The Storyworld of Warcraft: Exploring Narrative Linearity in an MMORPG
Author
Vanman, Astrid Skov
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2017
Submitted on
2017-05-31
Pages
61
Abstract
This thesis addresses the unsettled status of interactive digital narratives by asking how World of Warcraft can feel cyclical in play yet participate in a linear story across the wider Warcraft franchise. Positioning itself within the narratology versus ludology debate, it first argues that video games can contain authored narratives. The study combines traditional narratology (e.g., beginnings and temporality) with transmedial narratology (storyworlds, medium dependence, macrostory and microstories) to examine Warcraft across real-time strategy games, novels, comics, and the MMO. It maps chronology and intertextual relations, considers how events are translated between media, and analyzes the producer’s role, player agency, and play styles (ludus/paidea), focusing on how player-driven progression unfolds within a game-created narrative blueprint. The thesis contends that the cyclical, recursive player experience in World of Warcraft does not negate an overarching linear macrostory with a clear beginning and a likely endpoint across media, and that attending to transmedia context is essential for assessing narrative linearity in MMORPGs.
Specialet tager udgangspunkt i den uafklarede position for interaktive digitale fortællinger og spørger, hvordan World of Warcraft kan opleves som cyklisk i spillet og alligevel indgå i en lineær fortælling i det bredere Warcraft-univers. Med udgangspunkt i debatten mellem ludologi og narratologi indtager afhandlingen en narratologisk position og søger først at etablere, at videospil kan rumme fortællinger. Den kombinerer klassisk narratologi (bl.a. begyndelser og temporalitet) med transmedial narratologi (storyworlds, medieafhængighed, macrostory og microstories) for at analysere Warcraft-franchisen på tværs af realtidsstrategispil, romaner, tegneserier og MMO’et. Analysen kortlægger kronologi og indbyrdes relationer mellem tekster, diskuterer oversættelse af begivenheder mellem medier, og undersøger producentens rolle, spilleragentur, samt spil- og legestile (ludus/paidea), med fokus på, hvordan player‑driven progression foregår inden for et spilskabt narrativt blueprint. Afhandlingen argumenterer for, at den cykliske, rekursive spiloplevelse i World of Warcraft ikke ophæver en overordnet lineær macronarrativ med tydelig begyndelse og et sandsynligt endepunkt på tværs af medierne, og at transmedial kontekst er afgørende for at forstå narrativ linearitet i MMORPG’er.
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Keywords