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Module 6: Narrative and New Media

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 9 months ago

Transmedia Story Creation

Module 6: Narrative and New Media

 

By Amy Capelle and Melissa Zucal


Module Outline

 

 


Associated Readings

 

  • First Person (Wardrip-Frun, N; Harrigan, P. et al., 2004) Introduction and Part I 
  • "Lord Burleigh’s Kiss" (Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, 1997) Chapter 1 

 


Background

 

First Person
 

 

Introduction

 

One of the focuses of the First Person text is “…the relationship between stories and games...” (Wardrip, 2004) and the examination of literary practices that cause us to re-think what is a story, a performance, a game.

 

Cyberdrama

 

If readings from First Person were to be summarized in one question:

 

How does the interactive game incorporate elements of drama without sacrificing the game player’s agency?

 

All of the readings in this section:

 

  • Discuss the importance of agency
  • Explore ways to bridge the gap between stories and interactive games
  • Examine the component(s) that they believe will bring designers/developers closer to that goal

 

Each of the essayists in the readings addresses this in their own way followed with a response written by leading industry participants.

 

"From Game Story to Cyberdrama"

 

Janet Murray, the author of this essay, brings to light the structures that games and stories have in common.  Games take the form of a context and dramatize this part of the game to produce enjoyment for the participants. Games also take the form of puzzles and the author points out how a mystery story is a type of puzzle. Both the story and the game remove participants from the real world allowing a form of escapism.  

 

“Storytelling and gaming have always overlapped” (Murray, 2004).

 

It is not either a game or a story but a combination of both that will allow us to define our individual and collective human experience. The computer is just another means to narrate the human experiences through these media, gaming and storytelling or through the game-story. The author cites The Sims as an example of this new blend between the two forms. She also uses the term Cyberdrama to define this type of game-story experience. Another important idea identified by Murray is the replay story; a way to explore all of the possible outcomes of a decision within a computer game. She also sees agency; the pleasure obtained by the game player when the experience includes just the right balance of story and game; as a way to measure the excellence of a Cyberdrama.

 

Ultimately the author does not think there is importance attached to what we call this combination of the two media but rather in exploring the combinations of the two to determine what creates the best combination, the most engaging.

 

The Response

 

Brian Loyall expands on Murray’s idea to include not only the factor of agency but also immersion. Immersion, Loyall believes, only takes place when the characters have an effect of realism to the player and the player must care about these characters. He also identifies another component for interactive dramas, compressed intensity. Compressed intensity is the ability of the story to advance at a even pace and Loyall believes this can be achieved by sharing the story’s pacing between the participant and the environment that they are playing.

 

"Can there be a Form between a Game and a Story?"

 

 “Why does a character in a movie seem more ‘real’ to us then a character in a computer game?” (Perlin, 2004) This question is the jumping off point for the author, Ken Perlin.

 

 In movies:

  • Audiences are drawn in by seeing character's point of view (the point of view allows us, the audience, to view this character's point of view)
  • The best movie characters display personality and soul  
  • are passive and the audience does not have to display agency
  • the purpose is to take the viewer on a "...vicarious emotional journey..." (Perlin, 2004)

 

 Interactive games:

  • are dependant on the player obtaining agency
  • are about player control
  • purpose is to give the player obstacles to overcome (defeat the dragon, find the map)

 

Perlin beleive that the way to bring a game closer to a story is to create a state of intermeadiate agency. Someplace where the player sees themselves "...as a psychologically present entity, somewhere between me and other" (Perlin, 2004). In order to create this place Perlin believe an interactive game needs to employ writing, directing; both of which games currently employ, and virtual acting, which is the missing piece.

 

 

The Response

 

Will Wright, creator of The Sims, defines agency as “ …who is in control…” (Wright, 2004).

 

He agrees with Perlin that in order for games to tell better stories, "virtual actors" are needed within interactive games. He sees how having these actors and strong characters enhances the dramatic possibilities and increases believability within an interactive game. However, Wright does not believe that games need to tell stories. Maybe games should not strive to be the next linear step in the media chain (books-àradio-àmovies-àTV). Wright sees the goal of interactive games as not creating stories for the player to experience, but to give the player the ability to define his or her own stories.

 

 

"A Preliminary Poetics for interactive Drama and Games"

 

Michael Mateas proposes a theoretical framework to guide technological and design of interactive games (Mateas, 2004).

 

 

Michael Mateas' Theoretical Framework for Interactive Drama and Games

 

This model, reproced in the graphic above, is based on Aristotle’s Poetics and is inteneded to provide answers to the questions; 'What do I build?' and 'How do I build it?' Mateas believe that this model will help designers create interactive games that will create dramatic expereinces that will maximize player agency. He also believes that the model provides a way to alayze player agency as a way to analyze the effectiveness of player agency creation.

