| Junior's Academic Essays - Narratology
in the Zone: The World of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
12 September 2007
Narratology in the Zone: The World of S.T.A.L.K.ER.
Shadow of Chernobyl
This essay will serve to outline and investigate
the evolution of the First Person Shooter (hereafter FPS) using
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl (hereafter SSoC) from Ukraine
based GSC Game World by gauging the increasing complexity of narrative
in video games. Sturm sums up narratology, the nature of video games
as mediums for storytelling, as “visual storytelling, visual
“fictions” and that “dialogue and cinematic devices
convey key elements of story” (2007). This will put the game(s)
into a historical context, as part of the development of video games,
and as facilitators of progressive technologies across the mediascape.
The central focus of the game revolves around a
player-controlled character, known as “The Marked One”
who moves throughout landscape known as “the Zone”,
the result of a second explosion occurs at the Ukraine based Chernobyl
nuclear plant, setting off unexplained scientific anomalies. You
must discover the mystery behind the Zone, amongst other things.
Investigating such background stories to the game, which Steve Poole
refers to as “diachronic” (2000: 94), will serve to
better understand the notion of narrative structure and how these
are developed in the context of video games.
Wolf and Perron argue that:
“Narrative elements and conventions
taken from other media are still present to a great degree in
many games.” (2003: 11) It is “the first
[media] to combine real-time game play with navigable, onscreen
diegetic space.” (2003: 11)
Considering Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its
advances will prescribe to an increased complexity of the game world
environment, where activities outside the control of the player
serve to enhance and dynamically alter the game narrative and permit
independently occurring sub-plots within the game space.
Missions, acting as sub-narratives within the game,
will show how these constitute more than a simple success / failure
component in regards narratology suggesting advancements in video
game development.
Evolving aspects of design and technology will demonstrate
enhanced flexibility, incorporated into the game, having increased
impact on the narrative. This includes the stronger presence of
other game genre being implemented, particularly the adventure and
role-playing games (RPG).
Additionally will be shown how resource management
within the game acts as an agent for narratology, as opposed simply
part of ludology (gameplay). These elements combine to foster the
sense of story on several levels.
The backstory diachronic is of principle to creating
the setting of any game, no matter how simplistic. If one isn’t
written or otherwise stated literally then it is developed in the
players mind; an opposing force has taken over your base, a rival
business has infiltrated your corporation and so on. “Many
video games are narratives. They have a plot that takes place over
time, characters that interact, a setting, and some form of conflict.
[…] These stories range greatly in sophistication.”
(Shapiro et al. 2006: 275) In the video game therefore, this is
self imposed or provided in a similar nature to a book or film.
There is a link between the topic game and literature.
The Russian Science Fiction novel, Roadside
Picnic (Strugatsky 1977) features an alien race, which having
travelled to earth, simply dropped off artefacts and departed. Fortune
hunters and scientists go into what is known as the Zone to collect
up these artefacts for their mysterious properties.
However, “Unlike film viewers or book readers
who passively follow a narrative predetermined by a director or
an author, game players constantly interrupt and change the shape
of the narrative (if there is any), which has been preprogrammed
by game designers.” (Lee et al. 2006: 266) The transcending
of novel and computer game is exemplified by Juul’s mention
of Laurel’s proposal:
“Brenda Laurel (1986) has proposed a system
for generating well formed plots. In this system, the computer program
must take on the role of an author while the game progresses and
make sure that regardless of the player’s actions, every game
session becomes well formed.” (Juul 2005: 16)
In this respect the developers of SSoC have linked
the real world events of Chernobyl nuclear plant of 1986 and the
book Roadside Picnic to conceive a much more potent narrative. Some
elements are quite literal:
“A city worker came by with iodine tablets,
a prophylactic against radioactive iodine 131. Mom also gave Olesya
a shot of vodka, widely believed in Soviet lands to protect against
radiation.” (Stone 2006: 42)
This concept, the need for the player character
to eat and drink, and the threat of radiation encapsulate the real
world events of the Chernobyl disaster, defining story as game,
and game as story. Drinking vodka in SSoC alleviates the effects
of radiation. Additionally, the game title and the concept of stalkers
is taken from the real world events, further to creating atmosphere
and sense of risk and danger in a virtual world:
“The technical center, run by the Ukrainian
Academy of Sciences, is the home of the “stalkers”,
scientists who work in the sarcophagus, exposing themselves to high
levels of radiation as they monitor the state of the reactor fuel.”
(Stone 2006: 50)
The sarcophagus is the now fragile structure encasing
the reactor that exploded in April 1986. One stage of SSoC takes
place here. The terms for those who inhabit the most dangerous places
of both the factual world and that of the game are notably interchangeable.
