Opportunities to Promote Storytelling Should Be Maximized in the Game Design
Storytelling is a potent learning tool:
Stories are a powerful communication tool because they enable listeners to make connections between what
is said and their own experience—this helps create meaning and can trigger people into action. (Bonner,
Chartier, and Lapointe 2006, 4)
Storytelling is also a key part of gaming, both in the games themselves, which rely on narrative for their
power and in which player decisions shape the story, and in the user communities, chatrooms, and
face-to-face gatherings where gamers share their playing experiences and offer advice to each other. These
peripheral social activities are as important as the game itself because such performance stories, ideas about
strategy, and exchanged knowledge constitute forms of learning in their own right. These experiences
therefore should be integrated into gameplay wherever possible. Halo 3, for example, allows users to share
practice and strategy with others through screenshots and video. This can develop reflective practice,
analysis, and evaluation, all essential high-level skills in today's information-based society.