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Analysis: Plotting, Emergent Narratives, and 'Story Spaces'
Notable bloggers and game designers Doug Church, Michael Samyn, and Steve Gaynor, have argued that traditional narrative modes of in-game storytelling need to be replaced with newer methods. Church (albeit back at GDC 2000!) argues that we should "abdicate authorship"++ altogether.
However, Gaynor and Samyn argue, in their more recent and suggestive articles, that video games are a medium uniquely able to create a new tablet for user-created content, termed "story space," and that the narratives that come from this will be "emergent."**+
This article will examine the assumptions and statements already made about these topics. Next week's article will conclude by exploring their flaws and strengths, and ultimately the potential, both good and bad, of their ideas. A final article will bring my discussion to its conclusion, using an older game to point the way forward for narrative in games.
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