META-LUDOLOGICAL NARRATIVE IN DIGITAL GAMES: A STUDY ON ALAN WAKE II

Year 2024, , 546 - 559, 01.07.2024

Kağan Depboylu

https://doi.org/10.7456/tojdac.1464059

Abstract

This study, examining the innovative perspectives and opportunities video games offer to narratology, particularly through the game Alan Wake II, scrutinizes the potential of digital games to develop new narrative forms and techniques beyond traditional narrative frameworks. Alan Wake II stands at the convergence of meta-fiction, meta-narrative, and meta-linear cinematic narration, adding new layers of meaning to the narrative through player interactions. It expands the boundaries of storytelling by employing methods such as creating stories within stories, transitioning between characters and fictional universes. This interactive storytelling grants players the freedom to explore different layers of the story while also allowing for deep inquiries into the structure of the narrative, fictionality, and reality. The layered structure of the narrative in Alan Wake II and the intertextual and intermedial integration of numerous story elements emphasize the meta-linear cinematic narrative, giving the player an active role in assembling the story. Through synthesizing traditional narrative methods with the techniques used in the analysis of digital games, this study opens a discussion on how video games can form a meta-ludological narrative form. It provides a comprehensive evaluation of the contributions of the structure formed by the combination of ludic and narrative elements to narratology, demonstrating how metaleptic transitions between different fictional planes on various layers can be integrated into gameplay.

Keywords

Narratology, Digital Games, Meta-narrative, Meta-ludological Narrative

DİJİTAL OYUNLARDA META-LUDOLOJİK ANLATI: ALAN WAKE II ÜZERİNE BİR İNCELEME

Abstract

Video oyunlarının anlatı bilimine sunduğu yenilikçi perspektifleri ve imkanları, özellikle Alan Wake II oyunu üzerinden inceleyen bu çalışma ile dijital oyunların geleneksel anlatı formlarının ötesine geçebilecek yeni anlatı biçimlerini ve teknikleri geliştirmekteki potansiyeli mercek altına alınmıştır. Alan Wake II, meta-kurgu, meta-anlatı ve meta-lineer sinematik anlatının kesiştiği noktada, oyuncuların hikâye üzerindeki etkileşimleri aracılığıyla anlatıya yeni anlam katmanlarının eklendiği bir yapı sunarken, hikâye içinde hikâye oluşturma, karakterler ve kurgusal evrenler arasında geçiş yapma gibi yöntemlerle anlatının sınırlarını genişletir. Bu etkileşimli hikâye anlatımı, oyunculara hikâyenin farklı katmanlarını keşfetme özgürlüğü verirken aynı zamanda anlatının yapısına, kurgusallığa ve gerçekliğe dair derin sorgulamalar yapma imkânı tanır. Alan Wake II'de anlatının katmanlı yapısı ve çok sayıda hikâye parçasının metinlerarası ve medyalararası entegrasyonu, meta-lineer sinematik anlatıyı vurgulayarak oyuncuya hikâyeyi bir araya getirme sürecinde aktif bir rol verir Bu çalışmayla geleneksel anlatı metotları ile dijital oyunların analizinde kullanılan yöntemlerin bir sentezi aracılığıyla, video oyunlarının meta-ludolojik anlatı biçimini nasıl oluşturabileceği tartışmaya açılmıştır. Oyunun ludik ve anlatısal öğelerinin birleşiminden oluşan yapının anlatı bilimine katkılarının kapsamlı bir değerlendirilmesi sunulurken, farklı katmanlarda yer alan kurgusal düzlemler arasındaki metaleptik geçişlerin oynanış ile bütünleştirilebileceği ortaya koyulmuştur.

