Media Fix

Lights, Camera, Action: The Blade Runner Videogame and Performance

Blade Runner, like many other games in the adventure/RPG genre (and many games in general), is appealing due to its "uncovering" of boundless and interrelated narrative worlds, full of opportunities for action and investigation. As stated in the Game Research website, adventure games "demand logical thinking and great persistence from the player," (http://www.game-research.com) and in this sense, Blade Runner does not disappoint. The player controls the avatar of Replicant Detective ("Rep. Detect") Ray McCoy, the witty, slick tongued protagonist of the story. The objective of one's adventure is to track and “retire” stray "replicants," rogue androids with a four year life span, banned from the planet earth for their violently rebellious nature. The game is situated in the gritty "Off World" of Los Angeles, 2019, where McCoy must travel through the city, gathering clues and questioning suspects as he tries to investigate a series of interrelated crimes surrounding the empirical Tyrell Corporation and attributed to the replicants who were themselves created by the corporation. As the game progresses and as you collect more clues, more interwoven choices and actions that affect the outcome of the story and game play are developed. Like the film and the novel, the player is faced with many ethical questions and choices: How do we define what it is to be human? How do we decide who is more or less human? Is McCoy human? Indeed, one can already see how the overall plot line of the game can form a coherent and interactive narrative, but without performance, these themes would hardly be evident or let alone, matter.

Most dictionary definitions describe performance in terms of activity and action, and similarly, Eskelinen and Tronstad describe configurative performance as "non-trivial;" in other words requiring active interaction with our avatars. Moreover, this is a process “whereby the game structure cues, guides, and constrains the player’s activities (or gameplay)." In order to enhance this unique, performative attribute of game narratives, the authors clearly differentiate it with the interpretative tendencies of the reader. As opposed to a painting or novel in which we have to "configure in order to be able to interpret," in games, "we have to interpret in order to configure, and proceed from the beginning to the winning or some other situation" (Eskelinen and Tronstad, 2003, pp. 208, 197). Likewise, Janet Murray describes agency, which also carries performative connotations, as the “satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices” (Murray, 1997, p.126). With these definitions at hand, one can begin to see how performance and various forms of interactivity go hand in hand.

“Inter – Action”: How Performance Creates an Interactive Environment in Blade Runner

The term interactivity has many meanings and appropriations, depending on the content and historical context of what one is analyzing. However, as Dieter Daniels points out, today, "the meaning of interactivity is essentially defined through the electronic media. Interface and software designers specify the framework of this technologically determined interaction from human to human via a machine, or solely between human and machine." Furthermore, the interactive advent of computer technologies can also be applied and attributed to John Cage’s description of the "dissolution of the boundary between author, performer and audience" (Daniels, 2000, pp. 75, 72). If we apply this "dissolution" of boundaries to our performance in the Blade Runner game, one realizes that by controlling, editing and designing attributes of Ray McCoy, we become more actively involved in the story and create a closer "dialogue" with our avatar, as opposed to simply interpreting different scenes. Murray also emphasizes the importance of performance to interactivity in RPG's when she states: "Like other folk traditions, the role-playing tradition aims for ephemeral performance that preserves not particular scenes but the conventions of interaction" (Murray, p. 278).