 

In his essay Mateas examines Murray's three aesthetic categories; Immersion, Agency, and Transformation

 

Immersion is the ability to involve a person so deeply in an experience they will accept logic presented in the experience even if that logic differs from the real world

 

Agency is an effect that relates to a participants intention that translates into a feeling of empowerment from participating in an interactive experience. Agency is a necessary condition for immersion; immersion depends on agency.

 

Transformation has three different contexts: the game allows the gamer to become someone else; the game allows the gamer many different ways to explore the theme of the game; and, the game takes the gamer on a personl journey of transformation (the gamer is changed from playing the game).

 

He also decribes the needed balance between material and formal constraints as an imbalance between material and formal constraints results in a reduction of agency.

Material contraints are the resources within the interactive game, the environemt or the game, available for the player to interact. For example the game contains differnet weapons for the player to use; a mahcine gun, a broadsword, a handgun however there is not a hand gernade available for use. This is a material constraint. Formal constraints are the rules within the game; what is the player allowed to do? What choices do they have within the context of the game to move the game along to its conclusion?

 

The Response

 

Brenda Laurel agrees that agency is essential and that agency and immersion are “deeply related” (Laurel, 2004). However, she disagrees with Mateas’ interpretation of Aristotle.  She does feel that Mateas put the hammer to the nail when he concluded that to produce agency an interactive gaming experience must balance material and formal constraints. Laurel also agrees that immersion requires agency and that, “…agency must have real significance at the level of plot” (Laurel, 2004).

 

 

Lord Burleigh’s Kiss

 

Janet Murray’s first chapter of her book, Hamlet on the Holodeck: the Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, is an exploration of the ethical questions regarding simulation, interactive gaming, and technology as a source of pleasure or entertainment. She leads us through a discussion of questions regarding new technologies: Will computer simulation and interactive gaming lead to a society engulfed by human misery as dystopian literature has painted in the past? Or will it provide another medium to teach us what is to be human? She does not provide an answer, but instead allows the reader to answer the questions raised.

 


 Analysis

 

What Is New Media?

 

Just what does the term “new media” mean? It is a term that seemingly has no clear, sound definition, and researching the topic brings up a wide array of opinions. For the purposes of this analysis, the term will be defined as the latest medium for storytelling that incorporates computers, the Internet, and interactivity.

 

The readings for this week primarily center on the evolution of a new narrative form, which combines elements of traditional narrative storytelling and games. In the “From Game-Story to Cyberdrama” article, Janet Murray (2004) said, “Which came first, the story or the game? For me, it is always the story that comes first, because storytelling is a core human activity, one we take into every medium of expression, from the oral-formulaic to the digital multimedia” (p. 3). Murray makes an excellent point here about the importance of narrative to human expression. From oral storytelling to books to radio, film, and television, humans have always used narrative as the chief format for expressing experiences and information.

 

Gaming is discussed to a great extent in the readings, but there is a bigger picture here. It is not entirely about how much games are or are not like stories. It is about the dynamic between the author and the audience and the degree of interaction the medium demands of the audience.

 

“Let Me Tell You a Story”

 

Each new evolution of narrative media has resulted in a shift in the dynamic between the author and the audience. Traditional oral storytelling only demanded that the audience be attentive. It was a passive experience to listen to someone “spin a yarn.” Later, printed narratives required more of the audience since one had to imagine what the characters and scenes looked like and the character’s tone of voice and mood. The advent of print made narratives more interactive by requiring a reader use his or her imagination.

 

Film and television changed the dynamic once again by making narratives more passive and less demanding on the audience by showing pictures and sound. When gaming technology advanced enough, the stories told through games asked the viewer to participate in the direction of the storyline. With the arrival of computers and “new media,” narratives can combine and change elements of all of the previous storytelling media.

 

 The Importance of Agency

 

Agency is the term discussed in the readings that describes the audience’s right to make decisions regarding the narrative. Murray (2004) said, “When the world responds expressively and coherently to our engagement with it, then we experience agency” (p. 10). Different storytelling media necessitate different degrees of agency from the viewer. The degree of agency experienced is directly correlated to the degree of interaction the story demands from the audience.

 

In the “Can There Be a Form Between a Game and a Story” article, Ken Perlin discusses the agency experienced in novels. Perlin (2004) said:

 

        By telling us a story, it asks us to set aside our right to make choices—our agency. Instead, the agency of a protagonist takes

        over, and we are swept up in observation of his struggle, more or less from his point of view, as though we were some invisible

        spirit or angel perched upon his shoulder, watching but never interfering. (p. 14)

 

In more passive storytelling media, viewers are required to relinquish their own agency and let the author control the characters, storyline, and ending. When a narrative demands more interactivity, more engagement from the audience, the control over the story belongs to the viewer to a greater extent and increases the experience of agency.

