PRESS START

The evolution and influence of video games as a narrative medium

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 MAIN MENU
Contents
NEW GAME Introduction: Video games as expressive narrative…………………………………………………….2

OPTIONS Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4

- Theoretical writings
- Case Studies
- An introduction to The Stanley Parable

LOAD GAME The influence of literature to video games………………………………………………………………..6

LEVEL ONE The development of video games from cinematic aesthetics…….…………………………………8

- Camera
- Editing

LEVEL TWO Interactivity as a narrative device………………………………………………………………………..……14

- Immersion
- Agency
- Transformation

LEVEL THREE Interactivity in cinema……………………………………………....................................................19

FINAL BOSS What is the value of interactivity?…….………………………………………………………………………24

GAME OVER…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………26

- Ludography
- Filmography
- Bibliography

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 NEW GAME
Introduction

In January 2019 the Entertainment Retailers Association reported that the gaming industry
account for more than half (51.3%) of the entire UK entertainment market. In the UK alone the
Gaming industry is worth £3.8bn, more than the film and music industry combined. (ERA, 2019) This
economic strength demonstrates how video games have embedded themselves within the cultural
landscape of contemporary mainstream storytelling.

Despite this, there still appears to be a lack of respect for video games as an expressive narrative
experience. Barry Atkins study of critical reception to the medium presents it as intentionally
childish, rather than an immature medium with huge storytelling potential. He compares the playing
of video games to the reading of classic literature; both require extended amounts of time and have
equal potential value, and yet the playing of video games is seen as wasting time. (Atkins, 2003) Will
Brooker suggests that “the term ‘video game’ is used to connote spectacular, showy displays of
effects at the expense of subtext and character.” (Brooker, 2009) Due to the high budget and low
understanding of the medium in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s this might be true, however in this
essay I would like to take a closer look at video games as an interactive digital form of storytelling,
how this form has evolved and its place in contemporary art, and how this can provide insight to the
evolution of cinema.

Methodology

There is a distinct bias towards cinema as “standing higher in our dominant cultural hierarchies”
(Brooker, 2009), video games can often be seen as simply gimmicky popularist media. However, it’s
important to remember that at its inception, cinema was regarded in the same way. Within the
marketing and critical reception of video games, “cinematic equals ‘better’” (Brooker, 2009), and the
direct link with cinema demonstrates its importance as a starting point, therefore I will first be
studying the aesthetics of cinema and how they have developed within interactive experiences, and
exploring whether these developments are replicable to cinema as expressive storytelling
techniques.

There will be a strong focus on mainstream cinematic narrative, using Bordwell’s categorisation of
narrative; narration (emotion and form), plot structure (sequential arrangement), and story world
(content, setting and character), as a base. Bordwell simplifies narrative to the core elements of
agents and their action as “the basis of narrative” (Bordwell, Three Dimensions of Film Narration,
2007), whilst the use of medium’s aesthetics to provide perspectives on these agents. Because of
this focus there is a reduced look on the nature of play, the study of which is called ludology. The

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foundation of ludology was built in 1944 by Johann Huizinga. His definition of play is broad and
difficult to summarise easily, but essentially highlights its lack of necessity to survival, but it’s
importance to the enhancement of social interaction and creating and ordering of social networks.
Play is not necessarily exclusively human either; activities of these characteristics have been seen in
animals, play “presupposes human society” (Huizinga, 1949). In Huizinga’s opinion, play generates
culture, and even today is entwined with legal proceedings (judges’ wigs being like tribal dancing
masks), language, war, and of course, art. As such film innately fits Huizinga’s definition of play; it is
non-essential, escapist from the real, and non-beneficial to survival. Because of this it’s equally
applicable to view any sort of storytelling as playful, and the methods by which each medium tells
stories as transposable.

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 OPTIONS
Literature Review

Theoretical work

This essay will rely primarily on the theoretical analysis of the aesthetics of cinema and video games.
Primary works of key theorists will be used directly; part one will focus on the aesthetics of cinema
and use a variety of primary theories on camera and editing. Part two will focus on nature of
interactivity and use several theoretical approaches to this function. Here the focus is on interactive
narratives, which will be led by the work of Janet Murray in her ground-breaking book Hamlet on the
Holodeck (Murray, 2017), released in 1997, and re-released in 2017. The book is fundamental in the
development of video game theory, and the update proves its longevity and reliability in the study of
the medium. For this reason, I feel comfortable using it as a primary source. Other video game
theory is secondary, and often referential to Murray’s work.

Case studies

Film case studies will be used when their construction is relevant, and how this construction creates
the effect of the story. The final section of this essay will explore the contemporary effect of video
game theory, with a strong focus on three films that encapsulate this theory; Run, Lola, Run (Tykwer,
1998), Scott Pilgrim vs the World (Wright, 2010), and the TV movie Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
(Slade, 2018). Video game cases studies are used similarly, and I have endeavoured to use examples
that demonstrate the progression and variety of the medium. There is, however, a need to explore a
case study more thoroughly, due not only the ludo-illiterate audience, but also for a more thorough
dissection of the medium’s aesthetics. Though no one game can summarise the entire medium,
however, I have chosen a contemporary and revered game, and this game, The Stanley Parable
(Wreden & Pugh, 2013)¸ will be representative of ludological narrative potential throughout the
essay.

