Narrative Theories

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Gender Representation

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Narrative Theories – Skyrim

Skyrim covers 2 different modes of storytelling, emergent and evocative. In Skyrim there are many stories that you can follow but you still have decisions that you make during the stories to change the outcome. For example during the civil war story in Skyrim you can choose whether the Imperials or the Stormcloaks win the war with your decisions. Skyrim is also evocative of fantasy films and books such as Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Skyrim shares things such as dragons, orcs and elves with these other fantasy media products. 

All the player types would be attracted by Skyrim. The achiever would be attracted by the achievements that you can collect throughout playing the game. The killer would be attracted by the killing you can do in th game and the leveling up you can do to increase your ability to kill. Socializers would be attracted by the relationships you can build through the game with the character in Skyrim and the different interaction you can with the NPCs. Explorers would be attracted by the vast world of Skyrim which is filled with random encounters and events that make the would feel alive. 

Within the main storyline of Skyrim the disequilibrium happens just as you’re about to be beheaded. A dragon comes down and attacks the town you are in which creates a disequilibrium as dragons are very dangerous and can only be killed by a dragonborn as well dragons haven’t been seen in many many years and neither has a dragonborn. 

Within the main storyline of Skyrim the main binary opposition is between the dragons and the rest of Skyrim. The dragons want to start a new reign of terror and be the rulers of the world and the people of Skyrim don’t want dragons around again due to the terror and death they caused last time they were around.

Select and analyse a video game which supports stereotypical gender representation – Batman Arkham Knight

In Arkham Knight the female characters are massively sexualized. The main female characters in Arkham Knight: Barbara, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman are all at some point in the story a damsel in distress. Barbara is kidnapped, Harley Quinn is held hostage by a Jokerfied old man, Poison Ivy is kidnapped and Catwoman has a cat collar bomb. All the character have to be saved by Batman. As well Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman all have very sexualized outfits that don’t really make sense for a cold winter night which is when the game is set. Many of the camera angles when Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman are on the screen are in the male gaze sexualizing the characters. Though the argument could be made that the characters are only sexualized because they are in the comics. As well it could be argued that the characters are saved by Batman because he is the main character of the game and he is the character that the player plays most of the time so it makes sense that he is the one saving them. And for Poison Ivy it could be argued that she sexualizes herself as her character is about using her sexuality to take control of people.

As a comparison study, analyse a video game that subverts gender stereotypes and presents a more modern depiction of gender roles. How do the character types compare to your first case study – Starfield

None of the female characters have sexualized outfits. During the main story there are 2 occasions that I can think of that female characters are used as a damsel in distress. When the Hunter attacks the eye it is a possibility that the person in life threatening danger can be a female depending on how you play the game and they need you to save them but your character isn’t necessarily a male as you choose this when making your character. The second time is when Noel is running away from the Hunter after he has attacked the Lodge. Once again it is not necessarily a male character that saves her plus her character has limited combat experience so having a highly trained killer such as the Hunter after it makes sense that she would be a damsel in distress unlike in Batman Arkham Knight where Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are very well trained in combat situation and could easily handle themselves. Plus Poison Ivy has special powers. As well the Hunter also has special powers but Noel doesn’t. Even in the wider experience of the game away from the main story I personally haven’t seen any female characters massively sexualized after 170 hours even in the Astral Lounge that is a gentlemen’s club there are both male and female dancers that aren’t dressed in a massively sexualized way.

Postmodernism

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Postmodernism is a theory that human creativity has reached its peak and is now recycling ideas rather than creating new ideas. Examples of this is GTA V which takes inspiration from gangsta movies such as Scarface, The Godfather and Goodfellas. Another example of this is Red Dead Redemption 2 which is a pastiche of classic cowboy movies and Clint Eastwood films such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; For a Few Dollars More and Hang ‘Em High. But postmodernism isn’t just about recycling old ideas on there own but also mixing old ideas together to create new combinations.