 

New Media Means New Narratives

 

How does “new media” change and shape the future of narrative? In the “From Game-Story to Cyberdrama” article, Murray (2004) said:

 

        A new medium of expression allows us to tell stories we could not tell before, to retell the age-old stories in new ways, to imagine

        ourselves as creatures of a parameterized world of multiple possibilities, to understand ourselves as authors of rule systems which

        drive behavior and shape our possibilities. (p. 8)

 

This new way of telling stories allows the author and the audience to interact on a variety of levels.

 (c) FreeFoto.com

Computers and the Internet have the capacity to combine many elements of previous narrative media. With this medium, an author has the ability to incorporate text and pictures, introduce video clips and sound, and place an interactive demand on the audience. Putting narratives online enables the author to use any or all of the aspects of other storytelling media.

 

It can be as simple or complex as the author desires. A web page might just contain a story and pictures to be viewed by the audience in much the same way as a book. A blog lets the author gain feedback and interaction from the viewers. A Wiki page lets the author choose to collaborate and have the audience shape the narrative. Interactive, game-like elements request that the viewer participate in the story and partially select the plot line, which gives the viewer a greater degree of control over the experience. Adding video and audio elements enhances the visual experience of the viewer.

 

There are many ways narratives can be told using “new media.” New technologies and formats have the ability to shift our focus and control as creators and consumers of narrative. It is not necessary to redefine the boundaries of different narrative media, as Murray (2004) said, “I would argue that we stop trying to assimilate the new artifacts to the old categories of print- or cinema-based story and board- or player-based game” (p. 10). It is more important to view the new narrative tools at our disposal as a combination of all that previous storytelling media have to offer.

 

What Are the Negatives?

 

It is necessary to consider the actual or perceived negative impacts of new technologies. The “Lord Burleigh’s Kiss” article did mention some of downsides to this new medium for storytelling. Murray (1997) discusses some of the dystopian views of new media. She asked, “Will the increasingly alluring narratives spun out for us by the new digital technologies be as benign and responsible as a nineteenth-century novel or as dangerous and debilitating as a hallucinogenic drug?” (p. 17).

 

The article discusses how new technology changes the way we view reality and provides warnings about becoming too disconnected from the real world. However, narratives have always been, to some extent, escapist in nature. This is not necessarily a bad thing. There is sometimes a need to disconnect from the “reality” of the world around us and step into another world to be entertained, to reflect, and to connect to a new thought or idea. This is the essence of communication, and narratives in particular.

 

She closes the article by discussing the function of narratives in the human experience. Murray (1997) said, “As these utopian and dystopian fictions remind us, we rely on works of fiction, in any medium, to help us understand the world and what it means to be human” (p. 26). New media and new technologies allow us to have another path to view the world we live in. The opportunities for storytelling are nearly boundless in this new medium.

 

 


Additional Resources

 

 

 An interesting video about the future of the Web                           A video discussing the term 'New Media"

YouTube plugin error       YouTube plugin error

 

 

Articles

 

  1. This article reflecting on Brown vs. The Board of Education, created by Jen Friedberg and Yamil Berard from the Star-Telegram, is an excellent example of multimedia storytelling. It really shows what "new media" can do to enhance the viewer's experience.
  2. This article, "Multimedia storytelling: When is it worth it?," is primarily aimed at journalists, but it discusses how to use multimedia elements to your advantage, but not to overdo it.
  3. This article explores concerns about the quality of content found on the World Wide Web. It reviews how changes in technology have allowed more "many-to-many" content sharing instead of the traditional "one-to-many" method of broadcasting information.

 

References

 

Murray, J. (1997). Lord Burleigh’s Kiss. In J. Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace (pp. 13-26). Massachusetts: MIT Press.

 

Murray, J. (2004). From Game-story to Cyberdrama. In N. Wardrip-Fruin, P. Harrigan (Eds.), First Person (pp. 2–11). Massachusetts: MIT Press.

 

Loyall, B. (2004). From Game-story to Cyberdrama: Response. In N. Wardrip-Fruin, P. Harrigan (Eds.), First Person (pp. 2–11). Massachusetts: MIT Press.

 

Perlin, K. (2004). Can there be a Form between a Game and a Story? In N. Wardrip-Fruin, P. Harrigan (Eds.), First Person (pp. 12–18). Massachusetts: MIT Press.

 

Wright, W. (2004). Can there be a Form between a Game and a Story?: Response. In N. Wardrip-Fruin, P. Harrigan (Eds.), First Person (pp. 12–18). Massachusetts: MIT Press.

 

Mateas, M. (2004). A Preliminary Poetics for Interactive Drama and Games. In N. Wardrip-Fruin, P. Harrigan (Eds.), First Person (pp. 19–33). Massachusetts: MIT Press.

 

Laurel, B. (2004). A Preliminary Poetics for Interactive Drama and Games: Response. In N. Wardrip-Fruin, P. Harrigan (Eds.), First Person (pp. 19–33). Massachusetts: MIT Press.

 

Rogers, M. (2007). Is the Internet Dumbing Us Down?. Retrieved June 23, 2007 from www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19196474.

 


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