An Introduction to The Stanley Parable (TSP)

TSP is categorised by the Steam marketplace as a ‘first person exploration game’, and by Wikipedia
as a ‘walking simulator’, these definitions highlight the lack of functions the player has within the
game; in TSP the player can only walk, jump, and have limited interaction with objects in the
environment. Instead, the game focuses on narrative; you play as a mindless office worker named
Stanley who presses buttons as instructed by a computer all day, until you take control. The player
(as Stanley), is given instructions by a narrator in third person, for example “Stanley left his office
and walked through the door on the left”, the player can then decide whether to follow the

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narrator’s instructions or ignore them, prompting more narration that reacts appropriately to the
player’s decisions. The narrative then slowly devolves into a complex series of player choices and
appropriate story responses. Some viewing of the game is recommended for full comprehension of
this essay, especially to the reader less familiar with the medium, to give a sense of how movement
and action functions. This video gives a comprehensive display of the game, in less time than the
average film: https://youtu.be/SGngPVNh4F0 however, I will endeavour to explain the game as
thoroughly as possible, and this essay focuses on the narrative potential of the mediums aesthetics,
rather than exact execution of each potential narrative.

TSP also represents the current industry of video games. Like the film industry, there is a thriving
blockbuster collection of studios, but also an exponentially expanding collection of indie titles. TSP
was originally built as a ‘mod’, a custom experience built in another game’s engine. This mod
received many awards and was remade and released as a full game. As it stands, TSP is only available
on PC and not consoles (such as PlayStation or Xbox), the PC platform is traditionally associated with
more hardcore gaming, and
TSP itself is the cinematic
equivalent of seeing an indie
movie at a more specialised
cinema. This will limit its
application as comprehensibly
representative of the medium,
but this limitation allows for a
focus on the general gaming
experience, rather than
convoluting with a diversity of
specific gaming experiences.

A narrative tree of
TSP’s endings (LV)

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 LOAD GAME
The influence of literature

The development of a new storytelling medium will inevitably be built on the methods of
previous mediums. Bordwell’s definitions of narratives are universal factors; agents and actions are
entwined with the very nature of storytelling, and the development of different media “activate
distinct domains of storytelling” (Bordwell, 2007), and encourage a new perspective on the potential
these factors. Atkins suggests that literature is dead, because it’s means of representation are not
complex enough to meet the standards of contemporary perspective (Atkins, 2003), however it’s
influence is still apparent in more contemporary mediums. The fundamental aesthetic of literature is
language, an aesthetic that transposed in several ways; the expositional use of text cards in silent
films has evolved to both subtle means like title and date cards to more stylistic functions, like Star
Wars’ (Lucas, 1977) iconic opening text crawl.1

An expositional text slide in The Birth of a Nation, and the title crawl from Star Wars

Taking this forward to video games we can use similar functions. Jesper Juul notes the use of game
packaging in creating the “ideal story” (Juul, 2001) for the player to move towards, especially in early
titles where the equilibrium state2 is not represented due to technical limits. One key element of this
packaging is the title, Space Invaders (Nishikado, 1978) which gives the player an immediate
suggestion of an antagonistic external force that must be overcome to return to a new equilibrium,
encouraging the gameplay.

The three gameplay states of Space Invaders do not represent the games narrative states

1
Subtitles and credits are other examples.
2
Referencing Todorov’s theory of narrative; “an initial state, an overturning of this state, and a restoration of
the state”

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With the development of video game technology the extent of narrative progression through
gameplay has increased, but the literary function is still key; instructional game manuals, and
expositional texts within the game world, for example Assassin’s Creed’s in-game codices which
provide detailed accounts of historical figures, locations and events the player may encounter
through gameplay.

The encyclopaedia in Assassin’s Creed, written from an in-game characters perspective.

Some video games are intentionally limited to only literary narrative functions, like early adventure
games such as Zork (Anderson, Blank, Lebling, & Daniels, 1977), which describe the environment and
potential action, which the player interacts with written commands. Here literary aesthetics are
essential in presenting agents and their actions. These games also prevent a loss of immersion in the
world with low-quality graphics of their time, and instead rely, like the novel does, on imagination to
power the immersive elements of the game world. Even in more sophisticated gaming experience,
literary functions are still used in prompting the player, a clear and concise method to influence the
agents, for example in series of timed key-presses called ‘quick-time events’.

A ‘QTE’ in God of War - the player is encouraged Zork’s gameplay state; text description, and
to press the ‘triangle’ button when it appears. players text actions

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 LEVEL ONE
The development of video games from cinematic aesthetics.

Emulation of cinematic style and content was key in the marketing and development of in
early games. Metroid (Okada, 1986), one of the first console games, took inspiration narratively and
aesthetically from Alien (Scott, 1979); a female astronaut must battle alien creatures in worlds
reminiscent of H.R. Giger’s concept designs from the movie.

Adaptation of popular films were quickly capitalised on, for example an arcade adaptation of Star
Wars (Lucas, 1977) in 1983, with a later game, Rebel Assault featuring footage from the film. (Veale,
2012)

The next development was original full-motion video, and in order to further integrate these
cinematics into game, became digitally animated ‘cut-scenes’, rendered within the game’s engine,
for example Enter the Matrix (Wachowskis, 2003), an adaptation of The Matrix which featured two
hours of original footage written and directed by The Wachowskis, the movies original directors.
Howells notes the connection between ‘cut-scenes’ and the standard for opening sequences in
classic film for giving motivation and causal connection to the rest of the narrative. The cut-scene
functions as a casual line to the action sequence in gameplay, which is then resolved in later cut-
scenes. This method of cutting from expositional scenes to action and back is common, especially in
blockbuster cinema, but can also be furthered by the way that cut-scenes provide “visual reward”
for the players activity, with the final cut scene as a “specialised reward” (Howells, 2002).

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Considering video games from a semiotic perspective, Jeff Thoss claims comedy “contains a
syntagmatic axis on which the plot is located and a paradigmatic on which the various comic
situations are located” (Thoss, 2014), and prioritises the paradigmatic. Video games change comic
situations for gameplay scenarios; the syntagmatic narrative is built around connecting various
paradigmatic gameplay set pieces through cut-scenes.