Postmodernism & Identity – Starfield

Starfield is a pastiche of classic Star Wars as it is a game set in the far future where you explore space. The music in Starfield is heavily influenced and inspired by the music found in classic Star Wars. In the history of the Starfield universe there has been many galactic wars between opposing galactic powers this is a pastiche of classic Star Wars which centres around a galactic war between the two galactic powers: The Empire and The Rebels. You could also say that the planet Akali in Starfield is a pastiche of Tatooine in Star Wars as they are both desert based planets with deadly and almost inhospitable environments but have a main city that has thematic elements of western cowboy towns in Clint Eastwood movies which could also be counted as a paschite.

In Starfield you are allowed to explore your identity in many different ways such as the character creation. The character creation allows you to explore identity as it allows you to create your own avatar that can be different from your own as well you get to choose the avatars background and traits. Another thing that it allows you to do that is not seen in many games is choose your pronouns which allows you to explore gender and gender identity. Another way the game lets you explore your identity is that throughout the game it will allow you to choose how the story plays out. You have an active role in the story which allows you to explore your identity as you can choose different options based on what you would do or what you think your avatar that you created would do. An example of the game allowing you to choose how the story plays out is in the one the the main side quest storylines which follows the pirate group called the Crimson Fleet. In this story you infiltrate the Crimson Fleet as an undercover agent for SysDef as special part of the UC Military tasked to take down the Crimson Fleet. As you progress through the questline you get to choose the fate of many different characters within the Crimson Fleet as well at the climax of the story you have the choice to either help SysDef to final take out the Crimson Fleet or the turn on SysDef and help the Crimson Fleet take out SysDef. In Starfield there are 3 other main side quest lines such as this one that allows you to choose what happens plus there is also the main questline that enables you to make choices as well there are hundreds of side quest lines that allow you to make choices. All of these allow you to explore your own identity.

Narrative Theory Case Study – Starfield

Research – Interview with Todd Howard (Game Director) – (IGN)

This interview with Todd Howard, who is the game director for Starfield, and IGN talks mainly about the development of the game and in this they talk about how Bethesda developed the game to have a very large world for player to explore because the developers themselves love exploring which give me evidence for the fact that this game covers the Bartle’s’ player type of explorer. But also Todd Howard talks about wanting to give players as much as they want so this backs up my idea that Starfield explores all the Bartle’s’ player types, explorer, achiever, killer and socialiser.

Research – Vladimir Propp’s 7 Character Types – (media-studies.com)

This article looks through and explains the 7 character types that Vladimir Propp. The most helpful part was explaining the character types outside of the context of Russian folk stories and it gave modern examples for each type. The villain is the character that works against the hero of the story such as Thanos in Endgame. The donor is the character that outfits the hero for their quest such as Lucius Fox in Nolan’s Batman trilogy. The helper is a character that will assists the hero in one way or another such as Donkey from Shrek. The princess is either the character that the hero will marry or the damsel in distress in the story that the hero needs to save such as Lois Lane in Superman.

Research – Starfield Pronoun Selection – (gamerant)

This article talks about the inclusion of being able to pick your pronouns while creating your character in Starfield. This helps me look into Starfield being postmodern by the fact that they are supporting postmodern identity within their game. It also talks about Starfields inclusion of same sex relationships allowing the player to romance any of the 4 romancable characters no matter their gender.

Research – Games That Let You Pick Your Pronouns – (TheGamer)

This article talks about how games are only just starting to introduce pronouns as something the player can choose. It list 10 different games that do this but only 2 of them are AAA games. This shows that a AAA game including pronoun selection is quite rare and shows that Starfield is a very postmodern game in terms of allowing for postmodern identity.

Research – How long is Starfield? – (howlongtobeat)

It takes about 146 hours to 100% Starfield giving people who fit into the Bartle’s’ player type of achiever a lot to do in Starfield. This shows that the game caters towards achievers but it also shows that there is a lot to do as it takes so long so logically it must also cater to the other player types within those 146 hours of 100%-ing.

