“From here, the story is in our control:” An Application of Reader-Response Theory to The Stanley Parable

The world of video games is one that began in the late 1950s and early 1960s and has become an influential part of modern culture. However, despite its prominence, it is an untapped area of academia and would benefit from the application of literary theories for analysis. A particularly compelling choice is reader-response theory (1960s) since its focus on the interaction between the reader and the work would translate well to the medium of video games. This paper proposes that video games, specifically story-driven ones, are a new frontier for reader response theory where instead of meaning being created by the experience, it is the story itself being created by the experience because of the choice system within video games and how the narrative is shaped by the decisions the player makes. There will also be a look into the illusion of choice in video games and how reader response theory deals with the inability of the player to truly influence the game they are playing because of predetermined programming. The main focus will be on the video game The Stanley Parable (2013), which is a single-player story-driven game in which a man named Stanley, working together with an unnamed narrator, tries to figure out why all of his co-workers suddenly disappeared one day. This game was chosen because of its meta-analysis on choice and the numerous endings available to the player based on how they choose to approach the narrative.