TSP represents integration of narrative and gameplay, but it’s opening cut-scene has the
same function; pushing the player towards further gameplay. The cut-scene is a series of cinematic
shots cut conventionally like a film exposing the story, and setting the tedious, office-space tone for
the gameplay to either extend or twist into the sinister. The cut-scene provides an introduction, but
also primes the gameplay for the player; we are told Stanley just sits at his desk and pushes buttons
when told to, encouraging us via reverse psychology to not follow the narrator’s instructions, and
rewarding us for pursuing this disobedience with narrative possibilities; contrary to Space Invaders,
in which the literal score is the sole reward. Narrative rewards in video games have become
increasingly popular, but as the sophistication of player choice and interaction has developed, the
necessity to create satisfying tailored narrative conclusions has increased, “failing to serve up a
worthy reward can cause a game to be remembered as a failure.” (Howells, 2002). This is
demonstrated in the case of Mass Effect 3 (Hudson, 2012), the finale in a trilogy of complex decision-
based role-playing games, which only provided one ending, and received widespread backlash for it.
Over time, it’s become a more common opinion to see cut-scenes as obstructive to the flow of
gameplay, and as such, cinematic cues have become more embedded within the mode of gameplay,
(Veale, 2012) for example the use of genre pastiche and ‘letterboxing (intentional reduction of
screen space to a conventional cinematic aspect ratio). This chapter will focus on two vital elements
of cinematic storytelling and consider their use in video games.

CAMERA

The expressive use of camera has been theoretically considered separately by Andre Basin,
Dziga Vertov and Alexandre Astruc. Andre Basin thought of the camera as a means to create an
“objective reality” (Bazin, 1967), he valued the use of framing, focus, and unbroken long takes;
realism through a mechanical mediation of the camera as if it was an eye. Vertov, instead, highlights
the mechanical nature of the camera, not an eye, but a ‘kino-eye’. He suggests a key difference
between human perception and cinematic perception, “I, a machine, show you the world as only I
can see it”, navigating environments impossible from angles inaccessible to the human eye, and with
movement the eye cannot replicate, “the creation of a fresh perception of the world.” (Vertov,
1984) Vertov sees the use of camera as a distinct and intentional perception, as opposed to Basin’s

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strive towards realism. Astruc follows the idea of intentional perspective, but takes focus away from
the mechanical nature of the camera and puts it back onto the human operation, as if it were a tool
as simple as a pen, what he calls the ‘camera-stylo’, “a means of writing just as flexible and subtle as
written language” (Astruc, 1948)

All three theorists can be applied to the use of camera in video games. Brooker claims that
“The videogame’s vision of ‘reality’ is Bazinian” (Brooker, 2009); the camera follows the eye of the
player, and is directed objectively where the player seeks to see, as if the camera is mounted behind
the eyes (Farocki, 2014). Half-Life was revolutionary in that it maintained this position throughout
the game; a continuous first-person narrative perspective. This is far closer to Basin’s realism than
cinema can ever have because it can be interacted with, the camera in cinema must always be
framed. In cinema, first person shots are representations of what the character sees, usually through
a device like binoculars or cameras, and maintain a subjective perspective on the image; in
Halloween (1978) a shot shown in first person is used expressively to represent the killers movement
through a suburban neighbourhood and create tension, rather than transform the viewer into the
character, as the first person perspective is used in video games. In third person games the camera
more closely resembles the kino-eye, Brooker calls it the ‘CG-eye’, controlled by both player and
game developer, but moving away from a corresponding pair of eyes in the game world, to one that
follows at a distance, from impossible angles ,sometimes reducing the opacity of obtrusive objects.
(Brooker, 2009) In cinema, the primary identification is with the camera itself, the characters are
subject to their framing. In video games this is not the case, and the third person camera allows the
player “to exist within the gaze as the object rather than the agent of perception.” (Taylor, 2003) In
video games, the camera functions as a transformative lens, rather than an expressive one.

The first-person camera in Call of Duty The third-person camera in Grand Theft Auto

Both Vertov and Bazin prioritise the capture of the world, “the cinema's chief function is the
recording of documents, of facts, the recording of life, of historical processes.” (Vertov, 1984). Video
games cannot and do not seek to achieve this, constructed and presented digitally, even if the digital

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content is heavily based on the real world. Instead, most video games aspire to a post-modern sense
of realism “a mediated truth – the experience not of being at war but being in a war film” (Brooker,
2009), which is demonstrated in most sports games by a perspective not from the athlete, but from
the TV spectator. “That games continue to simulate mediated experience is underscored by the way
they digitally recreate the view through a camera lens, rather than the human eye” (Brooker, 2009),
like lens flare, fish eye or droplets of water, mud, and blood on glass. However, Astruc’s authorial
approach is equally problematic. Though the camera can be moved as the developer needs,
especially in games where the player has no control over its positioning, camera positioning in video
games rarely takes more than a functional role, the choice of camera placement decided by the most
effective and user friendly method of representing the content of the digital world and in turn, the
narrative.

EDITING

The other fundamental element of cinema that we can apply to video games is editing.
Editing in cinema is not only used to create continuity in space and action but also as expressive by
use of conflicting shots. Sergei Eisenstein applies Marxist philosophy to the cinematic medium;
considering it a dialectic system created by the comparison of “passive principle of being”, the
organic form and “active principle of production”, the rational form, an intersection between nature
and industry. To Eisenstein, editing is essential to this system, the dialectic is composed through the
dynamics of opposing shots. These dynamics include shots space, planes, volumes, movement and
emotion, the difference between them causing conflict, meaning that film, through the comparison
and juxtaposition of motion and composition of conflicting images in quick succession, leads to a
“dialectic method of thinking” (Eisenstein, 1998). This is furthered by Kuleshov’s theories on editing,
which intercuts images of an actor with certain objects; an attractive woman, a gun, food etc, giving
the actors expression a different effect each time. The dialectic is formed by comparison of images,
created a different emotional effect based on the editor’s action.

