Tuesday, May 28, 2002

By way of Gonzalo, a link to Henry Jenkins' article Game design as Narrative Architecture. I have only had time to glance at the first paragraphs, but I know I will be back to this one. He is dangerously close to finding the missing link between games and narratives, but at a first quick skimming, his "narrative architecture" it is still flawed as he claims the "ludologists" are, with undue polemics.

Environmental storytelling creates the preconditions for an immersive narrative experience in at least one of four ways: spatial stories can evoke pre-existing narrative associations; they can provide a staging ground where narrative events are enacted; they may embed narrative information within their mise-en-scene; or they provide resources for emergent narratives.

With this statement, Jenkins is still involved in a defense of narrativity in games, and still arguing with the ludologists, of which I am not certain if I am or am not one. I will find this article again, before I conclude my dissertation, and see how it relates to the work I have been doing, but so far the interviews with the players does not emphasis the story (surprising me, at the time), but the many other aspects specific to games. Three years ago, when I conducted those interviews, I'd have agreed with every word Henry Jenkins writes in this article. Today, I am no longer that certain. At least he has made me see some of my own intellectual development.

To be continued....

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