Untitled - witz cultural

251RECONFICURINGNARRATIVEdifferent from saying a cow is like a frog, except that, well, it's bigger, and it'sa mammal, and it doesn't live in the water.In contrast to tJre self-proclaimed Aristotelians, who argue that literaryand cinematic studies of narrative have much to tell us about games, anothergroup led by Espen Aarseth, Markku Eskelinen, and Raine Koskimaa arguethat computer and other games require a new discipline-ludology. Aarseth,who introduced the concept of ergodic text, explains the fiercely contestedbattle "over the relevance of narratology for game aesthetics": "One sideargues that computer games are media for telling stories while the opposingside claims that stories and games are different structures that are in effectdoing opposite things" (a5). "The traditional hermeneutic paradigms of text,narrative and semiotics are not well suited to the problems of a simulationalhermeneutic" (54). Celia Pearce presents the ludologist's case in forceful, ifmeasured, prose:Because computer game theory is a relatively new discipline, much of which hasemerged thus far has come from other disciplines absorbingame theory into theirpurview. lt seems axiomatic that there must always be a phase where establishedmedia seekto "repurpose" their existing "assets" for use in the new medium. Mostnotably, film and literary theorists have begun to discuss game theory within theirown idiosyncratic frameworks. These disciplines have much to add to the discourseon games, particularlywhen the discussioncentered on narrative. However,they are missing a fundamental understanding of what games are about... Theresult is a kind oftheoretical imperialism. ("Towards a GameTheoryof Game," in FinlPercon, 143-44)14In contrast, Eric Zimmerman argues, in "Narrative, Interactivity, Play, andGames," "as we observed with chess, games are in fact narrative systems. Theyaren t the only form that narrative can take, but every game can be considereda narrative system" (First Person, 160). In fact, most writers who comparegames to narratives take chess as an example of a game that cannotbe anarrative.Zimmerman, however, decides it is one, but I suspect that he confusesthe experience of someone observing a game with that of the player.Some of those who claim that stories and associated narratological theoryprovide the best way to understand computer games make the error of assumingthat if a game includes any sort of a story, then narrative is a definingcharacteristic ofgames. There are, however, plenty ofprecedents for essentiallynon-narrative forms that include narrative. Victorian writers of nonfiction,such as Thomas Carlyle, fohn Ruskin, and Henry David Thoreau, allemploy narratives, created characters, and dialogue within argumentative