I feel that narrative is something that many people confuse with the idea of a “story,” which isn’t wrong. In Henry Jenkins’ Game Design as Narrative Architecture, he states that “narrative analysis need not be prescriptive” and that “many games do have narrative aspirations.” The first quote is something I would relate to people who believe that narrative is something that in is a 1:1 relation to story and spoken dialogue. Again, this isn’t necessarily wrong but there is so much more to narrative than just what is explicitly told to us in games. Much of the world building, the background information, and even the context of the events of the game can contribute to what narrative is. “If some games tell stories, they are unlikely to tell them in the same ways that other media tell stories. Stories are not empty content that can be ported from one media pipeline to the next.” This is something that I feel is especially true for games; an action roleplaying game has its own way of telling its story through dialogue and cutscenes, while a shooter might do it do mission briefings and descriptions.
If I remember correctly Mejeur’s PLASMA presentation, her definition of narrative was simple a means to an end of progressing the story, something to move the story along. Translated into a game, that can be as simple as something like ‘turning the page’ or ‘selecting the next level.’ In ‘Rainbow Six Siege,’ a shooter game, the narrative might be the character bios, or the situational context of each round, or the overarching theme of the events, or even simply the act of defeating the enemy team. But that is something that people may be confused simply by the fact that in the game, there isn’t a driven story. Something like the game Half Life 2 would be a textbook definition of a game with a story driven narrative, with exploration and important dialogue explaining the story to the player. Jenkins’ also mentions that “the experience of playing video games can never be simply reduced to the experience of a story.” Simplifying the narrative of a game to just the story ignores many other aspects of a video game that might contribute to the broader definition of game narrative. Game state, game population, or even, something I feel is most important to game narrative, us the players.
Sources
Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” Electronic Book Review
One idea that you brought up was that one of the most important things in a game narrative is us. I agree that we play a huge role in the overarching narratives of games. For instance, in games where environmental storytelling is prevalent, the narrative is only as developed as we make it. The narrative is dependent on how much we explore and pick up documents. Not only that, but the narrative must be interpreted by the player, thus the players themselves attribute the depth and meaning to the narrative. This connects to the other point you brought up about stories in games not being told in the same ways as other media. Other forms of media can narrow down the narrative to give each person a similar experience, but a video game can broaden a narrative to give diverse experiences to the players.
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You mentioned that a story can’t be transferred from one media to the next. I agree that a story in a movie can’t be just shipped into a game. Games are interactive and even though a story works on the big screen doesn’t mean it will work the same exact way as in a video game. Video games have more than one aspect involved in them. So like you mentioned. the environment plays an important role. A game wouldn’t be a game if it was a bunch of cut scenes strung together with the player just clicking to continue the “game” further.
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