Narrative of video games
In video games,
Overview
Stories in video games are delivered in a myriad of ways. While it is most common to deliver exposition through
Narratives in games are of varying significance to the experience; while an increasing number of game stories are intended as the main focus, simple stories that are only intended to serve as a justification for the gameplay have been a common approach.
Some games feature a "story mode" (sometimes also called "narrative mode"), a mode that is designed to focus on the story. The application and use of the term varies; it is sometimes used to discern from other modes of gameplay that do not feature story as a significant element,
History
Video games were first popularized with
In later years, technological advances allowed developers greater options for expressing story in a video game, which led to more expansive and ambitious narratives.[7][2][1] Half-Life, released in 1998, made significant innovations in how it presented its narrative, such as its choice to tell its narrative without the use of cutscene cinematics or breaking up its world into levels, and is often credited with having codified many modern storytelling conventions within the medium.[15][16][17][18]
Criticism
While video game stories have received praise,
In contrast, literary scholar Eric Hayot says that video games, while not directly comparable to novels or films, are an evolution of many long-enduring storytelling traditions that have been observed throughout human history.[23][24] Hayot argues that interactivity "was a story mode for centuries, if not millennia, before the invention of the microprocessor."[24] Hayot does qualify, however, that he believes the tradition of "winning" in a video game "provides an interesting brake" on the range of stories that can be told in the medium, though he cites Undertale and The Last of Us as two examples which subvert this tradition.[24]
Some video game stories have been criticized for being conveyed in
See also
- Video game writing, an overview of the associated profession
- Ludonarrative dissonance
References
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Adventure games focus on puzzle solving within a narrative framework, generally with few or no action elements.
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Rather than being a pure sandbox that's exclusively designed to facilitate mayhem, Goat Simulator 3 has a story mode.
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Current players can transfer both GTAV Story Mode progress and GTA Online characters...
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