the narrative

1. In the Introduction to Story and Discourse, Chatman quotes Claude Bremond, who says: “Any sort of narrative message… may be transposed from one to another medium without losing its essential properties: the subject of a story may serve as argument for a ballet, that of a novel, can be transposed to stage or screen, one can recount in words a film to someone who has not seen it.” Chatman goes on to suggest that “transposability of the story is the strongest reason for arguing that narratives are indeed structures independent of any medium”.
Choose a narrative that has been expressed in both an interactive and a non-interactive medium, for example the game Tomb Raider and the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Discuss how the transposition to/from interactive media has changed the narrative. Has the structure of the narrative remained intact?

my example is "lord of the rings" - the book and "lord of the rings, the battle for middle-earth" - the game. the narrative has in fact gone through several transposition, from the book to the movie then to the game. but more interestingly is the transposition from a non-interactive descriptive text to a highly interactive visual game experience.

the changes of the narrative through the transposition is mainly due to the change in representation (from text to graphics) and the change in amount of user control. ironically, the story represented in the non-interactive text encouraged active participation of the mind in imagination while the story represented in the graphics of the game fixes a certain image on the existents of the story. the amount of user control in the different media reverses this. in the book, the reader has absolutely no control over the plot of the story. he has to accept the fact if his favourite character dies. however, in the game, we can control how we want the characters to behave, and in turn twist the plot to suit our liking or our game-playing abilities. this may make the narrative more interesting to the user as he can be involved in decision making. he would also have to work his brains out on what the best decision is.

the narrative is based on a grand mission to save middle-earth, and the game reflects the same mission. it also preserves the major events and existents such as the fellowship heroes and battles. the game in particular focuses mainly on the battles rather than on how the plot progresses. the player assumes the role of a hero and controls troops and resources to battle for the ring. i feel that the structure of the narrative is less evident in the game. it maintains the main mission, but neglects many other events that build up the narrative. the game lacks a narrative component and the player definitely cannot figure out the plot of the narrative from playing the game. the game also breaks up the story into 25 different smaller missions so as to retain the gamer's interest. there is thus no flow in the sequence of events, and consequently losing the properties of a narrative.


2. Chatman observes that “whether… the author elects to order the reporting of events according to their causal sequence or to reverse them in a flashback effect – only certain possibilities can occur… Of course certain events or existents that are not immediately relevant maybe brought in. But at some point their relevance must emerge, otherwise we object that the narrative is ‘ill-formed.’” This is the notion of self-regulation.
Interactive media allows for choice and control on the part of the reader/user. What problem does this raise for self-regulation? What, if anything, does this suggest about designing interactive narrative?

the problem arises when choice and control conflict with the intended flow of the narrative. this is because in a narrative/story, certain choices (kernels) made by the characters of the story will lead to the series of events that ultimately will link back to the choices made by the characters. however, if the reader/user is given the control over the decisions made by the characters, events that originally follow from these decisions may no longer be relevant to the story. this may be how interactivity conflicts with self-regulation.

however, if one values self-regulation more than interactivity, he may design the system such that it limits the choices of the user or even forces the user to follow certain paths directed by the original narrative. but this will defeat the experience of interaction for the user.

this implies that in designing interactive narratives, usually one or the other, self-regulation or interactivity, will have to be compromised.

there are of course ways to remedy this, like creating sets of possible outcomes rather than one possible outcome. certain events that subsequently take place will be related to the certain decisions the user make and thus leads to the different endings. but many will argue that having many outcomes is never intended of most narratives. and in fact it makes a story ambiguous and incoherrent. the problem lies in the difference in expectations of the user when experiencing the narrative in different media representations. in movies the viewer would want to sit back and relax, while in games the player would want to engage in active mental and/or physical processes. thus, to make a movie interactive will be difficult, and the same for making a game self-regulated.


