It was interesting to me how the author approached the notion of agency in games or immersive environments; stating that the more realized these environments are, the “more active we want to be within [them]”. This made me think of the games I’ve played in my childhood vs. the games that I’ve played recently, and the ways in which they are different and similar. I remember that growing up, playing quest-oriented games such as Crash Bandicoot and fighting games such as Tekken, the purpose and orientation of these games were very clear – and although very enticing the games didn’t offer much agency beyond beating your opponent or moving on to the next level. However, as time passed and games became more active and immersive, the player could find themself situated in worlds where they are free to ignore the main quest for a while. This concept reminded me of the anime Sword Art Online; where players (after being trapped in a video game) decide to live exploring and settling in the territories within the environment. It’s fascinating to imagine that this (on some level) could be possible, and players can have completely different and lives and personas within these immersive environments.
The potential of the labyrinth as a participatory narrative form would seem to lie somewhere between the two, in stories that are goal driven enough to guide navigation but open-ended enough to allow free exploration and that display a satisfying dramatic structure no matter how the interactor chooses to traverse the space.
Janet Murray
Although most of immersive environments and games nowadays follow a linear trajectory, some give the player the impression that they have more agency in shaping their experience. Speaking to this, I found interesting points in Giving Shape to Anxiety, where Murray states that “The multithreaded web story achieves coherent dramatic form by shaping our terror into a pattern of exploration and discovery”. I feel like this is what attracts users to most modern RPGs and immersive environments – because beyond the main purpose of the narrative and what the player is meant to achieve, they are given the ability/agency to explore the terrain and immerse themselves further into the experience. This is seen in games like Legend of Zelda, Fallout and even Grand Theft Auto (GTA), where the player can walk around for as long as they want to just explore the environment. Notions of agency and ‘orienteering’ were definitely not on my mind when I would drive my car into the ocean in GTA, just to see if I would die.