Game Design as Narrative Architecture
This paper did a good job of outlining a lot of the general debate regarding player choice and tight narrative. As more and more games of this generation get criticized for not having enough “choice” (Mass Effect 3’s ending comes to mind), more large franchises seem to be deciding that all games definitely need choice. Personally, I believe that having focusing too much on choice either waters down the story or eventually makes the choices irrelevant (regardless of what you choose, you get the same result anyway.)
The idea of game designers being more narrative architects is interesting, and distinctly made me think of the game Yume Nikki, a free game that has no real narrative, just a beginning and an end and a (majorly messed up) dream world to explore. The lack of narrative allows the player to think of their own back story to go with the environments and the small hints in the world. I found this a more memorable experience than most “epic” stories in other games.
Narrative Environments from Disneyland to World of Warcraft
I read this article hoping to see more about the narrative architect idea in the other article, but instead got a discussion about environments and community in MMORPGS. While I can definitely see communities forming from MMORPGS, (WoW guilds and such), I don’t feel the environments partake as much of a narrative in games like WoW. While there is a main story, the environment quickly becomes a series of points based on what is available at each point (sell items here, pick up quest here, etc.)
