Dhruin
SasqWatch
It's been a few years since we linked the collaborative writing blog , Grand Text Auto. This time they have a lengthy treatise on narrative in RPGs starting with a brief overview and history of the genre and moving in to a more technical structual look, discussing things like quest flags and their impact on narrative:
More information.Of course, with computer RPGs the situation is somewhat different. Many computer RPGs are single-player experiences. In these cases, if there is a group of characters played in the game, the same player controls them all. Or, if multiple players work together (as in massively multi-player online RPGs, such as World of Warcraft) the game is structured for players to communicate over a network, rather than face-to-face.3 Crucially, no player has the part of the game master. The execution of the rules, presentation of the fictional world, portrayal of NPCs, and shaping of the story is left to computational processes and data.
When brought to the computer, then, the core experience of story and character in RPGs shifts from collaborative performance (in the tabletop and live action variants) to digital media (especially for single-player games). In particular, two operational logics have come to prominence in the story and NPC presentations of computer RPGs. These are quest flags and dialogue trees.