Hello! For my essay, I decided to tackle the argument of how video games can tell stories just as compelling as books. I used the two games Kingdom Hearts and The Last Story to help convey this discussion. Both of these games I have played personally and both games have received a good reception in sales. After analyzing them, I realized both games follow the same pattern of a quest narrative. The only problem is that the definition for narrative is different for books and video games. With Michael Nitsche’s book Video Game Spaces I was able to define narrative as “neither the factual order of events nor their presentation, but the order and connections between events as understood by the reader” (Nitsche 50). Nitsche writes about how narrative is something that comes out of the player through their exploration of the world and their understanding of the events presented by the game. This same definition is reiterated by the book Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century.
With the definition of narratives clear, I also take the time to explain the quest narrative and make it clear the sort of outline it has. I used an example from Michael Nitsche about the “Hero’s Journey” diagram. In the diagram it illustrates the hero’s call to adventure, the refusal and later acceptance of the call, the personal journey, the hero’s near death experience, the obtaining of the elixir to heal his home, and the return to the hero’s home. With that explanation, I began applying it to the two primary sources. I briefly explained the plot and major events of Kingdom Hearts and The Last Story, and went into explaining how each game’s narrative fits into the quest narrative outline. Also, because the narrative is a collaboration of gameplay and the programmed story in the game, I describe the difference in gameplay between Kingdom Hearts and The Last Story. I explain how because of the more interaction in The Last Story – as compared to Kingdom Hearts – the player can understand the world in which those characters are placed in and come to better understand their motives.
I also use Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century in the argument by using the chapter in the book about the writer’s experience in playing a game in order to be able to personally describe what narrative is for video games and how the player connects to the game itself just by playing it. The author refused to add the label of a “gamer” to themself. The author had only played three computer games prior to that moment and the game they played for writing the book, the author was hooked in less than a week. The author wrote: “was engrossed in these worlds in much the same way I have found myself enthralled by the experience of reading certain novels: unable to stop thinking about them; constantly gauging whether to rush through or go slowly and savor; feeling compelled to return to them (even when I knew there were other things I should be doing)” (Selfe 97). With that personal statement, it helps my argument that video games have the same capability as books to draw people in and have them hooked on the story very quickly.
In the end, I tie it all together again, and reiterate how the quest narrative can bring in a large audience and charm them the same way books and movies do.
With the definition of narratives clear, I also take the time to explain the quest narrative and make it clear the sort of outline it has. I used an example from Michael Nitsche about the “Hero’s Journey” diagram. In the diagram it illustrates the hero’s call to adventure, the refusal and later acceptance of the call, the personal journey, the hero’s near death experience, the obtaining of the elixir to heal his home, and the return to the hero’s home. With that explanation, I began applying it to the two primary sources. I briefly explained the plot and major events of Kingdom Hearts and The Last Story, and went into explaining how each game’s narrative fits into the quest narrative outline. Also, because the narrative is a collaboration of gameplay and the programmed story in the game, I describe the difference in gameplay between Kingdom Hearts and The Last Story. I explain how because of the more interaction in The Last Story – as compared to Kingdom Hearts – the player can understand the world in which those characters are placed in and come to better understand their motives.
I also use Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century in the argument by using the chapter in the book about the writer’s experience in playing a game in order to be able to personally describe what narrative is for video games and how the player connects to the game itself just by playing it. The author refused to add the label of a “gamer” to themself. The author had only played three computer games prior to that moment and the game they played for writing the book, the author was hooked in less than a week. The author wrote: “was engrossed in these worlds in much the same way I have found myself enthralled by the experience of reading certain novels: unable to stop thinking about them; constantly gauging whether to rush through or go slowly and savor; feeling compelled to return to them (even when I knew there were other things I should be doing)” (Selfe 97). With that personal statement, it helps my argument that video games have the same capability as books to draw people in and have them hooked on the story very quickly.
In the end, I tie it all together again, and reiterate how the quest narrative can bring in a large audience and charm them the same way books and movies do.