Berättelser i realtid: Författaren och läsaren i samarbete [Stories in Real-Time: Author and Reader in Co-Operation]

Abstract

This article discusses the uses of temporality in digital narratives, especially computer games. The focus is on the use of present tense. Recent research has argued that the use of present tense should disqualify computer games as narratives. I am convinced that this is not the case as the digital medium requires interactivity and to tell a story where the audience has to interact requires present tense. The computer games' stories are told in real time. The use of real time does not always support storytelling and when interplay between audience and game is not functional we can talk about aporia. But, to let the audience reach epiphany, computer games use traditional narrative tools as described by for example Gérard Genette.