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Three players

“In any fiction, no matter how ambitious its scope or profound its theme, there was only ever room for three players…”

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Once Upon a Time I Played a Game [WfG 2011]

With  Laura Packer

Descrip: What is the value of story? Why does the storyline of a game matter? Stories help us understand who we are and our place in the world. When we immerse ourselves in those stories by playing narrative games we become part of the storyline itself. Story itself is a kind of meta-game, where the teller is the game and audience the player, shifting the narrative with their response and their imagination.
We will look at the history of interactive storytelling, several different narrative forms, how game designers are shaping the stories of the future and why they should still care about the stories and techniques of the past.

Storytelling


Inherent to all humans
Conveys culture and history
Allows people to talk about tought stuff safely
Persuasive
Transfers knowledge more effectively than charts and slides
Builds community
Fosters new way of thinking
We all tell stories
Basic ingredients of narrative media:

Emotional hooks
plot
cultural element
characters
delivery system
structure

All narrative is interactive
Elements:

The creator
Audience
Story

relationship between performed story and audience can inform relationship between games and their audience.
The audience needs to have their own relationship and experience with their story.
Creator to Story is a close relationship.
In some cases the audience can have an impact on the story, sometimes they can have an impact on the …