Wednesday, August 30, 2006
The Narrative: Self-Regulation
The Narrative: Self-Regulation
Interactive media allows for choice and control on the part of the reader/user. What problem does this raise for self-regulation? What, if anything, does this suggest about designing interactive narrative?
There is no such thing as absolute choice and control in any self-regulated interactive narrative. Take any game that comes to your mind, and we see that there is a kind of set path (narrative) that the player has to take to make the game worthwhile. This set route includes all the kernels which are essential in rolling out the story.
With an exception of interactive simulation games such as The Sims, there is the essence of free-play (highest level of choice and control) where you can alter almost all the variables in an environment. In these cases, the narrative is not self-regulated, but rather, created by the user as the game progresses. There can be no ending and the narrative just goes on indefinitely - unless you decide to drop all your characters into a blazing inferno.
This suggests that to keep a narrative in tact, a game cannot be designed to give the end-user total choice and control to do whatever he wants. Rather, it is more of choice and control within the limits.
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