Gaming as a Storytelling Platform

While reading through the Alexander chapters, I noticed he dedicated a section on Gaming as a storytelling medium. When thinking about how games can play a role in storytelling, I started thinking about the games I have played as a child and the games I continue to play as a young adult. In a way, I can see how some games I have played tell a story, but I really think that it depends on the type of game played. I’d like to break this down into two parts – that I have played that do have a story, and the ones that don’t have a story. Alexander mostly mentions computer games, but I would like to include some board games as well.

                Games that I have played that I believe tell stories include The Sims, Clue, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, and The Game of Life (although this one can go either way). The Sims is a computer game where you create people and play as them. You essentially live out their lives until they get old and pass away (or if you’re like me and create new people when you get bored with the others). This game has the ability to tell a different story each time you play, much like the board game Clue. Clue is a multiplayer board game where you have to solve a death and figure out who the killer is, what weapon they used, and what room they committed the murder in. This game tells a story in the sense of solving a crime, with basically a different ending each time you play. Carmen Sandiego is the same in a sense, another computer game (like Sims), however you are solving a crime and trying to figure out who did it – with a different ending each time. The Game of Life is a bit iffy when it comes to telling a story, but I still think it does. A bit like the sims, although you can’t create certain people as it is a board game. You play and while doing so you pick cards like what your house would look like, what job you have, etc.

                Games that I feel don’t include storylines are games like Scrabble, Sequence, Monopoly, and Scattergories. Scrabble you just lay out words and try to get the highest points. Sequence is a bit hard to describe, but it is more of a logical thinking game than a storytelling game. Monopoly is the type of game that could go on for hours and while it does seem like it could tell a story, it really doesn’t. Scattergories is actually one of my favorite games, because of how random it is. You can get really creative with that game, you have to come up with things that start with the same letter (in certain categories on a card) – and that is why you can’t tell a story with this game.

                Alexander talks about games that I have not played, including the World of Warcraft and Fallout games. I have never played these, so I don’t really know the gameplay or anything like that. However, I can see how these do tell a story. I believe that these games have certain storylines that the player follows. It is interesting to me that a game can actually tell a story though. I didn’t know when starting out with this class that there were so many storytelling platforms, so that is one of the main things that I have been the most interested in learning about.

Alexander, B. (2011). The New Digital Storytelling Creating Narratives with New Media. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.