Emergent narratives as ludic properties

Abstract

This dissertation argues that an emergent narrative, in the context of digital games, may be a product of co-authorship between the player and game system. This is in opposition to the way narrative is traditionally implemented in games, where it is often divorced from the ludic components and authored by the game designer in top-down approach. An 'emergent narrative', is a highly sought after concept in the field of Narratology where a system builds a narrative in the present moment, rather than having it constructed in advance, as is the case in film, literature and drama, This has a strong commercial advantage over a pre-constructed narrative, as the consumer will experience a different narrative each time they interact with the system from the start and thus, offers more replay value and reusability.