Quest Games as Post-Narrative Discourse.”

I had been looking forward to discussing this article in class, as I had a few things to say about it. The idea of whether videogames are a good medium for storytelling is one that I have debated every so often with other people, as I'm a big video gamer. I read this article with some curiosity, but at the end I was dissapointed with it, namely because of some of the choices the author makes.

To me, the most glaring thing about the article is the three games she chooses. She picks a shooting game, a real time strategy game, and a space combat game. The problem with all three games is that their genres aren't usually known for storytelling. That isn't to say that examples of good storytelling don't exist within each field, but they tend to be the norm rather than the exception.

I am for example, surprised that she didn't mention Myst at all. One of the highest selling computer games ever, Myst has attained mainstream attention, and is the type of game where the story and the puzzles are intrisincally tied to one another. Then there are the Final Fantasy series of games, a series that ever since it moved to the Playstation have become more and mroe interest with offeringa cinematic experience.

The author argues that a game life Half Life, one praised for its storytelling technique is in reality merely setting up set pieces that string the player along, and that if retold, the story would be dull. That doesn't strike me as true, because every story, whether written, played, or spoken about is edited in some way or another. Games then, are edited to show off the most exciting parts.

More importantly, this then takes in no consideration that the experience plays a large part of what a story is.