Nemesis Narratives: The relationship between embedded and emergent narrative in Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor.

Abstract

As digital games have become a potent cultural and economic force, they have come under more scrutiny from a variety of academic disciplines. A point of contention has been the role of narrative in digital games, in large part due to the fact that the interactivity inherent to games presents a problem for more traditional conceptions of narrative structure. Narrative in games can be broadly categorized in two forms: embedded narrative, which is pre-scripted and designed as a property of a game itself; and emergent narrative, which is the experiential narrative constructed by the player as they play the game. These two forms are observed as being closely related and connected in a relationship of necessity characterized by the reliance of emergent narrative on embedded narrative elements for its generation. This relationship represents a pattern across games which tell an explicit story, specifically action/adventure and roleplaying games. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor challenges this standard because it contains a gameplay system (the Nemesis System) which generates dynamic characters that grow and change due to the player’s actions. The system also produces events which are specific to these characters, and unique to a given player’s experience of the game. The player’s emergent narrative, made unique by the dynamic nature of the Nemesis System, influences the embedded narrative of the game. In this way, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor represents a break from the strict relationship of necessity between embedded and emergent narrative. The Nemesis System represents a new development in the structure of game narratives, and indicates the potential of game systems for the generation of emergent narrative which is not strictly bound to embedded or pre-designed narrative.