Research – Starfield Ending Explained – (IGN)

This article explains the ending of Starfield and shows that there are choices that the player can make the influences the story of the game and gives you different versions of the story. This shows that the game is has an interactive narrative type of emergent as the player gets to influence the story and get different versions of the story. This allows the player to explore their postmodern identity as not only do they get to choose what there character looks like but also how they act. This allows the player to make their own personal identity within the game. This article also shows binary oppositions within the story in the form of the Emissary and the Hunter. The Emissary being law and order and the Hunter being wild and survival of the fittest. McGuffin is also discussed in this article as it talks about the hunt for the Artifacts which is the thing that pushes the story forward.

Presentation Script

Which audience types is Starfield designed to attract?

I believe that Starfield attracts all four of Bartle’s player types: achiever, killer, socialiser and explorer. For the achiever the game offers 50 achievements to complete to get the 100% for the game. It takes around 150 hours which gives the achiever many hours of gameplay. Some examples of these achievements are “Eliminate 300 human enemies” and “Land on 100 planets” which would appeal to killers and explorers. For the explorer the game offers 120 explorable star systems and over 1000 planets most of which you can land on and explore their surface. This will give the explorer many hours of fun exploring the Settled Systems in Starfield. There are also many random encounters which can occur during your exploration of the Settled Systems which will entertain any explorer as they traverse space. For the killer Starfield offers a large array of different weaponry from a simple Old Earth Pistol to a Va’Ruun Inflictor. Starfield also offers ship combat. As well you can modify your guns to your to make them more powerful and you can create your own ship from scratch giving the killer lots to play with to find the ultimate killing machine. And you don’t have to wander aimlessly around the Settled Systems to find prey you can find a mission board at any of the main cities that will give you missions to kill people in either ground or ship combat. Starfield is a singleplayer game so there isn’t any player to player interaction within the game but there is still player to NPC interaction which could still entertain a socialiser. There are many NPCs that you meet while playing Starfield and with the game allowing you to pick dialog choices you can influence the relationship between your character and the NPC. As well in Starfield, with the characters: Andreja, Sarah, Sam and Barrett you can build a relationship with them slowly learning more and more about them. Eventually they will give you a mission, that will be personal to them, that you can complete. At the end of the mission you will have the choice to either become best friends with the character or romantically involved with them.

Which narrative components are employed throughout Starfield?

Starfield employs the use of disequilibrium within their story. At the beginning the first equilibrium is your character being a miner for Argos then the disequilibrium is discovering the Artifact and a pirate attack. Your character then joins Constellation as you try and solve the mystery of the Artifacts. This could be seen as a new equilibrium as your character has discovered a new life for themselves and there is no impending doom. But another disequilibrium happens when you find out about the Starborn. The Starborn try to take the Artifacts from you and one of them, the Hunter, even kills one of the members of Constellation. The final new equilibrium happens at the end of the story when you discover that the Artifacts combine together to make the Armillary and allow you to get to the centre of the universe, Unity. At this point you can choose what your new equilibrium will be either stay in this universe and live your life or hop to the next universe and explore the multiverse as a Starborn.

The McGuffin in Starfield is the Unity. At the beginning of the story what drives the story forward is the hunt for the knowledge of what the Artifacts are for which is the Unity and once you learn about the Unity and what is does getting to it becomes the driving force of the story. 

Binary opposition is used through the two main Starborn character Hunter and Emissary. Hunter is a ruthless character that believes in survival of the fittest and the power of the Unity belongs to those who take it. The Emissary is a diplomatic character that believes in helping each other and that the power of the Unity belongs to those who will use it for good. 