3. Discussing the concept of interpretation, or "filling in the gaps", in narrative, Chatman states that “there is… a class of indeterminacies… that arise from the peculiar nature of the medium. The medium may specialize in certain narrative effects and not others. For instance, the cinema may easily – and does routinely – present characters without expressing the contents of their minds… verbal narrative, on the other hand, finds such restrictions difficult… Conversely, verbal narrative may elect not to present some visual aspect… The cinema, however, cannot avoid a rather precise representation of visual detail.” Think of an example of the use of narrative in interactive media. With reference to your example, suggest what the “peculiar nature” of interactive media may be, and which narrative effects it may specialize in.

my example is a text-based adventure game.

a text-based adventure game is much like a narrative in a book, or more closely related, an adventure book. it avoids creating images of characters and scenes, replacing them with simple descriptions in texts. usually, this is because physical images are unimportant to the progress of the game/story. the game maker may choose to only describe the important parts (sometimes inserts unimportant parts to confuse the player) of characters or scenes and thus saving on resources. he can even choose to portray the thoughts, comments and judgements from the characters in the story or as a third person, the narrator. a text-based adventure game is hence very flexible.

however, it loses on the aesthetic appeal that physical images provide. action is also unlikely to be portrayed effectively and the player is less likely to feel excited about the game.

on "interactivity"

1. In "What is New Media?" Lev Manovich proposes 5 principles of new media: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding. Choose an example that you consider to be "new media", and describe it in terms of these principles. What implications do these principles have for narrative and play within interactive media?

my example is the internet. i consider the internet as "new media" because it is a novel form of information representation. and it has impact on the world's view on what media is, affecting and changing the lifestyles of many people with its introduction. i will thus discuss how the internet fits lev manovich's definition of a "new media".

a. numerical representation
ultimately, computers and memory devices are made of transistors. and transistors are devices that act as a switch, storing only single bit values, ie "1" or "0". these bits form the basis of the functioning of programmes, codes and memory devices. even as you unveil the programming code of this blog, break it down to machine language and so on, you will discover that it is inevitably a huge string of binary numbers. thus, website can be described "mathematically" and is "subjected to algorithmic manipulation".

b. modularity
modularity is described as the "ability to be assembled into larger-scale objects" without losing the "identities of their separate components". the internet achieved this as each website consists of different elements of modules such as pictures, texts, videos, links and backgrounds. modularity is good in new media because it enables the changing of certain parts of the website independently of the other modules. mistakes and errors can be easily pinpointed and procedures to correct them thus become efficient. on a larger scale, computers, servers and databases that classify websites can be also viewed as modules, and any particular website can be quickly retrieved when we know what internet domain to search under.

c. automation
both low-level and high-level automation are seen on the internet. from the template used to create this blog to online games that involve artificial intelligence (ai), automation makes the life of the internet user easier and more interesting.

d. variability
a good example of variability is this website. as described by lev manovich, "variability will not be possible without modularity". the programming code of this blog is written in a few modules such as "background", "main" (text column), "sidebar", "header", etc. and variability is achieved by modifying any one of these components. thus, even as many other bloggers use the same template for their blogs, no two blogs are the same, in content or display.

e. transcoding
this brings us to the final point on transcoding, which from what i understand, is that media is made up of layers. and for new media, it consists of the "cultural layer" and the "computer layer". undoubtly, every website we see has a chunk of programming language, and through modification of this codes we get our "cultural layer" which is the content and layout of the website. however, limitations in the programming code may prevent one from exhibiting fully his desired blog design or content format (such as font type). this is why i believe lev manovich says that "the computer layer will affect the cultural layer".

these principles provide a basis for describing "new media". and narrative and play presented in the "new media" will have to subscribe to these rules. personally i feel that these are good rules; they seek to make the narrative or play better. for instance, with variability, games become more interesting when the user gets different scenarious each time he plays the game. however, some may contend that "new media" spoils the experience of those who enjoy the "old media", like some people may prefer reading an adventure book rather than playing a game made from the plot of the book. this brings to my point that people often have different tendancies to find certain few of the above princples more important than others. from the same example, a person who favours automation would prefer to go through the plot in a game rather than reading a book, while someone who dislikes automation may want to "do the work" of flipping the pages of the book to get from one scenario to another. thus, although the 5 principles are good guidelines for narrative and play in new interactive media, people may still have different preferences on what kind of media better illustrates the narrative or game.


