Wrapped in Plastic: An exploration of input and narrative working in harmony

The medium of video games has one massive advantage when attempting to explore compelling narratives which is that of input. Input drags audiences from passive observers into the role of an active participant. However, oftentimes games default to using the same mechanics and inputs borrowed from other genres, whereas if designers allow the design of input to inform the design of narrative and vice versa, truly compelling and holistic narratives can be created in the medium of video games. One design idea of Inconsequential decisions can be injected into games to achieve this idea. Inconsequential decisions when used in the context of input and narrative working together in harmony can provide extra narrative depth to a game without affecting the structure of the narrative.

Inconsequential decisions are choices made within a narrative that does not necessarily change the structure of the narrative; moreover it changes the way the player feels about the narrative. The action of committing to the decision even though it doesn't change how the narrative unfolds is the narrative tool that can better establish themes and can take a player from a passive observer to an active participant within the narrative.

Let me give you an example of this. This is the album twin fantasy by car seat headrest. I love this album for many reasons and could talk for hours about the different aspects of it. Don't even get me started on the differences between the 2011 version and the 2018 version. But what I want to share with you today is a specific vinyl print of the album. But before I can get to the vinyl I’ll have to give you some background on the narrative of the album. Twin fantasy is one of the 2 and half albums lead singer Will Toledo wrote about fumbling a relationship he was in. One of the key motifs through the album is that of the fantasy. Throughout the album the idea of the fantasy changes meaning, at the beginning it's the fantasy of being in a relationship with this person. Then changes to the fantasy of who this person is and could be, maybe if I get them to stop smoking and stop doing drugs they’ll be the person I fantasise them being. The fantasy changes a few more times leading to the final fantasy, which is the fantasy of the now past relationship. One of the iconic aspects of the album is the spoken word monologues at the end of a few key songs, which gives further insight on Toledo's thoughts on the certain points of the relationship that is represented in each song. The final monologue of the album has Toledo talking about the relationship and how it's more of a caricature of both himself, the other person and the relationship as a whole.

This is the end of the song, and it is just a song. This is a version of me and you that can exist outside of everything else, and if it is just a fantasy, then anything can happen from here. [...] These are only lyrics now. (Car Seat Headrest 2018)

The song ends after this with the repeating line “When I come back you’ll still be here” this can be interpreted a few different ways, but one way I like is that Toledo is now singing to the versions of himself, his partner and the relationship that exist within the album, he has become both artist and audience in this line acknowledging that he can come back to listen to the album and these versions of them will still be here. Now you all are probably sitting there going cool, he’s supposed to be talking about input and video games and old mate here has just blabbed on about an album something that inherently has no input on the side of the audience. Well although I would love to keep yapping about this album I do have a point i’m trying to make here. In the vinyl release of this album it has one key feature, a locked groove, this feature means that the last few seconds of the vinyl will loop forever.

This now puts the ownance of the fantasy on the listener, they are existing within the fantasy while listening to the album and now they have a decision to make, when is the listener ready to let the fantasy end. The vinyl won't end on its own like they usually do; the listener has to physically lift the needle themselves, and this is the input. The act of the listener having to lift the needle drags them out from being a passive observer into the role of being an active participant within the narrative. The action does not change the structure of the narrative, it doesn't matter if the listener lifts the needle after a minute or lifts it after an hour the narrative is the exact same. However, by making the listener choose when the fantasy ends for them changes the way that the listener feels about the narrative that has just occurred; they are not just listening to a fantasy, they are living within one while engrossed in the album.

From this we can see on a very basic level what 1 simple input can do to a narrative, and how the inconsequential decision works to enrich the narrative further. So now let's look at a game which I believe encapsulates inconsequential decisions and takes it a step further.

Before your Eyes is a 2020 game developed by Goodbyeworld games, in this game the player takes the role of a character that is dead and is having a life flashing before your eyes sequence. If you’ve heard about this game you’ve definitely heard about the unique way the game is controlled. The player takes on the role of Ben who is dead and they are living out his life through his eyes. The game uses the players webcam to track their eyes and when they blink the game reacts. After a moment in a scene a metronome appears on the bottom of the screen indicating to the player that when they next blink that scene will end and the next will begin. These jumps can be a few minutes to a few years in length. So at the start of the game you're living out your childhood which is many different scenes and the jumps are small. But then i'm sitting in class with my crush, i blink, i'm going to a piano audition, i blink, im in art school, i blink, im a successful artist, i blink, my mum calls to tell me she’s a little sick, I blink, and she's dead. At this point I started tearing up, making me blink more and blink past her funeral. The use of the blinking is not just a fun unique way to control a game but it feeds back into the themes of the narrative, the input is a motif, and the player is the one contributing that motif. I was dragged from being a passive observer into the role of an active participant within the game, just by blinking.  Again we can see the idea of inconsequential decisions as the narrative doesn't change when the player eventually blinks it just determines how much of it they see and need to fill in the blanks themselves. This input also helps establish the game's themes taking the blink and you'll miss it cliche literally.