Vladimir Propp’s character types are also used within Starfield. The hero of the story is your character. The villain is either Hunter or Emissary or both depending on who you choose to side with though Hunter could be seen as always a villain as he does kill a member of Constellation. Other Starborn can also be seen as villains as the majority of the ones you come across will try to kill you. There are many donors throughout the story but the main two at the beginning are Sarah and Barrett. Sarah gives you Constellation gear including spacesuit and watch. Barrett gives you his space ship the Frontier. There are also many helpers which in Starfield are called crew they can either be on your ship, at your outposts or follow you around. 

Crew member will be with you all the time once you unlock them and assign them a few examples are Vasco, Sam Coe and Amelia Earhart. There are also mission specific helpers that only follow you during certain missions. A few examples are Emma Wilcox, Walter Stroud and Hadrian Sanon. The false hero is not present within the main story of Starfield but can be seen in a side quest story where you work at Ryujin Industries and Ularu, who is a corporate executive at Ryujin, tries to frame the CEO of Ryujin. There are many dispatchers throughout the story the first few are Lin your boss at Argos, Barrett and Vasco. The father isn’t always present within Starfield but at the beginning of the game when creating your character you can pick the trait Kid Stuff which gives you parents that live in New Atlantic. The princess in terms of being the person that your character marries can be either Andreja, Sarah, Sam or Barrett depending on your choices. 

Which interactive narrative formats does Starfield use?

Starfield uses both emergent and evocative interactive narrative formats. Starfield is an emergent narrative as it has key story elements the player will experience that is written by the authors of the game but then the player is presented with choices that affect how the game plays out. This allows the player to play the game multiple times and experience different endings. Some key examples are when the Hunter attacks the player can either stay at the Lodge or go to the Key, or near the end of the story the player can choose to either side with the Hunter, the Emissary or neither.

Starfield is evocative of Star Wars and Star Trek as its a game where humans have spread across the stars and space travel is very common and normal for people. As well the music for Starfield is very similar and evocative to Star Wars music.

How are gender roles depicted throughout Starfield? Do they subvert or support traditional stereotypes?

In Starfield the traditional stereotypes are subverted. The character Sarah subverts stereotypes by being the leader of Constellation in traditional stereotypes a woman wouldn’t be incharge. Other examples of women being in charge include Masako the CEO of Ryujin Industries, a mega corporation and Alexandra the President of the United Colonies, the first interstellar government. Your character subvert stereotypes as you have the ability to be whatever you want traditionally the main hero would be a straight man but in Starfield you can choose to be whoever you want and still be the hero. The Astral Lounge is a nightclub that has drinks, drugs and dancers. Traditionally dancers in a nightclub would be female and dressed scantily but in Starfield you have a mix of males and females dressed in fully covering alien costumes.

Why would Starfield be viewed as a postmodern product?

Starfield would be viewed as a postmodern product as it is evocative of things like Star Wars and Star Trek. But it would also be seen as a postmodern product as it allows the player to create a postmodern identity by allowing them to choose what their character looks like, their pronouns, their backstory and other traits at the beginning of the game. As well the player can continue to mold who their character is as a person throughout the story of the game with the choices they make.

Evaluation

A narrative theorist that has inspired my my future game design project ideas is Vladimir Propp. When creating the narrative for my next game I will use Propp’s character types to inform me on what characters I need and what my character need to do in the story to help the story develop. Another theorist that has influenced my future game design project ideas is Bartle. Before I start forming the gameplay of my next game I will think about which of the Bartle’s player types I want to attract to my game and what gameplay mechanics and features I could include to cater to them. And will developing my game I will keep going back to Bartle’s player types to make sure that I am developing the game in a way that would entice the player I want. Before introducing a new feature my game I will think about whether implementing this additional feature into my game in attracted the type of players I want and if it doesn’t I might not include it. Laura Mulvey has also inspired my future game design project ideas. While developing a villain in future I might use the Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze to add to the villains character. For example I could have the a cutscene in which you are in the point of view of the villain and I could have him have a Male Gaze this would build on the idea that he is the villain of the story and grow the hatred of the player towards the villain.

