BioWare Talks Narrative at GDC Canada
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External narratives are something uniquely suited to games, due to their technological focus. While other forms of narrative engender outside discussion, games can put structure around those emergent narratives.
For example, in Dragon Age, "we're exporting data from player achievements and highlighting that on the community site," said Muzyka. For the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, "Manipulation of world server data based on a broad range of user activities can actually change the game world."
(On exploits being automatically published, he added: "The good news is that news of your exploits can spread all over the web. The bad news is that news of your exploits can spread all over the web.")
BioWare is also known for supporting user-generated content with games like Neverwinter Nights and its sequel; Zeschuk noted that external Dragon Age content is already being created thanks to its toolset beta, long before the release of the game itself.
But there's also lower-tech external narrative that can be deliberately encouraged by developers. For example, an early Mass Effect 2 teaser suggested the first game's protagonist Commander Shepard had been killed. "Since we released that, there's been incredible buzz; fans have been talking about it," said Zeschuk. "That's a form of external narrative."
