Narrative and Mechanical Integration Playing with Interpersonal Conflicts in Life Is Strange

Abstract

This chapter engages in an in-depth case study of representations of mostly nonviolent and everyday interpersonal conflicts in the single player game Life Is Strange. The emphasis of the analysis is how interpersonal conflicts are made playable by the game mechanics, the underlying principles that organize players’ actions, the narrative drawn on in translating the mechanics to players, and the interlinkage between these two. Life Is Strange is a telling example of how the close relationship between game mechanics and narrative provides the player with alternative representations and experiences of interpersonal conflicts where you cannot win or lose and where ethical exploration and empathy are put center stage. The chapter provides examples of promising ways of framing, designing, and thus experiencing interpersonal conflicts in video game through narrative framing in combination with multiple choice and rewind game mechanics. It concludes by arguing that game can draw on the complexity of social life in order to create more ethically grounded and complex game experiences.