Everyone loves a good ghost story. People like scary computer games too, like ‘The Last of Us’, that blend action, fear and a gripping narrative. But what makes them so appealing?
To research storytelling, Dr Dan Pinchbeck at the University of Portsmouth created what he calls “an interactive ghost story” called Dear Esther, where much of the game experience was stripped away to bring a creepy story to the fore.
The player takes control of a mystery character wading onto the shore of an uninhabited Scottish island. Three intertwining stories involving a Scandinavian hermit, a syphilitic 18th century explorer with a laudanum habit and a possibly drunk pharmaceutical salesman are revealed through fragments of letters to Esther read by a narrator, triggered as the player passes over particular locations.
Funded by AHRC, the award-winning game was deconstructed by rabid fans online and raised questions as to whether it was really a game or a dark “virtual art installation”. The author states this type of creative research should be repeated so universities can have a more meaningful dialogue with the multi-billion pound gaming industry.