Roll for Initiative: interactive storytelling; ludology,and authorship

With the decline of the oral tradition we seem to have lost part of our culture. Folklore, tales of heroism and daring, and mythology have shaped civilisations and generations, but in this rapidly expanding age of technology and on-demand pleasure this has felled many of these narratives and traditions. It was in the 1970's the first attempts to reconnect were made by Dave Arneson and E. Gary Gygax developers of the role-playing format "Dungeons & Dragons" in 1974 and the game "Traveller", designed by Marc Miller and published by Game Designer's Workshop in 1977. Tabletop pen-and-paper role-playing games have their narrative constructed of moving parts, numbers and dice roles. Its narrative is given structure and value by the author but it is the game master who is the narrator and can influence events, it is the players who are the heroes and villains, and the dice decide the plot. At its heart the natural development of the Oulipian Gamebook or branching-path narratives into an interactive, player-authored medium . Video-games takes the concept of player authorship one step further allowing the player to pass narrative content entirely calling into question the validity of the idea of a writer. The narrative can become second place to mechanics, to the demographic, the budget, the marketing and the publisher. The author is becoming far removed from the tale that is told. Player-authorship is what can make or break a developer, studio or publisher and ultimately the writer must be constrained.

The rise in YouTube broadcasting and the genre of "Let's Plays" are now allowing audiences to digest the narrative being told by how a broadcaster, or personality portrays themselves. The interactive storytelling crossed with this medium means that it is they who decide what is told, and how. They not only play the game, they predominantly edit and produce their own content, filtering narrative and meaning. This potentially can  change sales and public opinion which may or may not be unfounded. This may not only impact the publisher or studio but individual team members, such as the writer. Conversely a game can generate communities based on a fictional diegesis. This is due to the fact that legends, myths and folklore root its people in culture and landscape. We can now travel where we like, when we like, home is where the GPS says it is. So a digital landscape, regardless of its realism could potentially ground individuals. Video-games trade on tradition, it is now exotic, marketable or in small communities. Post-Modern generations such as 'Y' and 'Z' have rapidly declining attention spans. Technology has become about convenience and instant feedback. You have seconds to make an impression. Books have turned into a digital slate, the newspaper is now an application, broadcasters are on demand and people are wirelessly connected globally, anywhere and instantaneous. The author resides either in the public eye or as a tiny piece of text under a blurred thumbnail of their novel amongst an infinite library. Can a focus on narrative and storytelling in video gaming help in part to preserve the writer and the ideas and imagery that come with them?

Along with new mediums to tell narrative an attempt to innovate and develop narrative has started to follow suit. The creations of new mythos, the lore to Generations 'X'' and 'Y'' are in the majority born from the screen. History is a mechanic, fantasy is a selling point, the hero's journey must be marketable. The author is bound by modernity. It however also seems that there is profit in these genres, publishers and game studios have produced numerous iterations of the same fictional diegesis predominantly fantasy or science fiction Such as the "Elder Scrolls" series by Bethesda or Bioware's "Mass Effect"; encompassing story-lines and worlds as large in breadth and depth as grand fantasy novels and ancient epics. These narratives & mechanic designs fuse together the goal states of a ludus game and the imaginative freedom of a paidia. There is a distinct rise in genres of fantasy and science fiction. The Telltale Studios could be considered the best examples of blending narrative focus, story and character development, imagery and meaning with game mechanics and artwork and sound production. The two series considered here are the adaptations of "The Walking Dead" [zombies] written by Robert Krikman, and "Fables" [fairy-tales] by Bill Willingham, the most notable point is that both of these are comic-books, a medium known for their, modern  innovative and creative story-telling. 

These are not role playing games but branching path narratives and mechanically a point-and-click adventure, with a heavy focus of character development and consequential actions that change the narrative fundamentally, customising the narrative experience to the player. In 2013/2014 it was announced that prolific English author, graphic novelist and screen writer Neil Gaiman had branched out into the industry with the game "Wayward Manor" developed by The Odd Gentlemen studios published by Moonshark. "To the Moon" is an independently developed game by writer, designer and composer Kan Gao has received critical acclaim with high review scores and awards praising its narrative design, dialogue and music. The writer in this case, is in the forefront of development, allowing creative freedom;  changing a way a narrative is told through the eyes of an author not an accountant. This total immersion can illicit emotional responses and this what makes an increasing number of video game narratives successful; the intent of the author, the imagery and meaning has been successfully translated while allowing it to feel natural and consequential to player action.

Branching narratives, table-top pen-and-paper gaming as well as that of video-gaming are arguably  the natural evolutions of the hero-centric journey in a legend mythos  narrative but are interactive narratives told through this new media enough to preserve the genre with all of its complex meanings? What values do these audiences hold to literature and narratives told in this way? Can such texts  of myths, legends and heroism even be created now and to what extent can they be considered zeitgeists? How much does the author have to sacrifice so that 'their' story can be told? Ultimately, is an 'author' even necessary?