Interactive Narrative Week 4 Blog Entry 3

For this week I played The Wolf Among Us (2013). I really enjoyed it, it's a great game with a great story. I haven't finished it but I got the gist of the game. I'm really keen to finish it. Morality is in the core of the game. It influenced the choices I made while playing the game. The game lets the player pick either a positive or negative moral choice e.g. diplomatic or aggressive approach to problems. The player's approach will determine the course of the narrative and how the NPC would interact with the main character. (They remember things that you have done e.g. maiming Gren) Taking a certain path would mean that I would miss out something which is evident in the Book of Fables and Player Choices from the Extras e.g. Save Prince Lawrence.

The game presents moral dilemmas that the player has to face. It works because the characters are so relatable to real life that you feel empathy and sympathy towards them. But it presents you with an ethical dilemma because Bigby is a sheriff. So even though you feel sorry for other characters, it's still his job to obey and enforce the law. He is after all a sheriff, not a charity worker. For example, in the early phase of the game, Mr. Toad has run out of glamour and I have to tell him to buy some because it's the law. I chose not to aggressively force him but rather just remind him that it's the law. I did this because I felt empathy for the condition Mr. Toad is living in and he does have a family to support. I reckon it's part of Bigby's job to understand people because he has to keep the peace in Fabletown.

Roleplay also affects the decisions the player has to make. The context of the character provides a frame for the actions that the player has to take but it's still up to the player to whether follow that or deviate from it. My actions had consequences that affect how other characters would view Bigby as the protector of the town e.g. violence would make them doubt Bigby's role as the town's protector.

 As has been shown, type two choices are created by the desire to prevent the state of the gameworld from becoming worse – to ensure the safety and continued existence of the player character, and possibly to prevent the destruction of the gameworld . Type one choices, on the other hand, are motivated by the desire to ameliorate the state of the gameworld. - Sebastian Domsch, Storyplaying (2013)

One of the biggest decisions I had to make was to either burn the tree or not. I'm quite embarrassed to say that I froze. I froze because I couldn't decide whether to do my job and burn the tree or keep a rare relic of the old world. I couldn't decide to condemn a criminal act and in a way add to the people's struggles or leave it and let more criminal activity spread. I froze and did nothing and that was the decision Bigby made. It was really difficult to choose and I made a morally gray decision. I chose to ignore this crime so that other people can cope but I also let crime spread. The action I made isn't clearly good or evil, it has some good and has some bad too. But it's a compromise that I had to do. From this example, in a way I wanted to make the people's lives better by turning a blind eye because it hurts for me to see them struggle in a world that they were forced to live in. The game is full of these situations wherein the player has to compromise.


References:


Domsch, S. (Author). (2013). Storyplay [Book]. Germany: Walter de Gruyter GmbH

Telltale Games (Developer). (2013). The Wolf Among Us [Video Game]. United States: Telltale Games