Narrative game

Narrative games are games used as a medium to tell tales or stories. Most narrative games fall into the following three categories: physical games, board games, and video games. All are used as a means to express a story in an interactive way for both the player and those who are viewing the gameplay. Using games as a way to tell stories has a long history dating back to Greek sporting events all the way up to modern games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, or video games like The Legend of Zelda. Games are also used as a narrative for learning new material, such as LeapFrog’s educational video games and have been used to tell stories in the past. Throughout human history, people have used games as a means to express stories to an audience in an exciting and relatable manner.

History of narrative games

Games have been used for centuries to depict stories, dating back to before the Greeks. An example of this would be the marathon. It was introduced in the 1896 Summer Olympics. This event commemorates the story of Pheidippides, a messenger from Greece who, during the Battle of Marathon, ran from the town of Marathon to the city of Athens to ask for help against the Persians. Without this messenger, Greece would not have been able to defeat the Persians. Sports were more than games back in ancient times; many of them came from stories or myths about gods or demigods. Stories were also told through mock battles. Much like most gladiator battles, Julius Caesar organized an event called Naumachia. These were reenactments of naval battles upon artificial lakes. Such reenactments told the stories of the victories and defeat the Roman navy had endured in the past. On some rare occasions, these battles were fought inside the Colosseum. In modern times, video games such as the Oregon Trail help people learn about the perils and hardships endured by those settlers who actually traveled the Oregon Trail back in the mid-1800s.

Board games, ranging from card-based games to elaborate setups with hand-painted settings and miniatures, are an easy and low-tech way for people to create their own stories in a social environment. While they can enter the realm of life-consuming devotion, the draw of many board games is their casual nature and accessibility to new players. Their inclusiveness enhances their social aspects and encourages more and more people to experience them together. As most of these games are adversarial, with multiple players vying to achieve similar goals, the inherent drama creates a story within the setting of the game. The focus is often on the social interactions between the players, rather than the characters as portrayed in their setting such as in role-playing games. Board games focus on a collection of points or strategic maneuvering of pieces to achieve a goal can have such engaging mechanics that potential stories told throughout the interactions of play can fall by the wayside as the players are captivated by the “big picture.” Games can simulate a person’s lifelong obsession with bird-watching into a fifteen minute round of cards or quantify a fictional cold war-era swing of Japan from under U.S. influence to Soviet control with a few points. Catan may be settled in endless configurations through the roll of dice and placement of pieces (Ott) while (possibly multiple) murderers commit brutal crimes and are ousted through each round of Clue.

Games and education

Games have also been used as a method of teaching various academic and life skills. These topics vary through teaching elementary education and programs that are solely designed to teach a particular skill.^[1] Developers such as The Learning Company^[2] specialize in the creation of these games. Taking on titles like: The Oregon Trail, Reader Rabbit/ Clue-finder Series, and even acquired Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?

The Learning Company specialized in developing games with a catching plot to convey learning in a more gearing and intimate method, however in his article titled Video Games in Education Kurt Squire argues that “Much of the research in this area has focused on comparing game playing to lecturing, which is often inappropriate because each is a different pedagogical technique which usually embodies different values on the part of the instructional designer and is suited for different types of learning experiences”^[3] gaming is a relevant platform that he urges the expansion of to be used more regularly as an educational tool.

Electronic gaming is not the only platform used as an educational tool for learning. Companies such as Toys R Us provide an entire section devoted to educational gaming^[4][5] providing an alternative method than Video Game form learning. Trivia games are also popular and easy to produce.^[6]

Examples

This Book is a Dungeon

This Book is a Dungeon is a point and click video game that tells the story of an individual being trapped in a dungeon with the only way to escape being to progress further into the book. The story is told much like how traditional Dungeons and Dragons is in that a story is laid out before the player, and then they are given a few options to choose from each with their own outcome. The story is told in the text of the book which is where the options are given to the player. This gives a unique way to tell the narrative of the character that would be lost if it were told in some other format.

