Multivariant Narratives
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20-Aug-2015Category
Entertainment & Humor
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Transcript of Multivariant Narratives
- 1. Week 11 Presentation
- 'Multivariant Narratives'
- Marie-Laure Ryan
- 2. Plan of Attack
- Definition of 'Narrative'
- Evolution of narrative mediums
- The Digital Age
- Variable discourse/point of view/plot
- Real-world examples
- Critique and questions
- 3. Defining 'Narrative'
- Medium-free
- Evokes a response from the audience in response to stimuli provided
- Linear (or multilinear)
- Vectoral (plot must go between a beginning and an end)
- Can be told (diegetic mode), shown (mimetic mode) orenacted as a self-rewarding activity .
- 4. Defining 'Narrative'
- Narrative Text
- An artifact designed to bring a desired meaning to the audience's mind.
- Narrative Script
- Builds a world where the actions of intelligent 'agents' within a certain time span alters the environment within which they interact.
- 5. History-The Oral Age
- '...a mnemonic device for the transmission of knowledge.' (Ong, 1982)
- 'Mnemonic': Technique to aid the memory
- Had to be memorised, so meter, rhyme and alliteration were important to help the speaker remember.
- Fixed formulae and standardised images
- Flexible (within reason) episodic structure
- Narrative was unique to person speaking, restricted to a live audience and only existed as long as the speaker/audience remembered it.
- 6. History-The Chirographic Age
- Unified, more control over plot devices
- Condensed narrative structure
- Much tighter management of emotional responses
- 'Froze' the sequence of plots
- Lessened the need for mnemonic devices in the story
- Still subject to changes based upon person rewriting
- 7. History-The Print Age
- Increase in the length of the narrative
- Episodic pattern adapted from poetry (chapters)
- Made mnemonic devices obsolete
- Increased the complexity of the narrative
- Introduction of visual devices (such as fonts) and pictures
- 8. Problems and Limitations
- Problems regarding 'serious' narration and absolute truth
- The only correct viewpoint of the world is that provided by the narrator. All facts provided by them must be taken as 'absolute knowledge'.
- Narrative is always a fabrication, unreliable. (White, 1987)
- Printed text is static and can never be 'self-renewable'.
- Text can be 'chunked' and rearranged (eg. 'Catch 22'), but this can prevent it from having a coherent narrative form.
- Branching can be used, but limits power of audience in favor of author control
- 9. Present-The Digital Age
- Algorithm-driven operation
- Reactive and interactive nature
- Performantial aspect
- Multiple sensory and semiotic channels
- Networking capabilities
- Volatile signs
- Modularity
- 10. Variable Narration
- Discourse
- Point of View
- Plot
- 11. Variable Discourse
- The way the narrative is presented.
- Multiple possible paths through a story.
- Author has control over the individual decisions of the reader, but not their 'global' path through the story.
- Does not tell lots of different stories, but tells a specific story in different ways.
- 'Hypertext' often used to achieve variable discourse.
- eg. 'Victory Garden'
- 12. Variable Point of View
- Lets the audience view a story through multiple perspectives.
- Does not change the story itself. The information provided to the audience is 'coloured' by the character's individual point of view.
- Experiments in 'Interactive Film' where time is not effected by the change in perspective.
- A viewer may miss information on first viewing, requires further viewing through different POV.
- 13. Variable Plot
- Multiple strings to follow in a plot.
- Plot can be changed
- Multiple ways for the narrative to progress and end
- Digital media less limiting then written text
- Video games provide excellent worlds for 'emergent' narrative based upon user interaction
- Interactive fiction, FPS, God games
- 14. Crimeface
- Interactive Film
- Uses in-video 'hyperlinks' and web interface to allow user interaction
- Convergence of digital media: video, music, interface
- Allows limited re-ordering of events, little-to-no impact on the overall plot arc.
- 15. Heavy Rain
- Released for the Playstation 3 in 2010 by Quantic Dream.
- Jumps between different character POVs to enact parts of the story.
- Constant measurement of time passing within given time frame (inc. inches of rain fallen)
- Multiple endings
- Characters can be incapacitated or even die, but story will continue.
- 16. Duke Nukem 3D
- First person shooter
- Story-based singleplayer mode
- Networking capabilities (eg. 'deathmatch')
- Players form their own story in the world 'provided' by the game
- Heavy modding capability, allowing players to easily share and create stages
- 17. Ebert Critique
- Argument that video games are not 'art'.
- Too much malleability in the narrative. Films are able to control the response of the audience by directing the narrative.
- How much can we expect to 'change' the narrative of the game before it becomes our story and not the original creators?
- 18. Further Ideas
- Where do we draw the line between a 'narrative' and an 'interactive experience' or 'game'? Is there even a line?
- Video games clearly provide narrative potential, but can we call them narrative devices?
- The player is required to understand how to play the system before they can manipulate it and expose the narrative.
- Does narrative still need to be within a set time frame?
- If we could create an emergent, persistent digital world where new branches of the story are constantly being created, could it still be considered a narrative even though it would not have a set 'end point'?
- 19. References
- Penny Arcade -http://www.penny-arcade.com
- 'Game Design as Narrative Architecture' by Henry Jenkins - http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/games&narrative.html
- 'Narrative Leeway in Games'' by Seth Marinello -http://www.altereddreams.net/writing/narrative-leeway-in-games/
- 'Heavy Dreams: Pushing Interactive Narrative' by Brandon Sheffield - http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4203/heavy_dreams_pushing_interactive_.php
- 'Multimedia Murder Mysteries' by Peter Gendolla & Jorgen Schofer - Peter Gendolla & Jorgen Schofer