The concept of editing was an influence in the evolution of digital interactive space, as
observed by Mark Wolf in his taxonomy of onscreen space (Wolf, 1997). Wolf’s study displays the
development in digital space in quantity and sophistication (the full list of spaces can be found in the
appendix), and creative editing solutions must account for the lack of processing power of early
games; like having multiple spaces that are cut to as the player character moves directionally
between them. However, video games also allow for forms of edited space that cinema could not
allow for, for example having a screen where space does not necessarily uphold traditional
continuity by wrapping around like in Pacman, where should the player character leave the left side

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of the screen they reappear on the right side. As games moved into immersive 3D space, the idea is
that the player is not removed from the space by a cut, however, loading screens and blackouts are
still commonplace when moving between environments, out of a necessity for the increased amount
of processing power. In TSP, the lack of cutting in this way is required to maintain a more complex
level of immersion; rather than just the recognition of character continuity, we are expected to
remain in character, which can be difficult when our perception of space has a universal range of
camera angles at any one time; the consistency of this space and allowance for consistent
perception mitigates the loss of immersion.

Though, like the camera, this largely serves a functional purpose than an expressive one, the
use of the unbroken shot in cinema, like video games, provides a more dimensional context for
character positioning in a space. However, the extended use of an unbroken shot can be far more
affective. Rope (Hitchcock, 1948) uses a series of long takes where the cuts are disguised by camera
obstruction, holding the audience in a claustrophobic space and assisting in building suspense –
because we cannot cut away, we, like the characters, are trapped. More recent uses like Birdman
(Iñárritu, 2014) use the unbroken shot to impress upon the audience the consistency of time and
space in the film and provide a deeper insight to a character’s psyche.

IDENTIFICATION

The use of video game-esque camera and editing represent an acknowledgement of the
affective potential of the medium; the use of camera and limited cutting provides a deeper
identification with the characters in the film. As aforementioned, the use of the first person shot in
Halloween increases the suspense of the sequence, the use of an extended first person shot in Enter
the Void (Noé, 2009)provides a much greater affect in identifying with a character experiencing
psychological trauma, and its use in Hardcore Henry (Naishuller, 2015) provides a more visceral
identification with its character’s movement in its action sequences. However, this identification is
not intentional as a transformative experience, but an expressive tool. Likewise, the use of the third
person shot, for example the bomb sequence in The Third Man (Reed, 1949) provides an omniscient
understanding of the narrative but encourages a separation from identification with the characters.

Identification is still essential to video game narrative, simulation is always separated from reality by
the screen, not to suggest this is a bad thing; would we still enjoy piloting a digital plane if we knew
crashing it could kill us? Instead, we rely on identification with character and narrative to provide the
‘real’ in an affective sense. Deleuze asserts the use of imaging in film is purely affective; the
perception of the camera, the affection of its characters, the action of its plot, and the use of time.

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Colin Cremlin applies a Deleuzian approach to video games, and theorises, as well as the use of
Deleuze’s ‘images’, the inclusion of another; the “friction image”. The friction image relates not to
the visually apparent imagery of film, but the less tangible relationship with the player; the
conditions of movement, action, and interactive perception (Cremlin, 2016). Cinema is essentially a
shared experience with the images between the viewer and the screen, but the video game
demonstrates a move away from character identification, and towards a more intimate
identification with its single spectator. 3 As such, to explore the full potential of video games to
narrative, we must explore its defining aesthetic; interactivity.

3
This does not account for the shared experience of multiplayer games, however, these games similarly an
identification not with the characters on screen, but their representation of other players.

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 LEVEL TWO
Interactivity as a narrative device.

Despite its low cultural capital in the eyes of cinema critics and academics, video games have
managed to embed themselves within the cinematic landscape. Video games have been recognised
as a potential cross-media marketing tool, and adaptations of popular titles like Doom (Bartkowiak,
2005) and Tomb Raider (Uthaug, 2018) which directly transpose the characters, aesthetics, and
visual features of the games. Similarly, a more stereotypical visual aesthetic is now common in films
like TRON (Lisberger, 1982), which features vector lines, neon colouring, and a digital setting.
However, these films ignore the expressive affordances of the medium, explore the features that
divide the mediums, or consider the “artificiality of the film form in conjunction with emphasizing
the unreality of the virtual space.” (Mack, 2016) However, this is not exclusively the case. Charles
Ramírez Berg explores the “Tarantino Effect” in the rise of alternative narratives and stylisation in
cinema. He considers the importance of the video game to this effect due to the focus on multiple
modes of interactive narrative; role playing, team building, repetition of the same situations, as well
as the influx in “hypertext linking” of text, image, video and sound in interactive digital programs.
(Berg, 2006) Tarantino’s use of these features is highly regard as postmodernist art and
demonstrates the need to explore video games further as an expressive narrative form but requires
a closer insight into the feature that enables these more superficial functions; interactivity.

