PERSPECTIVE
Unreliable Narrator
Exploring stories in games and the art of telling tales
SAM BARLOW
Think about the act of looking. Videogames are a visual medium and, for sighted players at least, revolve primarily around looking at things. We have given over the right analogue stick on the standard game controller to looking. Yet, despite this, very few games have gamified the act of looking. Sure, some have weaponised the gaze: the firstperson shooter adds a reticule to make our attention deadly. But take the gun and trigger away and our eyes become impotent again. A game story is told through what we see and what we do in response, and yet when it comes to telling stories in games we like to grab the player’s eyes and force them to look at things. On my list of the most disgusting trends in modern games is the ‘press X to look at’ mechanic. We allow players to opt in to having their eyes grabbed, in games in which they are supposed to have control over the camera – where they have a stick for it!