Narratology vs Ludology

This is going to be a general response to all of the readings that we used for the narratology/ludology debate. So when I first went through the readings I was approaching it based on the debate topic which I had interpreted incorrectly. After taking time to reflect and go through the readings once again id like to take this chance to correct, recollect, and express my actual position. Originally I thought the argument was asking whether video games should be viewed as separate from traditional media not whether it could inherently contain narrative or not which was my first mistake which is no wonder why the readings confused me so much and I gave away many points during the debate. My base idea would argue that narratologists and ludologists both are incorrect for approaching video games as you would approach anything else. I think much like some of the first moving pictures (not films that tell stories) we need to rethink how we process this new form of media as opposed to straight away trying to categorize it. I feel there should be some form of middle ground between narratologists and ludologists due to the intrinsically mathematic nature of video games. Video games are code they are run by numbers and those numbers are architectured by humans. I would personally believe that those books and films that also appear to serve no narrative are far easier to interpret with a narrative while it can be very far reaching to interpret something like Tetris to have a narrative or sub-textual meaning. If tetris has a narrative, then a calculator that serves no other purpose than repetitive and mundane calculation also has a narrative. However, we do see video games that have narrative, and without that narrative they simply wouldn’t be as engaging, so you cant disqualify all games as inherently not having stories. While games may be procedural humans are still behind those procedures, they are behind those ones and zeros flying under the hood displaying the game on screen and if humans are the ones behind it then those procedures are naturally occurring things. Games do not inherently have stories but are a very unique medium in that they CAN have narrative. Moreover the stories and the game can be separate while coexisting. If you strip the story from something like Red Dead Redemption it would still be an open world game full of cowboys and robbers. But for me this also brings up the question of the definition of narrative. Is narrative a naturally occurring phenomenon? I would personally argue yes, at least in modern times. And another question I have is does the narrative necessarily need to come from the authors of the games? With films, books, and other forms of media, while they do tell their stories, many of us pull what we want from those things and sometimes even build or reinvent it in our own heads. We create within something that has already been created and something that was meant to tell their story not ours but we tell our own stories anyways. This same thing happens with video games. Use the Red Dead example again, you don’t HAVE to follow the main storyline, but I would argue the hours I spend hunting and deciding to be a ruthless outlaw or heroic savior is a story I craft for myself in the game, it simply just makes it more immersive.