The study of games and narrative is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that has been surprisingly contentious. Game design has a specific set of concerns that sidesteps many of these debates. In considering games as narrative play, the primary question is not Are games narrative? but instead How are games narrative?
J. Hillis Miller defines a narrative as possessing the following characteristics:
Situation: A series of events that change over time.
Character: A narrative is conveyed through a system of representation.
Form: Representation is constituted by patterning and repetition.
Games elements can have embedded or emergent narrative structures:
Embedded elements are pre-generated narrative components such as video clips and scripted scenes.
Emergent narrative elements are created on-the-fly as the player interacts with the game, arising from the operation of the game system.
Games make use of embedded and emergent elements in various balances. The narrative of a game arises out of the combination of emergent and embedded narrative components.
Goals help structure narrative play by making player planning and decision outcomes narratively legible.
Conflict is another characteristic of all games that can shape narrative play. Conflict between players or between players and the game system can be tied to narrative conflicts for dramatic effect.
Uncertainty of game outcome is linked to dramatic uncertainty that can fuel narrative tension. In narrative play, the unknown outcome of the game (or section of the game) is synonymous with the unknown outcome of the narrative.
The core mechanic of a game, when considered as a narrative activity, can create game stories by having players perform narrative acts.
Space in a game plays a large role in shaping the narrative frame and experience. Represented narrative space in digital games is particularly plastic and can engender narrative play through careful design.
A narrative descriptor is any component of a game that participates in the game's system of representation. Instructional text, in-game cinematics, interface elements, game objects, and other visual and audio elements are all narrative descriptors. All of these elements must be carefully crafted with narrative experience in mind in order to maximize narrative play.
Narrative descriptors imply a representational logic that limits and constrains the design of the space of possibility. These limitations allow for the narrative integration and discernability of all elements contained within the game world.
Narrative descriptors play two roles in a game, as fictive worlds and as story events:
Fictive worlds are the larger frames that contain the game world narrative.
Story events are the individual moments of narrative play generated as the game moves forward.
These two elements are interrelated. Fictive worlds create the coherent narrative spaces in which story events take place and become meaningful. At the same time, story events help expand and refine the fictive world. Games maintain consistent and understandable narrative experiences when there is a good fit between these two elements.
A game is a narrative system in which the narrative experience of the player arises out of the functioning of the game as a whole. As with other kinds of complex systems, the whole is more than the sum of the parts, as individual elements interact with each other to form global patterns.
Cutscenes are a common storytelling technique used in digital games. They help define the fictive world of a game, as well as fulfill a number of game play functions.
Retelling play is the popular phenomenon of recounting game experiences. Digital games have developed specific techniques for encouraging retelling play, including:
The replay, in which a game experience is played again for the player.
Recamming, a special kind of replay in which the player can cinematically manipulate the information contained within the replay.
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