Week - 7 - Interactive Narrative

Of the key narrative elements discussed so far in the course (interactivity, level design/linearity, moral choice/non-linearity, character), which do you think is the most prominent, important or interesting in your chosen game?

For this week I decided to play Never Alone again, a game based on the indigenous legend of the Inuit people,I decided to play it again because I really enjoyed it the first time that I played it. Taking into consideration the key narrative elements that we have discussed so far in the course, I believe that the most prominent in this game is the character(s),  but what makes it so important?, well, for me it is the entire story behind those characters and what they have to go through to reach their final goal, there isn't much interactivity with the game, as the story is already settled and you can't really affect it, because this game being a basic platformer you don't get many options when it comes to controlling the story or have an effect on moral choices, the entire game is based on unfolding the story behind the characters, meaning that if this is not done correctly(story) then the player can easily get bored and stop playing the game, for this game to be successful both the characters and the story behind them has to trap you inside its narrative.  "Salen and Zimmerman state that "players are constantly shifting between cognitive frames that alternately place them “inside” their character in a relationship of direct identification and very much outside of it, aware of the character as an artificial construct and fictional entity, as well as their own status as players manipulating a tool or “puppet” according to the rules of the game", Never Alone does this really well, because the game and the story have already established two characters and a strong spiritual connection between them, and I believe that this connections is what drive players to play or keep playing this game because you can identify yourself in a way that we all have connections with either our family, friends,partner, etc,  and it makes you think about it even more, because the game also deals with survival, life and death and what it means to loose something or someone you care about and at least for me, it intrigued me to keep playing it. This connections or self identification with the characters don't happen throughout the entire game, but there are segments or parts of the game in which you can identify these little connections, from which the player can identify himself or herself, in a sort of "double consciousness" between the player and character, even though the two main characters from the game are already decided instead of creating your own "avatar", which would have probably created a much bigger connection  or relationship between the player and its avatar, but never alone does the opposite, you have to get to know the characters and their stories, once you have all of these elements then you can only begin to self create that relationship of direct identification and double consciousness.

In conclusion I strongly believe that the characters are the most important and interesting key narrative elements in Never Alone because they can establish a strong connection with the player and still be fun to play.