Eric Zimmerman categorises interactivity in a progressive hierarchy:

1) Cognitive or interpretative interactivity

2) Functional or utilitarian interactivity
3) Explicit interactivity – designed choice
4) Meta-interactivity – cultural and social participation – eg fan culture or game ‘modding’
(Bizzocchi, 2005)

All mediums interact at level one; we perceive characters and plot, interpret themes, and more
significantly suspend disbelief. Video games actively use all four levels; we process the experience,
but we also have physical interaction with it, and navigated choices given to us by the designers.
Because of these interactions, the nature of story changes; we have the embedded story, the story
written specifically by the designer, as we would in a book or a film, that we are encouraged to
engage with, however “as a result of the interaction between the user and the system” (Ryan, 2007),
we experience an emergent story. In the embedded story the player becomes a member of the
virtual ‘cast’, their actions are what Ryan calls ‘internal-exploratory’ – dictated by choices offered to
them. Whereas in the emergent story, player interaction is ‘external-ontological’ - a dialogue not

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between character in game, but between player and program; charting defeat, victory, desperation
and exasperation. The separation between the embedded and emergent story through interactivity
will be examined in this chapter, through the three narrative aesthetics defined by Janet Murray in
her book Hamlet on the Holodeck.

IMMERSION Encyclopaedic Extent + Coherent Spatial Navigation

To be immersed in fiction is to have a sensory experience in a non-physical space.

Storytelling mediums seek to increase the level of immersive involvement through the amount of
detail and coherence in its narrative. In literature this relies on description and can be as simple as
archetypal characters in a fairy tale, or as detailed as the immense fictional worlds of Tolkien. In film,
sound and picture is used in conjunction with narrative and description to increase immersion. In a
video game, immersion is also increased by interactivity, but limited by the range of “allowable
behaviours” the player can have in interacting with the digital world. Even in huge blockbuster
games where we can drive across digital miles and interact with hundreds of characters, this range is
fairly small, our interaction may be limited to combat or a set of dialogue changes. A video game
narrative should seek to disguise this limit with a believable role-playing experience. Where the
primary identification of the film spectator is with the camera, video games encourage the spectator
to identify within the game world. Role-play is structured by the use of avatars (digital
representations of the player character) and goals. In a third-person game the avatar is evident on
screen, in a first-person game our interaction provides a tangible connection to our avatar and is
furthered by the presence of hands and feet, and in some cases a heads-up display. In ‘god-games’,
where the player takes an omniscient, omnipotent control over the game world, the avatar is
reduced further to the user interface of the game, much like a word processor.

The perspective and user interface in Age of Empires, a ‘god-game’

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Another immersive feature of video games is the use of a controller. The controller is a threshold
object that pushes us into the gateway of interactive fiction, and the interactive with this object
becomes microcosmic for the character actions. The controller requires a learning experience of
cause (a button press) and effect (character action) until this process becomes fluid, and then
essentially invisible. This process is vital to pushing the player into what Murray calls the ‘liminal
trance’, the suspension not only of belief, but also of player identity. This provides a physical
immersive bond to the video game world, but this bond is frail; it must transmit action responsively,
whilst disguising the difference between physical and virtual action. This is demonstrated by the
advancement of the functionality of controllers; the Nintendo Wii uses a motion detecting remote
that allows for actions like swinging a baseball bat. This should provide a more immersive bond with
virtual action, however, because of the nuance of physical movement there is a higher sensitivity to
poor calibration, as well as the lack of haptic feedback (e.g. the hitting of a ball), the immersive bond
is weakened (Fitzpatrick, 2011). The Stanley Parable, a PC game, is played using a mouse and
keyboard, two instruments designed with functions to more formal and organised programs, like
word processors or file browsers. That the formal control scheme of the mouse and keyboard can be
more essential to the expressive control of the character than the players own movement
demonstrates the importance of the controller to the narrative experience of gameplay, but also
demonstrates that the border between narrative space and physical space is not necessarily due to
the physical.

Murray also notes the importance of arousal in gameplay. In a film arousal is induced in romantic
scenes through the use of close-up, or in horror films through the building and release of fear. In
order to prevent a loss of immersion, arousal is regulated by how these sequences are framed, as
well as their narrative circumstances. In a video game, arousal is more personal to the spectator, and
must be applied more directly; the achievement of a score, the unlocking of a weapon, or the
advancement of the narrative.

Immersion in TSP is entirely focused on the player itself. We play as Stanley but are never allowed to
inhabit Stanley as a role, as the narration forces us to examine this role as a series of player choices.
The choices we make are in response to the game itself, rather to the inhabiting of a character’s
goals. TSP focuses on arousal of this meta narrative; we are oriented not towards achieving an ideal
narrative state, but towards exploring the range of narrative states. As such, despite the fact that
our range of allowable behaviours in TSP is minimal; move, jump, and have limited interaction with
other objects, these functions are maximised in the immersive experience of battling against the
game. In one ending we are stuck in a room with a ringing phone, the narrator is encouraging the
player to pick up the phone, suggesting it is the only possible action the player can take, however, if

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the player uses movement and camera, they can see the phone is plugged into a socket. If we unplug
the phone, we get a different ending – we win. This example demonstrates the second aesthetic, the
sense of agency.

AGENCY Procedural Design + Participatory Design

A sense of agency is created “when the things we do bring tangible results” (Murray, 2017),
in literature and film, agency is significantly reduced to perception; interpreting plot and character.
Agency is not about the quantity of interaction, but the level of effect that interaction has on the
narrative, and the specificity of the feedback received. Narrative and interactive agency is directly
tied together, in video games, narrative agency can be employed in solving a mystery, progressing
through a journey, or defeating an enemy. These story types are not new to film, but the inclusion of
interactivity allows for a greater sense of agency in their telling. In a mystery film, we can guess the
outcome, but in a video game, the opportunity for multiple lines of investigation allows for a more
complex series of logical and emotional responses. In a film, can witness the triumph of good over
evil, or escape from social or physical villainy, but in a video game we confront these ourselves; our
actions in bringing about their defeat are as crucial as the defeat itself. Though we can understand
the escape of Thelma and Louise from domestication, rape and injustice, in a video game we can
initiate these situations ourselves and are rewarded by their consequences. In addition, cinema
audiences are conditioned to expect certain narrative conclusions, and a subversion of these
expectations, if not narratively appropriate, can be emotionally disturbing. Similarly, in video games,
achieving narrative conclusions similar to films can be emotionally classified as ‘winning’, however
this is not the full extent if interactive narrative agency. Choice gives us an introspective insight into
how we respond to moral quandaries (do we make a sacrifice for the greater good?), but also
cognitive ones.

