Aligning story and gameplay through narrative goals

Abstract

There is consensus that the intersection of gameplay and story is complicated. Some scholars conclude that these elements are fundamentally at odds with one another in game and narrative design. In this paper, we discuss how their relationship is symbiotic—not antagonistic—by articulating a novel nexus between story and gameplay. We term this nexus a narrative goal, defined as a player interpretation of a ludological goal, which in turn is a condition a player is expected to meet to succeed at the game. We articulate this nexus as part of a novel framework centered on Goals, Feedback, and Interpretation (GFI), which is useful for characterizing uniquely narrative phenomena that arises as part of a designer’s effort to align story and gameplay. GFI complements the long-standing Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA) framework, and we evidence its utility by analyzing problems when trying to align story and gameplay, as well as offering perspectives on how to design them to achieve particular narrative effects. We believe that narrative goals and GFI have potential to clarify the narrative design process, and offer them as conceptual tools for researchers and practitioners to decompose, study, and design a broad class of games that are intended to elicit a sense of story.