Socially Constructed Narratives in Warioware : Smooth Moves

1. Socially Constructed Narratives in Warioware: Smooth Moves

2. Types of Narrative in Computer Games • Embedded Narrative • The sorts of intrinsic stories that are a part of the game (e.g. the fight against the Locust & Lambent in GOW3) • Emergent Narrative • Stories that are not part of the main-arc, but that emerge as the result of game choices (e.g. side missions in GTA IV tell a story as well) • Socially Constructed Narrative • The narratives that emerge between players in real world social settings

3. Embedded Narrative in Warioware • Whilst eating alone one day, Wario’s food is stolen by a weird creature. • Wario chases the creature to the Temple of Form and finds the Form Baton • This enables a load of mini-games in Diamond City.

4. Narrative Theories • Apply the following narrative theories to the videos we are going to watch: • Propp’s Theory (hero, villain, princess, etc.) • Todorov’s Theory (equilibrium  disruption) • Claude Levi-Strass & Binary Opposition

5. Mona

6. Kat & Ana

7. SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED NARRATIVES WARNING • A lot of this stuff is really cutting edge • Your examiners will likely not have heard of some of these ideas • You cannot assume that they know what you are talking about • You must explain these ideas to your examiner before writing about them...

8. Bartle – Designing Virtual Worlds (2004) • “The avatar is a dramatically empty shell, being an instrumental vehicle for the player within the game world.” • As the game progresses, the performances of the player in any given situation contribute to the drama of the situation: the player is the one telling the narrative.

9. Lindley – Story and Narrative Structures in Computer Games (2005) • ‘The player is a joint reader/author at some levels of narrative structure .’ • The player plays an active part in telling the story of any given computer game. • The more players, the bigger and more diverse the story

10. Amor (2008) – In Interview with JesperJuul • ‘That [the social situation] has always been the key to Buzz!, what we call off-screen interaction... It’s all about, “How come you knew that question about Van Halen? I didn’t know you were a Van Halen fan...” I can’t ever hope to replicate that, but hopefully the people around your sofa can.’ • David Amor is a game developer • JesperJuul is the Visiting Assistant Professor of Arts at New York University Games Center

11. Summary • Bartle (2004) – avatars are empty vessels for the performances of players • Lindley (2005) – players create some of the narrative themselves • Amor (2008) – off-screen interaction is essential to the success of games like Buzz!

12. How do I use this information • There is much debate in computer games analysis about socially constructed narratives. Bartle (2004) and Lindley (2005) argue that the performances of players help to construct the narrative of games. David Amor (2008) actually relies upon what he calls ‘off-screen interaction’ to create the buzz in Buzz!

13. Socially Constructed Narrative in WSM • Think back to the play sessions where your group played Warioware: Smooth Moves • What sorts of narratives emerged? • Think about competition as well as support

14. The Final Analysis • How might you explain what is going on in this still in terms of the moment’s narrative? • What do moments like this in multiplayer add to the game that is absent from single player?