Exploring 6 Digital Narrative Games
Hello! I’ve played a couple of digital narrative games which I never played before, and I’d love to share my experience with you guys as well as the games’ links so you can experience it and play them too!! It is my first time and It definitely was a rollercoaster :))
This is what I felt while playing these 6 digital narrative games: I’ve attached the links to each games’ name! Enjoy :3
When I played this game, I was feeling conflicted and lost because I felt like I was gambling with my life. I was scared because I did not know if I’d make it out alive or not. After trying it for like, 5 more times, I finally managed to survive but I honestly don’t know how. This really showed me how horrible it’d be to be put in this position and situation, knowing your life is at stake in many ways and knowing that there’s a lot of risk involved. I also made my friends play this game along with most of the rest and it was interesting to see the different paths each of us chose and how different our choices were, leading to different outcomes.
This game was a rollercoaster. On my first try, I was being so cheap in order to have enough money by the end of the month, especially in case of an emergency. I ended up finishing the game with 1.4k $ which I kind of felt bad because I had to sacrifice a lot of things and manage between necessities and wants. It was a matter of survival and not going broke which gave me mixed feelings. On one hand, I felt the financial responsibility and ended up[ managing it well but I had to sacrifice my own pleasure (not going to parties for instance) and my own child’s wants sometimes (expensive shoes for example). Also, after every decision, the game would give us facts about real life statistics depending on our choice which really made me sympathize with people who go through these troubles.
Honestly, I still haven’t finished this game and I couldn’t. It basically was about creating my domain and page and writing fake news articles with the aim to stir up feelings and get shares by people from different political parties. The main aim was to reach my goal at the start of the game of gaining a certain amount of money which honestly was impossible. I found it impossible because the days were passing by in a matter of seconds which made it impossible to gain money by avoiding the monthly payments. If the days would pass slower and give more time to create articles and gain money then I would be able to finish it. That’s the improvement I think they should make so that many people and I could finish and enjoy the game more efficiently. This game showed me not to trust everything shown in the media or in articles unless it’s credible because many can fake credibility with money as shown in this game.
While playing the depression quest, I really felt like I was in the character’s position. At some point during the game, I was not able to make choices, I only ended up having one option to choose from. Also, it stirred up a lot of feelings because I’ve gone through depression for a couple of years and it was sad relating to some of the things happening; it made me remember my struggles but also showed me how it’s possible to get through it despite it taking time. Despite it making me go through a lot of emotions and reminding me of the past, it really made me want to help that person and make sure he gets through the depression and lives on.
While playing this game, I realized how hard it would be to be illiterate while having a family, especially for their education. And this game was actually able to make me feel the struggle since it was in another language and I relied heavily on photo memory to remember which shapes are associated with which letter. I really felt illiterate because I genuinely could not read it or understand. I tried using my logic by going back to the alphabet pictures given and seeing the similar patterns of letters in different words to match them up. If there was no backtracking I would have not had a clue whatsoever so it definitely showed me a whole new perspective of the difficulty and struggles of being illiterate while having to raise a family.
Personally, this was my favorite game so far. I chose it because it is related to business which would help me a lot and it would be a good experience to enhance my knowledge and capabilities. My role was to basically help a friend named Thomas with his business presentations and investment proposals. While playing it, I was not disappointed at all and was quite happy that I already knew and was very familiar with what was being explained even though I am not in entrepreneurship specifically. I have not finished it because it is quite long and I was focusing on it a lot and not just playing it with the aim to finish it quickly. I do hope more of the games on their site could be free because I think I only found 2 free games and this one is one of them. I definitely encourage anyone into business because this is very entertaining yet helps enhance our knowledge.
All of these games were different in their own way but each and every one of them taught me something valuable in life that I’ll hold on to and remember. It made me experience multiple different scenarios that people go through in real life which is crazy to me since it is either dangerous and life threatening (syrian refugees), either represents financial struggles people forcefully face (spent), either portrays struggles in general (illiteracy), and some help enhance knowledge and make us realize the reality of things behind the scenes (bluesky ventures and fake it or make it). This was a new experience for me as I am used to playing video games, open world interactive games with storylines which sometimes have underlying messages but it is not the main purpose of the game, it’s more of how fun, entertaining it is and how many players it can attract. That’s why playing these digital narrative games was eye-opening, thoughtful and educational yet fun and intriguing to me.
After playing these different games and exploring their different aspects, I got some inspiration as to what type of narrative game I would like to create myself. I would definitely create something that is of my own experience or expertise so I can give a more rich relatable experience to those who go through the same things as I do. Or I could target those who are passionate and have the same interests and make it more fun yet let us learn. I could even do a mix of both, I can’t wait and see what I’ll end up creating.
Let me know if you played any of these and what are your thoughts!
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