Juul describes games of progression as those in which the player must perform exactly the actions as prescribed by the game designer in order to win. Progression games thus naturally follow a linear sequence which also makes it a very easy platform to put narratives into because; traditional narratives are also linear in nature where one event leads to another as planned by the author (or game designer). Thus, it is unsurprising that we see a proliferation of games of progression where the narrative structure is combined with gameplay. Juul gives Grand Theft Auto as an example and there are also a host of other games such as Max Payne, Hitman & Commandos. These are all computer games and one wonders if such games are specific to the medium (computers).
Firstly, I think we must acknowledge the fact that the games listed above are not purely games of progression but have an element of emergence within them, especially within the nodes of the story sequence. The first non-computer game of progression that comes to mind is probably “Simon Says”, where players get endless hours of fun just following the leader in performing repetitive actions. So we can say that games of progression are not unique to computers. But is combining a narrative structure with game play unique to computers then? Again, the answer is no; the prime example being text-based adventure books. However if we change the question to if games of progression are carried out more successfully on the computer than in non-computer forms, then the answer is yes; which is the reason why there are so many such games.
A big part of the draw of these games is the element of emergence within the nodes of the story sequence. In a computer game, this emergence takes the form of the non-linear ways of finishing off the bad guys or boss fights. In a text-based adventure book, this form of emergence is limited to 1-3 options which are really an extended form of progressive play. There is little or no replay value anymore, and hence it is not popular. As such most progressive games we do have these days are those that are based in computers.
1 comment:
So actually what you're saying is not so much that most progressive games are on computers, but that most progressive games with emergent elements, which are more interesting to the player than pure progression, are on computers... :) Yes, I'd agree!
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