Genre

Our lecture on genre began by introducing to the Semiotician, Ferdinand de Saussure. Semiotics is the study of signs, and how we interpret them to be what they represent. This is expressed in the painting "ceci n'est pas un pipe" by René Magritte, as the picture is of a pipe, but labeled 'This is not a pipe'. Which is true, the painting of the pipe is just a sign, or signifier, and the 'pipe' is what is signified. This could be said for genre, as the title of a work of fiction will give it a genre, which will signify a certain aspect of the story, which can alter what we understand of the events within the story. We were shown a short piece of a work of fiction entitled "Murder at Marpelthorpe", describing what seems to be a murder scene. We were then given a new title: "The Personal History of David Marplethorpe" and read it again. It was the clear it could be interpreted very differently, as it seemed more like the tragic opening to a life story, where the woman had died during childbirth.

With this in mind, we were given the task of switching the genre of a game, while still using the approximate original story with some alterations. In our group, we were told to turn the story of Dead Space into a romantic comedy. Our idea ended up something like this:

Isaac Clarke is on a cruise leisure space ship with his girlfriend Nicole. The mysterious Marker on board the ship suddenly turns all the women on-board crazy about Isaac, and Isaac must fight his way through them (using non-violent methods of course) to escape with Nicole. Elements like the music and ambiance would have to be altered, as the Dead Space sounds would no longer be appropriate. Instead the music could comprise of Marvin Gaye, Elton John, Barry White, and other famously romantic musicians. In the end, we quite liked the idea, and I am personally waiting hopefully for its release to be announced.

Preparing for the Presentation

I decided to make my presentation about "willing suspension of disbelief". This is because many elements we have covered in contextual studies so far contribute to whether or not a game, or any other form of entertainment, can keep its audiences faith. After all, an audience cannot maintain faith if a fictional world is not coherent.

Drama: "that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith": Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

I would make the presentation consist of 2 slides, the first being on the general subject, in other words how character, genre and story worlds and settings affect the audience, and the second being suspension of disbelief in games, and what problems occur only in games as opposed to other entertainment medium.

Coherent Stories

Our lecture on coherent stories talks about how stories are compelling. In other words, what methods are used to get people interested, and keep them engaged for the duration and continuation of a story. 'Pulp fiction' stories are used as an example, such as weekly comics in newspapers. These have compelling characters and narratives, and always end on a cliff-hanger so the reader is waiting in anticipation for the next episode.

Also within the lecture, was the idea of story worlds transcending their original genres whilst still maintaining their coherence and continuing to be successful. This is obvious in many of the distinctive Marvel Comic characters, such as Spiderman, who first appeared in comics, then cartoons, movies, games, and even in theme park attractions.





We looked into how narrative was introduced to games as well. Early games, like Asteroids, didn't have storytelling, but still had a narrative. In Asteroids, you played as a space pilot defending him/her self from an onslaught of asteroids and aliens.

Another area of interest was Role-Playing, and how particularly from the 70s onwards, miniatures based role playing and strategy games became extremely popular. This created an idea that people could become designers and writers of their own games as they play them. This idea involved 'being' the character, rather than simply deciding what they do. This led to the creation of the immersive first person genre within video games, as players look through the eyes of their character, furthering the sense of 'being' them.

Stories within games also have the option to be non-linear, giving people choices over the story's outcome. this began in early text based games, like Zork. The player was in control of the text based commands imputed. This was entirely story based though, as the gameplay was immensely simple, and not necessarily very fun. This led to differences in opinions between those who believe story is more important within a game, and those who believe fluid gameplay is more important (narratologists and ludologists). I personally believe the balance should be exactly 50:50, as I find many games with great stories often lose their incredible potential through clunky game mechanics (such as the new Alone In The Dark), and some outstanding multiplayer games miss a trick by lacking in a compelling storyline (the Battlefield games, for example).

Game worlds can be used to 'escape' everyday life, and are usually trying to achieve this. This is why most game narratives have the setting of medieval fantasy, futuristic sci-fi and/or war, with the odd exception of modern day. These settings take the characters away from the rules and laws of normal life, allowing for them to act in a way that is interesting and believable. Many successful franchises use elements from a variety of these genres. Star Wars was used as an example in the lecture, as it is an epic sci-fi fantasy, but also "a Western, it was a Dawn Patrol movie, it was a cliffhanger, it was the Wizard of Oz & it had comic book influences". This is what gave it it's ability to become a franchise, as it had elements to entertain all audiences whilst escaping from the moral difficulties of the real world.

