Narrative Structure in Interactive Computer Games as Art

 
Problem statement: Computer games are one of the latest achievements of communication technology that has a new approach in narration. Participation and the possibility of influencing the user by selecting two or more characters in the story narrative, not only has not removed this field from the traditional period and the linear course of narration in games, but has entered a new era with the introduction of its interactive narratives. Interactive narratives in computer games fall under the artistic trend, which, along with the importance of the aesthetic aspects of the narrative, tries to provide the fields of interaction with its story elements by providing an effective role in the formation of the story of computer games. Interactivity is one of the reasons for the penetration, attractiveness and high sales of computer games, and they believe that the interactivity factor separates video and computer games from other media. The role of the audience in forming the narrative is very broad. The narrative structure is also important in the formation of the audience's interactive relationship with the games. The present research, while explaining the role of interaction and the importance of interactive narratives in the structure of computer games, introduces its main elements.
Research question: This research seeks the answer to the question of how to provide a model for interactive computer games to give users an interactive form.
Research method: This descriptive-analytical research is based on the perspective of Roland Barthes in discovering the narrative structure and the three main levels of functions, actions and narration in interactive computer games are analyzed in order to identify a model for making computer games and to identify the audience as the action of the narration and its guide should participate through the helpers. In order to achieve the goals of the research, one of the first interactive computer games named Mortal Kombat is analyzed. This game contains a series of narratives with a fighting genre, created in a fictional world by ancient gods in eighteen realms. In the video game industry of the 90s, it not only influenced the formation of interactive media, but also contributed to the innovation and evolution of the fighting genre with its high-quality story and cinematic modes.
The main plot is the fight in Mortal Kombat game, and in the form of branching, there are two sub-plots that are dependent on the main plot, making the core narrative of Mortal Kombat computer game. Based on Roland Barthes’ opinion, the core and catalyst functions, profile functions or actions, which are the prominent characters in each period of the game, and the informants, the effective place and time in the narrative flow of each successive period of the game, are specified in the above table. And users (players) before starting the game by selecting one of the characters of the story, start their performance and activities under the fight. The achievement of victory has the main function of freeing the territory, conquering or combining the territory and becoming a hero, and the achievement of defeat includes the main functions such as conquest and death. Catalyst functions, in some periods of the game, are formed around the main functions. The profiles refer to the active characters and informants to determine the time and place in the narrative of each game period.
Research results: The proposed structure for interactive computer games is a combination of pearl narrative, branching narrative and narrative structure from the perspective of Roland Barthes, which includes progress, main, mediating, indexing and informative functions. Pearl narrative is a linear narrative and has its own limitations. The possibility of interaction for the user is limited and allowed to step-by-step choices. In the branching narrative, the progressive and progressive steps during the game require the definition of the main and intermediate functions as a roadmap for the user to expand the level of his involvement and choices and enter the desired path and the narrative in it. As seen in the structural analysis of the Mortal Kombat computer game, the narrative process from the beginning of the first period to the eleventh period and the add-on package ends with the final choice and freedom of the user in selecting the final fate and deciding on the victory of Shang Song or the God of Fire. The proposed structure of a combination of the structure of interactive computer games is described below:




 The proposed structure of the interactive narrative of computer games;
 A combination of narratives of pearls, branching and structuralism of Roland Barthes.
 




 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In this structure, the stages of the computer game take place sequentially (A, B, C, etc.), in each stage one or more progress (P) can be defined, each progress includes several core functions. (f1, f2, and...) and users play by selecting actions (i) and informants (e), and core functions and then by selecting the function (catalyst) (C) that has core functions (f, f2 and ...) and by obtaining the result of victory (R) it goes to the next stage. Reaching to the last stage is selecting the final fate and key characters and finishing the game by the users. The structure can be changed according to the narratives of the game and have more branches, the stages of the game, achievements, nuclear and intermediate functions or the number of profiles and informants can increase or decrease. In general, it seems that the narrative infrastructure in interactive games combined with interactive narratives may follow such a structure, thus by creating more paths in the narration flow, it exposes the users to more possible challenges. It makes the game more exciting and, more importantly, it creates more interaction between the game narrative and its actors and users. By proposing a structural model for the analysis and optimization of computer games, while helping users, designers, and critics in this field, it is possible to express part of the necessary fields for a correct understanding with interactive narratives.