Q9: Who is right? Eskelinen or Jenkins?

Personally, I feel that Eskelinen may have interpreted Jenkins’ intentions inaccurately because it is clear that he downplays neither the importance of sjuzet and fabula nor that of the distinction between games and narratives. In fact, his description of embedded narratives, Jenkins describes how the use of the game-specific element of freedom of exploration within a defined space can be employed towards the discovery of the sjuzet leading to the construction of the fabula.

Eskelinen, however, has a valid point in suggesting that ludology should not be centred entirely around narratives because gameplayers do not play games solely for the sake of narratives. Personally, I prefer racing games for the bite-sized pieces of action that give me that bit of an emotional ‘high’ within a short period of time so that my life does not get too disrupted by the game that I have little time for anything else (like writing this blog entry).

Perhaps, this also explains the proliferation of flash game websites featuring short games with relatively simple gameplay. The emphasis of these games is in the attraction offered by the process of the gameplay and in no way would be able to sustain the attention of gamers for more than a short while, which might just suit the interests of the players of these games (think office workers).

Despite these claims, it is still hard to disregard the importance of narratives in games because if we look merely at game types, there aren’t exactly too many genres that we can choose from. What drives gamers to purchase Half-life and Counter-strike and even though they already own half a dozen FPS games is more than just the slight variations in the gameplay itself. What attracts them to the new games is the different narrative that provides the framework for the new game. When the same type of gameplay is framed by different narratives, they take on different meanings and it is this new type of meaning that some gamers seek. In a way, it is much like Commedia Dell’arte players who are highly familiar with the gameplay but continue to play for the sake of seeking different narratives.

To sum it all up, it may not be too bad a thing that ludology is taking leaves out of narrative theory books at this early stage of its development. Just as game designers who make use of cut-scenes to tell their story have not fully realized the full potential of spatial exploration in story-telling, ludologists may not have sufficiently developed their ideas and concepts to make a complete break from the established theories of the narrative scholars. Narrative theories would thus provide a good basis from which ludology can grow and progress.