I recently had a discussion assignment for school where we were given this prompt.
“What elements, experiences, or activities make a story or game interactive? How much agency should a player have regarding a game's narrative? Some games, like The Sims, afford the player complete agency; there is no narrative except the one you create through your choices. Some games, like the Call of Dutyseries, offer the player no narrative agency at all. You complete objectives, and then things happen, and then you complete some more objectives, etc. Then, in the middle, you have games like Skyrim, where there is a main storyline that you have little agency with, but you have a great deal of narrative agency regarding the world at large and the various side quests. This question of agency--how much, what kind?--in the narrative is at the heart of the interactivity debate. Let's hear your thoughts.”
This is how I responded:
“ When talking about the characters involvement in games there are two very different sides. As stated in the prompt, you have The Sims on one side of the spectrum as very involved, and on the other games such as Call of Duty. There is that happy middle though that many games now days are finding. These are games such as the Mass Effect trilogy, Skyrim, and the two Dragon Age games. These games find a happy middle between player involvement, and the story progression the way the developers intended.
I feel that the question of player’s agency in a game’s story line is a very bias one. I mean, it all depends on how that player likes to game. There are games, however, that allow players the choice of their involvement. Mass Effect 3 gives players the choice between two game modes, narrative and action. These two choices allow player to heavily influence the story, or just go along for the ride. Another game that gives players a choice in story involvement is Guild Wars 2. After the tutorial story line of this game players never have to even look at it again. Cut scenes will appear at dungeons, but the player doesn’t have any choice what happens in them, and can simply skip them. On the other hand, players can follow the storyline through what the game calls the personal story. Players experience the story at their pace, play through events of the story, and make some decisions that will affect how it plays out. Even with this choice of player agency, these games still end their story how the developers intended. John Shepherd still dies to save humanity in the end, but the players choice tells how, and how many people he actually saved. This falls in line with Skyrim. There is as much player involvement the story of these games as the player wants, yet the main story line will end how it is originally intended.
In summary, the question posed was what level of agency is the correct level. My answer to this question is that it should be up to the player, and their game style. Some people love to dig deep into a story, feel like their actions change the world, and their game play experience is unique to them, but others just want to be the hero and play the game. This is the reason that I believe games designed to let the player choice, is the answer to what level agency there should be.”
What are your guys’ thoughts on the matter?
