A Functional Perspective on Narrative in Computer Games - Wolf Maul

(I had to repair a watch with a pushpin) and was able to leave, but the experience left me
frustrated and, from then on, much less able to become engrossed in the story.
On the other end of the spectrum was my favorite quest in Baldur’s Gate; my favorite
experience, in fact, with any of the games. During the course of adventuring, I came across
some slave traders in one of the inns that I had frequented many times before. It was by
accident, and mostly out of curiosity, that I pursued the idea of gambling on animal fights. The
background knowledge that I had already gained about these slave traders suddenly came
together with other mysteries that I had yet to solve. It turned the familiar old inn, which I
thought I had explored completely, into a place of sudden and surprising possibilities.
Baldur's Gate – Left image: A mysterious conversation about spending money on
some kind of entertainment leads to further exploration. Right image: The battle pits
where slaves are used to fight animals for gambling purposes.
The satisfying ‘coming-together’ of this particular side story was primarily due to the
sense that it was spontaneous and open-ended and yet part of a wider interconnection of events
in the fictional world. In other words, I felt a strong sense of agency (and both micro- and
macro-impact) balanced well with the details of the story environment.
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