Crypt of the NecroDancer

Crypt of the Necrodancer is a video game that is based upon acting to the beat of the music. The only way to do anything is to hit a key/keys in time with the beat of the song. The game’s story is revealed the further the player progresses into the game, with every set of four levels that are beat revealing more of the story to the player. The story is told much like an epic song or poem, characterizing the player character's challenges and oppositions.

The Game of Life

The Game of Life is a board game that takes the players on an adventure through the many twists and turns that are possible in real life. The game is played with multiple players, and is meant to be an enjoyable game for people to play in groups both small and large. The Game of Life does not tell one particular story, it tells many possible stories that many people can relate to since both the game and real life are so broad.

Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons is a tabletop board game with many different versions made up over the years. The game focuses around the interactions between the players and the “Dungeonmaster” who leads the players into a world either of their own creation or one fabricated by another person. The game is played with the dungeon master leading the players through dangerous adventures and other tall tales that they can remember for years after. The stories are so diverse, yet since they are made by the minds of many people working together which makes the experience all the more intriguing and enjoyable to other people.^{[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]}

The Game Awards for 'Best Narrative' video games

The Game Awards is an annual awards ceremony honoring achievements in the video game industry. One of the categories, called Best Narrative, is meant to highlight those video games that stand out in terms of storytelling.

The Game Awards 2014

Best Narrative: Valiant Hearts: The Great War (winner), South Park: The Stick of Truth, The Walking Dead -- Season 2, The Wolf Among Us, Wolfenstein: The New Order^[17]

The Game Awards 2015

Best Narrative: Her Story (winner), Life Is Strange, Tales From The Borderlands, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Until Dawn^[18]

References

1. Juul, Jesper. "Games telling stories." Game studies 1.1 (2001): 45.
2. "The Learning Company." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d.
3. Ott, Craig. "Contextualization, The Bible, And Games: What I Learned About Theology From The Settlers Of Catan." Evangelical Review Of Theology 37.3 (2013): 210-226. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
4. "The Penn Museum." The Games. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
5. "Learning & Educational." Toys"R" Us. Toys" R" Us, Web. 17 Nov. 2015. Rosenberg, Amye. Teddy's Toys. New York: Golden Book, 1985. Print.
6. Juul, Jesper. "Games Telling Stories?[1]." Games Studies 0101: Games Telling Stories? by Jesper Juul. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
7. Stern, Kelly. "Play Me A Story: Games Based On Children's Books." Teacher Librarian 34.4 (2007): 30-34. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
8. Zimmerman, Eric. "Narrative, interactivity, play, and games: Four naughty concepts in need of discipline." First person: New media as story, performance, and game 154 (2004).
9. Scolari, Carlos Alberto. "Transmedia storytelling: Implicit consumers, narrative worlds, and branding in contemporary media production." International Journal of Communication 3 (2009): 21.
10. "Naumachia - Early Naumachia." Naumachia. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
11. "| Games & Narrative International Research Group on Interactive and Computer Game Narrative." Http://gamesandnarrative.net/. Wordpress, Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
12. Juul, Jesper. "Games Telling Stories?[1]." Games Studies 0101: Games Telling Stories? by Jesper Juul. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
13. Squire, Kurt. "Video Game Addiction." The Science Teacher 74.2, MATH AND SCIENCE CONNECTIONS (2007): pag.Https://webertube.com/media/document_source/4681.pdf. Massachusetts Institute of Technology,. Web.
14. Provenzo Jr, Eugene F. "What Do Video Games Teach?" Education Digest;Dec92, Vol. 58 Issue 4, P56. N.p., Dec. 1992. Web.
15. Greenfields, Patricia M. "Mario Is OK." Machine Design 65.16 (1993): 128. Print.
16. Juul, Jesper. "A Clash between Game and Narrative." A Clash Between Game and Narrative. Web. 17 Nov. 2015. "Keyboarding Skills Are Vital." Learning Games For Kids. Eprouvage, Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
17. "Dragon Age: Inquisition Wins GOTY at Game Awards". GameSpot. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
18. "Witcher 3 Wins Overall Game of the Year at 2015 Game Awards". GameSpot. Retrieved 2015-12-04.