Advertisement

The Myth of ‘Universal’ Narrative Models

Expanding the Design Space of Narrative Structures for Interactive Digital Narratives
  • Hartmut KoenitzEmail author
  • Andrea Di Pastena
  • Dennis Jansen
  • Brian de Lint
  • Amanda Moss
Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, volume 11318)

Abstract

In narrative game design and related practices, the role and function of narrative models is described as predominantly pragmatic. However, we see that many interactive digital narratives (IDN) including narrative video games derive their story structures from the same formulas connected to Joseph Campbell and Aristotle, adhering to the trajectory of the Hero’s Journey and the dramatic arc. We engage with scholarly criticism exposing the supposed ubiquity of these structures and agree that the question of narrative models in interactive digital media requires both further exploration and intervention. We follow up on some proposed solutions by looking at non-Western narrative traditions to expand the corpus of narrative structures available to game designers and other narrative developers. With this paper we raise awareness of alternative structures and simultaneously introduce implementable narrative structures with the aim to expand the design space and range of analytical models for IDN.

Keywords

Interactive digital narrative Narrative game design Narrative structure Analytical models Narrative theory Eurocentrism IDN design 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. 1.
    Ryan, M.-L.: Avatars Of Story. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis (2006)Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    Juul, J.: A clash between game and narrative. Danish literature (1999)Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    Juul, J.: Games telling stories. Game Stud. 1, 45 (2001)Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Aarseth, E.J.: Computer game studies, year one. Game Stud. 1, 1–15 (2001)Google Scholar
  5. 5.
    Eskelinen, M.: The gaming situation. Game Stud. 1, 68 (2001)Google Scholar
  6. 6.
    Frasca, G.: Ludologists love stories, too: notes from a debate that never took place. In: DIGRA Conference (2003)Google Scholar
  7. 7.
    Jenkins, H.: Game design as narrative architecture. In: Wardrip-Fruin, N., Harrigan, P. (eds.) First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. MIT Press, Cambridge (2004)Google Scholar
  8. 8.
    Murray, J.H.: From Game-Story to Cyberdrama. http://electronicbookreview.com/thread/firstperson/autodramatic
  9. 9.
    Aarseth, E.J.: Genre trouble. In: Wardrip-Fruin, N., Harrigan, P. (eds.) First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. MIT Press, Cambridge (2004)Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Koenitz, H.: The “Story Arc”–a Ghost of Narrative Game Design. Presented at the DIGRA 2017 (2017)Google Scholar
  11. 11.
  12. 12.
    Fullerton, T., Swain, C., Hoffman, S.S.: Game Design Workshop. Morgan Kaufmann, Burlington (2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Jennings, P.: Narrative structures for new media. Leonardo 29, 345–350 (1996)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Ip, B.: Narrative structures in computer and video games: part 1: context, definitions, and initial findings. Games Cult. 6, 103–134 (2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. 15.
    Koenitz, H.: Towards a specific theory of interactive digital narrative. In: Koenitz, H., Ferri, G., Haahr, M., Sezen, D., Sezen, T.I. (eds.) Interactive Digital Narrative, pp. 91–105. Routledge, New York (2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Koenitz, H.: Narrative in Video Games. In: Lee, N. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, pp. 1–9. Springer International Publishing, Cham (2018).  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_154-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. 17.
    Hayles, N.K.: Print is flat, code is deep: the importance of media-specific analysis. Poet. Today 25, 67–90 (2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. 18.
    Nausen, L.: Coda. In: Narrative Across Media, pp. 391–403. University of Nebraska Press (2004)Google Scholar
  19. 19.
    Prince, G.: A Dictionary of Narratology. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln (1987)Google Scholar
  20. 20.
    Genette, G.: Narrative Discourse, an Essay in Method. Cornell University Press, Ithaca (1980)Google Scholar
  21. 21.
    Aarseth, E.J.: Cybertext. JHU Press, Baltimore (1997)Google Scholar
  22. 22.
    Juul, J.: Half-Real. MIT Press, Cambridge (2005)Google Scholar
  23. 23.
  24. 24.
    Murray, J.H.: Hamlet on the Holodeck: the Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. Free Press, New York (1997)Google Scholar