As a player of SSoC you are immersed in this specific
aspect of history. Influences of both the aforementioned novel and
the real world events of Chernobyl present a strong case for narratology
in a game like SSoC.
Within the game world, and asides from the constant
narrative created as a result of the player’s actions, external
narratives also constantly play out in SSoC. This is as a result
of Artificial Intelligence (AI) programming. A player can watch
groups fight in the distance, mutant creatures scavenge for food
(take or hunt other stalkers), or be torn apart by radioactive anomalies.
These activities can impact the player and other Zone inhabitants
alike, when those narrative paths cross. The death of another (non-player)
character may mean a reward is no longer collectable, or certain
quests will no longer be available in the dynamic universe of the
game.
In this way the game environment allows a player
to be part of the world, to participate in it, well beyond the notion
of the “shoot-em up”. You, as the player, are the story,
while constructing an ongoing narrative. Artificial intelligence
likewise continuously constructs stories independent of the player’s.
While Klevjer remarks of the “linear restrictiveness”
of the FPS game (2003: 9), the marked difference with SSoC is its
break from this convention, merging the freedom and narrative scope
of role-playing games with the direct first person dimension of
the shooter. Reinforcing this argument, Lora Disney, product marketing
manager for the game, emphasises that “nothing is scripted
or linear” (2007: Bonus DVD).
Within the larger narrative, and sub-plots, and
autonomous events there are traditional goal-orientated tasks, which
motivate game activity.
Quests, or “missions”, which come out
of classic adventure games and conventional role-playing games (RPG),
consisting of these set goal-orientated objectives for the player
to achieve, are central to SSoC, which, for all intents and purposes
is an FPS. “The single-player experience […] is built
on the model of the journey, or more specifically the quest.”
(Klevjer 2003: 2) This suggests both the progression of narrative,
and objective, goal-orientated play. Success or failure produces
a fresh narratological condition for a player of SSoC. Failure does
not necessarily mean in-game death. Other routes can be taken other
missions (most often several are concurrently active for the player
to accomplish) can be taken up, or sought out. These activities
are central as narrative operators in SSoC, motivating the player
in a given direction, given them a sense of fulfilment and providing
multiple courses.
“Thinking of stories in the game, the Arena,
where you meet Arnie, next to the 100 Rads bar, this is more about
a mini-narrative. There’s nothing new in game-play, but it
allows you to gather additional cash from the gun-battles there.
Quests are definitely about stories in their own right. Without
them, the actual game-play becomes pointless, say, in repetitive
gun battles ” (Murphy 2007)
Looking at how these interweaving stories work in
SSoC presents a unique quality in narrative structure which avoids
the classic concept of it being “on rails” for the FPS
game, merging the aspects of the more open play of the role-playing,
adventure game. It produces a more “real” virtual world.
Enhancing the realism factor of the game narrative
by incorporating plausible real-world potential future events, in
the manner of a novelist, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six (itself
a Clancy novel) demonstrate how this narratological crossover operates.
In SSoC this works by reinforcing realistic notions of military
operations, lethality of combat, the real world Exclusion Zone,
with purely fictional elements of science fiction such as anomalies
and artefacts, which are central to the game’s premise. This
depth of detail incorporates resource management, as is typical
of role-playing games.
Within SSoC the game mechanics permits impact upon
narrative structure throughout the course of a game in regards the
results of combat, such as gunshot wounds, radiation, and a lack
of food and water. “It contains a full inventory much like
you would find in an RPG.” (Disney 2007: Bonus DVD)
Respectively, this involves the player considering the need to seek
first aid, avoid certain areas if they do not have the correct equipment
or supplies (such as radiation suits or intravenous drugs) or the
need to acquire food as the effects of starvation set in. The player
must, therefore, to remain alive, change course – a narrative
path – in order to remain active and “alive” in
the game.
These in-game behaviours and necessities are dictated
by narratives, which Lee (et al.) stipulates, “game players
can easily focus on their task at hand with the intuitive understanding
of the physical and social environments inside the game world. […]
Narratives create specific situations where appropriate actions
by game players are required to finish a story.” (Lee et al.
2006: 270)
This is constituted in both minor tasks necessary
for character survival, “If you don’t eat it will affect
your stamina” (Disney 2007: Bonus DVD) and major objectives
to allow a successful completion of any one of numerous missions,
or to end the game itself.
Particular missions are very difficult or impossible
without the application of particular weapons, equipment or tactics,
which therefore define the story path uniquely each time the game
is played. An in-game example is the eliminating of Duty Faction
snipers on behalf of Freedom requires a scoped rifle or a sniper
rifle for any reasonable chance of success. Without such a weapon
the player is thereby set on another narrative course either forgetting
the mission or acquiring the necessary equipment. A reward, asides
from cash, is alliance with the Freedom Faction, which has impact
on later play.
