BA6: Advance Game Studies and Research

Sarah Fletcher

1001685

http://studiomao.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/BA6%20Project%203

What effect does narrative have on the potential of videogames to be more than “mere entertainment”?

Entertainment is defined as:

“1. The act of entertaining; agreeable occupation for the mind; diversion; amusement: Solving the daily crossword puzzle is an entertainment for many.

2. Something affording pleasure, diversion, or amusement, especially a performance of some kind: The highlight of the ball was an elaborate entertainment.

3. Hospitable provision for the needs and wants of guests.

4. A divertingly adventurous, comic, or picaresque novel.” (Random House Dictionary, 2012)

Videogames are commonly dismissed as an idle form of entertainment. Despite commercial success, videogames still struggle to be accepted as anything beyond mere entertainment due to being considered as nothing more than a means of passing time, time that could be spent in better ways (Bogost, 2007; xii-xiii). Often and originally videogames are considered with a flippant disregard; we watch a movie or read a book to enrich our minds and educate ourselves but we play games for entertainment and passing time. Although film and literature are both forms of entertainment as well, they are seen with a cultural standing as they persuade our minds to explore theories and open up thought provoking discussions. Videogames, on the other hand, are considered inconsequential because they serve as nothing more than a distraction (Bogost, 2007: xiii). However, like its media predecessor; films, games do have the potential to be more through their means of immersion and player experience. 

Henry Jenkins, a noted videogame critic implies that the state of films in 1910 was mostly ‘chases and pie fights’, that films back then were also mere entertainment but he goes on to say that 5 years later, films are a mature medium for storytelling that has the power to persuade debates within our culture (Bogost, 2007: xiii). Films also have the power to inform through documentaries, providing the same influences as narrative film.

“Much more than mere entertainment, films are rich cultural documents. Films record the look and mood of a particular historical period. Films are also rich psychological texts that speak to the social anxieties and concerns of the period in which they were created. Some films—for example, the classic western High Noon—give expression to political ideas, moral values, and cultural myths. In addition, films are educators that convey messages about social class, ethnicity, masculinity, femininity, and America’s role in the world.” (Digital History, 2012: [online])

When asked his opinion on the film Pitch Black (2000), my father considered the film to be a “stupid and senseless” film about monsters, death and violence. He in turn asked me why I enjoyed the film and why I wasn’t watching something that he considered to be more worth my time. My response to him was that I was fond of the character Riddick and I found him interesting. As dangerous a character as he was initially portrayed, you expect him to be the villain of the story, not the saviour. Yet we see him take chances on his own life to stand up and defend those in need of his help and feel remorse for those that have lost their lives for him. We also see this self-sacrificing nature in other characters along with greed and selfishness and so Pitch Black opened up the debate of humanity and a person’s actions and choices they make in the battle for survival. The narrative of this film and the impression it leaves upon us is what makes it more than just a form on entertainment.

Videogames also have the potential to elicit this response from us and be considered an expressive cultural artefact like films and literature but they do so with an added experience. With literature and film we view one possible outcome through choices another has made but videogames are a medium which allows us to explore beyond that. Common in Japanese role-playing-games (RPGs) is the possibility for multiple endings; depending on how the player proceeds through the narrative, a different ending awaits them. This means that the player has to consciously make choices that the narrative sets out for them, unlike in films or literature, and handle the consequences of those choices. It’s a tangible experience and one that persuades the player to think beyond the win/lose idea of gaming. 

Catherine (game, 2011) is one such videogame that does so. The narrative sets the player in the position of a young man in a relationship. Vincent, the main character is in a relationship with Katherine, a focused and hard working woman who is now looking for a more committed relationship, marriage. Vincent then comes across Catherine who offers Vincent another type of relationship; one that conforms more to his carefree, nom-committal attitude. Although initially the player cheats on their girlfriend, they then have the option to remain loyal to her or continue the affair with Catherine. At a number of turns the player is given the option to interact in a certain way with either character and the player has to make the moral choice of what to do. Each choice the player makes leads them to different scripts, narratives and ultimately one of the multiple endings. 

This game persuades the player to think in two different ways; how they’re going to play the game and the real life personal struggles in society. The first point is highlighted in the online article “Honest endings for honest hearts” (Stevil, 2012: Destructoid [online]). It highlights how players can go for the “good ending” but in most “honest” cases, the good ending is attained only by playing with foresight and choosing the options the player believes the game wants them to. Those who answer honestly, choosing the not so morally-good options, will get the ending where Katherine leaves Vincent, the “Bad Ending”. This doesn’t necessarily mean the player wasn’t good at the game as the actual game play for Catherine is solving a number of puzzles under time pressure. The ending the players get is based on their choices made within the narrative and so the player is only truly bad at the game if they cannot beat the puzzles. This is how the narrative, being interactive and creating a different experience, makes the game more than just “mere entertainment”. Furthermore, with the narrative causing players to think about the real-life situation and analyse the possible outcomes, players are doing more than just entertaining themselves. They are also enriching their minds on “the social anxieties and concerns of the period in which they were created” (Digital History, 2012: [online])

Linear narrative can also be as effective at making a game be more than entertainment. 

