I've always been fascinated with breaking the fourth wall in art. Whether it's a moment in Arrested Development when Ron Howard directly addresses the audience or the opening of Italo Calvino's novel If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, which begins with the passage, "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler," metafiction has always appealed to me as a puzzle where solving and experiencing become synonymous. While Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid series has always been held as one of the pillars of self-aware video games, a 2011 Source mod may very well be the definitive work in interactive metafiction.
The Stanley Parable begins with a narrator introducing you to Stanley, a mild-mannered office drone who spends a great deal of time pressing buttons...much like the player who is currently controlling Stanley. The entire mod takes place within the confines of a seemingly banal office space adorned with olive green shag carpet and stale air. After stumbling upon the realization that he is the only person in the facility, you guide Stanley into the next room. The player is given their first dose of meta-narration within the first 10 seconds of the game. Upon entering a room containing a pair of doors, the narrator tells you that, "When Stanley came to a set of two open doors, he entered the door on his left." But seeing as how you are in control of Stanley, you can choose to have him obey the narrator and go left, or disobey the omniscient voice and head right. That's when things get tricky.
and i just installed it. havent played it yet, but it looked like an interesting concept in storytelling. its rather late so i'll try to play it tomorrow.
Klimbatize wrote:
I'll eat a turkey sandwich while blowing my load
Preng
Title: All right, that's cool!
Joined: Jan 11 2010
Location: Accounting Dept.
Posts: 1690
Posted:
Mar 12 2012 01:00 pm
I went and watched some gameplay videos for this, and overall it looked like an interesting concept. There are multiple endings, so experiment around when you play it.
chazzlabs
Joined: Dec 28 2009
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 66
Posted:
Mar 12 2012 02:07 pm
It's been a little while since I played it, but I think it only took a couple of hours at most to play through every ending. It was interesting and definitely worth the time. The "stock", I guess, ending (the ending you get after following the narrator's instructions), if I remember correctly, was the most thought-provoking for me.
Greg the White
Joined: Apr 09 2008
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 3112
Posted:
Mar 12 2012 02:25 pm
I've been wanting to play it forever, but my current laptop hates Half Life 2 for some reason.
So here's to you Mrs. Robinson. People love you more- oh, nevermind.
username
Title: owner of a lonely heart
Joined: Jul 06 2007
Location: phoenix, az usa
Posts: 16135
Posted:
Mar 30 2012 05:03 am
chazzlabs wrote:
It's been a little while since I played it, but I think it only took a couple of hours at most to play through every ending. It was interesting and definitely worth the time. The "stock", I guess, ending (the ending you get after following the narrator's instructions), if I remember correctly, was the most thought-provoking for me.
yes. i agree.
i played thru all endings (i think) and the whole idea of the game was fun in general. reminded me a lot of that movie "Stranger Than Fiction" with Will Ferrell in it.
Klimbatize wrote:
I'll eat a turkey sandwich while blowing my load
aeonic
Title: Sporadic Poster
Joined: Nov 19 2009
Location: Kissimmee, FL
Posts: 2747
Posted:
Mar 30 2012 07:26 am
This makes me want to get half-life. I just finished House of Leaves, so metafiction obviously has some appeal to me.
Who likes role-playing games? Me. Way too goddamn much.
