A Study Of Video Game Narrative Centered On The “Character-Player” Structure

With the continuous development of 5G,artificial intelligence technology and virtual reality technology,people’s life is gradually moving from offline to online,and the concept of "meta-universe" is also gradually becoming popular.As one of the pillar industries of the " meta-universe ",video games build a bridge between the virtual and the real,while the digital twin of human beings presents a new possibility,that is,constructing the physical world in reality into a parallel holographic digital world.During the establishment of this world,art studies have been intensely concerned with the narrative issues of video games.However,the current research on video game narrative is mainly based on the relevant research results of digital interactive narrative,and tends to grand narrative research,and pays little attention to the player subjectivity and personal narrative.Based on this,this paper will highlight the role of players’ subjectivity in narrative production in the specific research process,and focus on the construction of personal narrative content,to provide new ideas for the current theoretical research of video game narrative.Inspired by Japanese cultural scholar Hiroki Higashi’s thought of "playability postmodernism",this paper proposes a new perspective for the study of personal narrative in video games,that is,the "role-player" structure,using literature research method,assisted interdisciplinary research method and case study method.The "role-player" structure takes the player as the subject of experience and narrative generation,and the game role played by the player as the specific medium of narrative,to explore the narrative significance of the interaction between the two.Video game narrative under the "character-player" structure can be divided into three types of personal narrative of different characters,which are different in narrative generation and experience mechanism.The "agent" narrative of video games is a low level of personal narrative,and its narrative generation mechanism is a kind of "involvement" mechanism,which is a linear narrative structure,from which players can only get a low sense of narrative presence,and can only create the simplest and most basic personal narrative "reading and writing" experience.Video games "avatar" of narrative is a kind of high degree of personal narrative,the narrative generated mechanism appears as a "flow",words can express their own user experience,this kind of narrative structure is a branching tree ",the player can get strong narrative telepresence," to create a personal narrative " performance " experience.The "ghost" narrative of video games is the highest level of personal narrative,and the narrative generation mechanism is presented as an "immersion" mechanism.It can establish the player’s independent narrative discourse,which is a kind of "amusement park" structure,and the player can reap a strong sense of narrative presence,creating a personal narrative "discovery" experience.The "character-player" structure established in this paper is a useful supplement to video game narratology from the perspective of personal narrative,and has a certain theoretical significance to the design practice of video games.