The Importance of Story in Single Player First Person Shooters
By: Clancy Powell
Supervisor: Michael McCoy
Master of Interactive Technology degree conferred March 1, 2008
Thesis / Project completed February 25, 2008

This project analyzes the impacts of narrative in the first person shooter genre as it applies to single player games.    By analyzing existing literature on videogame narrative as well as single player first person shooter titles over the last 15 years, it is clear that story has become integral into the newer titles and suggest that story gives the player a sense of purpose, a sense of place, and motivation to keep playing.  As developers put greater emphasis on creating elaborate narratives in videogames, it is important to know how it impacts the play experience, especially in a genre that generally emphasizes intense action and heavy combat, and whether those impacts are worth the resources to create it.  To further explore these suggestions, this project uses a qualitative study to analyze player responses to a play experience with narrative that fits in an intense, heavy combat atmosphere.

The test level used to gather data is a single player Half-Life 2 level constructed using the Hammer editor.  Construction of the test level began in October 2007 and continued through mid January 2008.  After constructing the level, 13 willing testers participated in playing through the level and answered a questionnaire with qualitative questions asking about their play experience.  The questionnaire asks specific questions about the scenario to see if the narrative in the level creates a sense of purpose, sense of place, and motivations for the player, such as:

• Who were your allies and enemies in the scenario?
• What were your allies and enemies doing in the complex?
• What motivated you to keep playing through the level?
• Did you find yourself wanting to know what happens next?

 The qualitative analysis takes the players’ responses to the questions and looks for similarities between them.  Based on the similarities, the responses are categorized into two groups: one that suggests narrative does impact the play experience and the other suggests it does not.

After conducting the qualitative analysis, the results suggest that narrative has a strong impact on giving players a sense of purpose and sense of place as well as giving story-conscious players motivation to keep playing.  The results shown by the project apply to the single player first person shooter genre.  Results are likely to vary in other genres, as their emphasis on stories, how they tell them, and how the player experiences them can be significantly different.

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