"from narrative to gameplay (and back) - studying transmedial storyworlds"
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From Narrative to Gameplay (And
Back) - Studying Transmedial
Storyworlds
Frans Mäyrä, frans.mayra@uta.fi
TRIM / game research lab
Outline
• Background: cultural research into science fiction,
fantasy and digital games
• Stories and worlds: what are they?
• Narrative vs. game play
• Transmedial games and storyworlds
• Example: LEGO The Lord of the Rings
• Lessons: what is ‘translation’, anyways?
• Discussion
Background
• Studies into the polyphony of cultural texts (and textual
selves) since early 1990s
• Special interest on the conflicting, divided, hybrid and
transformative elements
• Studies on:
– Demons (daimon, the voice from within, e.g. daimon of Socrates;
the daimons/demons of classic tragedy)
– Werewolves, vampires (man+animal, human+corpse: the
ambiguous temptations and terrors of borderline ‘otherness’)
– Cyborgs and computers (man+machine, material+immaterial,
borderline ‘otherness’)
– Intertextuality and hybrid texts (texts, possessed by ‘other texts’;
texts and games as their ‘borderline others’)
Demonic Texts and Textual Demons
“This book combines the concerns of contemporary literary theory with information derived from history, philosophy and cultural psychology. It summarises the various functions that demonic adversaries and possession phenomena have held for the construction of meaning and identity in various cultures, and then points out some of the important roles that demonology plays in Western literary tradition. The demonic figures are an important way to articulate (often subconscious) conflicts and polyphony of the human condition. Proceeding from Dante’s immobile "Dis" to Milton’s dynamic Satan, and onwards to Goethe’s and Dostoevsky’s contemplation of amorality and modern individual, this study emphasises how "otherness" has gradually become acknowledged as an aspect of the self.”
Free download: http://people.uta.fi/~frans.mayra/Demon_2005/
Stories and Worlds
• Particularly in fantasy and science fiction there appears
a strong link between the ‘worldliness’ and the narrative
fiction
• Rather than “reading for the plot” (Peter Brooks), some
primarily are “reading for the world”
• My personal history: reading “everything Tolkien” in order
to spend more time in the Middle Earth
• Later: playing, reading “Forgotten Realms” (a franchise,
D&D campaign setting world, originally created by Ed
Greenwood)
• The destinies of (rpg game-)characters are tools for
exploring vast worlds, e.g. the continent of “Faerûn”
Narrative as Virtual Reality
• Marie-Laure Ryan (2001) book, Narrative as Virtual
Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and
Electronic Media
• “Is there a significant difference in attitude between
immersion in a game and immersion in a movie or
novel? What are the new possibilities for representation
offered by the emerging technology of virtual reality?”
• Our gameplay experience studies do suggest that such
significant differences do exist
• However, there are also significant continuities and
overlaps between the experiences of enjoying e.g. novel,
movie and a virtual-world computer game
SCI Model of Immersion
• Source: Ermi, Laura & Mäyrä, Frans (2007) “Fundamental Components of the GameplayExperience: Analysing Immersion” (with Laura Ermi; in Worlds in Play, Suzanne de Castelland Jennifer Jenson, eds. New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2007)
Narrative vs. Gameplay
• The early stages of Game Studies involved tensions
between “ludology” and “narratology”
• Mostly just meant that different researchers were
interested in different kinds of games and dimensions of
game design
• E.g. Gonzalo Frasca (1999) wrote that even while video
games may share e.g. characters and settings with
narratives, it is important to study them “as games” (i.e.
as ludic activities based on e.g. rules and simulation)
• Janet Murray’s Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997) often
used as cautionary example: (mis)understanding games
as “interactive drama”, or narrative?
Transmedia and Storyworlds
• Transmedial storyworld is an assemblage of characters,
storylines and milieu that extends beyond the boundaries
of a single medium
• Marsha Kinder (1993): “dual form spectatorship”, e.g.
child audience for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
positioned both in active and passive modes
• Can also be dubbed as “consumerist interactivity”
• Henry Jenkins (2006) heralds fragmentary and dispersed
character of transmedia storytelling as intellectually
stimulating and social
• Stimulant for “collective intelligence”, or an efficient
franchising & marketing strategy? Both?
Example: LEGO The Lord of the Rings
• LEGO bricks are the classic, open-ended construction toys
• During 1990s LEGO started producing narrativized LEGO products, that were cross-branded with e.g. Star Wars, Disney, or Harry Potter characters, storylines and settings
• Playing with traditional LEGO bricks, children take also inspiration from media, popular culture and surrounding society (e.g. building guns, playing “cops & robbers”)
• Narrativized LEGO bricks have the media narrative “built-in” to the toy itself
• LEGO The Lord of the Rings (2012) is based on the translation of Tolkien’s novel into a movie, then into the LEGO toys, which are coupled with a video game translation of both the play behaviours of LEGO bricks, and the movie visuals & narrative
Gameplay Video Example
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OznCAJL0-ZM#t=14
What Is ‘Translation’, Here?
• Translation of The Lord of the Rings into a character and action focused movie narrative involves substantial alterations and adaptations
• Translation of the same material into a video game involves even more substantial changes
• Focus moves away from narrative continuity and emotional drama, to overcoming a series of individual gameplay challenges
• Overcoming the cave troll or Balrog in the game version might involve repeated attempts, careful preplanning, learning from mistakes and skill development
• The game player of LoTR is more like an athlete, than a member of a narrative audience: participating in a training ground, receiving narrative cutscenes as rewards
Discussion Time!
• (Parts of this talk were based on a forthcoming “Dark
Play” book chapter)
• More information:
• Frans Mäyrä, home page (research projects,
publications): www.uta.fi/~frans.mayra
• Frans Goes Blog: www.fransmayra.fi
• UTA Game Research Lab: http://gamelab.uta.fi
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