What is a coherent world.

A Coherent story world is a environment with a set of rules and stereotypes that come together to make a immersive story world for the player to interact with. A coherent world is necessary in a game to make the player feel immersed in the narrative of the game and makes the story understood by the player. This is done through the use of genre signifiers and stereotypes that can be interpreted by the player. It is through the "narrative genre" that the player understands the laws and rules of the game world that they are currently playing. The use of genre also allows for the game to break away from the normal rules of reality. A player will understand that a fantasy game allows for magic despite not being a wizard themselves in real life. For example in a game with a western genre the player can expect to see horses, underdeveloped towns and bandits everywhere and maintain his suspension of disbelief. The signs and stereotypes of this genre will immerse the player and create a game play experience which the player will enjoy.

What is genre.

I contend that video game genre is split into two parts. First the "narrative genre" which is what creates the coherent world, contains the music, art assets, and plot. This genre is what will immerse the player, and is the more important genre when it comes to development as it is this which will help create the suspension of disbelief that allows the player to keep playing the game. The second genre is the "game play genre" which is how the player interacts with the story world. First person shooters, real time strategies and Role playing games are examples of a game play genre and are the focus for the players interactions with the game. The game play genre is flexible in that it can be attached to any variety of narrative genre and still work. It just effects how the player interacts with the narrative. An example would be Halo Wars, a 2009 strategy game set in the Halo series of games which are well known for being first person shooters. The game sold well and was praised for having "the halo feel" despite being a drastic departure from the standard first person shooter genre for which the series was best known.

How does genre make a coherent world.

Saussure had the notion of the linguistic sign which is the idea of signs containing a signifier and the signified. The signifier represents the concept of the signified. For example winged horses, decorative metal armour, and pointy ears on a character are all signs that indicate a fantasy game set in a realm of swords and sorcery. These signs can be looked at as "generic stereotypes". Something that a player instinctively knows as belonging within the world that the genre helped create. The generic stereotype can be anything within the game world; characters, music, sound effects, game assets etc. As long as the narrative genre maintains these signs and stereotypes then the coherency of the world is safe and the player will remain immersed and interested in the game. Straying from this would have a negative effect on the player's suspension of disbelief. An alien appearing in a game that maintains a fantasy flavoured narrative genre would seem out of place and would pull the player out of the story world and make them aware that they are sitting down and playing a game. As a side note it is possible to mix and match genres, sci-fi and fantasy for example. However there is a danger in doing that, as the mix can be quite archaic and may not translate well to the player, having a negative effect on the coherence of the story world.