On Non-Linearity and Multiple Endings

In this article I will elaborate on Non-linearity and Multiple Endings in Video Games. The article was inspired by a discussion on the IGDA Forums which was recently my favorite place to lurk around. I hope you will enjoy it.


The Shortest Line Between Two Spots: a Curve?

Berthold Brecht says, "The shortest line that connects two spots is, if there is an obstacle inbetween, a curve." I believe that most games can be summarized like this. They are basically "stories" with one problem/conflict (spot A) that call for one truly desirable solution/ending (but this is an ending that we as players usually experience in the form of an anachronism: either success (spot B) or failure (spot B')). As a result of the reciprocal influencing of algorithmic procedures and player input, a variety of curves will emerge, which most of the time will result in an undesired B', until the player learns to withstand the challenges of the game dynamics and manages to reach the desired B.


The Curves of Linear Gameplay

The video game as a medium has a great advantage over Film and TV in that it allows the player to interact with the dynamics that carry the story from A to B'. You have algorithms that can endlessly reproduce the dynamics of a world (and the potential stories that could emerge in it), and you have human players with the desire to understand and achieve, and the ability to learn. So you don't really need to define every detail of how this interaction between human and machine takes place. You could just define the options that are provided and the overall processes that articulates the chosen options. Then, in the build-up of the game, you'd try your best to make the player adopt the problem (to achieve B) and let her work towards this solution by allowing her to discover the tools and methods to manipulate the dynamics of the game, meanwhile keeping her happy enough to repeatedly send herself through various A-->B' curves.

This type of interaction or storytelling is something computers and therefore video games are very good at, for Film and TV productions consist of "records of the past" and therefore are to a great extent constructs created through the one-time arrangement of recorded events, which after that are not really futher open to aesthetic or narrative manipulation; while on the other hand the algorithms that manage a game are rather "blueprints of a future" (roadmaps on how things would/could/should unfold, which are yet to be negotiated with the player), and in that sense they are almost predictable but not fully predetermined procedural systems with an agenda of their own, which are however open to manipulation through player choices articulated into this process as input, therefore all this being a reciprocal (or interactive) process of becoming.

Probably the line between A and B' is shortest when the player does not try to change his algorithmic fate: Then the game will straight go from A to B' (Just watch how blocks pile up in Tetris). All other situations mean that there is a curve, not a line.


Conclusion: Linearity as Controlled Freedom

Many players, designers and marketing departments call the various "curves" that emerge in a game "non-linear gameplay" and based on this they claim that their story is non-linear, which I think does not reflect the truth. In one of his articles on level design, Cliff Brezinski uses the words "controlled freedom", which I find a very good description: You seem to be free to make many curves, but then all you actually try to do is to connect A to B (the plot being a controlling force of how we bend the curve in most of our 'free' attempts.). We can compare such game stories to a maze with one entrance, and many forking paths that lead to or away from the only exit which we search for (meanwhile facing the danger to get lost on the way, so that we find ourselves frozen to death in the morning... yeah, yeah, The Shining ) They are linear stories in the sense that, there is only one truly desireable line to draw, that between A and B, despite the fact the we musn't follow it; and indeed, once we accept the role of the player, we most often find ourselves trying to draw the narrowest possible curve around the obstacle, from A to B, and in this our attempts we often end up in a B'.


Addendum:

Games like Tetris (and many of the old coin-op games) have no B at all, and rather follow a proverb of Samuel B'eckett: "You've lost. Good. Lose again, lose better." They are "A-->B' Only" games, but the B' can be converted into a B with the help of highscore lists or a hall of fame, which means that performance feedback is presented in the format of agon, so that the player still can compete with others or her past performances. Also each level that we finish in Tetris can be seen as a subgoal, meaning that we achieve a row of succesful A-->B curves, but not in an ultimate sense. We can win a lot of levels until we lose, which is quite different from losing directly. (And the reverse of many FPS type games were we lose, until we win, which is different from winning directly .


Was this article useful? Do you agree with the argument that many games are not truly non-linear, despite them having many gameplay "curves" to offer? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts with us.
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