Using Story and Narrative to Enhance Learning in Serious Games

Stories and Narratives, since the beginning of human history, have been central to human communication and learning. We engage in our relationships through stories, when we get together, we tell stories and relate to each other through those stories. Storytelling is a lot more than just a recitation of facts and events.

Additionally, we are automatically drawn to stories because we can put ourselves in them. We can either sympathize or judge critically of someone’s situation by how be put ourselves in their stories. If we take this ability to put ourselves into a story a step further, we inevitably interpret the meaning in stories and understand ourselves better.

But we now live in the digital age, where information, concepts, and ideas continuously bombard us from every direction. Do stories really matter to us anymore?

YES THEY DO!

Stories as Learning Tools

“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.”

Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

If you look at every society, their way of life is etched within the stories they tell. These stories form the basis for how they interact with the world and how they approach problems.

But within stories we also connect to universal truths about ourselves and our world. It is in stories that we see ourselves and who we are in the world. They relate meaning and purpose that help us understand ourselves better.

Deeper yet, it is through stories that we can interact with the external world and interact with the internal world by feelings of joy, sorrow, hardships, and failures. We learn about behaviors and consequences.

Stories give us the opportunity to experience narratives in our imagination as if they were real even though the reality of our experience isn’t real. However, the brain experiences imaginary narratives as reality - our brain processes imaginary information just the same when we experience reality. To our brain, it’s all the same. Have you ever had a dream that you could swear was real?

Stories make us human. There are a great many lessons to be learned from stories.

Have I Gotta Story to Tell You….

“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”

Rudyard Kipling, The Collected Works

It’s very natural for the human brain to communicate through stories - It’s hard wired that way. As I stated in the previous entries, through stories, we understand many aspects of ourselves and our lives - that’s how we learn what is right and what is wrong, through lived experiences and stories; lived experiences are also stories and the phrase, “have I got a story to tell you…,” came about for that reason.

When trying to remember and process information we are more likely to remember it within a story because narratives reach deep into our psyche and provide a deeper understanding of concepts, thoughts, and ideas. Why deeper? If we look at the humanistic approach to learning, they suggest that learning is greater when the student is making choices, self-motivated, self-evaluating, and their own feelings and knowledge are involved. With stories students become immersed in the crafted reality of a situation. There are choices to be made and student evaluates those choices. The student puts themselves into the situation and becomes reflective of himself in that situation. The student experiences the situation as if it was their own, with their own reactions and feelings. Given all those points stories are deeper because they tap into our human experience.

As I mentioned at the top of the blog, stories have been used to pass on knowledge, and when knowledge is passed on within in a story, we are more likely to remember it because we experience the knowledge within the underlying experience in a story rather than the actual facts.

Within a story knowledge and information moves us and reaches us. In their purest form, stories teach us good from bad, and how to act wisely with others in social situations and on a personal level, while we also learn about the consequences of doing or not doing something.

If you want to teach a lesson, the way to do so before the internet was to tell stories. Even today, stories tend to grab an audiences’ attention more than simple presentations.

IF YOUR SERIOUS GAME DOESN’T HAVE STORY, IT’S A SERIOUSLY LACKING.

“To hell with facts! We need stories!” Ken Kesey

Although we have new technologies presenting so many varied opportunities to create new interactive content, humans will always crave stories to experience and make sense of the world. The more digital and high-tech we become, the more important stories become, because without them we lose our human perspective on what matters. And as learners become more and more inundated with information than ever, it’s harder and harder to discern which information truly matters.

Stories help us solve that problem.

If you want to know how to solve a specific problem, you’ll need this information, and you can get it by doing this or getting that. Players become engaged in the knowledge, they pick up knowledge and also use it. Within the narrative, information is analyzed and categorized and then implemented to solve a problem. When engaged in a game with a story players become immersed in problem solving to advance the game forward. They are experiencing, analyzing, deducing, and strategizing. If we go back to the humanist theory of learning, the engagement is deeper and more immersive.

In studies done on video game players, the test subjects described their experiences in plot-driven stories as frequently feeling a loss in time. Experiencing the story firsthand had them wondering what happens next. This was a common theme that emerged from the data. One of the test subjects stated they were most absorbed playing games with "strategic components that contribute to a narrative.”

If you look at top 20 video games of 2021 over half of the games are games with story or a narrative.

Stories will always matter, now and in the future.

Here is a list of ways stories enhance game-based learning:

#1- Stories connect the players to the learning experience

It’s easier for people to remember something when they have a meaningful connection to it. As a result, this increases the chances of the students remembering the message or lesson from the story. For example, if you take a simple medical simulation and add a backstory to the patients and place the hospital in critical situation, then the procedures and interactions become much more engaging.

#2- Storytelling helps organize information

Using a story or a narrative format gives the players a lens with which to remember, analyze, process and practice knowledge.

#3- Stories can motivate learning

When students experience games with stories that grab their attention, they become motivated to learn. Stories can also encourage and inspire students to act, to achieve, or complete a task within the game. If players require a specific knowledge to open a castle door access to an area of a game, they will be more motivated to acquire that knowledge.

#4- Stories help students reconnect with themselves

In a story-based game the player is connected as the hero trying to accomplish tasks and complete the story; therefore, it’s the player experiencing the situation. The student as the player is reflecting and making decisions. The player plays through his own cognitive abilities and emotions. The player navigates and maneuvers based on how he thinks and evaluates.

Riding into the Sunset…

As I mentioned in the opening of this blog, Stories and Narratives, since the beginning of human history, have been central to human Learning. Storytelling is a lot more than just a recitation of facts and events, it engages us in cognitive skills and our human emotions.

Stories give us opportunities to engage in imaginary worlds as if they were real. And if we attach learning to those worlds then the knowledge becomes just as real as the world.

And being able to make knowledge real is a very powerful tool in the hands of serious game developers.

‘The idea of telling a story in Fortnite isn’t new. Mustard says it was part of the plan from the beginning, ever since Fortnite’s battle royale mode first launched in September 2017. And it wasn’t just an afterthought — it was a key element of the experience. “Our approach since the start, or our goal, has been how do we create truly mass-scale, broad-based entertainment. And I always think that the way to do that is through narrative conceit,” Mustard explains. “It might not necessarily be story in the traditional character-driven, three-act structure. But the conceits, and the why of what’s going on and what’s happening, are critical for people to be emotionally attached to an entertainment experience. That’s our guiding principle and philosophy,” he says. “Fortnite has a story because all great entertainment has a good story.’

Donald Mustard Epic Games