Science Fiction in an Interactive Medium
(06/09/2011) Whilst busy crawling through the many convenient air ducts
of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, obsessively hacking everyone's email account and occasionally stopping to give some hapless
security guard who no doubt hates his job a few broken limbs and a serious case
of concussion, I came to the conclusion that videogames may be the perfect
platform for science-fiction stories.
There are two main elements to science fiction, whether on
page or screen; the narrative, that
is, what the characters are doing, and the idea,
the special set of rules that make a specific sci-fi universe unique. Whether writing for page, screen or stage,
the art of writing good science fiction is in the balancing of these two
elements.
Focus too much on the narrative at the expense of the idea,
and your left with characters navigating a world that seems vague and badly
thought out. Focus too much on the idea,
and your left with a detailed and nuanced world populated by boring characters
doing nothing much at all. In my
experience with the genre, the balance of narrative and idea is one of the most
difficult aspects of writing science fiction.
Videogames circumvent
this issue of balance by allowing the player to control these elements, to
govern how much of the world’s lore they want to absorb. If they’re only interested in the drives of their
character and the immediate plot, then they can effectively ignore the world
around them and barrel through the main story.
Those of us more inclined to become immersed in a game’s fiction can
spent time pawing through every environment, constructing a great mental map of
the world the writers’ have built for us.
All the great science fiction games do this, from Deus Ex and Mass Effect through to Half
Life and Bioshock. All of these games build their fictional
world by hiding the details away, there to find for those that are willing to
search but of no crucial importance to those who would rather just reach the
next checkpoint.
By far and away my favourite part of Human Revolution is the way the writers have built their fiction, through
liberal dispersion of eBooks, pocket secretaries and emails, strewn throughout
the game world waiting to be uncovered by my inquisitive, level-5-lock-hacking
fingers.
But I also realise that many people’s favourite part of the
game will be a perfectly executed stealth assault, or conquering the next boss,
or fully upgrading their pistol. These
people won’t bother seeking out all that hidden information, beyond perhaps
promise of an achievement. What’s great
about the interactive format is that it’s entirely possible to cater to any and
all audiences.
When writing passive fiction, you’re always going to
alienate a section of the possible audience, however finely you strike the
balance between narrative and idea. I
can’t write a novel that is at the same time a great action novel and a studied
theory of a future society. I can choose
to do one or the other, or strike a compromise and land somewhere in between,
an exercise that will still alienate those geared heavily towards one
preference or the other.
It is possible for a game to be a great action game and a
great story game, however. A game writer
can create content that is both broad and deep, and leave it up the player how
they want to experience the story. It’s
a different approach from the games-as-cinema ideal that many modern
blockbusters ascribe to, also to the interactive narrative approach hailed by
games like Heavy Rain, and,
topically, Deus Ex. The story itself doesn’t have to be
interactive, but the way that it is told can be. The player decides how much of the story they’re
willing to absorb, and thus craft their own experience.
RPGs have been doing multi-level storytelling for years, but
the trait has now crossed into other genres; even mainstream heavyweights such
as Gears Of War and Halo feature optional diaries that fill
in the game’s underlying narrative. Portal’s
wall scrawls hint at a deeper plot untouched by GladOS’ narration, there for
those who are willing to speculate. A game
doesn’t have to be a ‘story game’ to be a solid work of science fiction, it
merely needs those two crucial elements, narrative and idea, and to allow the
player the freedom to explore both of these as they see fit.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have facilities to infiltrate, walls
to punch through and conspiracies to uncover.
And probably another hundred or so virtual eBooks to read.
