Narrative vs. Game

Building off the last post, and partly building off tonight's discussion of narrative in games in Kurt's class, I got to thinking about the narrative variables in our ARGs:

1. Identity: who are you?
2. Social scene: who are the other players, and how do they relate to you?
3. NPCs: who are the NPCs, and why are they in the sotry?
4. Story: why are you here and what are you doing?
5. Place: Where are you, and where do you need to go?

In the games so far, all of these things are pre-defined. The only question the players answer is "How?"

What would happen if we scaled back the pre-assignment of the variables. If we only assigned NPCs and places to visit, but let the players figure out and construct their own roles, their story, etc.