TSP provides not only narrative agency, but also agency to the nature of that narrative. If we follow
the narrator’s directions, we are a player following a games instruction, and are subsequently
rewarded with a suitable narrative, and exposition about how our character feels due to these
actions. If we defy the game, we break out of the embedded story and into the emergent one, we
decide how our character (our self) feels but are still responding to an emotional call that the game
give us, through the narrator. Traditionally, agency is a reward granted for the mastery of skills or
the solving of puzzles. TSP doesn’t provide these challenges, agency is creating not in through the
achieving of an ideal narrative state, but the discovery of a plethora of meta-narrative. In one
ending, Stanley is facing certain death, when a secondary narrator takes over and shows the player a
museum showing the possible choices available to the player, the game assets, and the credits that

17
will role at the end of the game. A problem that has arisen with the development of games is that a
huge multi-webbed story that requires hours of game time and hundreds of specific choices
ultimately end the same way, as was the case with Mass Effect 3. TSP represents a solution by not
providing a singular ending but allow the nature of what TSP’s ending ‘is’ to evolve with each
playthrough and alternative choice-set. The narrative of TSP is entirely built around what the player
choices to do in playing it, and the only real ending is to stop playing entirely.

TRANSFORMATION Interactivity + Immersion

The narrative aesthetic least tangible in video games is the pleasure of shape shifting, the
multiplicity of possible roles, and the ability to transform. With the possibility of a web of narratives,
player experience and identification can vary massively, and the method of authorship changes
completely. Murray notes the proliferation of ‘mosaic informational formats’, which present several
different pieces of information or narrative simultaneously; the newspaper has organised pages, the
film frame has split screen and channel changing. Over time audiences have become more adept at
reading these formats, and in turn their complexity, as well as their potential to provide coherency,
as well as poetic juxtaposition, such as the aforementioned examples of cinematic editing. On a
digital system, the mosaic can be taken to the extreme; multiple programs with multiple windows
displaying a complex array of varying systems. In video games we start to see this in the way maps,
ammunition and objective information is displayed on screen, and a carefully designed user interface
has the possibility not just to portray multiple information streams in succession, but
simultaneously. Narratively this means that time, space and even character development does not
have to be experienced linearly; a ludographic version of the Kuleshov effect would be experiencing
the same story multiple times, or even multiple opinions of the same story at once. Video games
also have the potential to explore non-linear perceptions of space; the player can switch between
embedded stories depending on their own perception, transformation becomes not a thematic
understanding of what occurs with each character, but of the audience itself. In TSP, our
transformation is experienced in the replaying of the game, and the discovery of the multiplicity of
its endings, the story is not about what’s written, but emerges as to how we approach the narrative
possibilities available.

The potential for these aesthetics are slowly being explored in the video game industry, but are now
being similarly transposed back to film.

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 LEVEL THREE
Interactivity in cinema

Though we have already asserted that cinema is interactive on the first level of
Zimmerman’s hierarchy, we can also evaluate whether it is interactive on the other three. Any
medium innately requires function utilitarian interaction; the “combination of artefact affordance
and user interaction” (Bizzocchi, 2005), there must be an understanding of how a medium function
to appreciate the fiction, for example understanding of cinematic continuity. This is furthered by the
conditioning of the film audience to cinematic structures and expectations; internalised ‘mental
machinery’ which primes viewers for the viewing experience, this can be knowledge of genre or
archetype, but even the understanding of motivations and goals, which can be used to subvert
expectations of the narrative, or emphasise other emotive elements. There is also a considerable
volume of evidence for the fourth level, meta-interactivity, in the reception of films by fans,
especially in the mainstream; people write ‘fan-fiction’, or cosplay as their favourite characters.
With the advent of blogging and review aggregators like IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, there is much
greater opportunity for individuals to review and critique films on a more specific level, and in this
way connect with writers, producers and directors to influence character development, story arcs
and even design in future productions. However, there are more complex modes by which cinema
can be considered interactive.

Video games play a strong part in the interactivity of Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Not only is there a
strong visual link between the film and video games, with ‘power gauges’ (in the form of a pee bar),
health bars for boss characters, and a ‘versus’ sign between each combatant, but also the narrative
structuring; the ‘boss-fight’ nature of each stage of the film, the ‘extra lives’, and ‘level up’. Scott
Pilgrim is interesting in that the characters are all seemingly aware of the video game nature of their
world, and the video game styling is fully embraced narratively without expositional explanation.
Scott’s emotional state and motivations are expressed by “ironic imagination from the aesthetic of
artificiality” (Amy C. Chambers, 2015). This not only demonstrates the mainstream embedding of
video games within cultural consciousness but provides a potential for referential interactivity that is
not possible if the text relies solely on the aesthetics of a single medium. Amy Chambers notes that
for these elements to work the viewer must have an understanding of video games rules and
aesthetics, and there is an increased level of interactivity if this understanding is met; the player can
predict the narrative, engage with jokes, and better comprehend the emotional complexity of the
characters. Scott Pilgrim is key to the postmodern movement in that it refuses to let the spectator
forget other media, encouraging a cognitive interaction between the referents and text, and in turn
to the target audience.

