![]() Throughout this thesis, I establish that the dynamics of the player-game relationship in narrative video games are not only informed by, but actively shape the player's engagement with an interactive narrative, drawing on a notion of agency as a communicative, interreactive process in which player and game affect each other reciprocally. This thesis also puts forward a comprehensive method encompassing gameplay analysis, autoethnographic research with a focus on the player-researcher perspective, and ethnographic research in the form of participant observation and semi-structured interviews to enable an in-depth analysis of the different aspects of the gaming experience, offering new ways to address the subjective and emotional dimensions of this experience. It addresses the role the different facets of the player-game relationship play in the player's choice-making processes, as well as the driving factors behind the player's choice-making behaviours in the context of the player's subjectivity, interpretation, and emotional engagement. Specifically, it rethinks the relationship between player and player-character in the context of player choice, emotion, and subjective experience. This thesis investigates the relationship between player and video game through player-character relationships, choice-making, and the player's emotional engagement. It is not about reading a story, it is about playing it. Throughout the article there are many examples from computer games which aim to give a nuanced understanding of computer games as narrative genre. ![]() In the article I discuss different non-linear story structures found in computer games and I try to show the narrative benefits and drawbacks with different structures. The term "branching storyline" is thus not easy to define. The storyline of a computer game is often a branching one, which complicates the game's ability to tell a compelling story in the way we are used to. But one main difference between games and other narrative genres concerns the audience's role in computer games the players have to interact with the story, something that challenges the linearity of the narrative structure. Many of the recent games follow a pattern that we are familiar with from movies and popular literature. ![]() I, myself, do not find it hard to see narrative structures in computer games. While discussing narrativity, game designers and game researchers often talk at cross-purposes. Do computer games tell stories or not? In this article I will try to focus on different views by discussing both the perspective of the gaming industry and the academic perspective. In the recent humanistic research concerning computer games there is an ongoing and lively discussion about the narrativity of computer games. ![]()
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