Jordan, That's an interesting question, especially when you consider that the single-player (more plot driven) portion of many FPS is a small part of the overall game-playing experience. I don't think it's necessarily a matter of the retention of a game's plot, or ignoring the plot of a game, but rather how much players engage with that plot as part of their overall gaming experience. For example /Call of Duty: Modern Warfare/ has a much bigger presence as a multiplayer community than as as a single player game. I would argue that this multiplayer portion has more to do with pure ludic experience rather than a narrative experience of the single player campaign. I think the question has more to do with the number of player that want to engage with a FPS's plot as opposed to the effectiveness of that plots presentation, especially considering that some of the earliest examples of this genre only used plot as a way to set up the "shooty parts" of the game. You could look at the extent to which players engage in single-player portions of a FPS to try to assess this. I'd also be careful of lumping all FPS games together. I know that there are a number of games that put a premium on plot and totally eschew multiplayer gameplay (like /Bioshock/). You may want to specify the kinds of FPSs that you're looking at. -- Rob Baron PhD Candidate and Graduate Instructor Rhetoric, Scientific and Technical Communication Department of Writing Studies University of Minnesota-Twin Cities On 10/25/10 11:16 AM, Jordan Lynn wrote:
Good afternoon, everyone!
I have a question, and this group seems like the place to ask. What level of plot retention would you consider to be average in a First or Third-Person Shooter? Studying AAA titles for plot retention is difficult, since there are several subsets of gamers that ignore plotlines as a matter of course, and shooters aren't usually noted for narrative depth. My primary issue is figuring out what percentage of gamers are ignoring the plot, and what percentage are not getting it because the game is not delivering it effectively. Also, there is some difference between total narrative comprehension and getting "the gist" of the game's plot- what percentages of players would you expect to fully understand the narrative, and what percentage understand the basics of the story?
Thoughts? -Jordan _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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