The Hepler Incident (We Found A Witch! May We Burn Her?)

Our resident Dovahkiin (Nicole) wrote an interesting article regarding the Hepler Hate incident that’s been running around for some time now. As a game designer who specializes in narrative and mechanics, I feel the need to give my two cents.

For those who will find this article to be tl;dr, let me summarize it in two statements: A book is a book, a game is a game.

Hit the jump and let’s begin.

To start, I ask you: what constitutes a game?

Games are comprised of systems, mechanics, and at times, narrative. It’s been argued already that narrative is not essential to gameplay, but to simply leave it at that is criminal. The same applies vice versa.

Dragon Age is perhaps one of the most influential games in my book. It’s deep narrative and intricate world has had me losing sleep time and time again since its inception, but I can’t help but feel that there is a clear disconnect between its story and gameplay.

In the game, you assume the role of a Grey Warden, a supposedly idyllic hero tasked with the grim responsibility of ridding the world of evil, namely beings called Darkspawn. To expound on the drama behind the role, Grey Wardens are also part darkspawn, having to drink the vile beast’s blood as part of their initiation.

Armed with this information as dictated by the narrative, you then proceed to go from one location to another, performing tasks that don’t really quite resemble the onset of your description. Heck, you can even kill innocents and perform acts of evil.

We in the game development business refer to this as ludonarrative dissonance, a disconnect between narrative and gameplay. You’re informed that you are this, but you are subjected to situations wherein you perform something completely different from your supposed persona. Most players simply ignore this, especially when they’re immersed in a cool game system, but for others it is a capital crime; the narrative tells you that you are THIS, yet you are forced to do THAT.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim defeats ludonarrative dissonance by offering a free-form character development system. You are a Dovahkiin with no initial purpose. You can be good or evil, kind or mean, and you would still be following your initial role as a Dovahkiin; a dragonborn gifted with “The Voice”.

So then, where did Hepler go wrong in an academic point of view? In my opinion, she didn’t do anything wrong. It’s what she did not do right that’s in question.

As the lead writer for Bioware, one of the industry’s most prized game development teams, she has a big responsibility. Her stand of “narrative first, gameplay second” is a disappointingly lazy excuse to not go beyond and provide her end-users with an engaging experience that does not simply resemble novels or films. She’s tasked to create an interactive experience by way of effective storyline immersion.

The online community has rallied so much hate towards her, but only a few of those points are valid. I couldn’t care less if she desires a skip button for gameplay; I even believe that it’s a novel idea, if not a tad useless for me. Take note: I purchased a game, not a book. I expect to know what a Grey Warden is and BE ONE by way of action, not to be told that I am yet not do what my role dictates.

RPGs are not the only games that this applies to. Assassin’s Creed does an excellent job of role immersion: you are an assassin; a stealthy and cool killing machine bound to certain rules and codes of honor. Killing bad guys is good, killing innocents is bad; the game presents that in a very good way.

Take note that its the narrative that dictates Ezio’s role, not only the mechanics. Before the player even finds out that killing civilians result in a synchronization penalty, they are informed by way of dialogue that assassins follow a strict code. It subliminally embeds itself in the mind of the player, which is then augmented by the visual and mechanical feedback that occurs when the player accidentally (or intentionally) executes an innocent bystander.

This has been a lengthy debate for years in the industry. It’s unfortunate for Hepler that she had to be cast as the witch by the angry mob mainly for weak and unclear reasons, but for those in the industry, I’m sure we have our reservations regarding her work. I hope that she would learn from this experience and come back strong (Dragon Age 3?).

All that needs to be done is for her to understand that she’s making a game, not just a story. She doesn’t need to learn how to develop mechanics or understand code in order to create a worthwhile interactive experience.

Yes, I think she should value the importance of interactivity. It’s an interactive medium, and she failed to respect that. We’re not simply selling games or stories, we’re selling experiences.