Eskelinen and Tronstad discuss how in computer games, there are both “ergodic” and “nonergodic” phenomena, “as there is both something to be interpreted (nonergodic state) and action to be taken (ergodic events, that is, changes of state).” This creates a “feed back loop, where information is gained through action and further action is guided by information already gained” (p. 208). This “feedback loop” is in itself interactive, because at both ends of the game spectrum, the interpretative side and the performative side have a "give-and-take" reciprocal relationship, where each experience is influenced and manipulated by the other. In the Blade Runner videogame, performative action in the ergodic sense and state, produces critical information needed to progress in the game, and further progression is guided by information already gathered. For example, by actively clicking and moving one’s mouse, McCoy can gather clues in many locations throughout the city by interrogating other characters and rummaging through the crime scene. Without gathering this critical information, there is no possibility of advancing to the next stage. Furthermore, clues gathered during the game can be stored in McCoy’s personal KIA, or "knowledge integration assistant," a useful note and image collecting computer database, which can be revealed by clicking on McCoy. It organizes all clues and data according to crime scene, general clues, and suspects. By clicking on McCoy and data, you manipulate how much information you need to continue with your investigation. By not clicking, listening, or taking a second look at data in the KIA, you might be unable to move on to the next act. In fact, I discovered this the hard way, after hours of wandering around the city looking for hints that I already had in my KIA. The KIA also provides access to game, saving and loading functions and controls, difficulty levels, ammunition, chinyen currency, and character “mood,” all of which are already contained in the KIA, but need to be manipulated in order to influence the course of or advance in the game. For example, if one chooses to manipulate and design McCoy’s mood to be either "polite," "normal," "surly" or "erratic," he should automatically ask questions which are adapted to the chosen attitude, altering the course of interaction with other characters and in the game in general. Unfortunately, from what I have experienced, this is very discrete, inasmuch as when he is polite, he might say to a suspect, “stick around, I might want to talk to you later,” and when he is erratic, he might say, “stick around, I got more questions for you.” Thus, most of his questions are almost similar in tone, despite his change of mood. Nevertheless, all of these aforementioned actions create various levels of interactivity as a result of manipulation and reciprocity between information and performance.

Is McCoy a replicant? This is a configurative and interactive "gap" that can be filled and answered depending on how one plays the game. If you kill all replicants, you are probably not one yourself, but if you do not, you might end up being one, or this lingering question and gap may never be answered and closed. The theoretical analysis of David Bordwell and Espen Aarseth regarding interactive “gaps” can all be applied when linking performance with interactivity in the Blade Runner game. To enhance their overall schema of the “modalities of action,” Eskelinen and Tronstad cite Bordwell’s theory, stating that “In the course of narration, these gaps are created, opened, and closed, and they regulate what the readers or spectators can know about the events depicted in any given time or specific point in a narrative”(p. 208). Although Bordwell’s theory refers to film, the two authors note that this can also be applied to games, and these interactive gaps “are to be situated between means and ends, procedures and goals, between the necessary manipulation of the equipment and the objectives of this manipulation” (p. 209). For instance, as the game progresses, we find out more about McCoy’s link to the replicants. At one point, the player uploads a photograph to the Esper clue retrieving unit, zooming in on a mysterious figure at the site of the Moonbus crash. This figure turns out to be McCoy, who can be seen leaving the crash with two other replicants, Clovis and Sadik. McCoy does not remember this occurrence and realizes that he may have just identified himself as a “((skin job))”. In shock, he shouts, “That can’t be me!” and the player is also shocked at this revelation. As a result, our aforementioned configurative gap becomes even more complex, as there is more evidence to suggest that McCoy is a replicant yet not enough evidence to confirm it. Thus we must continue our investigation with this in mind, searching for clues and interacting with characters to either confirm or counter such suspicions.

Adding to such configurative gaps, Eskelinen and Tronstad also describe interpretative gaps from "cut-scenes" in videogames. Although cut-scenes are technically 'mini-movies' that do not seem to involve active performance from the player, most cut-scenes result from previous player performance or initiate performance soon to come. For example, you cannot view certain cut-scenes in Blade Runner if you do not finish performing certain acts. Aarseth is cited as describing exploratory gaps, which need to be located through exploring and choosing paths,” (p. 209) which in the case of Blade Runner would involve searching one’s way through the subway tunnel in Act IV and looking for hidden rooms to gather clues which one would eventually need in order for the game to progress. This would also be what Marie-Laure Ryan deems as internal-ontological interactivity in adventure games, where a character “determines his own fate by acting within the time and space of a fictional world” (Ryan, 2001, p. 11). Indeed, when we perform, we interact, and when we interact, we create a wide array of narrative possibilities.

