Abstract

In this work my aim is to analyse tools that are used to improve the processes of memory in video games. The discussion will open with a look at the methods used by game developers to reconcile the antithetic trends of the discourse – the structural narrative and the interactive nature of the medium. Consequently, narrative cliches in the form amnesia, as well as innovative techniques that use tools characteristic to interactive entertainment will be analysed.

The second part will present perspectives on the specific role of memory not only in game narratives, but also in aspects of games as a medium. This analysis will focus on texts that present non-traditional perception of memory and represent the transition from memory as a database to memory as an interactive process, leading to the construction of new forms and narrative mechanisms. Here I will examine phenomena such as the creation of collective and transactive memory in interactive entertainment subcultures.

The main thesis of this analysis is that in comparison to traditional narratives, the processes of memory loss, forgetting and consequent emergence of post-memory, play a more important role in video games. This way of reinterpreting memories will largely shape our perception of the concept of temporality in interactive entertainment. It will require a departure from the traditional perspective of time and a transition to the interpretation of time from the perspective of Bergson and Deleuze.