This form of input also forces the players to think deeply about how they are interacting with the game, forces the player to be conscious of their blinking while also demanding their attention of the scene that's playing out because not only if you blink you’ll miss it but you have no time to reflect on it as if you do you’ll miss the new scene that's started playing. In his GDC talk Graham Parks describes the game as a constant state of losing against the game which forces the player to become invested into it “You can’t win a staring contest with a webcam”. Before Your Eyes beautifully combines the ideas within the game's narrative with how the player interacts with it not only creating an inconsequential decision for the player to experience and reflect deep on the ideas of the game but also has created a boutique mechanic that reflects themes of the game.

So I looked at these ideas of input and narrative from twin fantasy and before your eyes as a jumping off point and inspiration for my final game made for my studies at RMIT Wrapped in Plastic.

Wrapped in Plastic was created to explore these ideas of input driving player engagement with the narrative as well as the use of inconsequential decisions impacting how an audience engages with the narrative. The game exists as one conversation between the player character and the character of ‘Her’. The player is told that she will die tonight before the conversation starts. The conversation at first seems like normal party small talk with two people who are meeting for the first time. The narration through this scene implies that there could have been something different that the player character could have done that might have changed what happened that night. The player is able to scrub backwards through certain pieces of dialogue to change what the player character says leading to diverging dialogue. By allowing the player to control the flow of dialogue, as well as the player having to scrub back and find the different dialogue options themselves, gives more agency over this dialogue scene to the player than in traditional dialogue scenes. Although these branching narratives do not change the overall narrative structure other than additional dialogue content and a deeper understanding of the character the player is talking to. This was important when designing this feature as it ties into the themes of the game's narrative. By creating the system like this the project is able to convey the feeling of reliving events in one’s head. Reliving the conversation over and over again trying to figure out how to say something different so that the outcome would have been different. However the game does not allow this, what happens has happened the events can not be changed, “these are only lyrics now”

The project uses an unconventional input system for controlling the game, in which the player uses the mouse scroll wheel to scrub back and forth through the dialogue. For exhibition showings of the game it includes an alternative controller in the form of a record player which the player will spin to control the dialogue. By changing the way the player interacts with the dialogue system from the conventional system they embody the action the input is trying to simulate more. The player is no longer doing an arbitrary input like clicking or pushing a button to progress through the narrative, they are now making a dedicated and unique action to control the scene. The vinyl is also a motif within the game, representing the theme of Wrapped In Plastic. A vinyl comes wrapped in plastic when you buy it with a spiral pattern always leading to the centre, to the predetermined ending. What has happened is embedded in the wax of the vinyl, the grooves of the vinyl play out a past version of the characters and although you can try to change it, the needle moves ever closer to the centre and her death. By making the vinyl real and players have to interact with it in order to play, the game forces them in a very literal sense to interact with the game's motifs.

The project also utilises an inconsequential decision as the big finale of the game. In the final sequence of the game the player is told that they can stay in the scene as long as they like, as long as they keep scrolling/spinning the vinyl. The dialogue box then disappears and the player is left in the scene and they must keep scrolling to stay in the scene. After a moment of not scrolling the game quits itself. This ties into the themes explored in the narrative of the game. Throughout the game the player character is talking to a girl who will be murdered that night. The player is told this information in the first lines of narration at the start of the game. The player then progresses forward and backward through the dialogue trying to change how that night played out. However the girl understands what's going to happen in a meta way. Explaining to the audience, not the main character, that she needs to die for the story to exist and the actions the player has been making to change the events that happen are futile. She explains that what is important is the moment they exist in at the moment, and she has expected her death now it's time for the player to accept that as well. So the player may remain in the scene with no new dialogue as long as they like, but the player must make a conscious and continuous effort to stay there just sitting in this snapshot of this world. When the player is ready to let go of this world they can by stopping their input into the game. This scene gives the player room to sit within the world, with active yet minimal effort. It allows the player to reflect on the game and its narrative while still existing in it. It also allows the player to contemplate about the decision they are about to make, when to stop the game, when to let her die. It doesn’t matter how long the player decides to stay in that scene everything plays out the same way, but by giving the control of the when the game ends to the player it drags them out from being a passive observer within the narrative, they are forced to think about what they are doing when they stop playing forcing them to think about the life and death of her. The player stops spinning the vinyl, the player blinks, and the game is closed, she is dead.

Video games are able to make a deeper connection with audiences, most of the time this is by borrowing elements from other mediums. However when practitioners let the design of input be informed narrative and the design of narrative be informed by input, a holistic, deep and driven work can be created. This work drags audiences from being passive observers into the role of active participants. The use of the idea of inconsequential decisions is a non intrusive way to inject narrative with interactivity, by not changing the structure or sequence of a narrative, practitioners and take passive narratives and make deep connections between the audience and the themes and ideas that are explored within the narrative with simple inputs. Wrapped in Plastic is a key exploration in these ideas. By utilising inconsequential decisions and unique input crafted specifically for the game, Wrapped in Plastic creates a connection between the player and the narrative of the game truly unique to the medium of video games.