Videogames as Narrative Medium
© 2003 Nich Maragos

  1. Chapter I - Are Games Art?
    1. The Case Against
    2. The Case For
  2. Chapter II - Narrative Components of Games
    1. Imagery
    2. Sound
    3. Movies
  3. Chapter III - Conventional Narrative in Games
    1. Plot
    2. Character
    3. Point of View
    4. Setting
    5. Theme
    6. Sidequests
    7. Metanarrative
  4. Chapter IV - Interactive Narrative in Games
    1. The Arbitrary Choice
    2. The Burdensome Choice
    3. The Interpretive Choice
    4. The Behavioral Choice
    5. Rewards
  5. Chapter V - Conclusion
  6. Works Cited

There is one final point to be made about endings as rewards: games, as a medium, represent a human desire that all but requires this treatment. Returning to the hypothetical Requiem game for a moment, even a surface consideration would make it obvious that the story does not lend itself easily to the framework of a game at all. The only reason it could never have the same ending as the original story is that it would be difficult to even sustain most of the original’s story beats in the beginning and middle.

This is because games are fundamentally based on a platform of solving problems and overcoming obstacles, and Requiem’s characters (as an example) are unable to solve their problems. This is the entire point of the story. Using the word "impossible" when talking about things games are unsuited for is tricky, because Silent Hill 2 does feature endings in which the protagonist fails, or dies, or worse, and still manages to satisfy. But it is difficult to imagine a game in which Requiem’s characters succeed in their short-term objectives (obtaining and abusing drugs) and survive the process, whereas James’ long-term failure in Silent Hill 2 is generally a result of misdirected short-term goals instead of failed ones. By subverting the short-term objectives presented to James, players can succeed in the long term. To subvert the short-term objectives in Requiem, a scenario more akin to Grand Theft Auto 3 would be required, thus derailing Selby’s story entirely.

Another example of a classic story unsuitable for a gaming format would be Orwell’s 1984. The general air of the novel is one of hopelessness: Big Brother wins if Winston does not rebel, and he wins even when Winston does. The state’s grip on the populace is so ironclad that Winston’s efforts will never be noticed; as O’Brien mockingly points out to him, even the remotely upbeat possibility of martyrdom is denied Winston. Games are about control over a character in the short term and control over a world in the long term, but in Winston Smith’s shoes, gamers would have no control at all.

It is this control that dictates a generally happy or upbeat ending in games: the player’s actions have made it so. The words "Game Over" are merely an abbreviated downbeat ending; it would theoretically be possible to show a variety of failure scenarios depending on the player’s progress through the game instead. A few games, such as Metal Gear Solid 2, do make stabs at something like this, but it’s telling that all such scenes in Metal Gear Solid 2 are only a few moments long and never show the logical conclusion of the player’s failure. (Snake is captured and led away, but the player does not see the terrorist’s demands met, their aim of social collapse realized, and so on.) The designers know as well as the players do that such scenes are not an ending and that the game will go on until the player wins.

Though I inveighed against "placeholding" earlier, such behavior is actually a natural consequence of the desire represented by games: to set things right. In real life, as the aphorism goes, opportunity knocks but once—but in games, it awaits the player patiently time after time until at last he or she succeeds in overcoming the obstacles. We want to believe that all problems can be solved, and in games, they can. This is why "bad" endings, when presented as the only possible conclusion (as in the 1984 example), are so repellent to gamers. They make the game seem broken; it is exactly as if some bug that the coders forgot to fix is preventing them from achieving the final goal. In a medium which purports to give control over problems to the user, an unhappy ending cruelly snatches control away at the moment when it matters most. This is not what players want from games, or indeed what any audience wants from any of the popular art forms. So far, a game with the courage to present an unfailingly grim conclusion has yet to surface, but it will be interesting to note the audience’s reaction should any creators ever be brave enough to attempt such a thing.

To Chapter 5 ->