Review of Chapter 2 in Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames

Chapter 2 - The Basics of Narrative (Jacobs)

The second chapter of the book is written by Stephen Jacobs - an Associate Professor who teaches graduate-level courses on game history and writing at Rochester Institute of Technology. Jacobs’s chapter contains a short introduction to some of the history of storytelling (both classic and modern) using modern films and literature as examples. Read on below..

Jacobs begins the chapter at the very beginning of literary criticism by introducing some of the central concepts in Aristotle’s Poetics. The Freytagian Pyramid of course makes its debut as a depiction of Aristotle’s conception of “plot” … a familiar sight for the average high-school student.

Jacobs seems cognizant of this fact, however, and quickly moves on to discuss details of Joseph Campbell’s classic “Hero’s Journey Model” - an interpretation of storytelling that permeates the majority of game story models. Jacobs discusses Campbell’s model in some detail, examining the crucial stops along the way such as “the call to adventure” (when the Hero is summoned to help), “supernatural aid” (when the Hero receives aid from the gods), or when the Hero “approaches his inmost cave” and is faced by her/his greatest challenge (p. 29). To those unfamiliar with the Hero’s Journey model, Jacobs’s discussion is sufficiently enlightening and succinct and serves as a good starting point.

Jacobs then considers the familiar “Three Act Structure” formula used by Syd Field (p. 30). After discussing the bare necessities of the model, he is quick to move on - obviously underfed by the formulaic results that the structure provides. Of more value is the next section that discusses “Bending and Breaking Models” which provides the reader with examples of films and novels that break away from the usual fare (pp. 31-32).

Next, Jacobs takes on a quick’n'dirty plot structure analysis of Star Wars: A New Hope through the lenses of the aforementioned models. The two-page analysis should be enough to familiarize both new and rusty writers with the basic mechanics of story models. With his whirlwind tour of story structure complete, Jacobs continues his examination of Poetics with a discussion of “character” in narratives.

The character section begins with a discussion of how Aristotle conceived of characters - and how characters must be always written in relation to the audience. In that way, he shows that if the audience cannot empathize with the protagonist of a classic tragedy, the character’s “fall from grace” will not be accompanied by emotional impact in the audience (p. 35). Refreshingly, Jacobs takes the position that stories must at least include one dynamic character; plot events must show some sort of effect in the character to be believable. {2.1} With these tenets introduced, Jacobs unfolds a few central kinds of characters through an exploration of various character archetypes in Jung and Campbell.

Before Jacobs even begins discussing the various Jungian archetypes, he is careful to caution against the use of stock, canned, or stereotyped characters - while they may be immediately recognizable as ‘roles’ by the audience, they are not memorable. The writer’s job, Jacobs says, is to interpret archetypal characters in such a way that they remain memorable to the audience. He then goes on to describe several of the character archetypes, such as the “Threshold Guardian”, “Trickster”, “Herald” and “Shapeshifter” - and how modern films and novels interpret these kinds of characters.

Finally, Jacobs ends the chapter with a cursory discussion of the remaining concepts in Aristotle’s Poetics: Theme, Diction and Pattern, and Spectacle. The sections are covered hastily, and again use a few modern films, plays and novels to do most of the explanatory work. His discussion of “spectacle” may be of interest to some video game writers, for it specifies a logic to the development of stylistic interpretations of already-existing literature (p. 40). With this approach, a re-telling of the classic Shakespearean tragedies through interactive mediums is possible - for it specifies that a ‘tragedy’ story can remain intact even though we have changed the setting of the play {2.2}. The chapter ends on a rising note, as Jacobs claims that, “We cannot trust conventional models of plot or character because in an interactive media the lines may become immeasurably blurred”.

Conclusion
In review, Jacobs presented a scholarly-oriented chapter focused on describing some of the current literary models available for writers to make use of, bend, or break. While the chapter introduces concepts of character and plot already understood by many literary-minded folks, his descriptions and examples provide the reader with sensible, practical understandings of storytelling. While readers might already be familiar with some of the literary devices described in the chapter, Jacobs does a reasonably good job of showing how each of these devices can and should be broken in order to provide the audience with an interesting, memorable story. As a final note, however, I believe the chapter would have benefited from some real examples of modern video games that make use of some of these literary tools rather than relying so heavily upon films and novels for their description.

My Editorial Comments

2.1

Jacobs is not explicit about why it’s so important to write an empathizable character. In my view (and concordant with Aristotle’s Poetics I believe) is that empathized characters evoke a sense of identification with the audience. Thus, to identify or empathize with a character is to put yourself in their shoes, and to feel as they feel to some degree. What signifies trouble, I think, is when a book, film, or game with an obviously dynamic plot is laid against a static yet empathized character. What typically happens in this situation is that we begin with a sense of identification with the character, but quickly feel discord with the character when he/she refuses to change in the face of significant events. Games such as The Longest Journey and The Last Express present the protagonists “April Ryan” and “Robert Cath” (respectively) in such a way as to ensure that the audience empathizes with their plights, as well as show how the characters change in relation to their experiences of events.

2.2

An interesting question, worth discussing elsewhere, is in fact if stories can maintain their identity despite changes in not only setting, but plot, characters, or medium. This is a crucial question, I suspect, because computers as a medium are inherently different than plays or oral stories - and each medium offers its own enablements and constraints.