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 Video game features in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Another transposed feature from video games is repetition, Marie-Laure Ryan and Jesper Juul
classify suggest that conventional narrative cannot be about routine, it can only feature repetitive or
trivial action is designed to “fix the setting and create an atmosphere.” (Ryan, 2007) However, this is
not the case in video games, “Repetition should lead to boredom, but doesn’t always” (Juul,
Introduction to Game Time, 2006), people play Tetris over and over and can still enjoy it, and TSP
demonstrates how repetition can lead to a greater emergent story. Time operates dualistically in
video games: the repetition of gameplay has no impact on the time within the embedded story, but
this time is essential to the emergent one; if a boss takes several attempts to defeat, it emphasises
how powerful that boss is, adding weight to the players achievement and setting a benchmark in the
emergent story. There is a far greater attention to cause and effect in gameplay narratives, as the
player is acting to achieve goals on a micromanaged level, with the overarching story becoming
apparent after multiples of these gameplay states, but the use of repetition is a powerful expressive
device on the player. A film may display a montage of a character learning a skill, limited by the time
constraints of the film, but in video games the player actually spends a considerable amount of time
learning new skills or acquiring the required assets to move forward. Repetition is a commonplace
narrative device in film, for example, Groundhog Day (Ramis, 1993) features a character living the

20
same day over and over again and developing each time. However, in this narrative, we follow the
development of the character, rather than developing with the narrative itself.

Run, Lola, Run, however, fully embraces the gameplay experience. Groundhog Day’s narrative is
about witnessing repetition, but RLR’s narrative is repetitious. In RLR, we see the lead character
attempt to attain 100,000 Deutsche Marks three times, with a different outcome each time. David
Diffrient considers RLR as a “forking-path paradigm” due to its three possible narrative paths. As the
viewer witnesses the film as a logical line of cause and effect, we consider the final narrative as the
correct one. Though this is an attempt to replicate the cyclical nature of video games, (The audience
is also given a multitude of stories within this forking paradigm, which we could consider as ‘side-
missions’) it doesn’t suggest multiple perspectives, merely a repetitious construction of three acts.
The first narrative sets up the story, our expectations for the sequence of events, the second
demonstrating the extent to which this narrative can diverge, and the final suggesting the ‘proper’
narrative outcome of the story. (Diffrient, 2006) Furthermore, it’s hard to determine whether Lola’s
perception of events is in the video game mode, as to whether she learns from each narrative, or as
to whether each is simply another possibility. The ‘side’ stories presentation to the audience rather
than Lola herself (audiences’ identification with camera over characters). This, however,
demonstrates one of the limits of the embedded story as a true interactive experience; in the same
way that each of Lola’s story could be, and is witnessed, should a player decide to play a game
multiple times with different outcomes, each outcome is as real as the other. However, this is where
the emergent story takes shape; the true story is the players experience, rather than the characters.
Perhaps if Lola’s three narratives were rearranged, the same effect could be achieved.

The question still remains, however, as to whether film can be categorised under the third level,
explicit interactivity, a designed choice. The cinema viewing is an inevitably passive activity; there is
nothing the viewer can do to change the course of the narrative, but with the development of DVDs,
streaming, and other viewing methods, the level of passivity has vastly changed. The viewer can
pause, in some Blu-ray versions the viewer can switch on production notes and even, in the case of
recent Pixar re-releases, switch between the film and the early storyboards of the scene, changing
the entire nature of the visual experience. “our knowledge that the DVD allows us to negotiate the
structure of the film colours our engagement with it.” (Veale, 2012) On the DVD for Memento, there
is an alternative cut of the film that puts it in chronological order, the decision to watch either of
these narratives is an explicitly designed choice that affects the narrative. Though there is always a
physical requirement to engaging with a medium; the turning of a page or starting of a projector,
these technological developments also suggest a greater reliance on a threshold object, like the

21
video games controller. In the case of DVD and Blu-ray this takes the form of the TV remote, a far
more primitive and less immersive object than the average controller, but still one that provides a
physical relationship with the interactive systems on screen. A far more explicit example of this level
of interactivity, however, is Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.

Bandersnatch is an interactive film that was released on the online streaming platform Netflix.
Throughout the film the viewer is encouraged to make choices that change the narrative, the effect
of this is limited; the level of control is simple, and the level of skill required by the viewer/player is
non-existent. Bandersnatch doesn’t suggest a ‘winning’ state, or a losing state, simply a state of the
narrative. However, because some options force you to go back and revisit earlier parts of the
narrative, this can be seen as a losing state. Unlike a videogame, where this back and forth after
failure encourages the player to increase their skill level, or solve a problem, and in turn, create
greater emotional affect in victory and narrative progression, Bandersnatch simply suggests the
viewer is wrong, and forces them to re-tread their steps. It even makes a decision for the player if
they fail to make one on time, suggesting this is the ‘true’ narrative. Even without a scoring system,
TSP still gives achievement in finding another narrative thread; the player has beaten a puzzle and is
rewarded with an unpredictable ending.

