Screw Narrative Wrappers by Richard Dansky (Research)

Screw Narrative Wrappers - link

A blog post arguing against 'narrative wrapping', a development term which distances the narrative of a video game from its gameplay, like wrapping.

It was written by Richard Dansky, a former game designer and writer, and published originally on his Tumblr blog Dansky Macabre, June 2014.

Summary

• Dansky opens by expressing his hate for the term 'narrative wrapping', which treats the narrative of a video game as disposable and unimportant compared to the gameplay
• He believes that narrative and gameplay are a 'unified whole' and that we should have moved on from treating narrative as a separate entity
• Narrative provides "context to the player actions and create a satisfying arc to their progression"
• A game doesn't have to have a lot of narrative, but an appropriate amount, according to Dansky
• He explains that there are two types of narratives in video games: 

1. Explicit narrative - "the story of getting from point A to point B, and probably slaughtering a zillion hapless orcs/enemy soldiers/terrorists/space aliens/zombies/geometric shapes infused with dubstep along the way."
2. Implicit narrative - "the choice of setting, items, character design - the assets of the game tell a story, if only by their very existence."

• He says that narrative, therefore, is "baked in" and not just a wrapper
• You can divorce narrative elements from gameplay ('put it in the cut-scene') however
• But if narrative is treated as a wrapper, the point is missed and the game will be worse for it
• 'Narrative wrapping' damages narrative, games and the understanding of how narrative works in games

Key Quotes

"And so when we talk about the “narrative wrapper” of a game, we’re implicitly stating that the narrative is not of the game itself. It’s something we’re supposed to wrap around the gameplay to make it transportable and attractive..."

"...narrative and gameplay are part of a unified whole that, when combined with a player’s choices, creates the play experience."

"There’s also implicit narrative built into every game though the choice of setting, items, character design - the assets of the game tell a story, if only by their very existence."

"As soon as you decide what a game asset is, you’re implying the narrative that allows it to exist and function."

"...narrative is baked in, blood and marrow, to games."

"...when most people think of game narrative, they think of the explicit narrative - the story of getting from point A to point B, and probably slaughtering a zillion hapless orcs/enemy soldiers/terrorists/space aliens/zombies/geometric shapes...along the way." 

"...they’re shaped like something, they’re shooting something, and those choices frame a story before word one of any dialog or plot gets written."