2. Manovich questions the usefulness of the term interactivity, suggesting that "once an object is represented in a computer, it automatically becomes interactive. Therefore, to call computer media ‘interactive’ is meaningless - it simply means stating the most basic fact about computers." In contrast, in "What exactly is Interactivity?" Chris Crawford proposes a much stricter definition of interactivity. Compare these differing views, with reference to your own experience of interactive media systems.

manovich gives a basic definition of "interactivity" as described in the question. crawford, however, describes "interactivity" as "a cyclic process in which two actors alternately listen, think and speak". he also says that "interactivity" has a "scale". i prefer crawford's definition. for instance, the blue hedgehog in my blog does only 5 things. he jumps, jumps higher, rolls into a ball, follow the mouse, and eats strawberries. he does "listen, think and speak" when he responds to the click of your mouse, but crawford will probably call this "reaction" rather than "interaction".

i believe the maximum interaction occurs only when two conscious humans "listen, think and speak", with an added conditions that in "speaking" the answer cannot be easily predicted, must make logical sense and must depend on the person's personal encounters and emotions. an ai program may simulate close enough to this kind of interaction, but if one tries asking the program something enough number of times, its answer may be reused, while you may get a good scolding if you're talking to a real person. on the other hand, something that has low interactivity will be the blue hedgehog or crawford's refrigerator light. one will probably get bored after playing with them for a while.

i also feel that the quest for interactivity in media systems comes from the innate need of humans to communicate. we love it when things respond to us in different ways. it also makes us excited to "test" things on ai programs because they give us a response that is close to what we'll probably get in real life. however, interactivity via the computer may lack the social aspect that one gets from real life interaction. and thus i feel that new media, or in the future the newer media, can never take over real life interaction.


3. Narrative, interactivity and play - how does Run Lola Run reflect these concerns? How does this relate to Manovich’s concept of transcoding?

run lola run is a movie based on a mission, which is for lola gather 100000 franks and pass them to her boyfriend, mammi, in 20 mins. the movie starts off with a background story that explains how mammi lost the money. he has to get that sum back in 20 mins or he will risk getting killed. this part of the movie is a narrative that has a fixed plot, but subsequent events that happen will depend on lola's actions.

the movie is "played" three times. at each time lola does different things and the series of actions will result in different conclusions. in a sense, the movie is created in a way that makes the audience imagine that they are playing a rpg game. the common components of games, like the mission, points/money, time and random events/encounters have been incorporated into the movie. but more importantly, the idea of being able to "replay" the mission a few times, because lola refuses to accept the ending of a failed mission (death of herself or her boyfriend), makes the movie game-like. moreover, each time, lola will start off from her house, make her way to the bank so that she can ask for money from her father and finally end up in the vicinity of the supermarket which her boyfriend intends to rob if she didn't arrive at 12noon. this reflects how games usually work, with a fixed starting point, a constraint on the possible courses of action and a replay of games until the player finally accomplishes the mission.

the narrative component of this part of the story comes in three different plots, derived from the consequences of lola's timing and actions. each plot tells a story with different encounters, endings and even character backgrounds. although the plots work under the constraints of people and objects that lola met, each plot still concluded with vastly different endings.

how "interactivity" is incorporated into the movie is a tricky issue. the audience is in no sense participating in the movie, but having lola's mission played three times gives the illusion that one has control over the missions' events. the movie seems to provide the audience with "options", like jumping over the neighbour's dog or being tripped by the neighbour have made a difference to the rest of the subsequent events and ending. in addition, at each ending, the movie seems to let the audience "ask" if he is satisfied with the conclusion and lets him "choose" if he wants to replay. knowing the humanly pursuit of perfection, the mission is replayed on bad endings and movie finally ends with a successful mission. this arrangment appeals to the audience and they will probably do likewise if given the choice. thus, when we watch the movie, we will feel "involved" in it.

manovich's concept of transcoding is integrated in the movie via a game-like aspect. it translates a narrative in the movie to something game-like, thus combining two layers of plot representation into one.

welcome to *muttermuttergrumble*

hey there! yes you! stop staring at my blue hedgehog and read what i have to say :P
well this blog is created for the purpose of revealing my "intellectual" self, through the module uar2205 - narrative and play in interactive media. a long and pretentious module title yeah? so what's it about?
that's for you to follow my future postings and find out. for a start, since the module is about "interactive media", you're free to "play" with my blue hedgehog. he can do a few things, depending on how you "interact" with him.
have fun!