Narratology Studies - Essay Example

?Perspectives: Narratological vs. Ludological Narratology studies narrative and the theories of narrative structure and the ways they affect our perception, as well as attention. This is applicable to any narrative, and in its classic studies, non-literary narratives were commonly taken up. The term "narratology" is most typically applied to literary theory and literary criticism. “This rather pretentious label refers to the structuralist study of narrative. The structuralist seeks to understand how recurrent elements, themes, and patterns yield a set of universals that determine the makeup of a story. The ultimate goal of such analysis is to move from a taxonomy of elements to an understanding of how these elements are arranged in actual narratives, fictional and nonfictional.” [Pradl 1984] A typical application of narratological methodologies would include sociolinguistic studies of storytelling and in conversation analysis or discourse analysis that deal with narratives arising in the course of spontaneous verbal interaction. The study of narrative is particularly important since our ordering of time and space in narrative forms constitutes one of the primary ways we construct meaning in general. The narratological approach is characterised by its overriding concern with narrative structure, and the close attention it pays to the effects that this structure has on the shaping and unfolding of narratives. Literary theory and narratology have also been very helpful to understand cybertexts and videogames. Narratology theories are used to bring the aspect of storytelling, a scenario, a scene, characters and a plot of which the user plays through and experiences and takes part in the story that unfolds. Rhetorically Narratological elements in games, especially in videogames, are somewhat makes them more stunning to public and to players. They somewhat brings the beauty inside the game. The players, sometimes, tend to spend more attention to the story of the game than to the gameplay or the environment of the game. Take along this RPG’s (role-playing games) for example, Star Wars the game, players tend to stay focused and tuned-in on the story than being focused on the interactivity of the game. In other words, they are having the willingness to complete the game mainly because they want to know what happens next in the story. They become eager to advance the game from one level to another for the next plot. Apparently, game designers tend to have their work based on books, epics, legends, myths, heroes, or even on films. By this, they attract players more. As far as Narratology is concerned and used in videogames and in cybertexts, here comes ludology - “the academic study of videogames” [Keats 2006]. Using narratological elements as framework in designing a game is indeed very useful, yet it cannot be the only framework to be applied. Ludology from the words ludus means game and logus study. It speaks of the gameplay of a game. It scrutinizes the interactivity of the game. The acts you will make in order to move inside the game, the graphics, the setting, colours, sizes and shapes, etc. It talks about how the game will appear on screen. Ludology is obviously widely used in games. It is where critiques site their comment. They would not say “This game sucks. It has a vague story.” The ludology perspective is useful and can stand alone than narratology is. It directly applies to some games. For example players do not play tetris for a story. They would not bother asking “Where is entertainment here? Where is the story?” Also in popular games like Mario by Nintendo are better suited as a game and criticised on its gameplay and graphics rather than on the story. Most players tend to play a Mario game not to see if Mario meets Princess Peach but for each level’s design and other gameplay elements that make the game more exciting. Narratology and ludology are being opposed by most. However, these two adjacent and independent perspectives must be clearly understood to arrive on to a bigger success for a better game design. Though these two suggests different perspectives, they may be fused to work together as one stunning approach in making game designs, like as they were used on several videogames today. A game’s good plot goes as acts or chapters where players are motivated to play, like in the game Max Payne by Remedy Entertainment, where the story is told in medias res and consists of three volumes: "The American Dream", "A Cold Day in Hell", and "A Bit Closer to Heaven". The game is provided with graphic novel panels that are used in place of cut-scenes in narrating the story of the game, by this, players are not just playing but reading and following the graphic novel that drives the story of the game. Along with this, Max Payne has a terrific gameplay. It has been provided with great ludology. It is a third-person shooter in which the player assumes the role of its titular character, Max Payne. Almost all the gameplay involves bullet time-based gun-fights and levels are generally straightforward, occasionally incorporating platforming and puzzle-solving elements. The game's storyline is advanced by the player following Max's internal monologue as he iterates what his next steps should be. Several of the game's levels involve surrealistic-symbolic nightmares and drug-related hallucinations of Payne. Max Payne revolves around bullet time, a form of slow motion — when triggered, the passage of time is slowed down to such extent that the movements of bullets can be seen by the naked eye and enables Max to perform special moves. As a conclusion narratology and ludology could be fused together into a bigger thing to be used in making a good videogame. However, there are situations where ludology alone is used along the framework of the game. Quake III Arena