This is the bibliogrpahy for a reaserch essay I am working on in conjunction with a documentary I produced on my own addiction to videogames, entitled As Real As Your Life. Mostly just an overview of where i see the indusrty heading in the next 10 years,and what complications we may be faced with in a culture increasingly dependent on virtual reality experience.

The article begins by examining some standard arguments for games being narrative. There are at least three common arguments: 1) We use narratives for everything. 2) Most games feature narrative introductions and back-stories. 3) Games share some traits with narratives.

The article then explores three important reasons for describing games as being non-narrative: 1) Games are not part of the narrative media ecology formed by movies, novels, and theatre. 2) Time in games works differently than in narratives. 3) The relation between the reader/viewer and the story world is different than the relation between the player and the game world.