Character in Games

The lecture on character covered the concepts of person/persona and character, in both 'true' and 'characterisation'. Characterisation being the most obvious qualities of a person, including age gender and mannerisms, and true character being their deeper personality and morality, such as the decisions they make under pressure.

We looked at examples from Charles Dickens: Great Expectations, and how the character in it is an orphaned child, who's ideas of what his parents and siblings would be like if they were alive holds great importance to him. His name, Pip, is interesting, as rather than implying a seed with the potential for flourishing life, a pip had this potential but instead became a piece of waste or an inconvenience that gets stuck between your teeth.

In a game world, 'Hero' from Fable is a great example, as he is an orphan from an early age, who therefore has a similar story to Pip. However, in a game world, the character's story is not closed, and the player is in control of Hero's destiny. This gives the orphan character a new significance, a character with nothing to lose, and everything to gain, is a superb starting point for choice in a game world. A blank canvas.

Narative: Folktale and Vladimir Propp

Our next lecture was about narative, and how (particularly in folk/fairytales) the actions which take place within them are often identical to other tales, however the 'personages' vary. This basically means that characters or objects perform their functions within a fairytale, while in another fairytale the exact same functions are being perfomed but by different characters. Vladimir Propp, in his book 'Morphology of folk tale', uses a few examples:

1. A tsar gives an eagle to a hero. The eagle carries the hero away to another
kingdom.
2. An old man gives Sucenko a horse. The horse carries Sucenko away to
another kingom.
3. A sorcerer gives Ivan a little boat. The boat takes Ivan to another kingdom.
4. A princess gives Ivan a ring. Young men appearing from out of the ring
carry
Ivan away into another kingdom…

These examples show how different personages perform the same functions in differnt stories. Propp then begins to explain how can list these characters in terms of their 'spheres of influence':

The villain (Baddy for the hero to find/kill)
The donor (Gives the hero what he/she needs to acomplish this quest)
The helper (Aids the hero throughout the journey)
The princess, and her father (Or other characters which represent the same idea)
The dispatcher (The character who tells the hero where to go and what to do)
The hero (Seeker-hero who volentarily fights, or victim-hero who is thrown into fight)
The false hero (Character or object who appears to be good, but betrays the hero)


Our task to complete following this lecture, was to find a game with fairytale elements, and make a list of which characters can fill which roles based on the list above.

I chose one particular mission, Hobbe Cave, from the game Fable.

The villain: Fairy/Whisp
The donor: Granny (gives the 'hexagon key')
The helper: Trapped Bandit
The princess, and her father: Grandson James, Grandmother Granny
The dispatcher: Granny
The hero (seeker-hero): Hero/Pie Master, etc.
The false hero: Granny

In this example, and with many stories, some of the characters play multiple roles.
This story feels very much like a fairytale, as the description given by Propp fits perfectly.

Story Worlds

In our first lecture, we were introduced to 'Story Worlds'. We were shown how a fictional world can be created in many settings, and how this can effect the story within it. The examples used in the lecture were there to show how world as a setting is more than just a back drop, and can in fact be pivotal to the events happening within them. Films such as Blade Runner and Brazil, portray a futuristic world, that would constitute the genre of 'Sci-Fi', and yet the fictional events throughout the film are a metaphor for moral and ethical values important to the present day. Similarly, Gladiator is set within a historical backdrop, which although the events within the film are distanced from the events of today, it does not take from the relationship between the audience and the film's characters.

Bibliography:
Blade Runner, (1982) USA, Ridley Scott
Brazil,(1985), Terry Gillian
Gladiator, (2000) USA, Ridley Scott
Fable, (2004) UK, Lionhead
Great Expectations, (1861) UK, Charls Dickens, Chapman and Hall
Spiderman, (1962) USA, Marvel Comics
Zork, (1979), Tim Anderson
Alone In The Dark, (2008), Eden Games
Battlefield,  (2002-) USA, EA
Star Wars, (1977) USA, George Lucas