This scene is soaked with metacommentary about the distinction and conflicts between embedded and emergent narrative. There’s always a lighthouse, there’s always a man, there’s always a city… Sometimes something’s different… yet… the same.” says Elizabeth. Booker and Elizabeth escape Columbia through an interdimensional portal into the Sea of Lighthouses, a mysterious world beyond the constraints of time and space where every possible permutation of the universe at any possible time in history can be accessed through an infinite number of doors. Which is a topic Bioshock Infinite addresses in its brilliant, mind-bending ending. Even a single-player narrative game like Half-Life 2 can have an infinite number of narrative permutations dependent on how players approach combat and exploration sequences. Game writers do not have complete control over how a game’s story will play out due to the nature of interactivity and player behavior. Game narrative is not entirely dictated by the author, and exists as a strange amalgam of both embedded and emergent narrative. Games like these are also comprised of emergent scenes, which can vary wildly depending on player choice. Fixed narrative in these games amounts to preset moments that occur between or during moments of gameplay, and may manifest themselves as cutscenes, background chatter, or narration. Single-player games like Jak and Daxter are comprised of both fixed and emergent narrative elements. Fixed narratives are stories determined by the game designer, and are most prominent in single-player narrative games such as Bioshock Infinite.Ĭonstants and Variables: Emergent and Fixed Narrative Emergent narratives are unscripted stories that come out of a game’s play, they may include dramatic character arcs in The Sims, and alternate histories created by Civilization V matches. Bioshock Infinite is about the nature of narrative in games and the conflicts between emergent and fixed narrative, returning to the conflicts between ludology and narratology that had died down years ago.īefore we begin, let’s go over some key terms necessary to understanding this argument, not everyone is a game designer. However, my view on the meaning of Bioshock Infinite, which has conflicted with the interpretations of the many friends that I have discussed the game with, involves a subtle level of self-reflexivity that I saw pervading the game’s entirety. While few of these plot threads arrive at a productive conclusion, it piques interest, causes uncanny discomfort, and provokes conversation and interpretation within its colorful fan community. Religious zealotry, American Exceptionalism, theories of space-time and interdimensionality, patriotic jingoism, the inevitability of economic disparity, Occupy Wall Street, colonialism, and problems faced by political radicalism. I’m going to spoil a lot of Bioshock Infinite for all of you, so beware this blog post if you’re planning on playing this game.īioshock Infinite is a game about a lot of things.

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