of ID Software for example uses ludology alone. Unlike its predecessors, Quake III Arena does not have a plot-based single player campaign. Instead, the player progresses through tiers of maps, combating different computer controlled players (known as bots) that increase in difficulty. As well as tougher opponents the fights take place in more complex arenas as the game progresses. Perspectives like this had focused entirely on the gameplay of the game. It gone purely in terms of interactivity and graphics that players may encounter in playing. Though no narratology perspectives were used, the game developers still brought a flawless game through optimal usage of ludological elements and its perspectives. As Cincinnati Enquirer commented “QIII's smooth 360-degree graphics and chilling sound effects succeed in completely immersing the player in its bizarre kill-or-be-killed world.” But one game designer claimed: “There's a conflict between interactivity and storytelling: Most people imagine there's a spectrum between conventional written stories on one side and total interactivity on the other. But I believe that what you really have are two safe havens separated by a pit of hell that can absorb endless amounts of time, skill, and resources.” [Freitag] As years gone by, narratology heavily influenced early learnings on videogames and so as on the development of ludology. Narratology served as a lens to see the future of early videogames and ludology among them. It served as an important part of understanding games. But as we lay it along with literature, here comes the disadvantage of the use of narratological elements in videogames. Narratology now bows to ludology. Narratological perspectives and elements imply stories. Stories are narratives. And narratives are something that is done in one course, something that will end. Here we can see the negative side of narratology on videogames, its literary side. Consider a game with a story, Star Wars the game for example, you would not play it again once you have completed it. It is just like a story in a book, when you are finished reading the story practically you would not read it again and again once the story is over. Narratology rests upon certain basic distinctions between what is narrated, the events, characters, and settings of a story, and how it is narrated. Different narratological approaches pursue each of these questions. Narratology depends on its literary aspect as the impacts were to rely on its plot and the way it was delivered or narrated. In videogames, when there is less ludological perspective used the game may seem boring. Players seemed to be more like just reading a story in a book and not playing a videogame. Now the point is, the more you use narratological perspectives on making a structural framework of a videogame the more you need to use ludological ones too. Ludology now takes a shot. Ludological perspectives, when utilised on making a structural framework of a videogame, provides the players something to play again, something they would strive to be better at, something they would do repeatedly to gain contentment or satisfaction upon gaming. Consider Quake III Arena and other videogames of the like. Even when you play the videogame whole day, you would still have the eagerness to play it again and again. It is because there is no end to it. You kill opponents to win a single game, unlike the narratological perspectives there is no story that you are to tune-in and ends. It is the best part of ludology, it brings up more excitement and better attention from the players. As videogames arises and evolves from time to time, one question is otherwise thrown: “Is one more important than the other?” We could further agree to the idea that we could consider that the narrative perspectives within a game, especially in action games, are clearly unimportant. They were just used for selling the videogames. Just for giving video gamers a way to refer to them. “…the fundamental qualities that make a good game have remained unchanged and elusive. Consumers still flock to buy original, addictive, and fun games, leaving many flashy products with million-dollar budgets languishing in the $9.99 bin. These costly failures demonstrate that the consumer does not desire a cinematic experience, but rather a quality gaming experience.” [Meier] Despite some theories and facts by ludologists, narratologistic videogame framework still exists. Narratologistic game designers denotes the balance of using both ludological and narratological elements on making a structural framework of videogames. “The academic debate, therefore, merely recapitulates a debate game developers themselves have been having essentially forever--but in the context of the academy, it gains an ideological hue it lacks among game developers. That is, at its most extreme, the stereotype is that it's a struggle between those who view games simply as an alternative form of story-telling media, and those who maintain that "narratologists" are essentially scholars from other media attempting a colonial grab, wishing to annex game studies to their own discipline, and that the brave, few ludologists who understand games as formal systems must fight to the death to insist on the primacy of rules, structure, and interaction” [Costikyan 2005]. Though many would say that ludology plays a bigger role than narratology, let us not forget that these two are both independent perspectives with great effects on gaming industry and on understanding and studying cultural games and videogames. Ludology provides consistency and detail to a story. Narratology provides meaning to the structures and the characters. A game designer should take these two into accounts if he were to build something to be called a “game”. Konzack, L., 2007. 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