“The time has come for video gaming to move beyond a simple diversion, and become something more. Escapism isn’t enough: it’s about time for video games to be disturbing, depressing, timely, political, thought-provoking, and, above all, meaningful.” (Burch, 2007: Destructoid [online])

If, as Burch suggests, a videogame needs to be “meaningful” and thought provoking to be more than simple entertainment, then Journey (game, 2012) is an example of a linear gaming doing just that. Burch uses an example from Final Fantasy Vii (game, 1997) that is heart-breaking and emotionally sad and something that is deep-set in player’s hearts even after 10 years has passed. Journey, on the other hand, offers an uplifting and joyous impression. Although they stem from dark moments in the game, which are needed to emphasise the moment, there are number of times when the player has this sense of exhilarating freedom. 

The gameplay mostly consists of exploring this world the player finds themselves in. They have no knowledge of the world until they start to explore and uncover the past. As they do, they encounter cloth-like talismans that aid the player’s progression through each stage. In some cases, the player needs to free the talismans which garners a somewhat appreciate response from them, giving them character. It creates a bond between the player and the talismans so that when the player later sees them being harmed or becoming weak, the player emotionally responds. They feel sad and depressed and these emotions are later magnified in the penultimate stage where the player is lead to believe they’ve lost (although they do not understand why as gameplay is somewhat purposefully unclear).

While in film or literature we may bond to a character through understanding, empathising with and seeing similarities in oneself and the character, videogames let you experience more by interacting with that character. Even though it’s all digital, it’s still a personal experience because we’re not watching the events happen to someone else. The relationships formed have been through the players own doing, the same with the progression made so that when they player sees harm come to them and their “friends” the pain is more deep-rooted. Likewise, so is the joy. 

After witnessing the death of those that have helped them and struggling through a mentally tiring stage, players fall down defeated. But they are then revived and in a rush, are transported to another area. As they fly through a the portal to the next stage they come across their foes and blast right past them, their enemies seemingly dashing away as the player would have when they encountered them before. The stage the player arrives at is beautiful and serene, in complete contrast to the bitter harsh previous stage. Most of all, the stage sees the return of the players friends, strong and plentiful. They completely restore the player’s strength, as they have in the past and once again, offer the player company and aid through to the end. 

If the narrative didn’t exist or wasn’t well established, the player would not have formed those bonds to the characters of the talismans but in Journey, forming those relationships with the characters was part of the game. It’s what took what could have been a simple level running game (like a racing game) and made it more. The narrative set up a number of scenarios to build up that emotion, without it, the player would not have felt what they did and videogames are the only medium that can offer this experience. “Video gaming, as a medium, is the single most inclusive art form ever created.” (Burch, 2007: Destructoid [online]). Literature and films have little to no interactivity and without it, the player is nothing more than a passive bystander, they will never feel a personal connection, the narrative won’t appear tangible and the experience will not be as immersive.

As the narrative creates this immersive experience, it makes the game thought provoking, one of the elements that Burch suggested a game needs to be more than “mere entertainment” and one of the elements that establishes literature and film with cultural standing, making them more than “mere entertainment’ too.

Bibliography

(2012) American History Through Film, [online],  Available: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/do_history/film/index.cfm  [18 May 1012]

Burch, A. (2007) Fun isn’t enough: why video games have to move beyond simple escapism, [online], Available:  http://www.destructoid.com/fun-isn-t-enough-why-video-games-have-to-move-beyond-simple-escapism-30905.phtml  [18 May 2012]

Bogost, I. (2007). Persuasive Games, London: The MIT Press.

"entertainment." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 20 May. 2012. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/entertainment>. [18 May 2012]

Stevil (2012) Honest endings for honest hearts, [online], Available: http://www.destructoid.com/promoted-blog-honest-endings-for-honest-hearts-226025.phtml  [18 May 2012]

Wikipedia (2012) Catherine (Video Game), [online], Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_%28video_game%29  [18 May 2012]

Wikipedia (2012) Journey (2012 Video Game), [online], Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_%282012_video_game%29  [18 May 2012]

Wikipedia (2012) Final Fantasy Vii, [online], Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_fantasy_vii  [18 May 2012]