Narrative Structures in Computer and Video Games: Part 2: Emotions, Structures, and Archetypes - In-Depth Look

Here is a more in-depth look at this article by Barry Ip:

http://gac.sagepub.com/content/6/3/203.full.pdf

This article is focusing on emotions, structures and archetypes relating to narrative of a game. In relation to my project which is focusing on environmental storytelling, the initial part of this article (emotions) was not all too important too me as that was dealing with characters.

When discussing the structure of the games Ip relates to the 'Twelve Stages of The Hero's Journey':

Twelve Stages of The Hero's Journey

At this stage in the article, he has noted whether or not each game use's all 12 stages. Some miss a few stages:

With regard to omissions, the most frequently excluded are Stage 3 (Refusal of the Call, absent in seven titles), Stage 10 (The Road Back, absent in four), and Stage 12 (The Return with the Reward, absent in five). Interestingly, although this finding is not beyond expectation in interactive games where the Refusal of the Call cannot, in practice, be maintained for there to be game progression, the lack of its presence is surprising, especially because it can add greater depth and complexity to games that place a heavy emphasis on narrative (Rollings & Adams, 2003, p. 102). - (p214)

However in some cases, this can be justified:

The omission of Stages 10 and 12 is justified by the explanation that it is often desirable to maintain suspense or uncertainty in the conclusion of a story to raise the audience’s anticipation for further game sequels (Rollings & Adams, 2003, p. 109) - (p214)

 Summary

The article then goes on to summarize the 2 articles rising some interesting points:

The omission of Stages 10 and 12 is justified by the explanation that it is often desirable to maintain suspense or uncertainty in the conclusion of a story to raise the audience’s anticipation for further game sequels (Rollings & Adams, 2003, p. 109) - (p233)

Despite the emphasis on cut scenes, variety was observed in other methods of narrative delivery where a total of 12 techniques were found, including onscreen text, audio cues, and the combination of gameplay, cut scene, and on screen text. In addition, it was discovered that the total time of actual narrative (devoted to aspects such as character development and story progression) was further eroded by the use of simple game prompts used to help guide the player through specific parts of gameplay. In some instances, this amounted to between 19% and 29% of total narrative: percentages largely attributable to the rising complexity of modern games, which necessitate the use of prompts to clarify gaming objectives and/or instructions for play. - (p233/234)

Although the literature reports for the need for more advanced game structures, the observations in this study point toward the sustained prevalence of the linear game structure. The use of the branching structure was observed but only as an adjunct to provide a greater sense of freedom in confined sections. - (p234)

A good level of uniformity could be seen in terms of the ordering of the chapters in The Hero’s Journey, with only minor deviations from the standard structure being observed. - (p234)

 There is a very long in-depth conclusion in this article which highlights a lot of key aspects and findings.

Personal Notes

Things To Look At

• Twelve stages of the heros journey