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Mechanics To Create the Perfect Literary Game

As we have progressed throughout this blogging journey, my English class has dove into the depths of video games as literature. There have been numerous discussions about what makes a game literature, and if there are specific elements that create a literary game. During one class, we made a list of what mechanics or elements we would use to create the perfect literary game. Out of the list of thirty or so items, we managed to cut the list down to a final four that we felt were necessary for a successful literary game. Those four mechanics are characters that are actually interesting and you care about, an immersive story-line that allows for personalization and engagement, an established theme or message, and clear causes for character development or improvement. I agree with this list of mechanics that the class decided upon, but I am going to look to add two more mechanics that I feel would help ensure a perfect literary game.

The first mechanic that I feel would aid in the perfect literary game would be plentiful, meaningful dialogue. I strongly believe that one common aspect among the best games is lots of meaningful dialogue. Red Dead Redemption, God of War, Mass Effect Trilogy, The Witcher 3, all have incredible amounts of dialogue which help shape the story and develop characters. Why I think this is important
is because without that dialogue the game would lack character development and immersion. We would work through games with a stock character who fails to grab our attention and make the game successful. The one thing that I always talk about with God of War's success is the amount of dialogue and the importance of it throughout the story. There is a never ending amount of dialogue throughout the game which allows the player to get to know all the characters, including non-playable characters, quite well. Meaning is given throughout games because of what the characters say to each other.

The second mechanic that I would include in my perfect literary game is cohesiveness among the main plot and side plots. One aspect of successful literature is when there are secondary story-lines happening throughout the main plot, but they have a direct correlation with the main story or help further the narrative. One thing that annoys me with some games is when there are countless side missions that have zero meaning at all; they are there simply to create more game-play to keep the player engaged. While I understand the purpose of this mechanic, I believe when the side missions have some purpose like character development, furthering main plot, or creating a better understanding of the game situation, there is a more cohesive game. Side missions should be plentiful, but there are games the successful implement side missions that help in some of the ways I believe are effective.

Along with the four mechanics my English class came up with, I believe adding plentiful meaningful dialogue, and main and side plot cohesiveness would push the game closer to perfection, in terms of literature.

Next post will be examining a unique mechanic used in a very popular game series. Talk soon.




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