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helping him. In both D ishonored and In fa m o u s: Second Son, the gamer can
certainly choose a violent play-through. Yet both games encourage thought and
consideration before any lives are taken in-game by the player and these are
only two brief examples of games encouraging forethought before blindly
shooting.
Once the issue of violence can be set aside, narrative analysis becomes
the logical next iteration of the video game discussion both inside of and outside
of the academy. Although mainstream publications like Forbes and The New
York Times routinely include video game reviews for the AAA titles, the release
of BioShock Infinite (2013) heralded a more significant shift in the tone of these
reviews, one taking video game narratives seriously. A few academic journals
dedicated to the study of video games exist. However, the field of video game
studies proves vast, as video games are too varied in form and content to be
likened together under any one theory that will do all of them analytic justice.
This is also what makes the field so exciting.
The issue of immersion is one that often comes up in discussions about
gaming, yet the reasons for it prove complex “when discussing the appeal of
videogames” (Waggoner 33). Gamers play for different reasons and not all
might be looking for a deeper narrative, that is certain. Yet the enduring
popularity of gaming and the types of titles gaining critical attention speak to the
recognition that the immersive nature of these narratives adds depth to the
overall experience. The gamer has to manipulate the environment, or open the
locked door to the horror beyond it, or witness racism, or cruelty, or violence
against the innocent, often from a first-person perspective. Celestino Deleyto’s
statement “A film narrative does not need the existence of an explicit narrator”
(219) can easily be applied to video games, which vary in terms of point of
view. Film is static, however, in that its choices are already made. What is
foregrounded in a shot by the director is that way forever in the final artifact.
The gamer, however, can actively manipulate the game world, even sometimes
being able to choose the order in which major narrative points are encountered.
Ian Bogost argues, “game engines regulate individual videogames’
artistic, cultural, and narrative expression” (56); however, the ludological
aspects of gameplay are only one facet, and sometimes a minor one, depending
on the individual video game in question. Video games contain what Roland
Barthes describes as “cardinal functions” — interlocking plot events and
“catalysers,” complementary events (51). For example, in all of the BioShock
games, the background material, propaganda, found objects like audio
recordings, and encounters with non-player characters (NPCs) all provide the
catalysers critical to the full development of the cardinal functions. The very act
of playing a game gives it its meaning and this meaning is unique in that it may
not ever be the same, consistent experience for every gamer. Many games
feature what is called an “open world” environment, where gamers, while
ultimately following a main storyline, can make choices to take on side-quests
and explore the environment. In In fa m o u s: Second Son, the player can choose
to destroy surveillance cameras the government uses to surreptitiously spy on