The Narrative Game

 This was an assignment I wrote for a class last semester. It covers a topic that was very interesting to me so I figured I might as well post it here. The idea was to write a short piece that would be fitting for a public-facing publication. I basically talk about the hidden narrative choices of Mario's First level. It's been revised like once so if it's not really well written then it's whatever.

        When you are asked to imagine a story or narrative, the most immediate thing that comes to your mind is often a book, TV show, or movie. Throughout human history, we have spent countless lifetimes trying to figure out the art of storytelling and narrative. The concept of grabbing your audience members, taking them into your world, and having them find the same wonder you find in your own work is certainly nothing new. The forms in which we achieve that feeling have undergone a significant change. As computers started to become more and more mainstream in the late 20th century, a new form of storytelling would emerge: Video games. By looking at how Video games offer a completely new way to experience a story based on player choice and interactivity, we can see just how it can change the narrative space in a way that we haven’t seen before.

To help understand why interactivity is important as a concept when it comes to comparing video games to books and movies, it’s important to highlight their key differences. While books and movies are a more linear experience where you experience the story from start to finish as the author intended, video games often give that control to the player. For example, when you reread or rewatch The Lord of the Rings, you tend to have a pretty good idea of what’s going to happen. Isildur will always fail to destroy the ring, Frodo always gets stabbed by the morgul-knife, and Gandalf will always sacrifice himself at the bridge to stop the Balrog. You end up with the same emotions and understanding of events because that was the original intention of that experience. Meanwhile, when you start playing a video game you aren’t a passive observer. As a player, you can sort of do whatever you want when you are dropped into the world. This freedom often varies between games, but the basic concept is true across all of them. The player gets to choose where, what, and how of their character’s actions. This in turn can create a wildly different narrative experience for the player.

        Let’s look at the first level of Super Mario Brothers as an example. In the game, you play as the Italian plumber, Mario, wearing the red overalls and your goal is to make it to the end of the level. It seems simple, but the way the level is built opens up so many possibilities for the player. The walking mushroom on the bottom level is called a Goomba, they function as a generic enemy who is trying to stop Mario. You can defeat the Goomba by jumping on top of them, which will remove them from the level. While that is the most straightforward way to get past them, that isn’t the only way. You can alternatively jump up to the floating blocks above the Goomba and avoid them entirely without conflict. Each choice comes with its own set of consequences as well as a subconscious idea of who Mario is to the player expressed through their actions in-game. Is Mario a fighter who would actively seek out enemies to defeat, or is he more passive and would rather not seek out needless conflict? It's part puzzle, part moral choice, and part entertaining experience in what is only the first ten seconds of a game that you could potentially play for hours.

As genius as telling the story through mechanics and letting the player navigate them is, there is definitely more to do when involving the player emotionally. As games have gotten better and better, they have begun to blend the mechanical storytelling of video games with traditional narrative experiences as you begin to get immersed in these fictional worlds. It’s reminiscent of a choose-your-own adventure book where events and character interactions change based on what you choose. In fact, many story-focused games put an emphasis on the player affecting the outcome of the story. They sometimes even go so far as to market the fact that their stories have multiple endings to encourage players to replay the story as many times as possible to experience all of them. To go back to Lord of the Rings, try to imagine how different the story would be if Gandalf remained with the group after the Balrog. How different would the following story beats be? In a way, when you play a video game, you get to ask that question and actually get an answer. It may sometimes be a small or a big change, but the fact that you can feel the change is what makes them special.

The first widely popular video game was Pong, created all the way back in 1970 and since then video games have become a mainstay in the world of entertainment. Even though modern generations have spent what has felt like their entire life knowing of their existence, when you compare that to how long we’ve had books, TVs, and movies it’s actually really young in reality. Yet I would like to argue that in the short time we’ve had them, video games have expanded the landscape of storytelling in ways that the other forms haven’t been able to. That isn’t to say that video games are going to succeed or supplant them, but that they are a new and unique way to experience a story. In the end, it doesn’t necessarily matter what form you use to tell your story as long as you are using the right one. They are all different tools for different jobs and Video Games along with other even newer forms of digital literature will be key in seeing where the narrative genre goes in the future.