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Old 09-05-2008, 05:22 PM   #72
Lee in Limbo
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Al games, no matter how story- as opposed to puzzle-oriented they are, are nevertheless goal-oriented to one degree or another. As such, a set number of plot points have to have transpired for the narrative experience to carry the weight of catharsis. Where 'randomization' (not the best word for it) would be useful is in deciding where to emphasize your priorities. In a sophisticated enough adventure, you can have a number of separate-but-equal goals that you can work towards, achieving some and perhaps missing out on others. The final outcome would reflect the fact that some of your intended goals were not achieved, where the ending is a success, but not a 100% success.

This was something that we were discussing while developing a project that's currently on hiatus, called Metropolis Fallen. The 100% win would be the ideal combination of solutions, but the story would have enough variables in it that the likelihood of getting all of the various subplots to line up would be highly unlikely. The story still comes to a conclusion, but some of the results of the unattended endings would come out less than ideally for the player, while others would come out moreso. I see it as a means of validating interactive storytelling, while at the same time injecting some realism into the narrative without sacrificing dramatic devices like pathos and catharsis.

I guess when it comes to randomization, a certain degree of plotting is involved in even the most esoteric of narrative formulae. It's simply a matter of making sure you have enough ideas of what can really happen to your plot without reducing it to the 'best' version prematurely. The attitude to adopt is that there are many ways this could come out, so long as the final resolution is achieved. The degree to which is is a personal victory is decided by the audience, based on their own priorities.

Rather than the player trying to anticipate the writer's intent, it's up to the writer to anticipate what the player might choose to do under a set number of circumstances. It would then be the writer's job to work out a satisfying series of events branching out from certain assumptions about what different player mindsets might think of as being more important to them personally. Good writers can work out to a certain degree what their intended audience might be expecting, and from there present plausible options that lead to a resolution that more realistically follows the player's own thoughts.

I'm certain that there are some that think it anathema to authorial control to make such concessions and seemingly dilute their story in such a manner. However, I think there are different, more interesting and immersive stories we can tell using this medium if we let go of some of our preconceived notions of the importance and validity of The One True Ending. It's a conceit that has existed for hundreds of years, since the invention of the printing press, and it's a notion that came into being based on one technology, but that is no longer a necessary limitation of the medium.
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