Understanding perception through narrative
Elina Roinioti
Perception in video games and virtual worlds is often conceived through the lenses of interactivity,
utility, and affordances. Using as a starting point Jesper Juul’s 2021 paper titled “The Game of Video
Game Objects: A Minimal Theory of when we see Pixels as Objects rather than Pictures”, my goal is to
bring into intention an important parameter that more than often, is overlooked- the role of narrative
in the way we perceive virtual objects.
Juuls, through as he calls it a playable essay, analyses how what we see in-game, the pixels on a screen,
become something more than just a picture and feel more like a real-life object. According to his
analysis, a virtual object like for example, a rock, becomes a real object when its connected and
relevant to our actions- practically when an object is useful, is usable, is part of an anthropomorphic
world etc.
On the other hand, level design theory (Wei and Wang, 2017) and practice pose another important
issue: the association between functionality and of course purpose and agency in games, spatiality,
and the narrative space. There are three levels of ontology of the narrativized game space: the
Topographical, Operational, and Presentational space and in each of them, the game space is
approached from different angles but manifested through narrative.
The presentational space in specific, refers to how different audio-visual, textual or any other kind of
elements of the game are integrated into the game world, dynamically supporting gameplay and
player choices. At this point the player needs to spatially navigate the game, understand its internal
logic, and game patters/procedures and finally, to decipher the narrative space of the game. In terms
of Thomas Grip’s 4-layer narrative design approach, the player during a game session and at any given
time, must maintain a two-level game perception: a. a micro level, goal-orientated perception of
understanding and achieving the narrative goals that emerge from in-game progress and b. a macro
level perception required to unravel the narrative background while at the same time, maintaining
the so-called streamlining effect of narrative, in which the player understands the game world and
plans ahead. As Bartle (2003) will mention, understanding and conceptualizing a game world, is
related to world building, to an immersive virtual world with tangible and intangible objects and
materials.
Considering all the previously it is rather obvious that an in-game object, does not gain its essence and
loses its virtuality only if the player interacts with it in some way. As part of the level and
environmental design, an object becomes part of the game world, fuelling the narration of the game
by evoking narrative associations. What we should better consider in narratological terms, is how is
perception focalized? A virtual rock is part of the game world, but perhaps it only becomes real when
we conceive it from the perspective of an internal focalizer (Bal, 2017). In any other case, the virtual
object it partially loses its status as a “real” object.