Telling Tales & Playing Games

INTERACTION:

Interaction is one of the most fundamental human processes; a dictionary defines interaction as “a reciprocal action, effect or influence”. An example of interaction can be a conversation, which has constant reciprocal effect.

Andy Cameron in his essay titled
“ Dissimulations” states"Interactivity means the ability to intervene in a meaningful way with the representation itself," (Cameron, 2007). Here Cameron questions the issues of Interactive Design and he criticises how we still control the choices in Interactive design and how we can expand on it.

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Interaction is NOT interpretation. It is intervention. Take a look at an interactive website “For the Love of God, designed around the artwork of the same name by Damien Hirst.

You can see that the Interaction is entering the video booth, uploading their work and recording it.
The Interpretation is them discussing Damien Hirst’s work. This website gives you as the user the choice as an interaction to decide what information you want to view.

Tate Modern’s
Major survey of Damien Hirst’s iconic diamond covered skull “for the Love of God:

CHOICE:

Interaction offers the audience choice. It is the audience in relation to the information displayed.

Interpretation differs to interaction.
Interpretation allows the user to voice their thoughts and opinions and to take on board their own meaning from it.

However, there are some areas where interaction & interpretation meet. The myFry application best shows this, allowing the user a chance to create their own narrative.

You do interact through your navigation, yet you don't change anything.
You can still only interpret the information that's presented to you, it cannot however be altered.

TENSE & ASPECT

Tense & Aspect are two forms of time referenced in language.

Tense - relates to situations taking place in the present, past or future by means of language (tense) you are in.

Aspect - draws a distinction between the perfective; a situation completed, viewed from the outside, as apposed to the imperfective, a situation viewed from the inside as ongoing. It is all about how information can flow by means of communication.

Bernard Comrie “Aspect “ 1976 looks at the relationship between language & time.

Check out the contents of this book!

NARRATIVES & GAME PLAY:

Digital media, as well as Stories & Games and non-linear structures offer us ways to enter this ‘imperfect aspect’, generating new information constantly wherever you like.

Narrative:

Stories are any kind of information that flow.
‘Narrative is a component of those deep structures with which we construct ourselves and our universe’ A.C.
‘It should contain both actor and a narrator; it also should contain three distinct levels consisting of the text, the story and the fabula; (a Story with a moral) and its ‘contents’ should be ‘a series of connected events caused or experienced by actors’’ (Mieke Bal 1885) in Lev Manovich ‘The language of new media’ 2001 p227.
Here Lev Manovich (1985) is looking at narratives, defining what they are:
The actor is the action, making it happen.
The text represents the idea.

Examples of digital stories:

Lets look at The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore by Moonbot Studios:

The Fantastic Flying App features interactive storytelling. Here the user interacts with the author's work through touch. Although the user cannot change what has been written “perfective”, interaction is necessary or the story remains in the same place and does not continue.

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey is an interactive comic creator, the creator of the website E-merl.co.
Goodbrey's comics offer the audience the chance to interact through clicking. These comics offer the user a chance to direct the story through the given information.

The Infinite Adventure Machine by David Benque:

“The Infinite Adventure Machine” is a proposal for a computer programme , which generates fairy-tale plots. Based on the work of Propp,
users have to improvise, using their imagination to make up for the computer inadequacies. Here the audience are in control, filling in the details of the story thus making them the author, therefore making this “imperfective”.

TED Smart Blocks David Merrill:

His work involves digital blocks, using different tools to explore interaction, making it more hands on. The audience interacts with the author’s work through touch and movement.

Value AC sites the work of Max Whitby.

Stories, which are more serious for adults – a high cultural value
Games more fun for kids- low cultural value.

GAMES:

By playing a game you can tell a story.
Games however have boundaries and rules.
Games always have a limit on what one can do, but playing a game has endless possibilities.
Ludology is the study of game and game play.

Here Ludology meets Narratology and you learn how the player of a game has to follow the correct order to win, together with narrative game play.

Interaction and Audience:

Games offer both process and playing. They cannot be read like a text or listened to like music. Playing games is an integral part, allowing participation. The author and the audience are in the same place at the same time.

Jean Piaget was a cognitive psychologist who in the 20th century focused on child development.

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was also a psychologist, who worked with pigeons to see if they would understand achievement using games.