Narrative and Games

 I think one thing I really like in games is a strong narrative. But tonight I was kind of thinking of how sometimes there is kind of a bit of conflict between the narrative and the more gamesy aspect of a game. What I mean is that sometimes I get hooked into the flow of the narrative and so the gamesy stuff will start to feel like it is interfering with the flow of the narrative, particularly if it stops me and I have to work on solving a problem.

But at the same time, when the gamesy aspect is too light or easy it can feel a little passive. Like I am playing along with the game rather than playing the game.

So there are two parts of me. One part kind of craves something that is more crunchy. This means like having more rules or systems or mechanics to master. The other part is the part that craves the narrative aspect.

But there is also kind of a laziness factor. If the crunchy part is too complicated or requires too much effort then I have tendency to just give up on learning it and so give up on the game to the extent it requires me to interact with those systems.

Part of it has to do with the somewhat disposable nature of games. There is part of me that feels like most of these various games I play will only be played one time if they are something like an RPG that is very story focused. And even with other kinds of games with greater replayability it can often seem like I will play it for a while and then move onto something else.

One attraction of a game like chess or go is that you know it has a great deal of depth, so the investment in the game seems worthwhile.

So for these reasons, it can seem a lot of times with games that it just doesn't feel super worth it to learn the mechanics and like master the builds because that knowledge of won't really be that useful when I move on to the next game.

But I feel like this is something I would like to change. This is because I really do feel intrigued by the crunchy part of games even though I am not very good at that stuff. One of the fascinations with a game like chess or go is the way players have mastered the technical apparatus of the games. I feel like I would like to get more comfortable learning these systems and how to do things with them. And I do think that there is some kind of transferable knowledge in these things. Basically, many of these mechanics do appear in many games. There may be variations but being familiar with the basics is transferable and will shed light on the ways that these mechanics are different.

I feel there are kind of two sides to this. One is my part in the sense that I feel like I need to make some effort to pay more attention to these systems. But I feel like part of it is the games. I feel like I need to be on the lookout for a game that kind of attracts me enough that it feels worth the effort of digging into.