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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
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
Rubart, Jessica
Yesilada, Yeliz
Spawforth, Callum
27f9ce92-43b1-47c1-ad80-ce2b7863823c
Millard, David
4f19bca5-80dc-4533-a101-89a5a0e3b372
Rubart, Jessica
Yesilada, Yeliz

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.

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multiplayer_cs_dem_NH2017 - Accepted Manuscript
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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
ORCID for Callum Spawforth: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1751-4820
ORCID for David Millard: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7512-2710

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 29 Sep 2017 16:31
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:00

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Contributors

Author: Callum Spawforth ORCID iD
Author: David Millard ORCID iD
Editor: Jessica Rubart
Editor: Yeliz Yesilada

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