Reddit reviews The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories

First off, read anything by Carl Jung. His theories on archetypes and the collective unconscious form the groundwork upon which not only games, but the entire modern entertainment industry are built.

Basically Jung argues that there is a collective set of symbols and ideas that all humans, regardless of culture or upbringing will respond to. Understanding these symbols, and building your game around them - either as mechanics or story - allows you to influence how the player will respond.

Jung: A Very Short Introduction is a pretty easy way to get started. After you read that I'd suggest getting into the meat of Jung's own words with The Portable Jung (coincidentally edited by Joseph Campbell)

And with that, you should also read The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. He takes Jung's ideas, and shows the specific symbols used in the Hero's Journey - one of the most common story types. People talk about the Hero's Journey all the time - but it's a really important concept to understand if you're doing any sort of creative works. Here are two quick video primers on it:

A more serious one: Ted Ed: What Makes a Hero

A more awesome one: Glove and Boots: The Hero's Journey :)

If you want to go further on the narrative route I'd also suggest The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker. He takes the Hero's Journey and shows how it is just one of several different plot archetypes, all of which have their own internal path, rules, and idiosyncrasies.

Now, in case you're thinking "Why are you sharing these books about narrative with me? Games are not stories!" remember that people have been responding to stories for all time - and good storytellers are masters at making people feel the desired emotion at the desired time.

Therefore I'd also direct you to Story By Robert McGee as well as Poetics by Aristotle. Both of these books look at story in a mechanical sense, and explain the precise methods storytellers (both ancient Greek ones and modern Hollywood ones) use to evoke emotions in the audience. These principles almost directly translate to game design.

After that I'd suggest looking at Chris Crawford's list of books all game designers should read. Unfortunately I can't find a copy of the list on the internet, but it's at the end of his book Chris Crawford on Game Design

This book deal with that subject: The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories

Sounds pretty intresting.

I think the author is missing a huge point here. The points he mentions refer to bad twist endings. A good twist ending should use all the information that was already available to the player, but draw a different conclusion for it.

When the player gets to the twist, they should think "Of course! Why didn't I see that earlier?". Bad twists simply lie to the player, or withhold information. This results in annoyance when you get to the twist, because there was no way you could have anticipated it. The parts of the game you played suddenly feel pointless (this may apply more to movies though), since you weren't actually getting the complete story.

> I'm not really worried about it. Wacky twist storytelling is a cul de sac. There's really only so much you can do with it, compared with the infinite potential variety of simple stories about actual people doing actual things.

That seems...odd, considering the view that there are only 7 basic plots. Twist endings have their place, as any type of story does. I don't believe they're a cul de sac any more than the "hero wins" ending, which is the typical ending to most entertainment.

Are you familiar with Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces or The Seven Basic Plots?

That's ultimately why, even though I like GRRMs' work, I take his critiques of authors like Tolkien with a grain of salt. Narratively there's only so many stories you can actually tell. And why I don't rate him as highly as Tolkien or Herbert or Jordan.

Like we're seeing with Jon Snow in the show, and probably will in the books, ultimately it's just another hero's journey.

GRRM just added more peripheral stories and used the narrative weights to try to make the story seem more complex – but you can't really escape the structure ultimately.

Or as Christopher Nolan so succinctly summarizes via Harvey Dent's character in The Dark Knight, you either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain. That's the tension of anyone making a difference.

I'm a pretty well-confirmed athiest at this point. I tend to view the current manifestations of religion as following in a long tradition of mythmaking by human cultures.

With that in mind, you might look into some psychology in addition to your religious research. I'm a writer, which is how I came by Jung and Campbell and Booker -- but I think the idea of underlying patterns of thought that guide our own mythmaking is of broader use than simply helping me understand storytelling better.

I've read the following, and suggest you do as well!

Jung

The Basic Writings of CG Jung

Man and His Symbols

The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

Psychology and Religion

Campbell

The Hero With A Thousand Faces

The Masks of God (Vols. 1 - 3)

Myths to Live By

Booker

The Seven Basic Plots

There are a lot more, but those are the ones I'd start with. As an undergrad, I majored in English and Rhetoric, and minored in both Religion and Poetry -- this cultural storytelling stuff is important to me.

As a library science graduate student, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that you can get all of these books from your local library -- and can enlist the aid of the reference desk in finding more material for your research. Believe me, there's nothing a reference worker likes more than an interesting topic -- i.e. something that doesn't involve directing people to the bathroom, or helping people find books on filing their taxes. We're trained to help with real research! Use us!

The Seven Basic Plots