Multiplayer games as a template for multiplayer narratives: a case study with Dark Souls
Multiplayer games as a template for multiplayer narratives: a case study with Dark Souls
Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) is an increasingly popular field, with a number of novel systems emerging in the last few years. However, these systems have typically focused on narratives involving only a single person. In contrast, multiplayer video games are a common and popular form of entertainment. In this paper we ask whether the way in which these works might inspire a new generation of multi-player narratives.
In particular we look at the multiplayer video game "Dark Souls" and consider the goals and inter-player interactions present within the game. We then reimagine what these might look like as multi-player narratives, and demonstrate how they might be realised with a sculptural hypertext approach. We conclude that even within a single game there are a number of rich possibilities demonstrated, from asynchronous indirect examples where the players enrich each others worlds and exchange information, to synchronous direct examples where players have direct influence over the choices of other players, and thus the outcomes of their stories.
interative storytelling, multiplayer, player interactions, narrative, games
CEUR Workshop Proceedings
Spawforth, Callum
27f9ce92-43b1-47c1-ad80-ce2b7863823c
Millard, David
4f19bca5-80dc-4533-a101-89a5a0e3b372
8 September 2017
Spawforth, Callum
27f9ce92-43b1-47c1-ad80-ce2b7863823c
Millard, David
4f19bca5-80dc-4533-a101-89a5a0e3b372
Spawforth, Callum and Millard, David
(2017)
Multiplayer games as a template for multiplayer narratives: a case study with Dark Souls.
In,
Rubart, Jessica and Yesilada, Yeliz
(eds.)
Workshops Proceedings and Tutorials of the 28th ACM Conference of Hypertext and Social Media (HT 2017), Prague, Czech Republic, July 4-7, 2017.
(CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 1914)
CEUR Workshop Proceedings.
Record type:
Book Section
Abstract
Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) is an increasingly popular field, with a number of novel systems emerging in the last few years. However, these systems have typically focused on narratives involving only a single person. In contrast, multiplayer video games are a common and popular form of entertainment. In this paper we ask whether the way in which these works might inspire a new generation of multi-player narratives.
In particular we look at the multiplayer video game "Dark Souls" and consider the goals and inter-player interactions present within the game. We then reimagine what these might look like as multi-player narratives, and demonstrate how they might be realised with a sculptural hypertext approach. We conclude that even within a single game there are a number of rich possibilities demonstrated, from asynchronous indirect examples where the players enrich each others worlds and exchange information, to synchronous direct examples where players have direct influence over the choices of other players, and thus the outcomes of their stories.
Text
multiplayer_cs_dem_NH2017
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Published date: 8 September 2017
Keywords:
interative storytelling, multiplayer, player interactions, narrative, games
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 414444
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/414444
PURE UUID: 4bab3b7a-18ce-4cc0-acc7-2cb558106248
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 29 Sep 2017 16:31
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:00
Export record
Contributors
Author:
Callum Spawforth
Author:
David Millard
Editor:
Jessica Rubart
Editor:
Yeliz Yesilada
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics