Games Telling

Stories?

By Jesper Juul
 Jesper Juul

Currently an associate
Professor at The Royal
Danish Academy of Fine
Arts - The School of Design
in Copenhagen.
a video game
theorist and game
developer.

Born in 1970 in
Århus, Denmark.
 Jesper Juul

graduated from the

University of Copenhagen
where he earned a M.A.
degree in Nordic literature.

earned a PhD. in video

game theory from the
IT University of
Copenhagen.
 Other Notable Achievements
● February-July 2003: Visiting scholar at Comparative Media Studies, MIT,
Boston.

● October 15th 2003: Finished Ph.D. dissertation, Half-Real: Video Games

between real Rules and Fictional Worlds.

● January 16th 2004: Successfully defended Ph.D. dissertation. Committee:

Peter Bøgh Andersen, Marie-Laure Ryan, and Brian Sutton-Smith.

● Academic experience spanning to 1999-2013 through different schools.

(IT University of Copenhagen, MIT, New York University Game Center, Danish Design School,
Comparative Media Studies/Writing(MIT), The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts - The School
of Design.
 Books written by Jesper Juul
● Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2005.

● A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2010.

● 캐주얼 게임- 비디오게임과 플레이어의 재창조. Korean translation of A Casual Revolution, 2012.

● The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2013.

● Die Kunst des Scheiterns: Warum wir Videospiele lieben, obwohl wir immer verlieren. German translation of The Art of
Failure. Wiesbaden, Germany: Luxbooks 2014.

● ハーフリアル ― 虚実のあいだのビデオゲーム . Japanese translation of Half-Real. Tokyo: New Games Order 2016.

● しかめっ面にさせるゲームは成功する 悔しさをモチベーション . Japanese transation of The Art of Failure. Tokyo: Born

Digital 2016.

● Sztuka przegrywania. Esej o bólu, jaki wywołują gry wideo. Polish translation of The Art of Failure. Kraków: Korporacja
Ha!art 2016.

● Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press 2019.
 Do games
01 tell stories?
Introduction
Do games
tell stories?
Depends on how
the
words involved a
re
def ined
 Arguments by Jesper Juul
Games as narrative Games as non-narrative
● We use narratives for ● Games are not part of the
everything. narrative media ecology formed
by movies, novels, and theatre.
● Most games feature ● Time in games works differently
narrative than in narratives.
introductions and ● The relation between the
back-stories. reader/viewer and the story
● Games share some world is different than the
relation between the player and
traits with narratives. the game world.
 Narrative Theory
Story Narrative
● Building blocks ● Uses all of the story
● Events elements
● People ● Tells a story in a specific
● Places order
● Putting things
together in any way
 Using Narratives on Everything
Narratives on Everything Exemptions(?)
● To make sense in our ● Not everything should be
lives described in narrative terms
● Just because it can be in
● To process information narrative form does not mean it
● Tells stories in a specific is narrative
order
 Introductions and Back-stories
● Can be found on the packaging, manual or intro sequence
● Gives players context of the story

Example: Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild

packaging
Similarities of games and narratives
● Games have characters, places, events
● Games are stories being told in different ways
● Game stories are being experienced linearly like narratives
Deconstructio
n of
Ready Player
One
 Ready Player One
● Story is influenced by the players according on how they performed in
events/leaderboards.
● The characters used by the players are from different games who have their
own stories.
● Has different areas/locations which is from different stories/games.
Deconstructio
n of
Pokémon Mys
tery
Dungeon
 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
● Characters from the Pokémon franchise
● Different story from the traditional games
● Has different events and places
● Different story told in a different way / narrative
 Ethical
e ra t i o n s
C on si d 02
/Issues
 Lost in Translation
● Narratives can be translated from one medium to another
(game -> movie, book -> movie, etc.)
● Some aspects of a game could not be translated to a movie and vice versa
● Relation between reader/story and player/game is completely different
● Different mediums can deliver the same story but the experience can make or
break it for the reader/player
 References
● http://gamestudies.org/0101/juul-gts/
● https://www.beemgee.com/blog/story-vs-narrative/
● https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literary-schools-of-theory/n
arrative-theory
● https://www.jesperjuul.net/about.html

Image sources:
● https://twitter.com/cdprojektred/status/697412014398898176
● https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:MD_Sky_EN_boxart.jpg