Video Games Are Better With Stories.
Video games that have a story line are better to play for two main reasons. The first reason is that stories give the game and the character you are playing meaning. The second reason is that games with narrative improve learning and different ways of thinking.
I have to disagree with Bogost argument that if you want a story it is much easier to watch television or read a book in the article “Video games are better without stories.” I do not believe that the reasoning for stories in most video games is to tell the story itself. I believe that the purpose of the story behind the game is to give you a better connection with your character and a purpose for fulfilling the task at hand. I’m may be a little biased because my favorite part of every game is the campaign or story mode. I have realized that this is not the same for majority of my friends as they begin playing online and most times don’t play the campaign all together unless their Wi-Fi is down. When I’m playing a game with a narrative I get attached to the players. If the player I am controlling dies in story mode, my heart starts racing and I feel a certain connection with that character to where I become emotional if they die. During online mode I could care less because I don’t have a connection with that player and I just try to get back in the game as quickly as possible. In Call of Duty story mode for example, you usually receive background information on the character and are able to listen and watch the different ways they interact with other characters in the game. This gives you a better sense of who you are as a player. In zombie mode, there isn’t any background information but you receive enough narrative through voice and small text in front of certain objects throughout play to where you know your objective is to kill all the zombies and escape the place you are currently at.
Game narrative can help contribute to learning in many ways. “Introduction: Networks of Gaming and Writing” by Eyman discusses how games with narrative have in game textual communication, static texts, and text-based communication amongst players contributes to learning through problem solving, role-playing, and persuasive appeals. Jill Morris discusses how she put this type of learning and other examples to the test with her college students in “Narrative Realities and Alternate Zombies.” Jill’s created a way to get her students engaged and to have fun while learning through a interactive game. While not convinced that it necessarily contributed to writing skills, it helped the students become more engaged with the topic at hand. This shows that narrative and character background contributed to the engagement of the students the same way I believe narrative and story in other games contributes to the fun and meaning. In the game Uncharted, you are faced with different puzzles, clues, and objectives during the game that really make you think outside the box. Without narrative, those puzzles and objectives would seem meaningless.
Bogost, I. (2017, April 25). Video Games Are Better Without Stories. Retrieved September 18, 2017, from
Morris, J. (2016). Narrative Realities and Alternate Zombies. In Play/Write: Digital Rhetoric, Writing, Games (pp. 255–268). Anderson, SC: Parlor Press.
Simons, Jan. “Game Studies.” Game Studies — Narrative, Games, and Theory, gamestudies.org/0701/articles/simons.
Eyman, D. (2016) Introduction: Networks of Gaming and Writing. In Play/Write: Digital Rhetoric, Writing, Games (pp. 3–17). Anderson, SC: Parlor Press.
