On the 25th of January 2018 the doomsday clock was set to 2 minutes to midnight, meaning that according to the scientific community the world is now closer to a nuclear apocalypse than it has ever...Show moreOn the 25th of January 2018 the doomsday clock was set to 2 minutes to midnight, meaning that according to the scientific community the world is now closer to a nuclear apocalypse than it has ever been before (Bulletin). Worryingly, the last time the world’s scientific community deemed a nuclear apocalypse this close was in 1953, after the USA had announced they would “pursue the hydrogen bomb” (Bulletin). In the same period, in response to the widespread anxieties caused by the increasing nuclear threat, science fiction stories abounded that explored various post-nuclear apocalyptic scenarios. Two of the most lastingly influential novels in this genre are John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids (hereafter, Triffids) (1951) and Richard Matheson’s I am legend (1954). Both texts explore the apocalypse as a phenomenon wherein the civilizations of man inevitably rise and fall. In both narratives the characters experience an apocalypse that is caused by humanity and the protagonists have to learn to live in a post apocalyptic world. The narratives explore the nature of science, technology and the identity of man within a pattern of creation and destruction. This thesis explores the apocalypse as a cyclical phenomenon in which the apocalypse is both the end and the beginning of civilization.Show less
Video games form one of the latest media in which stories are told. However, video games are not just stories - they are interactive experiences in which players have an active role. Therefore...Show moreVideo games form one of the latest media in which stories are told. However, video games are not just stories - they are interactive experiences in which players have an active role. Therefore there has been much debate on how video games should be academically approached: can video games be analysed with methods used in literary studies or should new methods be developed. Yet, little to no research has been done on the relationship between storytelling and interactivity in a video game genre that blends these two features together unlike any other: choice-driven video games. While the genre is not unique in its approach to blend storytelling and interactivity, as role-playing games (RPGs) have done so for several years, it has become increasingly popular with video game developers specialising in these sort of video games, such as Quantic Dream and Telltale Games. This genre of video games is often marketed to highlight the players' freedom and control over the video games in which their decisions dictate the outcome of the story. Nevertheless, these qualities are often overplayed as scripted events serve as boundaries limiting the extent players are actually able to affect the outcome of these video games. Thus I propose that choice-driven video games (and RPGs) offer the illusion that players' choics, decisions, and actions are significant to the outcome of the video game they are playing through clever use of mechanics that provides players to chance to immerse themselves in these video games. Until Dawn (2015), Life Is Strange (2015), and Undertale (2015) are used as case studies for this thesis.Show less
