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So my first week of semester 2 has begun, and for this module we were told that we're being split into groups and working together to write a chapter. After we have finished, each groups chapter will be taken and put together to make a book which will be published. My group is made up of 5 members, them being Adam, Tudor, David, Ciara, and myself. Our chapter of the book will be discussing games and story, with my sub topic discussing specifically Interactive Storytelling.
Defining Interactive Narrative:
Wikipedia describes Interactive Storytelling as "a form of digital entertainment in which the storyline is not predetermined. The author creates the setting, characters, and situation which the narrative must address, but the user (also reader or player) experiences a unique story based on their interactions with the story world".
To start off my research I thought up as many games as possible that I considered to be an Interactive Narrative from the definition. Now, all games have interactive elements but not all games are an Interactive Narrative, it's like how all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares. So narrowing down the huge selection of games. it's obvious the genre that matches the definition the best is that of RPG's. Some games from other genres obviously slip in like some walking simulators like The Stanley Parable or some graphic novels like Milk Inside A Bag Of Milk Inside A Bag Of Milk, with both allowing you to make choices that affect the outcome of story elements in major or minor ways.
Games to help in research:
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines was a game created by the defunct Troika Games. The game is created after the tabletop game of the same name, Vampire: The Masquerade. The game follows you, a recently transformed fledgling vampire who is thrusted into the deep politics, and war of the various vampire factions of 2004 Los Angeles. You assist in acquiring a mystical sarcophagus, and must choose who to ultimately side with during the rising tensions of the vampiric lust for power. The game is a deeply involved RPG, allowing the player to choose their specific strain of vampirism, resulting not only in different reactions from other vampires, but in the case of one specific strain resulting in the entire games script changing. The players choices throughout the such as how they handle situations, their dialogue choices and more can all result in different outcomes for various quests and the main story. The character building and various skills you can invest points into help get you more immersed into the world, allowing you to feel like you're growing in strength and power as a vampire. This game would be a great help for discussing my topic.
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas is a 2010 action role-playing game, developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. You play as a character simply known as the courier with very brief insight into how he got into the situation that leads to the games beginning. You get to create your own character, and travel through a post-apocalyptic Nevada, and learn about it's various issues plaguing it's people while trying to re-enact your revenge. The game focuses more so on the action than the role-playing while it still be prominent. The majority of your choices in the game feel important in some sense to their minor or major stories they're contained within, with them being discussed during the closing segment of the game. This is another great option for discussing interactive narrative in a deeper and broader sense
Closing Thoughts:
I'm very excited to dive more in-depth with this topic and see what potential discussion points may arise from it. I am a huge RPG fan so this will be a fun experience to view some of my favourite games without the rose tinted glass, and viewing them for a more introspective standpoint.
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