"Narrative on a Small Screen: The Concept of Diegesis in Video Games"
Presentation at 2013 Literature/Film Association Conference
In classical literary study, the word “diegesis” is used to designate a form of storytelling that recounts events, rather than enacting them directly. In film studies, the term has taken on a slightly different valence, referring to the “story-world” of the film. Video games depart from both of these uses. In relation to the first, classical use of the term, video games typically do not recount events; rather, the whole point is for players to experience events directly and, in fact, to determine the outcome of events through their choices and actions as a player. As Alexander Galloway argues in Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture, “If photographs are images, and films are moving images, then video games are actions” (2). In relation to the second usage of “diegesis” from film studies, video games also contain “story-worlds,” but they entail far more regular interaction with the non-diegetic (menus, load screens, inventories, respawns, etc.) than a viewer of a film (who would probably only experience non-diegetic credit sequences and music). The gamer must constantly switch back and forth between a diegetic world (the events of the story, such as there is one) and the nondiegetic pressing of buttons, scrolling through menus, and sorting quantified information about the game-world (such as health points, ammo, etc.)
In this presentation, I will make two related arguments. First, following Henry Jenkins’ conception of the “embedded narratives” of video games, I will argue that exploring the story-world spatially is a crucial part of most video games. This movement through space becomes more important than the plot itself, demonstrating how narrative in video games becomes more dispersive and experiential, particularly in games with large diegetic worlds, like Fallout and World of Warcraft. Secondly, video games tend to break down the boundaries between the diegetic and the non-diegetic (as it is understood in film studies). Whereas in a film, diegetic and non-diegetic are kept separate (with the exclusion of the occasional piece of music that seems non-diegetic but is revealed to be diegetic—on the radio, for instance), in video games, non-diegetic material is often laid over, interspersed with, or an integral part of the story-world. Looking at video games can, retrospectively, allow us to appreciate the importance of spatial navigation and the permeability between diegetic and non-diegetic in film and literature.
Works Cited
Galloway, Alexander. Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: U. of Minnesota Press, 2006. Print.
Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” In First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Eds. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004. 118-30. Print.
In classical literary study, the word “diegesis” is used to designate a form of storytelling that recounts events, rather than enacting them directly. In film studies, the term has taken on a slightly different valence, referring to the “story-world” of the film. Video games depart from both of these uses. In relation to the first, classical use of the term, video games typically do not recount events; rather, the whole point is for players to experience events directly and, in fact, to determine the outcome of events through their choices and actions as a player. As Alexander Galloway argues in Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture, “If photographs are images, and films are moving images, then video games are actions” (2). In relation to the second usage of “diegesis” from film studies, video games also contain “story-worlds,” but they entail far more regular interaction with the non-diegetic (menus, load screens, inventories, respawns, etc.) than a viewer of a film (who would probably only experience non-diegetic credit sequences and music). The gamer must constantly switch back and forth between a diegetic world (the events of the story, such as there is one) and the nondiegetic pressing of buttons, scrolling through menus, and sorting quantified information about the game-world (such as health points, ammo, etc.)
In this presentation, I will make two related arguments. First, following Henry Jenkins’ conception of the “embedded narratives” of video games, I will argue that exploring the story-world spatially is a crucial part of most video games. This movement through space becomes more important than the plot itself, demonstrating how narrative in video games becomes more dispersive and experiential, particularly in games with large diegetic worlds, like Fallout and World of Warcraft. Secondly, video games tend to break down the boundaries between the diegetic and the non-diegetic (as it is understood in film studies). Whereas in a film, diegetic and non-diegetic are kept separate (with the exclusion of the occasional piece of music that seems non-diegetic but is revealed to be diegetic—on the radio, for instance), in video games, non-diegetic material is often laid over, interspersed with, or an integral part of the story-world. Looking at video games can, retrospectively, allow us to appreciate the importance of spatial navigation and the permeability between diegetic and non-diegetic in film and literature.
Works Cited
Galloway, Alexander. Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: U. of Minnesota Press, 2006. Print.
Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” In First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Eds. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004. 118-30. Print.
