You probably shouldn’t read this, at least not yet. Instead you should go to this link and download free mod The Stanley Parable. It’s for the Source Engine which can be downloaded free with Steam. 

Then you should play The Stanley Parable - and play it without reading anything else about it, and without watching the trailer. Completely blind if possible. Ok maybe just with this picture in mind:

The Stanley Parable is a narrative first person game. That’s it. Don’t be put off by not being very familiar with computer games or worried you’ll find it too difficult. You won’t. It’s about choices. And lots of other stuff but that doesn’t matter, because what does matter is the fact you’re not playing it yet. Go. Then come back.

I played The Stanley Parable last week and absolutely loved it. It so cleverly subverts the expectations you have of a computer game, and it’s striving towards a more narrative based conception of computer games, which I’m all for. This morning I came across a rather brilliant interview with Davey Wreden, the brains behind the mod. It’s really great and you should probably read the whole thing here.

One of the lines I really picked up on in the interview is concerns the notion that computer games are trying to imitate cinema, and in particular blockbuster cinema - Wreden responds that,

What I love is the fact that video games are so young, we still have so much to discover about what narrative in games is capable of. Big game publishers may be imitating cinema, cinema is far older and has been through its own set of creative revolutions. You could convince me that comparing games to cinema, games are still in the equivalent of cinema’s silent era—we have a long long way to go. There are still so many questions that we haven’t asked about video games, so much exploration that hasn’t been done.

Computer games occupy a weird position with regards to entertainment media. They are yet to be entirely embraced by popular opinion and are frequently treated as a convenient scapegoat for whenever anyone does anything wrong - as we saw most recently in comments surfacing during coverage of the U.K riots last week. This distrust towards computer games is slowly shifting however and their popularity is increasing. At the same time within the gaming community there are a lot of questions about where gaming is, or should be going. Technology is constantly improving and that allows developers to up the scale of the events within the game to cinematic levels. During a recent developer diary for Space Marine, one of the creators talked excitedly about how much like a blockbuster the game was, implying that the greatest achievement they had reached was the successful imitation of film. 

And indeed this is reflected in the Call of Duty franchise where the player acts as more of a witness to the constant explosions and gunfire, rather than an actual actor with influence over the events. And that’s what The Stanley Parable is trying to respond against - the prevalent mechanic that games don’t really allow you to meaningfully alter the confined narrative you are within. In The Stanley Parable you only walk, and press buttons. You can’t run, jump, shoot or anything else. And yet with such restricted interactions you are able to radically alter the progression of the narrative. It’s rare that you get that much freedom in computer games, the freedom, when you reach the point where a simple action will save the world, or save yourself, to instead choose the opposite action. 

There are numerous games that introduce small elements of choice, normally between good and evil, such as Mass Effect, or the choice between different endings, that while generating drastically different consequence within the game world, don’t actually change the game much at all. Think Dragon Age: Origins. It’s rare to be given such liberating choice from the very beginning to choose A or B and for that choice to completely change the whole narrative of the game. With Stanley, there are numerous play-throughs where you won’t ever encounter the cameras and the machine. Where your character is developed in completely different ways. I’ve never played anything before that so drastically alters our feelings towards, and understanding of, the central character.

Of course this is a small mod, and each playthrough is mere minutes in length - we’re not talking about a AAA title with 12+ hours gameplay - so there’s a lot more opportunity for experimentation. However it does raise some important questions, is it more worthwhile for computer game developers to be experimenting with different narrative techniques and unique gameplay mechanics, or is it better for them to pursue the ‘cinematic’ ideal and go for bigger, louder and more exciting games? 

I’ve loved games that have done no more than deliver an adrenaline rush and water-cooler moments, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is easily the game I’ve put more hours into than any other, but my reasons for playing that are superficial, it is to provide the momentary satisfaction of pure exhilaration. On the other hand, the games that I’ve really appreciated, the ones that inspire me to wax lyrical about what it all means, are those that do something more than that, the ones that make you think about something in an entirely new way, or the ones that offer you a believable glimpse at something you or I will never experience (the dystopian world in Half Life 2 feels incredibly, and frighteningly real). It’s the same as the debate about films - should they be art or entertainment. Philosophy or fun? Socially and culturally relevant or escapism?

The answer should of course be both, but there’s a danger that outside of the indie or modding community the reliance is too focused on adrenaline rather than intelligence. 

Note: Davey Wreden is 22 and this is his first game. Fuck.