Of the key narrative elements discussed so far in the course (interactivity, level design/linearity, moral choice/non-linearity, character), which do you think is the most prominent, important or interesting in your chosen game?
When it comes to interactive narratives, what appeals to me the most is usually character development and how the story unfolds. Like Tim Schafer says: "You have to provide the character with motivation and you have to provide the player with motivation. Because the character will care about things that the player will not necessarily care about." (Tim Schafer; Interviewed at Game Developers Conference, March 7, 2003). A relatable hero and believable protagonists never fail to get my interest. However, I particularly favor anti-hero types of protagonists who aren't one-dimensional or cannot be categorized as plain "good" or plain "evil". Tales of epic and perfect heroes are great, but a relatable character burdened with flaws and weaknesses is even better in my opinion. This is why Bigby from The Wolf Among Us immediately drew me into the narrative, being the "Big Bad Wolf" from classic fairy tales as they were popularized by Disney's animated feature films. In this particular case, I do not consider Bigby as an avatar, but definitely a character. He is after all a recurrent persona that most people have been exposed to at some point during their childhood; he has a well-known tendency to represent the evil in fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs) and as a new player, you are in fact not wrong to assume that he is the "bad wolf" you are used to. But in The Wolf Among Us, Bigby is seen in a completely different light, being appointed the role of Sheriff of Fabletown and trying to free himself from his bad reputation and dark past. This pattern also applies to the non-playable characters, who have been relocated to a brand new environment in modern Brooklyn, holding dark secrets while Bigby tries to solve a case of serial murders. Gruesome violence isn't exactly what one would expect from fairy tale one-dimensional (good versus evil) characters, so when Telltale games translated the famous tales into a Film noir-like scenario, it did not fail to surprise me in the best way possible.
The branching narrative model applied to the game and the strong feeling of tailoring my own unique traversal of it according to the choices I made - or failed to make in time - increased my immersion and engagement with the characters. Letting some of them die when I could have prevented it, and being reminded of that fact after each episode was frustrating but captivated me even more. I particularly enjoyed how paced and balanced the narrative cut scenes and the interactive moments (when I had control over the events and choices) was, and always felt quite involved with the decision making because of it.
Lastly, The Wolf Among Us gave me the opportunity to explore my own morality, and ask myself where I would stand in situations that are quite unlikely to happen in real life. Ethics and morality go hand in hand with the character development in the game and it is made quite clear in the way that it hints how non-playable characters will remember your choices or how you let a character die. The moral involvement of the player makes The Wolf Among Us an eerie adventure, with a constant questioning of their values and with unsettling consequences.
As Shafer cites Sicart: " Sicart
points out that playing a game does not change the nature of
who we are as human beings, and that actions, even in a
virtual world, still carry implications (Sicart, 2009) [...] if players enter into a game as moral beings,
as ethical agents (Sicart, 2009), then what they do in the
game is meaningful.
".
