Narrative in Mass Effect 3
Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Video games have become one of the most popular forms of entertainment over the
last few decades. Not only have video games developed in terms of graphic fidelity but
they also exhibit increasingly sophisticated narratives. This has made video game
narratives an object of academic study
The thesis aims to contribute to the existing body of work concerning game
narratives by analyzing the narrative of the video game Mass Effect 3 (2012) from the
point of view of cognitive narratology. Cognitive narratology is transmedial in scope and
focuses on the cognitive mechanism we rely on to comprehend narratives as well as on
storytelling techniques that narrative texts employ to further facilitate our ability to
interpret them. The goal of the thesis is to identify such narrative techniques and the
purposes they fulfill in the context of video game narratives by performing a close
narrative analysis of Mass Effect 3.
In the introduction of the thesis the reasons behind choosing Mass Effect 3 for the
analysis are presented. In the theoretical section the ways in which narrative content can be
presented in video games are outlined, the principles of a cognitive approach to narrative
are established and narrative techniques common to the medium of film, which serves as a
point of reference in the analysis, are elaborated on. The discussion relies on the works of
Sebastian Domsch, Jan-Noël Thon, Marie-Laure Ryan, Alan Palmer and Kristin
Thompson. The empirical section first provides details on the game and the methodology
of the analysis and a close examination of select sequences of the game that feature
prominent examples of storytelling techniques that create narrative clarity for the player
then follows.
Description
Keywords
inglise keel, videomängud, narratoloogia, arvutimängud