Keywords

Naratoloji, Dijital Oyun, Meta-anlatı, Meta-Ludolojik Anlatı

References

• Aarseth, E. (1997). Cybertext: Perspectives on ergodic literature. The Johns Hopkins University Press Bhadury, P. Metafiction, narrative metalepsis, and new media forms in the Neverending Story and the Inkworld trilogy. The Lion and the Unicorn, 37(3), 301-326. 10.1353/uni.2013.0025
• Bostan, B. (2022). Dijital oyunlar ve interaktif anlatı. The Kitap.
• Brooks, B. (1999). Metalinear cinematic narrative: Theory, process, and tool [Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. MIT Libraries. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/9544?show=full
• Canet, F. (2014). Metacinema as cinematic practice: a proposal for classification. L’atalante, 18, 17-26. https://www.revistaatalante.com/index.php/atalante/article/download/239/184
• Carlquist, J. (2003). Playing the story: Computer games as a narrative genre. Human IT: Journal for Information Technology Studies as a Human Science, 6(3). 7-53. https://humanit.hb.se/article/view/144
• Cohn, D., & Gleich, L. S. (2012). Metalepsis and mise en abyme. Narrative, 20(1), 105-114. 10.1353/nar.2012.0003
• Dervişcemaloğlu, B. (2019). Metalepsis üzerine. Atatürk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Enstitüsü Dergisi, 66, 141-154. https://doi.org/10.14222/Turkiyat4160
• Escribano, M. (2018). Dalí and duchamp: self-reflection and the mother’s body. Avant-garde Studies. 3, 1-23. https://thedali.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Escribano_Final
• Fludernik, M. (2003). Scene shift, metalepsis, and the metaleptic mode. Style, 37(4), 382–400. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/style.37.4.382
• Frasca, G. (2003). Simulation versus narrative: Introduction to ludology. In M.J.P. Wolf, B. Perron (Eds.). The video game theory reader (pp. 221-235). Routledge.
• Fuchs, M. (2013). A horror story that came true: Metalepsis and the horrors of ontological uncertainty in alan wake. Monsters and the Monstrous, 3(1), 95-107. https://files.osf.io/v1/resources/5uybe/providers/osfstorage/5a0507746c613b0266abca38?action=download&direct&version=1#page=99
• Gennette, G. (1980). Narrative discourse: An essay in method. Cornell University Press.
• Ghazouani, A. E. (2012). How Meta-Films Can Serve Cinema. [Bachelor dissertation, Blekinge Institute of Technology School of Planning and Media Design]. Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A832836&dswid=-8142
• Hocking, C. (2007, October 07). Ludonarrative dissonance in bioshock [Blog yazısı]. https://clicknothing.typepad.com/click_nothing/2007/10/ludonarrative-d.html
• Jenkins, H. (2004). Game design as narrative architecture. Computer, 44(3), 118-130.
• Juul, J. (1998). A clash between game and narrative [Conference presentation]. Digital Arts and Culture conference, Bergen, https://www.jesperjuul.net/text/clash_between_game_and_narrative.html
• Khanh, N. P. (2020). Metafıction and droste effect in the novel “if on a wınter’s night a traveler” by italo calvino. UED Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education, 10(Special), 95-104. https://doi.org/10.47393/jshe.v10iSpecial.738
• King, G., & Krzywinska, T. (2002). Computer games / cinema / interfaces. F. Mäyrä içinde, Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference Proceedings (Cilt Vol. 1, s. 141-153). Tampere University Press. http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/computergames-cinema-interfaces/
• Klimmek, S. (2009). Metalepsis and its (anti-) illusionist effects in the arts, Media and Role-Playing Games. In W. Wolf, K. Bantleon, & J. Thoss (eds.), Metareference across media: theory and case studies (pp. 169-187). Rodopi.
• Koenitz, H. (2015). Towards a specific theory of interactive digital narrative. In H. Koenitz, G. Ferri, M. Haahr, D. Sezen, & T. İ. Sezen (Eds.) Interactive digital narrative (pp. 91-105). Routledge.
• Kokonis, M. (2014). I Intermediality between games and fiction: The “ludology vs. narratology” debate in computer game studies: A response to Gonzalo Frasca. Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies, 09, 171-188. 10.1515/ausfm-2015-0009
• Kovacs, A. B. (2007). Screening modernism european art cinema 1950-1980. The University of Chicago Press.
• Kukkonen, K. (2011). Metalepsis in popular culture: An introduction. In K. Kukkonen, & S. Klimek (Eds.), Metalepsis in popular culture (pp. 1-21). Walter de Gruyter.
• Lebowitz, J., & Klug, C. (2011). Interactive storytelling for video games: A player-centered approach to creating memorable characters and stories. Taylor & Franci
• Lindley, C. (2002). T The gameplay gestalt, narrative, and ınteractive storytelling. Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference, Tampere, Finland. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=8f3f8c907822e74d11610c1cf87b8ed4ff399881
• Martín-Núñez, M., & Navarro-Remesal, V. (2021). Ludonarrative complexity in video games: a double boomerang. Atalante. 2021;(31): 7-31. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marta-Martin-Nunez/publication/348931328_Ludonarrative_complexity_in_video_games_a_double_boomerang/links/6017e50b299bf1b33e3dbc4c/Ludonarrative-complexity-in-video-games-a-double-boomerang.pdf
• Maule, R. (2008). Beyond auteurism: new directions in authorial film practices in france, italy and spain since the 1980s. Intellect.
• Meskin, A., & Robson, J. (2010). Videogames and the moving image. Revue internationale de philosophie, 4, 547-564. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23960987.
• Millard, D. (2020). Games/hypertext. [Conference presentation abstract]. ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media. Orlando, United States.
• Mittell, J. (2006). Narrative complexity in contemprory american television. The velvet light trap, 58(1), 29-40.
• Munson, R. V. (2001). Telling wonders: ethnographic and political discourse in the work of herodotus. University of Michigan Press.
• Neumann, B., & Nünning, A. (2015). Metanarration and metafiction. In P. Hühn, J. C. Meister , J. Pier, & W. Schmid (Eds.), Handbook of Narratology (pp.204-211). De Gruyter.
• Ott, B., & Walter, C. (2000). Intertextuality: Interpretive practice and textual strategy. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 17(4), 429-446. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295030009388412
• Önal, H. (2010). Film eleştirisinde "kendini yansıtma" ve" meta-sinematik" anlatının evreleri. Kocaeli Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Araştırma Dergisi, 10, 44-61. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1721767
• Pier, J. (2016). Metalepsis. Handbook of Narratology, 1, 326-343.
• Ryan, M. (2006). Avatars of story. University of Minnesota Press.
• Ryan, M. L. (2005). Peeling the onion: Layers of ınteractivity in digital narrative texts [Blog Yazısı]. https://www.marilaur.info/onion.htm
• Ryan, R. M., Rigby, C. S., & Przybylski, A. (2006). The motivational pull of video games: A selfdetermination theory approach. Motivation and Emotion, 30, 344–360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9051-8
• Wolf, W. (2005). Metalepsis as a transgeneric and transmedial phenomenon. In J. C. Meister, T. Kindt, & W. Schernus (eds.), Narratology beyond literary criticism: mediality, disciplinarity (pp. 83-107). Walter de Gruyter.