My research into social representation within video gaming culture has influenced my creative decisions when developing my own video game design projects by showing me how important it is to think about how your video game is showing social representation and how social representation can be a powerful tool in telling a story. For example if my game is set in the future then you would expect to see more social representation and less stereotypical characters due to society having developed further then we have today but if you had a game set in the past then you would perhaps want to reduce your social representation and have more stereotypical characters as it would fit with the time of the game. But at the same time as it is a modern game you wouldn’t want to have a hundred percent stereotypical representation or people might see it as a product that supports those stereotypes. It’s something you would want to balance between realistic for the time but also not completely closed off from modern society. For example you could have a game set in 1800s America and have the story set on or party on slavery. You could then have your hero of the story not support slavery and possible do something to actively oppose it. This then allows you to have the stereotypes of 1800s America but also show that you don’t support them.

My research in Postmodern Theory has informed the way in which I intend to develop my new ideas for future video game design projects by showing how important it is to allow the player to express themselves within the video game. So in future I may try to include some way of allowing the player to express themselves through the game by possibly allowing them to create their own character choosing their looks, personality, story and pronouns. It could also just be as simple as allowing the player to select pronouns at the beginning of the game so that they can feel represented and allowing them to build a postmodern identity. It could also be a complicated as having a emergent interactive narrative allowing the player to mold the story themselves further building on their character and their postmodern identity. This would also be good for the game as it would allow it to have multiple endings giving it replayability. Postmodern Theory has also shown me that it is helpful and important to look at what has already been done so that I can build on that and create something new. For example I could look at my favourite games and really think about what makes them my favourite games. Could be the story, the characters, the style or the gameplay. I could then combine these aspects that I like from these games and combine them into something new creating a postmodern game. I could even make a pastiche or parody of one of my favourite games. Postmodern Theory has taught me that it is important to allow the player to express themselves through my game but also that it is not a bad thing to take inspiration from other games in fact it could be a massive bonus to it. 

How do contemporary film narratives portray gaming culture as a space for self-expression, self-isolation, or a complex interplay between the two?

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Ready Player One has a complex interplay between self-expression and self-isolation when portraying gaming culture in its narrative. For self-expression during the introduction sequence Parzival says during his monologue that in the OASIS, the virtual world in Ready Player One, anyone can be anything. You choose what you look like what your avatar is which allows people to explore their identity and experience self-discovery within the OASIS. This portrayal of gaming culture shows it as a space of self-expression. As well during the same introductory monologue Parzival talks about how you can do anything which builds upon the portrayal of gaming culture being a space of self-expression.

On the other hand Ready Player One also portrays gaming culture as a space of self-isolation. During the film Parzival mentions that he has never actually met his friends or even his best friend in real life only in the OASIS. Though this can be seen a sort of positive as it allows people to socialise and meet new people with in a gaming environment it also shows that gaming can be self-isolating as because of the fact that your friends are online on this game and not in real life you might cut yourself off of the real world and self-isolate yourself. As well throughout the film it shows that people are addicted to the OASIS and that the OASIS has basically taken over real life and that people see the OASIS as more important than real life. This becomes self-isolating as you would eventually just fully stop living in the real world and everything important in your life would just be in the virtual world. To build upon the idea that Ready Player One portrays gaming culture as self-isolating is that most people make their money in the OASIS their jobs are in the OASIS. This removes you from real life and self-isolates you as if the OASIS is where you make your living and it is where you would also enjoy leisure then you have no reason to leave the OASIS other then to eat and to have a toilet break which is mentioned within the introduction monologue the Parzival makes.

Even though Ready Player One shows the gaming culture as something that is self-isolating it is only self-isolating from the real world within the OASIS people build proper real relationships with people they might not normally. And because the OASIS allows you to express yourself however you want to it is easier to find people like you as everyone will be expressing themselves correct to what they are and want to be. This portrayal of gaming culture shows it as a space for socialising. It may isolate you from the real world but it allows you to meet hundreds of people from all over the world.