The Narrative Freedom of Video Games: Orwell, Half-Life and Bioshock

Big Brother is Watching - Half Life 2

Recently I returned to 'Half Life 2', a game I have played through many times to completion in which the protagonist from the original game finds himself taken out of stasis and placed several years into the future (having not aged) within City 17. The events of the original game have had far reaching consequences and humanity has been pushed to the brink by alien "benefactors". As players first gain control of the protagonist Gordon Freeman, the environment they find themselves within is strikingly reminiscent of George Orwell's '1984'. Players make their way through the station where citizens are dressed in a drab, navy attire, the face of the administrator looms over you through huge screens and citizens can be glimpsed within interrogation rooms down long bare corridors. 

Around this time I had also engaged with Orwell's book '1984' and it's filmic counterpart of the same name. Whilst it is more than fair to say that 'Half Life 2' walks a different path, comparisons can be made that suggest the two stories originate down similar roads (this is more than likely intentional). Maybe one day there will be a '1984' game where your character suffers from a varicose ulcer and drinks litres of alcohol with old men in dialogue driven mini games to reveal secrets of the past, but it is not this day comrade. Unless maybe it has already been released? No it couldn't possibly (double thought joke, stick with me guys, as you can tell I am a laugh). 

As I absorbed the narratives of revolution and corrupt power through a multitude of mediums, I began to consider some of the ways the medium of videogames may convey narrative differently to others. What processes are required of the player in their interpretation of the presented narrative?

Below are some photos that draw some similarities between the world created within 1984 and Half Life 2. 

In control

Half-Life's protagonist, Gordon Freeman, never speaks (as I stated within the last article that looked at Half Life 1). Because a character is not imposed, a personal journey is encouraged upon the player. In comparison to other mediums, videogames allow a sense of freedom through the active role the player possesses. In my previous experiences with Half Life 2 (this particular example being from 8 years ago), I came across a house that had the staircase blocked off. I used the environment around me to form a staircase and climb up to the second floor, genius, I thought. Whilst I had done this thinking the house would be empty, I instead heard the deformed growls of one of the alien/zombified enemies and bolted from the house. I have never returned since. This house was optional and I was free to explore it as I journeyed through this area of the game, just as I was free to ignore it. Yet there is a contradiction that is present within many games (as it is within Half Life 2) where despite such freedom, a specific route through the game must be taken to complete it. Whilst I had naively thought I had found an area that was safe, I quickly discovered that all things available to me had been pre-programmed. Freedom within games is suggestive, but not necessarily so. 

Film is a medium that shares many qualities with video games aesthetically, In terms of cinematics, action sequences and visual storytelling. What is different however is that film requires it's audience to suspend belief and be passive along a path that is absolutely unchanging, it does not require the same levels of - literal - participation that video games do. Example time. The other month I had bought 'Dark Souls 2' after I had come out of work, It had been a long day and as I played I quickly lost focus and fell asleep. Waking an hour or so later, I found my character awkwardly shuffling against a wall (we've all been there). What i'm trying to say is that although the controller had still been in my hand whilst I had been unconscious, I was still technically "in control". I only returned to the game after having had a sufficient amount of sleep (health and safety is important), I had not lost any story and I was ready to begin where I had left off.
'Dark Soul's 2' is a largely ambiguous game that withholds much of its back story/lore for the most part of the adventure. Players are instead required to both scrutinize and explore this land in hopes of finding some reason as to why they're there, they're basically stuck in a metaphor for real life. 

However, compare this with a moment within 'Half-Life 2' that shares the concept of exploration and interaction with the world rewarding the player. Whilst the aforementioned mute protagonist (Gordon Freeman) finds his way to the labs of an old ally, the player may direct Gordon over to a clipboard on a wall that holds some photographs which depict events that led to the state of the world as it currently is. Gordon remains silent, but the response given by the A.I character suggests that Gordon has reacted to this information in some form of shocked expression that the player is unable to see. Alternatively you can completely miss this extra information, and crowbar smiley faces into the wall whilst Eli finishes his dialogue and you are able to move on to the next area. A large part of gameplay and narrative within games often comes from the players own interrogation of the world around them. 

For some reason the telescreen in the living room was in an unusual position. Instead of being placed, as was normal, in the end wall, where it could command the whole room, it was in the longer wall, opposite the window.

George Orwell - 1984

Head in the Clouds - Bioshock Infinite

The video below, looks at the Artificial Intelligence of the supporting character Elizabeth within "Bioshock Infinite" that players spend a great deal of the games experience with. The video looks specifically at an early stage within the game where you find yourself washed up on a beach after taking a fall from a great height into the sea below. Whilst this area is not necessarily essential to the game, the developers describe this area as having taken the largest amount of time to complete. Around this seaside environment are various NPC's (non player characters) that Elizabeth is capable of interacting with in numerous ways, you are encouraged to walk around the beach and see what she will do next. This complex system that has been developed to demonstrate interactivity  allows the players to further immerse themselves within the role they play as they attempt to escort Elizabeth out of the city. Again they can alternatively choose to skim through this entire area and lose out on certain moments that are available, it is ultimately their decision. Input affects output. 

---

SPOILERS AHEAD Gameplay reinforcing narrative - Bioshock 

The first 'Bioshock' game shocked many players with the twist that appeared towards the end of the game. Players had expected to see the demise of Andrew Ryan (the founder of Rapture, a city turned dystopian underneath the sea) come about by their own doing. In a sense these players were correct, and Andrew Ryan's rule came to an end at the hands of the protagonist and of the player. What players did not expect was that Andrew Ryan revealed that a simple saying "would you kindly", an expression used by Atlas, the players confidant throughout the game had been more than just a repeated phrase. Instead "Would you kindly" was revealed to be a command that triggers a preconditioning that has been instilled within the protagonist before the events of the game. The protagonist is unable to recall having been born within the city itself, possessing false memories of a life outside. Instead the truth is that he has been trained as a sleeper agent in way that too affects the player from a narrative standpoint. The twist had outward reaching consequences that implicated the player themselves and whilst gamers are used to performing commands in order to progress, the developers of Bioshock approached this in a way that meant players too had been fooled by the true antagonist of the game. Players preconditioned functions of which they have performed so many times before within videogames led to them performing preconditioned actions within the story. As Andrew Ryan commands you to kill him he screams at the player "A man chooses, a slave obeys", causing them to consider the true nature of their role and how much freedom they actually have within a game. This is message was especially effective in Bioshock such as the player MUST perform certain actions if they wish to continue, otherwise, pretty dull game experience. 

A man chooses, a slave obeys.

The idea of freedom within games is similar in many ways to this illusion proposed by Andrew Ryan, which is also the sub title above. Within games, players are free to move around, explore and alter elements of the game around them, true. However, this idea of "freedom" is quelled fairly quickly when you begin to consider the programming and player progress required within the game begins. Each player might do certain things differently, like when I entered that house of nightmares in 'Half Life 2'. Other plays may not have that particular experience, and will have reached the end goals of the game in different ways, but all their actions lead to outcomes that have been predestined by the developers. 

This brings me back to '1984' and the Ministry of Truth's second slogan. 

Would You Kindly follow the Paused Thoughts twitter page!