Response to Simulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology by Gonzalo Frasca

Stories are the frameworks of our lives. They are the basis of our communication and the appeal of information transmission. In "Simulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology", Frasca presents the contrast between media past and, newcomer, video games. It is made clear in the text that there has never existed a means to transmit an entire assemblage of experience, until quite recently. Photos, paintings, news and books are of the realm of representation. Encoding their message within their respective medium. While I am not assured that video games are always able to be part of a unique experience, this reading highlights the importance of researching the power of simulation.

From film to music to writing and illustration, these media's means of transmission are considered linear and sequential. To capture their author's views, one must take in each element, one by one, as intended. The proposed contrast existing in video games is a multitude of connections and relationships to be tested and examined by the player. Although a set of parameters is present to ensure proper function of the system, a new, nonlinear mode of study takes shape. In addition to making use of the body's sensual perceptivity, video games can tap into the brain's behavioural intuitiveness. As is often repeated, humans are experts at finding patterns. Allowing a person to become an actor in a situation of the creator's choosing can become a more effective method to convey information.

What this text puts in question is the necessity to incorporate explicit sequential narrative elements in the simulation environments common to video games. With the latest technology, the screen-based games are able to entice players on a level as important as pure narrative structures. For the author, it is force of habit that restrains many game creators to the realm of narrative. Storytelling has no place in the simulated environments because, in such complex situations, it lies on the participant to become part of the system and use the power of their mind to understand its meaning.

After discussing two general structures that can be explored in simulated environment, ludus and paidia, Frasca wonders to whom one should point when identifying authors of simulated worlds. Whether the programmer is accountable through the general rules put in place, or the participant for their behaviour developed throughout. Even after contrasting systems of direct reward and narrow exploration to open ended fuzzy logic games, it is clear that we need to become more well-versed when it comes to discourse of simulation and narrative.