Bransford's post is about Archetype vs Cliche. He speaks about writing a story that is like another, within the same archetype. It seems similar because it is the same type of story. Cliche on the other hand, IS the same overused story. The story is your generic "Your princess is in another castle" story of the knight who goes out to save the princess trapped by a dragon (or a fire breathing turtle in this case).
I recently spoke about video game plots with my old high school english teacher and advisor. While the majority of our talk was centered on topics I covered in my Interactive Storytelling post, I noticed a Joseph Campbell book on his desk. I mentioned that Campbell states that there are only seven stories we can tell anyway. Every story is a reiteration of one of the seven with different names. The seven are the archetypes.
So, how does all this relate to video games? Well, almost every game has a story. Even those that appear to have no story at least have some sort of premise. The original Super Smash Brothers was about a bunch of Nintendo toys in Master Hand's room duking it out (I think that's it). SSB is an example of a game that doesn't really need a story, the fighting game genre doesn't really spend time on story. I can't think of any fighting games I've played where the story seemed important.
But then we have the other genres, which give the story more priority. The story is never top priority, that (should) always go to the gameplay. The gameplay, what the player is actually doing, is what makes the game a game. Great gameplay can, and will, save a lame story. A pulitzer prize quality story will never save a shatty game. This is why the plot is second to the gameplay. But, a good story does often define the line bewteen a good and a great game.
As I see it, there are three types of stories within the games universe: Originals that compare to other stories via the archetypes, stories that sound a lot alike via cliche, and those that are shameless copy pasted from other (usually better) games.
With the first group, as I have already noted there are only so many stories we can write. The Legend of Zelda games have you save the world. So does the Fable games. I can't think of how many games have this as a basic plot element. Both Twilight Princess and Fable II start off with simple time wasting quests in an idyllic set up. Then, both have something go horribly wrong. Then, both have you reverse the villains hard work. Then, you defeat said villain and save the world. Despite this, I would hardly call the games copies. They are within the same archtype, perhaps cliched but not copies.
The second group is the stories we drop after ten minutes saying, "I've heard this all before". The game's plot ceases to surprise you. You predict the "twists" hours before they occur. When this happens, you stop caring about the characters and when this happens in a game, unlike regular writing, you can mercilessly slay (or let die in horrible ways) the characters you no longer like. Most likely, unless the gameplay isn't cliched as well, the game gets dropped at this point.
The last group is the worst. Reiterating the exact same story as another game. Some sequels do this. Resident Evil 5 opened the exact same way as RE4 except with you killing blacks instead of spanish peasants. I've heard, since I've never played either, that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 contains three nuke scenes to try and recreate the shock and awe of the nuke scene from COD 4. But, then it just loses the effect entirely.
A final point of note, as it often comes up in literature and movies and relates to the last group, is parody. This is when you copy another story to either mock or make a comment on the original. It is possible through the Fair Play laws (Hey kids, I took an Intellectual Property class!). Parody is quite popular in movies, but rare in games. I can't think of any games that are direct full scale parodies of other games. Games that do this are small time indepent flash games that you would find on Newgrounds. However, small self parody does run through some games. Fable II makes several joking references to the first Fable. A book you can find that gives a quick summary of the first Fable states, "The guildmaster was then slain by the Hero. It is rumored that the words 'Do you have any potions?' was carved into his forehead." For those of you who don't know, whenever your health got low you would hear the guildmaster's voice, "Your health is low. Do you have any potions?" For more parody of computers and general amusement check the first three minutes or so of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKqGKW2kQ-4.
Zexion will teach you to steal his story.
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