Tell Me a Story: How Performance Creates Narratives in Blade Runner

Generally, a narrative can be defined as a combination of story and discourse, with a story on the most basic level being a sequence of events in a narrative, and discourse referring to the manipulation of that story in the narrative presentation (http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/narratology/terms/). By performing in a game, the player creates sequences of events through action and interaction and in a vast, navigational fantasy world. Without active game play, there would be no dialogue between story and discourse, except of course, if we were to only watch the cut-scenes of a game. But if we only watched cut-scenes, we really wouldn't be playing a game. As Murray points out, “A game is a kind of active storytelling that resembles the world of common experience but compresses it in order to heighten interest. Every game, electronic or otherwise, can be experienced as symbolic drama." Such symbolic dramas can only be carried out through performance where “each move in a game is like a plot event in one of these simple but compelling stories" (Murray, pp. 142, 143). Every character McCoy interrogates be it Lucy or Runciter, every clue McCoy picks up, be it a dog collar or "real cheese," and every location he visits, adds to or disintegrates developing plots of deceit, crime and corruption. For instance, if we choose not to upload the photograph of McCoy implicating him at a crime scene with other replicants, the chronology of the story would change in successive stages, with the question of whether McCoy is a replicant being of less importance to the player’s end goal.

Murray describes the earliest form of narrative, "agon," as being a dramatic conflict between opponents. Concurrently, she states that most videogame stories are based on this structure, where "the interactor is given the role of a fighter or detective of some sort and is pitted against an opponent in a win/lose situation" (pp. 142, 145). On a basic level, we can clearly see this happening in the Blade Runner game. If McCoy is not battling Clovis, the rogue replicant leader responsible for the series of crimes in the city, he is battling his saboteur, Lieutenant Guzza, in an effort to clear his name and diminish any indication that he might be a replicant. He will either win or lose these battles. Depending on how you play the game, your agon will vary. For instance, if he hunts down and kills Clovis, he will win the battle to prove that he is a "real Blade Runner," a rewarding status that is confirmed at the end of the game by Gaff, a mysterious spy who always keeps McCoy under surveillance. However, if he chooses not to kill Clovis, he will lose this battle and risk being identified as a replicant, or even end up joining forces with them. In one game ending, upon discovering that he too is a replicant, McCoy escapes earth via the Moonbus with Lucy, never to be seen again. Thus, we also choose our fate performing through our avatars in the game, never becoming mere spectators. In such narratives, we are “protagonists of the symbolic action” (p. 142).

Symbolic Action and Beyond: Final Thoughts on Performing in Blade Runner and the Future of Performance in Game Narratives

In conclusion, we have seen how performance in the Blade Runner game correlates with and influences interactivity and narrativity. As a videogame fan, and possible future game designer, I would like the gaming and story telling community to take these concepts some steps further. In the future, I hope to see, play, or even design games in which performance creates an even more interactive narrative than is available in current games. In other words, a more intricate and realistic story could be told, which would be a result of more intricate and realistic activity and interactivity in the game. For instance, better motion simulation from the avatar resulting from clicking on one's joy stick or mouse button, having a greater and more convincing selection of character attitude and mood, and creating more dynamic conversation between characters, could solve some of these problems. To return to the Blade Runner game, I have already noted how selection of McCoy's different moods in the KIA is hardly convincing, and additionally, one may easily get irritated by repetitive, thus unrealistic conversation in the game. Despite these fallacies however, Blade Runner, a game released in 1997 (ancient, by "technological" standards) to this day still serves as a prime 'torch bearer' for the strong link and relationship between performance, interactivity and narrativity. Now, if only Tetris could do the same thing.

References

Daniels, Dieter. (2000). Strategies of Interactivity. In Rudolf Frieling & Dieter Daniels (eds.) Medien Kunst Interaktion. Wien: Springer, 142-169

Eskelinen, Markku & Ragnhild Tronstad. (2003). Video Games and Configurative
Performances. In Mark J. Wolf & Bernard Person (eds.). The Video Game Theory
Reader, (pp. 195-220). New York, London: Routledge

Murray, Janet. (1997). Hamelet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace.
New York: Free Press.

Ryan, Marie-Laure. (2001). Beyond myth and metaphor – The case of narrative in digital
media. In Game Studies 1. URL:
http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/ryan

http://www.brmovie.com

http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/narratology/terms/

http://www.game-research.com