Bewitchingly striking but sometimes heart-wrenching narratives have been built into environmental videogame storytellings, sometimes doing and creating more emotion within a character than words can. Adding the power of speech would magnificence portrayal of emotion into the storylines, such as within Unravel (Arts, 2018) which uses environmental storytelling and audio over the power of words but games such as God of War (PlayStation, 2018) does both throughout it’s span of gameplay, both however create moving and stunning stories in their own ways of storytelling.
Going forward from studying art leads into the research of videogames specifically. Throughout this immersive analysis I wanted to research how videogames and their worldbuilding can be used as storytelling. Video games often use their visual styles as a striking aspect of their gameplay to invest the player into delving into its exquisite stories.
Can videogames actually tell stories whilst being immersive?
Videogames and immersion have started to go hand in hand, whether it is through the interactive elements, branching narratives or VR each story has its own distinctive way of engaging and provoking emotion within its audience. Games such as; Little Nightmare (Tarsier studios, 2019) having a fascinating style as well as concept within an environment completely engaging the audience through mise-en-scene alone and having a disturbing but peculiar narrative to Uncharted (Naughty Dog, 2016) that uses dialogue and adventure packed interactions with breathtaking aesthetic scenery. So, all these games end up having a range of aspects in common as ‘when you strip away the genre differences and the technological complexities, all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation' (Mcgonigal, 2012).
A prime example for environment and strikely stylised storytelling would be Ori (Moon Studios, Mahler and Korol, 2017):
There are many theorised concepts that involve the storytelling of video games from whether they can actually tell stories, if we play due to escapism and are games allowing us to consume interactive narratives. Theorists such as Meadows (2003) suggests that videogames allows us to experience “a time-based representation of character and action in which a reader can affect, choose, or change the plot” making the player engaged, invested and almost immersed within the plot of particular video games, games that have done as such would be Firewatch (Campo Santo, 2016) and Sally Face (Portable Moose, 2016) each having unusual or striking tales that follow this theory.
Whereas others would begin to argue if games even tell us stories in the first place, theorists such as Juul suggest that because the ‘relation between the reader/viewer and the story world is different than the relation between the player and the game world’ (Juul, 2001) then games can not tell stories. However, games are heavily involved in narratives in different ways and depending on who the audience is could show if particular games can be classed as highly engaging stories.
Board games have always been immersive or interactive but sometimes lack interesting story elements to them. Within games like Inscryption (Chancey, 2021) we were given the opportunity to change that, taking the concept of a board game and creating a whole story around it with mysterious characters and stylised concepts.
Whereas other games base their immersive elements of emotion and such the horror genre captivates through this concept using fear to immerse you in the horror based environment, interesting colour schemes, terrifying antagonists and abnormal stories. However, some games provoke emotions using stories of myths, fantasy or charming worlds.
But the question is are we using games as escapism and not storytelling or is the point in the escapism the stories which we are concsumming within the game. Especially as “games make us happy because they are hard work that we choose for ourselves, and it turns out that almost nothing makes us happier than good, hard work.”(Mcgonigal, 2012)
“A game is an opportunity to focus our energy, with relentless optimism, at something we’re good at (or getting better at) and enjoy. In other words, gameplay is the direct emotional opposite of depression.”(Mcgonigal, 2012)
Specific Case Study : The Last Guardian (PlayStation Europe and Japan Studio , 2016)
The Last Guardian, both a VR game but can be played normally too, tells a story joining a young character that begins a heartwarming narrative of friendship and hope as you (the player) and Trico (animated creature) solve complicated puzzles on your quest to uncover the truth behind an ancient mystery. Earn Trico's trust in order to face enormous difficulties on the most memorable journey you'll ever take.
Last Guardian made major strides when it first came out due to how they used and created their VR animations and stories, playing into the idea that this creature that was once part of myths is now became the player's companion. The overall game as well as the VR experience had aspects that allowed the audience to connect to the creature and thus starting to use the animations as a way to immerse the audience, using the design and creations of creatures, making us connect to them allowing us to be able to reach out and interact with in the virtual world.
Specific key theory: how is storytelling in videogames used to captivate an audience? Can games be stories?
Often theorists within ludology speculate if games can be stories and often it is found that if a game makes you feel something through a narrative structure then maybe that is its story, even if there are no words or limited to no characters if it provokes emotion through structure and scenes it could present itself as an narrative. So, with this being said if the contents of games for this instance being The Last Guardian there is a who history as well as backstory that is shown here that create an emotional connection created and ‘despite the fictional nature of the content, a good story can be as meaningful as “real” experiences and used as a vehicle for genuine growth’ (Rigby and Ryan, 2011).
Virtual Reality animation is yet another vessel for (immersive) storytelling, especially within the videogame industry. However, the way VR author(s) creates a story to be shared and the audience to perceive in Virtual Reality leap us forward in terms of man machine interaction. (Karnchanapayap, 2019) This suggests that with the use of this technology and telling an interactive story through the environments, escapism and connection could be a major way of engaging targeted audiences.
Forming a story, especially using visuals, is one of the ways that allows a story to have a big impact on its consumer, in the case of the Last Guardian you become attached to the creature that is Trico that the gameplay and narrative end up manipulating the audience into having an emotional response when the plot creates it such as at the end when you say goodbye. This is implied when the theorist, Ryan (2014) insinuated that a ‘storyworld is more than a static container for the objects mentioned in a story; it is a dynamic model of evolving situations, and its representation in the recipient’s mind is a simulation of the changes that are caused by the events of the plot’ which tells us that storytelling is more complex and emotionally driven than some may believe.
Conclusion:
To sum up, storytelling can be viewed in many different ways and videogames are just one of the many different ways to engage an audience into a story. The concept of storytelling involves subtle complexities and representations that allows the audience to connect to a character or creates a sense of emotions that is simulated by the scenes, meanings or structure that the player is consuming. These interactive and immersive aspects of games are being transferred to other mediums, eventually some of these subtleties and or narrative structures (such as branching narratives/ interactive choices gameplay) might or have already been incorporated into other industries such as immersive theatre.
As we will see in future chapters, even forms of interactive entertainment that are not strictly video games, such as interactive cinema, immersive environments, and secondscreen TV, often contain gaming element. (Miller, 2014)
References:
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Chancey, T. (2021). Inscryption Review. [online] TechRaptor. Available at: https://techraptor.net/gaming/reviews/inscryption-review [Accessed 7 Dec. 2023].
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Ryan, M.-L. (2014). Storyworlds across media : toward a media-conscious narratology. [online] Lincoln ; London: University Of Nebraska Press. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ljmu/detail.action?docID=1693625 [Accessed 4 Dec. 2023].
Tarsier studios (2019). Little Nightmares. [online] Tarsier. Available at: https://tarsier.se/games/little-nightmares/ [Accessed 6 Dec. 2023].
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