  25. 25.
    Aylett, R.: Emergent narrative, social immersion and “storification.” Presented at the 1st International Workshop on Narrative Interaction for Learning Environments, Edinburgh (2000)Google Scholar
  26. 26.
    Harrell, D.F.: Walking Blues Changes Undersea: Imaginative Narrative in Interactive Poetry Generation with the GRIOT System. (2006)Google Scholar
  27. 27.
    Harrell, D.F.: Cultural roots for computing: the case of african diasporic orature and computational narrative in the GRIOT system. Presented at the Proceedings of the Digital Arts and Culture Conference, Perth, Australia (2007)Google Scholar
  28. 28.
    Harrell, D.F.: Phantasmal Media. MIT Press, Cambridge (2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. 29.
    Freytag, G.: Die Technik des Dramas (1863)Google Scholar
  30. 30.
    Campbell, J.: The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Harper & Row, New York (1949)Google Scholar
  31. 31.
    Field, S.: Screenplay: The Basics of Film Writing. Random House Publishing Group, New York (1979)Google Scholar
  32. 32.
    Yorke, J.: Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey Into Story. The Overlook Press, New York City (2014)Google Scholar
  33. 33.
    Infinity Ward: Call of Duty (2003)Google Scholar
  34. 34.
    Valve: Half-Life (1998)Google Scholar
  35. 35.
    Bethesda Softworks: The Elder Scrolls I: Arena (1994)Google Scholar
  36. 36.
    Nintendo: The Legend of Zelda (1986)Google Scholar
  37. 37.
    Level-5: Professor Layton and the Curious Village (2007)Google Scholar
  38. 38.
    Funcom: The Longest Journey (1999)Google Scholar
  39. 39.
    Ip, B.: Narrative structures in computer and video games: part 2: emotions, structures, and archetypes. Games Cult. 6, 203–244 (2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. 40.
    Koenitz, H.: Five theses for interactive digital narrative. In: Fernández-Vara, C., Mitchell, A., Thue, D. (eds.) Interactive Storytelling: 7th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2014, Singapore, Singapore, November 3-6, 2014, Proceedings, pp. 134–139. Springer International Publishing, Cham (2014).  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12337-0_13CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. 41.
    Ferri, G.: Narrative structures in IDN authoring and analysis. In: Koenitz, H., Ferri, G., Haahr, M., Sezen, D., Sezen, T.I. (eds.) Interactive Digital Narrative. Routledge, New York (2015)Google Scholar
  42. 42.
    Calleja, G.: Narrative involvement in digital games. Presented at the Foundations of Digital Games (2013)Google Scholar
  43. 43.
    Calleja, G.: Game narrative: an alternate genealogy. In: Digital Interfaces in Situation of Mobility (2015)Google Scholar
  44. 44.
    Tavinor, G.: Art and Aesthetics. In: Wolf, M.J.P., Perron, B. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies. Routledge (2014)Google Scholar
  45. 45.
    The Chinese Room: Dear Esther (2008)Google Scholar
  46. 46.
    Fernandes, S.: Curated Stories. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2017)Google Scholar
  47. 47.
    Reinhart, D.: Narrative Structure. http://narrativestructures.wisc.edu/home
  48. 48.
    Irwin, B.D.: What’s in a frame? The medieval textualization of traditional storytelling. Oral Tradit. 10, 27–53 (1995)Google Scholar
  49. 49.
    Finnegan, R.: Oral Literature in Africa. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge (2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. 50.
    Lamb, S.: The beggared mother: older women’s narratives in West Bengal. Oral Tradit. 12, 54–75 (1997)Google Scholar
  51. 51.
    Powers, M.: Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children. American Book Company, New York Cincinnati Chicago (1917)Google Scholar
  52. 52.
    Seshadri, L., Havaldar, S.S.: Ganga. Amar Chitra Katha, 515 (1975)Google Scholar
  53. 53.
    Hiltebeitel, A.: Rethinking the Mahabharata. University of Chicago Press, Chicago (2001)Google Scholar
  54. 54.
    Connelly, B.: The structure of four bani Hilāl tales: prolegomena to the study of Sira literature. J. Arab. Lit. 4, 18–47 (1973)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. 55.
    Connelly, B., Massie, H.: Epic splitting: an Arab folk gloss on the meaning of the hero pattern. Oral Tradit. 4, 101–124 (1989)Google Scholar
  56. 56.
    PlatinumGames: NieR:Automata (2017)Google Scholar
  57. 57.
    Cornell, C.: Save the Date (2013)Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Hartmut Koenitz
    • 1
    Email author
  • Andrea Di Pastena
    • 1
  • Dennis Jansen
    • 1
  • Brian de Lint
    • 1
  • Amanda Moss
    • 1
  1. 1.Professorship Interactive Narrative DesignHKU University of the Arts UtrechtUtrechtThe Netherlands

Personalised recommendations

Cite paper