Designing stories: practices of narrative in 3D computer games

Drawing on theories from game-, film-, and theatre studies, this paper explores two primary ways in which 3D computer games deal with stories. As evident in how these games are creatively designed and publically discussed, one of these approaches focuses on players as implied authors who guide heroes through challenging trials and tribulations. The other approach focuses on players as embodied participants in the story world; players become the hero and experience adventures of their own. This paper argues that in order to understand the differences between these two distinctive design practices it is necessary to critically review the representational logic of narrative as developed once in structuralist narratology and to develop an additional presentational logic, applicable to both marginal narrative practices of the past as well as mainstream practices of the present.