This alludes to activities such as trade, communication
and the correct application of equipment having function beyond
that of mere gameplay. “The genre [FPS] has matured; childish
play has become more firmly contained by a rationality that mimics
adult world.” (Klevjer 2003: 6) Klevjer considers the “hyper-informed
vision” of games using scopes, intelligence gathering devices
(2003: 7) – these tools enhance the narrative frame providing
increased information of the game world. The narrative experience
includes warnings and avoidance of potential threats, detecting
hazards (such as radiation), and anticipating routes – that
is, continuing the journey “story”. This maturity of
game environment, in-depth options of play, which effect storylines
and permit multiple endings and quests, have not been possible without
technological advancement.
Comments by Lee (et al.) on several different methods
of narrative driven games due to the advances of technology which
allow for greater depth and realism, including character-driven
games like Tomb Raider, background story-based games like Max Payne,
or film based games like The Matrix or The Lord of the Rings. (2006:
267) SSoC uses a duel approach as the player becomes a stalker in
the Zone (character based), and from the outset is challenged to
find someone known Strelok and must kill him. Additionally the world
is immersed in real world events of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster
as a backdrop (background based), further backed up by the fictional
elements of the novel Roadside Picnic. This ties the totality of
such games together and emphasises their place in the larger mediascape.
Exploring different aspects of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow
of Chernobyl has exposed various levels and elements of narratology
within the game. Unique features of the game such as artificial
intelligence define probable paths in which development of future
video games are likely to take. Traditional FPS games consist of
linear patterns of goal-orientated tasks, while SSoC permits the
achievement in a non-linear fashion, putting to the side the FPS
notion of progress through the game being “on rails”.
It has been demonstrated that resource management of this modern
FPS game attributes many features of the role-playing game. While
there are classic issues of success and failure based narrative
governed by objectives within any given game, this, and multiple
quest possibilities combine to allow for greater depth in regards
narrative flexibility.
While Poole argues that: “The diachronic story
of a video game, however complex, is merely an excuse for the meat,
the videogame action” (2000: 95) it is clear that game developers,
with more advanced technology available, are able to create complex
visionary worlds in which the gamer can inhabit. It is these worlds,
which “we can speak of a narrative turn after which it has
become common to see narrative as the primary way in which we make
sense of and the structure the world.” (Juul 2005: 15) The
increasing development in technology has permitted more complex
arrays of possibility within the game space universe and includes
the combination of previously separate genres. An examination of
SSoC has found the increasingly detailed game world allows for stories
to evolve even outside the scope of the player’s own activities,
thanks to artificial intelligence, yet they may converge dynamically,
therefore impacting the player’s activities at a later stage
of game play.
The real world events of the Chernobyl disaster
in April 1986, merged with the Russian science fiction novel, Roadside
Picnic, along with evolutionary steps made in game development technology
have created the basis for a complex narratively driven video game
in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl.
By Leon T. Harrison for MDIA 206, Victoria University,
Wellington
Bibliography
Juul, J. (2005) Half-Real: Video Games between
Real Rules and Fictional Worlds Massachusetts: The MIT Press
Klevjer, R. (2003) “Gladiator, worker, operative:
the hero of the first person shooter adventure.” Level
Up (CD-Rom appendices) Copier, M & Raessens, J. (eds.)
Utrecht: Utrecht University Press. pp. 67-86
Lee (et al.) (2006) “Narrative and Interactivity
in Computer Games” Playing Video Games: Motives, Responses,
and Consequences Vorderer, P. & Bryant J. (eds.) New Jersey
& London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates pp. 259-274
Poole, S. (2000) Trigger Happy: Videogames and
the Entertainment Revolution New York: Arcade
Shapiro (et al.) (2006) “Realism, Imagination,
and Narrative Video Games” Playing Video Games: Motives,
Responses, and Consequences Vorderer, P. & Bryant J. (eds.)
New Jersey & London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates pp. 275-290
Stone, R. (2006) “Inside Chernobyl”
National Geographic No.4 Vol. 206 pp. 32-53
Wolf, M & Perron, B. (eds.) (2003) The Video
Game Theory Reader New York & London: Routledge
Games
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl (2007)
GSC Game World
Disney, L. Bonus DVD.
Rainbow Six (1998) Redstorm Entertainment
Inc.
Websites
In relation to: Strugatsky, A & B. (1977) Roadside
Picnic
http://www.sfsite.com/11b/rp93.htm
[ Accessed 11 September 2007 ]
Primary Source - Interview
Interview with Kryton (Murphy, N.) player of SSoC
[ 09 September 2007 ]
Lectures
Sturm, D. (2007) Lecture, University of Victoria,
Wellington. Media 206
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