So, is Bandersnatch a game or a film? Definitions of ‘cinematic’ suggest the level to which a film is
visual, audial, and motional, similarly, when defining something as ludic, we consider the extent to
which it is interactive by applying the narrative aesthetics previously discussed. Kevin Veale defines
the experience of cinematic texts by “the audience’s lack of ability to alter events unfolding within

22
the films diegesis” (Veale, 2012). Bandersnatch is not interactively immersive, the level of control
does not move the characters and give a different perception on the environment, it simply funnels
the narrative in one direction or another. The level of agency is also low, we are always presented
with two choices at a given point, and these choices consequences are dramatically unforeseeable.
For example, the choice between seeing a therapist or following a friend directly leads to the suicide
of either the player character or the friend. Additionally, many of the choices given lead to the same
outcome anyway, reducing the dramatic weight of the choice. The transformation of the player into
the character is also significantly reduced; we are encouraged to empathise with the character we
are given control over but are disallowed from passing the liminal threshold to become that
character, this is highlighted further when our character announces his awareness that we are
controlling him. It’s fair to say that Bandersnatch is an interactive film, rather than a hyper cinematic
game; we could compare it to a series of cut-scenes, divided by the choices, and if so, the
interchange from viewer to player is so brief, it could hardly be called playing at all.

The expressive function of this experience is used to suggest that choice is a lie, constantly pointing
to the lack of choice the ‘player’ really has. Bandersnatch’s emergent story either ends in a game
over state, or a state in which the lead character discovers his lack of free will; this embedded story
is the same as the emergent story discovered by the player of The Stanley Parable; “Stanley was
already dead, from the moment he hit start." (Wreden & Pugh, 2013)

23
 FINAL BOSS

What is the value of interactivity?

Despite the considerably more closed nature of Bandersnatch in comparison to The Stanley
Parable, they are both a closed system. The experience of playing TSP has more interactive affective
potential, and lasts longer, but it is still ultimately a finite experience based on the possible
narratives programmed by the developer. In interactive narratives, there is a larger potential to see
the interactor as the author, as the emergent story relies on the cognitive and emotional journey of
the player through gameplay experience. However, what this demonstrates is how interactivity
changes the function of authorship from the directional to the procedural. Though conventional
cinematic narratives can and have been transposed with similar affect, the potential for this effect
lies in creating spaces, agents and possible actions that can be combined dramatically in both to the
embedded game diegesis, and the emergent journey of player.
Beyond the typical social and financial repercussions of a film release, Bandersnatch also has
repercussions for future narratives. Streaming is fast becoming the primary means of accessing
cinematic content, and Netflix’s use of data analysis to suggest films to its customers is a key reason
for the platform’s popularity. Bandersnatch provides a series of choices to the outcome of it’s
narrative, and data collected from the millions of viewers making the choices could have a real
influence into how Netflix produces content in the future. Bandersnatch’s shortcomings as a
narrative experience do not subtract from its viral popularity, and the suggestion of developments in
interactive cinema, at least at Netflix. Furthermore, the recent eligibility of streaming services to the
Academy Awards shows a more liberal approach to the cinema experience, giving more potential to
films designed for a more intimate audience and allowing the growth of cinema to maximise its
narrative potential.
Video games continue to advance culturally and technologically, and with the development
of Virtual Reality headsets and controllers, the potential for immersive storytelling equally advances.
It also lends insight into the narrative potential of other interactive media. Is the word processor
that this essay is written on a narrative device? To what extent is writing an emergent story? How
about social media? Is the collection of Facebook ‘likes’ a score? In a world where the controller is
no longer just a collection of shapes and joysticks, but fitness watches, intelligent cars and houses,
and advancing AI, these questions suggest a potential for study of storytelling outside of mediums
considered narratives. Huizinga’s definition of play is encompassing more and more of our everyday
lives, and the study of interactive mediums provides insight into the social narrative functions that
we use in everyday, like identity, ethics, education, and economics.

24
 We are experiencing both a divergence and convergence in the narrative styles of film and
video games from their traditional territories. Video games are diverging from the expectations of
cinematic narrative to more player-tailored experiences, with a stronger focus on interactivity in
their immersive capabilities, and film away from traditional closed arc storytelling and into more
open, random, non-linear, and in some cases, semi-interactive stories. However, they are also
converging in the cross-over of their story-telling styles, narrative devices and structures, offering
similar affective experience in both mediums. Audiences are constantly being challenged to redefine
their expectations, sitting through films with 3-4-hour runtimes and complex multi-story franchises,
previously the domain of television. The abstract of this essay was to consider the potential for video
game narrative, and TSP suggests that the only way to win is to quit, but if anything, when we play,
we always win.

25
 GAME OVER
Ludography
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Hudson, C. (2012). Mass Effect 3. Redwood City: Electronic Arts.

Wreden, D., & Pugh, W. (2013). The Stanley Parable. Galactic Cafe.

Wachowskis, T. (2003). Enter The Matrix. Paris: Infogrames.

Nishikado, T. (1978). Space Invaders. Tokyo: Taito.

Okada, S. (1986). Metroid. Tokyo: Nintendo.

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Hitchcock, A. (Director). (1948). Rope [Motion Picture]. United States of America.

Iñárritu, A. G. (Director). (2014). Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) [Motion Picture].
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Lisberger, S. (Director). (1982). TRON [Motion Picture].

Lucas, G. (Director). (1977). Star Wars [Motion Picture]. United States of America.

Naishuller, I. (Director). (2015). Hardcore Henry [Motion Picture].

Noé, G. (Director). (2009). Enter the Void [Motion Picture].

Ramis, H. (Director). (1993). Groundhog Day [Motion Picture].

Reed, C. (Director). (1949). The Third Man [Motion Picture].

Scott, R. (Director). (1979). Alien [Motion Picture]. United States of America.

Slade, D. (Director). (2018). Black Mirror: Bandersnatch [Motion Picture]. United Kingdom.

Tykwer, T. (Director). (1998). Run Lola Run [Motion Picture]. Germany.

Uthaug, R. (Director). (2018). Tomb Raider [Motion Picture].

Wright, E. (Director). (2010). Scott Pilgrim vs. the World [Motion Picture]. United States of America.

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