The Stanley Parable
The Stanley Parable is an anti-adventure game set in a bland office space. Nothing much happens. So what makes it so fun (and funny)?
On one level, it's a simple contest between a voiced narrator and a poor office worker (Stanley) whose entire job involves pushing keys on command from an unknown authority. On another level, it's a game that breaks narrative conventions in order to make them visible as conventions––the parts of any story that, despite their artificiality, we overlook in order to make the story work. We don't ask how we know a protagonist's thoughts in a novel, or why Shakespeare's characters converse in meter, or how Mel Gibson can star in a new movie given that William Wallace died in Braveheart. In most games, similarly, we don't question the way an environment ushers us through a determined sequence. When a door is locked, a tree can't be roamed through, or a cliff can't be jumped, we just know: the game is "over there." By contrast, the The Stanley Parable ushers the player outside the apparent script––only to discover that their every move was also scripted in advance. That's the story here, and the fun.
Day 1
Getting ready to play
Ask students to download the game before class. (The "Ultra Deluxe" version is a significant expansion of the original; either works for this unit). They should come with headphones and the device they will use to play (PC/Mac for most, Switch for others; note that the game is also available on Playstation and XBox for students who wish to play at home, or for equipped classrooms). The game will take most students about 3 hrs to get enough "endings" to appreciate the game's humor and complexity as metanarrative.​​
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In preparation for Day 1, students should watch and take notes on the Folding Ideas video essay, "Ludonarrative Dissonance." Before they watch, it will be helpful for students to read this short explanation of Bioshock (2007) and Ayn Rand's philosophy.
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Class time (60 mins)
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(20 mins) Discussion of ludonarrative dissonance. Is it a valid critical term? Which games do students already know in which it might be useful?
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(40 mins) Get started on the game (go for two or three endings)!
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Homework (45 mins)
After students have reaching five or six of Stanley's endings, they should spend a few minutes writing down which one they enjoyed most and why. Specificity is important here. What makes an ending, say, funny, or philosophically provocative, or creepy? This at-home journaling will be used to help launch discussion in class.​​
Day 2
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Class time (60 mins)
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Invite three or four students to play through their favorite ending for the class on a shared screen. After each ending, the student should lead a brief discussion about their ending that invites students to comment on it in comparison to others.​
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Homework (45 mins)​
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Play through an additional four endings (total of at least nine or ten at this point).
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Day 3​
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Class time (60 mins)
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(15 mins) Watch the Folding Ideas followup to "Ludonarrative Dissonance," "The Stanley Parable, Dark Souls, and Intended Play"
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(45 mins) Ask students to get in a circle. Put the questions below on the board. After they take 10 silent minutes to formulate their ideas in response on paper, ask them to discuss the questions "Harkness" style.
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​A parable is a simple story that illustrates a lesson or idea. Is The Stanley Parable actually a parable? If so, of what? If not, why not?
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Is the Stanley Parable “ludonarratively dissonant”? Do narrative and mechanics disagree here or are they harmonious? Be specific with evidence.
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Homework
Critical Play Journal: "Intended play and death in The Stanley Parable." (See below).
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PLAY JOURNAL
"Death and The Stanley Parable"
Your task in this Critical Play Journal is to make a video in which you close read one of Stanley's endings. Your interpretation should be relatively brief but should show the ability to consider this ending against a larger background of endings in the game (I'm assuming you know at least ten or more endings by now). The interpretation should also pose a few broader questions about death in games generally. For example, does one "die" here only when Stanley dies, or are the endings that do not explicitly show Stanley dying also a death? How do the deaths (or, if you wish, endings) in Stanley compare with death and respawnings in other games? (Be concrete here with an example or two) How does Stanley use death as a way of commenting on game and narrative more broadly?
Note: You don't need to answer all of the questions above. These are here to prompt and help you get you going.
Rules:
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The video should be about 4 minutes long
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In the video, you should do offer "director's commentary" as you illustrate an ending (and kinds of gamer death, including a different game if you wish). Keep it simple.
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It is worth spending some time looking through the map of endings here (this includes separate maps for the original and the "Extra Deluxe" versions). You likely won't have played through even half of these, so it can be useful to get a sense for the range of possibility.
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You should think about writing some notes with talking points before you start recording. Your voiceover doesn't have to be fully scripted, but it should be somewhat planned.
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Resist the temptation to crack jokes, opine about whether the game is "good" or "bad," or go off-topic. Put yourself in the shoes of a serious game critic. Your goal is to give your audience a much more detailed and specific understanding of the significance of death in Stanley and games more generally.