In many ways, video games - particularly those of the action/adventure genre - are characteristically similar to situated learning environments. By embodying game characters that face various physical, social, and intellectual challenges, players learn and adopt cultural models of behavior that are consistent with their character's goals and authentic to the specific game world [1]. However, in order for this situated learning paradigm to occur, the player must first understand the context of the environment in which he is placed. Video games often employ narratives to convey this needed context. Such narratives serve to inform the player of the dramatic, historical events that comprise the back-story of the game, or to further the story during game-play after significant events occur. For educational video games, narrative can play an additional role - that of serving as a potential cognitive aid that players can use to tie the events and character interactions of the game (both temporally and spatially) to specific, educational constructs presented in the game [2]. The means through which narrative is incorporated into games, however, is a hotly debated topic among game scholars [3, 4]. At issue is whether game narratives should be coerced to follow embedded, pre-scripted stories, or whether the narratives should emerge un-scripted as an outcome of the player's actions. Narratologists tend to favor embedded narrative in video games, regarding them as synergistic with the overall game-playing experience. In contrast, ludologists tend to oppose the embedding of narrative into games as a means of telling stories. They argue that narrative in video games should be emergent in nature, arising out of the action of game-play rather than being determined ahead of time.
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