Games, Stories and the Creation of Meaning 01/03/2010
Stories define, challenge and change us. They define the boundaries of what we know and how we know it. They teach us about the experience of others and how our and their worlds intertwine. They speak to us of the fantastic; they speak to us of the real. A good story speaks on many levels; it grows with us and redefines itself through our own experience. I am not simply talking here about the grandiose sagas of the ancient mythology or the quests and adventures presented in modern novels, I am more broadly talking about the stories people tell of themselves and their lives. We each have a personal narrative, we all tell stories, it is how we make sense of our existence and ourselves. However we also must have other stories by which to compare and contract our own. It gives us a comparative framework a way in which we begin to see outside of ourselves and build an empathetic experience of others and the world.
Add Comment The Momentous Choice 12/09/2009
The idea of the momentous choice is that a single choice in a game that has real and measurable effects and consequences for game play and narrative. In many games choice is defined slowly through character specialisation and personalisation through RPG Stats the introduction of the momentous choice allows the game to develop a degree of complexity by developing the concepts of cause and effect. Though out most game play the notions of cause and effect have been limited as the only real effect is often player death and then respawn or restart, in many modern games even the power of this choice has been lessened with instantaneous respawn and the notion of fainting rather than dying. The impact of this ‘immortality' is that the player is less likely to consider the choices they make, they can charge through with most problems being overcome through brute force. The momentous choice reintroduces the player to the notion of considered action.
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