10 Membranes

Narrative and Gaming

People often seem to say that while computer games’ narratives have greatly improved in recent years, they still haven’t reached the level of mature narrative forms like novels, films or perhaps the signature form of our age, the high end TV serial. For me it’s been a long hiatus from serious gaming stretching back to when I started university and in truth before them. The last first person shooter I played with any real seriousness was the by now legendary Goldeneye, which says something about how long it has been and all the things I’ve missed. Civilization has been the one game I have consistently returned to in that period (although GTA should get an honourable mention). Recently though something has changed; the PS3 in our house has taken on a new allure and I’ve found myself completely absorbed into the phenomenon that is the Call of Duty games, specifically Modern Warfare 2, but also yesterday Black Ops. 

I’m stunned. Playing the first level of MW2, having grown up on Doom, the first Doom, was like being physically catapulted into a warzone, it was a rush of adrenalin and realism that literally kept me awake that night. 

That is all by the by, what really interests me, from the point of view of an old fashioned story telling business, are the narrative elements of the game. There are several elements to this, not least the great academic debate about the narratological versus ludic elements of games, and the increasing sophistication of the writers or in Rhianna Pratchett’s case “narrative paramedic” (yes, she is the daughter of Sir Terry), but coming back to MW2 on first play I thought the narrative was terrible. Disjointed, it didn’t make sense, was full of holes, generally didn’t fit, didn’t grip you because of the above and had a lame ending. Despite being one of the biggest media releases of all time I thought that narrative wise Activision and Infinity ward had tried desperately to make this good and utterly failed, still mired in the kind of storytelling prowess that bought us Sonic 2. 

This was highly mistaken. 

In fact it took a second play and some digging to get what was going on. That’s right, you had to work at the plot a bit. Like in good novels or films. You had to use your brain. It didn’t make sense without working out what had happened previously. It forced you to fill in the blanks, make conjectures. It surprised you and twisted. That ending isn’t stunted; in narrative terms it is the no-nonsense brutality of the rest of the game. Those plot holes are intricately crafted aporia requiring conspiracy theory paranoia on the part of the player. In fact, which ever way you look MW2 is littered with sophisticated narrative devices deployed with a lightness of touch and nonchalance of experienced storytellers: the multiple plot lines, the repeating of elements, the twists you don’t see coming (did not see that happening at the end of the frankly horrible airport sequence), the locations and atmospheres etc etc. 

There are problems. Russia would not invade the US. This loses me and is actually quite a serious flaw. The transitions could be better, but again, I get the feeling that the problems come from the fact this is a serious game requiring serious intelligence to engage with it (as per Steven Johnson’s argument). This is taken to the next level in Black Ops whose whole narrative conceit - based on the remembrances of a character, you, under torture - is utterly grim, but gripping and brilliant as a device. 

Both MW2 and Black Ops, and of course GTA IV, rival the best storytelling in other media. The tropes, tactics, complexity, richness, atmosphere, allusion and quality are pretty much there. And I haven’t even mentioned Heavy Rain. None of this will come as any surprise to aficionados but to a book person, and someone who has heard a lot from tech people about the supposed narrative backwardness of games, this is interesting and also a huge challenge.