Module 11: Future-Casting and Review (two weeks)
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Monday, March 30, 2015 - Friday, April 10, 2015
March 31: Tweet @JessL something that you’ve just learnt from a reading
April 4: Think about all the readings you have done and all the games that you have played (board games, playground games, computer games, ipad games, nintendo games etc…) in relation to what Dr. Mark Butler says about time and that all games create their own idea of time and don’t always maintain that idea (see the video of his talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ag5MMKkk0k, see his ideas at about the 5 minute point though the video is 20 minutes). Write a blog comment on my Module 11 blog post explaining your thoughts
April 8: Write a blog post in which you reflect on the course. What has been new to you? Have any of the readings, discussions, blog conversations, tweets etc.. changed how you thought of any of the topics? What readings really made an impression on you? What are your key take-aways? Is there anything you might change in the future (tweet more often, run a crowd-funding project, look at selfies in a different way)
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When I consider games I have played and perhaps my reasons for playing, it all comes down to the desire to create and be part of an experience. The topic of experiential creation was woven through the TED Talk by Dr. Mark Butler in relation to digital based game motivation, however, the sharing and creation of experience can be viewed as a primary driver of story-telling throughout history.
ReplyDeleteWith story-telling there is possibility to create stories that reflect or represent our every day lives. There is also opportunity to create stories that are only possible in a digital environment resulting in an entirely new type of experience. In relation to the concept that digital technology creates an environment where time becomes a spatial dimension, Butler says, “Games will be able to offer experiences that we can’t have in our non virtual life.” To some degree this is a reflection of trends that are emerging in digital story telling.
According to www.futureofstorytellingproject.com “Audiences will be able to experience stories unfolding from different vantage points.” While this has been true of story-telling in the historical sense using books as an example, the digital mode makes it possible for this to occur in real-time with instant reactions resulting in a completely enhanced experience. The “bottom-up” process of story creation will also see users experiencing content in a more connected way that could include “Highly meaningful messages involving you in the story,” (Butler).
Typically the medium of the game would influence the type of user experience. A multiple player board game for example is likely to have frequent user interaction while a single user game like solitaire creates a more singular experience. I was intrigued by Butler’s comments around the way in which the physical environment in which a game is played can alter the user experience. While this seems intrinsically connected to digital games due to the range of access mediums available, upon reflection it also seems likely to impact the nature of more traditional games. A chess game for example, played on a sunny day in a park, would likely create a different experience than that same game played in an online environment. One is more tactical, while the other may be more accessible. As with any evolution of communication, the way in which story-telling and games is changing will bring both positive and negative results which are likely based on user desire, perception and experience.
It's exciting to think about the possibilities that online gaming presents to users as Dr. Butler presents it. Having the ability to alter time, as it is represented as a spatial dimension, is appealing to me personally. Its already so easy to get lost in a game and I have done that numerous times with friends and family playing board games or alone, playing online games. But what Dr. Butler poses opens up so many possibilities and gives us an opportunity to change the narrative.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about expanded or augmented reality its a little mind blowing because it can change the world we exist in, and not only when we're gaming. If a player can manipulate a game, then the can control the story and create new narratives, thereby allowing us all to become creators. Having the ability to manipulate time, if only in a game, almost seems godlike and I believe would appeal to many people.
I am not sure how much more I can offer that hasn't been already; my classmates have presented some excellent perspectives here. Although I am not much of an online game player, I, too, have found myself lost in reading stories and playing conventional games or game-based sports. It is as if I as a reader or participant have willingly submitted to the game-maker or storyteller's concept of time - not by minute, but by page, by scene, by move, by strategic execution of play. It allows the participant to go so much further into depth by immersing oneself, giving oneself over to the sensory elements that transports oneself to a different dimension, bending time.
ReplyDeleteDay and night, hours and minutes and seconds are all standards by which we base our daily participation in life; however, other than day and night, standard time is not a natural phenomenon. It seems as though the narrative is a more natural reflection of time and complements more of an organic approach to life. It's ironic that the virtual, man-made platforms suggested by Butler as fostering timlessness provide a more desirable reality than reality itself. The difference, however, is our ability to exert control over that virtual reality very quickly, whereas reality itself does not usually allow us to see the consequences of real-life choices so quickly and readily, which is less appealing for many. Patience is something we learn, not something we're born with.
As children, we get lost in our games and stories. As we grow into adulthood, however, we become more bound by the constraints of man-made time and scheduling. Perhaps the popularity of digital-based and virtual stories and games is the result of our human incapacity or unwillingness to reconcile with the demands that man-made time imparts on us. Perhaps, as Sue Thomas purports, we are attempting to return to natural living through technology - in this context, the digital narrative.
I was nicely surprised that Mark Butler mentions Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism to make his point that “games haven’t started to discover all the possibilities that the Avant-garde art movement discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century”. His statement reminds me of the games we use to play in school to create Dadaism poems during the Literature class: cut-up with scissors a newspaper article and rearrange the words to create a new text. I must say that back then, I had troubles understanding how this ’manufacture’ can be considered a poem as it didn’t resemble in any way with the classic poems I knew at that time.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mark Butler, for reminding me about that: All new media mashups and remixes created today are just like my Dada poems. And I agree with you: Games, and digital narratives, in general, have something in common with Dadaism: it is the feeling that you are part of the story (immersion); it is what allows you to remember later on that you once have enjoyed the piece of art (even though you don’t exactly recall what was the story line).
Just like a good book, a good game will create its own idea of time: “jump between time spaces . . . create non-Euclidean time structures” allowing the Chatarsis (Katharsis) process to occur—purification or cleansing through art (Wikipedia, 2015). That’s why, I guess, “when it comes to games, time becomes a spatial dimension” (YouTube, 2015).
References
Wikipedia,. (2015). Catharsis. Retrieved 6 April 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharsis
YouTube,. (2015). The Future of Storytelling 5-6 | Talk: Dr. Mark Butler and Prof. Winfried Gerling. Retrieved 6 April 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ag5MMKkk0k