This thesis examines the struggle between the camps of narratology and ludology over video game narrative and what that struggle means for the existence of emergent narratives in video games. It argues that emergent narratives are clear and present in current video games but too stringent definitions can complicate their recognition. Emergent narratives are not flights of fancy but definable and repeatable narrative structures. / Video games can sustain a range of narrative structural possibilities, both unconventional and traditional, but perhaps the most interesting of these possibilities is an emergent narrative. Narrative emergence encompasses narrative structures where a player's choices drive and shape the events of the particular game's storyline. Video games support such narratives as the result of an interactive exchange between the computer game and its player. This thesis analyzes these interactive narrative exchanges as they occur in Tale of Tales' The Path, Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins, and other recent game titles in contrast with choices and structures from more traditional games. / Furthermore, this thesis discusses, with help from Psychoanalytic theory, why players seek out and play through emergent narratives. This structure's entrancing power embodies the strengths of narratives from mediums over. Players play to satisfy their own curiosity for knowing the end and feeling out death. When gamers play through emergent narratives, they play for a narrative and a final conclusion of their own making.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CHENGCHI/U0001503951 |
| Creators | Warren, Katherine Guinevere. |
| Publisher | Western Illinois University. |
| Source Sets | National Chengchi University Libraries |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Rights | Copyright © nccu library on behalf of the copyright holders |
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