boring and that the player encoun- accomplished, for example, by ensuring that a good number ters events in an order that both makes sense and serves a of dialog choices are offered to a player [26], or by offering purpose. As Greg Costikyan writes [10]: events that are adaptively selected based on the preferred A story is a controlled experience; the author style of the current player [42]. We also note that players consciously crafts it, choosing precisely these events, do not always consider story consistency important, as dis- in this order, to create a story with maximum im- cussed by Pirtola et al. [31]. We offer additional suggestions pact. If the events occurred in some other fash- in Section 5. ion, the impact of the story would be diminished Because many players do not require a high level of story – or if that isn’t true, the author isn’t doing a agency in games, game-playable scenes are often sufficient. good job. Therefore, for nonlinear stories, game-playable scenes are a good option that allows authors to avoid potential issues of Unlike fully-playable scenes, both game-playable scenes and consistency and need for authorial control. cut-scenes allow authors to control nonlinear stories. While cut-scenes have been quite popular for their ability to present highly aesthetic depictions of story events, they offer play- 4. NONLINEAR TECHNIQUES IN ers no agency at all. However, game-playable scenes do offer agency through gameplay. As will be argued next, this is TRADITIONAL MEDIA AND GAMES sufficient for most types of modern players, despite the lack Though fully-playable scenes are not required when pre- of story agency.