Following the Fallout: Narrative structures in a videogame franchise By Daniel Joseph Dunne A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Research Faculty of Health Arts and Design Swinburne University of Technology, Australia 2018 2 Abstract The progression of narrative within videogames is established through a structure of set narrative units. This thesis is an examination of the structure of narrative within the Fallout franchise, as framed through Roland Barthes’ narrative structuralism and a definition of narrative influenced by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s definition of ‘activities’. Narrative structuralism conceptualises narrative units as consisting of cardinal functions and catalysts. Narrative within videogames is constructed by these two narrative types: cardinal functions create a firm foundation for the videogame narrative, and catalysts allow players to affect and interact with it. Therefore, the claim is that videogame narratives are based upon a passive structure that establishes the scope of the narrative and cannot be altered by the player. This creates a framework within which active narratives can react to the player’s actions. This framework provides a distinction between moments when the player is a passive participant in narrative, and moments when the player is an active participant. This demarcation of activities – the text not allowing the player to act, and the text inviting action from the player – provides the basis for passive and active narratives. These correspond to Barthes’ narrative structures: cardinal functions are passive in that they do not alter, while catalysts are active in that they enable alteration. These binary narrative types provide a method of analysis for how narrative operates within the Fallout franchise. The Fallout franchise’s narrative structure is explored by providing a close analysis of five videogames: Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 4. These active narratives can differ in their reactions to the player’s actions and how their reactiveness creates change within the narrative events of the text. Moreover, the thesis concludes that for increasingly complex active narratives to occur, the reactions provided by the text must relate to the actions and consequences of those actions initiated by the player. Ultimately, this thesis extends previous works of narrative scholars by approaching the dynamic nature of videogames from the perspective of the text’s affordances or guidelines for narrative, rather than from the perspective of player choice. It is the hope of this exploration that, beyond understanding the simultaneously fixed and mutable nature of videogame narratives, the analysis provided here encourages readers to consider the narrative possibilities in the design of videogames, and the unique narratives that they can tell. 3 4 Acknowledgements As with many acknowledgement sections for any sort of thesis, this one contains many individuals without whose help I would have never started, let alone finished. These people are only a small selection of friends, family, co-workers and peers who aided me in formulating and completing this thesis. I wish to thank my supervisors Dr Mark Finn, Dr Daniel Golding and Dr Julian Novitz for their advice and continual support throughout the development of my research. Dr Julian Novitz should be thanked in particular for his guidance from even before I formally started at Swinburne University of Technology, and for his advice in preparing papers and conference presentations. Without his support many ideas would not have made their way down to paper. I would also like to thank Dr Jason Bainbridge and Dr Liam Burke who provided great guidance in the earlier stages of the thesis. I would like to thank the other scholars with whom I have discussed my thesis, including Dr Jonas Linderoth, Dr Adam Chapman, Sian Beavers, Tara Copplestone, Mahli-Ann Butt, Nathan Gardiner and Brendon Szucs. Without their insight, patience and collaboration many ideas would not have come to fruition. I would like to thank my close friends who listened patiently while I went over the latest draft of a chapter, before gently informing me of the grammatical errors in my work: Lauren van der Kraan, Matthew Grey, David Szmalko, Eric Yuen, Brendan Carney and Oliver Smith. The Press Start editorial team – Matthew Barr, as well as Lorraine Murray, Landon Berry, Mahli-Ann Butt, Lars de Witt, Sarah Evans, Michael Scott and Charlie Ecenbarger – offered me a valuable chance to become involved in the wider world of games scholarship and expanded my scholarly horizons. To them I am deeply thankful. I would also like to thank the developers of Fallout and Fallout 2, Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, who generously agreed to be interviewed. Without them my research would not have the insight it now has. The thesis has been edited by Mel Campbell who provided editorial advice covered by Standards D (Language) and E (Consistency) of the Australian Standards for Editorial Practice. I would like to thank Mel for her work. Lastly, I would like to thank my family who have supported my learning and encouraged me to continue studying. Without them this thesis would not exist. 5 6 Student Declaration I, Daniel Joseph Dunne, declare that the examinable outcome: • Contains no material which has been accepted for the award to the candidate of any other degree or diploma, except where due reference is made in the text of the examinable outcome. • To the best of my knowledge contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of the examinable outcome. • Where the work is based on joint research or publications, discloses the relative contributions of the respective workers or authors; and • All images listed in the thesis have the permission of their authors or copyright owners to be reprinted here. Images without the copyright approval have been removed from the electronic submission (Figures 2 – 4). Signed: 7 8 List of Figures Figure 1: Active and Passive narratives and audiences. Source: Self. .................................................. 36 Figure 2: This image shows the actions the player can take to alter the result of the scene to attempt to save Shawn. The bar at the bottom of the screen indicates the time left to make a choice. Source: The Walking Dead: Season 1 ................................................................................................................. 41 Figure 3: This image shows the player in the process of choosing to save Duck. Source: The Walking Dead: Season 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 41 Figure 4: Choosing what to do with the Little Sister. This image shows the two actions the player can take to Harvest or Rescue the Little Sister. Source: Bioshock .............................................................. 42 Figure 5: A picture of Fallout 1's game manual highlighting the position of the player within Fallout’s diegetic world. Source: Fallout ............................................................................................................. 60 Figure 6: Character selection and the player statistics screen that determines the player’s abilities in the game world. Source: Fallout ........................................................................................................... 61 Figure 7: The box art for the Fallout 1 videogame. Source: MobyGames ............................................ 61 Figure 8: The first scene of the videogame that displays the heads-up display, the player-character, and the cavalier (isometric) view. Source: Fallout ................................................................................ 62 Figure 9: The world map of Fallout 1 as seen by the player-character on exiting Vault 13. The dotted red line is the player’s progress in the game world while the circle in the middle is Shady Sands. Vault 15 is farther east. Source: Fallout ......................................................................................................... 63 Figure 10: The box art for Fallout 2, showcasing its similar design to Fallout 1. Source: Mobygames 66 Figure 11: Manual for Fallout 2. Source: Fallout 2 ................................................................................ 68 Figure 12: The Temple of Trials, the first in-game scene of Fallout 2. Source: Fallout 2 ...................... 69 Figure 13: The box art for Fallout 3 standard edition depicting a suit of power-armour. Different versions of the game also advertise their platform, whether it be Xbox360, PS3, or Windows PC. Source: MobyGames ............................................................................................................................. 72 Figure 14: The Collector’s Edition of Fallout 3, which includes a model of the in-game object of the Vault-Tec lunchbox. Source: Bethesda Softworks ................................................................................ 72 Figure 15: The manual for Fallout 3, whose design emulates that of the earlier games in attempting to replicate real-world objects, but provides an overlay of ‘Games for Windows’. Source: Fallout 3 . 74 Figure 16: The diegetic content of the manual can be seen as inserts (‘Adapting to the Outside World’) into an explanation of the game controls and mechanics. Source: Fallout 3.........................