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

Games have come a long way, narratively speaking, since the days of bouncing a ball between two paddles. They have a long way to go still. A creator of games who truly and intuitively grasps the medium—a genius of games—has yet to come along and deliver a title which fully captures the public imagination. There are several candidates: Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the iconic Mario and Zelda series; Hideo Kojima, the man responsible for both the high and low points of the Metal Gear Solid series; Will Wright and Peter Molyneux, whose respective The Sims and Black and White both took nonlinearity to new heights on the PC.

Still, for all their popularity—Entertainment Weekly recently cited a total industry revenue of $6.35 billion, and the profit is said to exceed that of the film industry—videogames do not yet carry the mainstream acceptance of other narrative media. Part of this is simply due to their newness on the field. The older generations who did not grow up with games do not take as readily to the medium as today’s youth does. Part of it is also that there has yet to be a tale told in the medium mainstream enough for the average middle-aged or elderly American to feel comfortable with—for all the relative progress in the format, the majority of stories are still basically power fantasies that deal with fantasy worlds or military machismo. But given on how far games have come in a mere 30 years, there is every reason to believe that it is only a matter of time before games truly grow up along with their earliest players.

To Works Cited ->