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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9247327" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I'm not familiar with a notion of <em>narrative</em> which makes free-standing assertions or descriptions count as narratives.</p><p></p><p>I'm not an expert on "narratology", or structuralist poetics/semiotics more generally, but the notion of <em>structure</em> is pretty key. A free-standing assertion or description doesn't constitute, or create, a narrative structure.</p><p></p><p>I'm even less of an expert on video games and narrative, but there is some discussion of this to be found on the Wikepedia page on <em>narratology</em> <<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narratology" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narratology</a>> (footnotes omitted):</p><p>:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Marie-Laure Ryan distinguishes between "a narrative" as an object that can be clearly defined and the quality of narrativity, which means "being able to inspire a narrative response”. This allows her to understand video games as possessing narrativity without necessarily being conventional narratives. Astrid Ensslin builds upon this, explaining that "games have the potential to evoke multiple, individualized narrative scripts through world-building, causal event design, character development and other elements that players interact with the intention to solve problems and make progress". . . .</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Murray argues that narrative structures such as the multi-narrative more accurately reflected "post-Einstein physics" and the new perceptions of time, process, and change, than the traditional linear narrative. The unique properties of computers are better-suited for expressing these "limitless, intersecting" stories or "cyberdramas." These cyberdramas differ from traditional forms of storytelling in that they invite the reader into the narrative experience through interactivity i.e. hypertext fiction and Web soap <em>The Spot</em>. Murray also controversially declared that video games – particularly role-playing games and life-simulators like <em>The Sims</em>, contain narrative structures or invite the users to create them. She supported this idea in her article "Game Story to Cyberdrama" in which she argued that stories and games share two important structures: contest and puzzles. . . .</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Nonlinear narratives serve as the base of many interactive fictions. Sometimes used interchangeably with hypertext fiction, the reader or player plays a significant role in the creation of a unique narrative developed by the choices they make within the story-world. Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden is one of the first and most studied examples of hypertext fiction, featuring 1,000 lexias and 2,800 hyperlinks.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">In his book <em>Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature</em>, Espen Aarseth conceived the concept of cybertext, a subcategory of ergodic literature, to explain how the medium and mechanical organization of the text affects the reader's experience:</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">...when you read from a cybertext, you are constantly reminded of inaccessible strategies and paths not taken, voices not heard. Each decision will make some parts of the text more, and others less, accessible, and you may never know the exact results of your choices; that is, exactly what you missed.</p></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">The narrative structure or game-worlds of these cybertexts are compared to a labyrinth that invites the player, a term Aarseth deems more appropriate than the reader, to play, explore and discover paths within these texts.</p><p></p><p>I don't see anything here that eschews structure, or suggests that a single, free-standing assertion can constitute a narrative.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 9247327, member: 42582"] I'm not familiar with a notion of [I]narrative[/I] which makes free-standing assertions or descriptions count as narratives. I'm not an expert on "narratology", or structuralist poetics/semiotics more generally, but the notion of [I]structure[/I] is pretty key. A free-standing assertion or description doesn't constitute, or create, a narrative structure. I'm even less of an expert on video games and narrative, but there is some discussion of this to be found on the Wikepedia page on [I]narratology[/I] <[URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narratology[/URL]> (footnotes omitted): : [indent]Marie-Laure Ryan distinguishes between "a narrative" as an object that can be clearly defined and the quality of narrativity, which means "being able to inspire a narrative response”. This allows her to understand video games as possessing narrativity without necessarily being conventional narratives. Astrid Ensslin builds upon this, explaining that "games have the potential to evoke multiple, individualized narrative scripts through world-building, causal event design, character development and other elements that players interact with the intention to solve problems and make progress". . . . Murray argues that narrative structures such as the multi-narrative more accurately reflected "post-Einstein physics" and the new perceptions of time, process, and change, than the traditional linear narrative. The unique properties of computers are better-suited for expressing these "limitless, intersecting" stories or "cyberdramas." These cyberdramas differ from traditional forms of storytelling in that they invite the reader into the narrative experience through interactivity i.e. hypertext fiction and Web soap [I]The Spot[/I]. Murray also controversially declared that video games – particularly role-playing games and life-simulators like [I]The Sims[/I], contain narrative structures or invite the users to create them. She supported this idea in her article "Game Story to Cyberdrama" in which she argued that stories and games share two important structures: contest and puzzles. . . . Nonlinear narratives serve as the base of many interactive fictions. Sometimes used interchangeably with hypertext fiction, the reader or player plays a significant role in the creation of a unique narrative developed by the choices they make within the story-world. Stuart Moulthrop's Victory Garden is one of the first and most studied examples of hypertext fiction, featuring 1,000 lexias and 2,800 hyperlinks. In his book [I]Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature[/I], Espen Aarseth conceived the concept of cybertext, a subcategory of ergodic literature, to explain how the medium and mechanical organization of the text affects the reader's experience: [indent]...when you read from a cybertext, you are constantly reminded of inaccessible strategies and paths not taken, voices not heard. Each decision will make some parts of the text more, and others less, accessible, and you may never know the exact results of your choices; that is, exactly what you missed.[/indent] The narrative structure or game-worlds of these cybertexts are compared to a labyrinth that invites the player, a term Aarseth deems more appropriate than the reader, to play, explore and discover paths within these texts.[/indent] I don't see anything here that eschews structure, or suggests that a single, free-standing assertion can constitute a narrative. [/QUOTE]
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