Comm 2302 Spring 20

Summary

This chapter analyzes and describes fiction and its many components. This includes the different classifications of time, narrative, and game genres. Juul breaks down how abstract games revolve strictly around the rules of the game. Incoherent world games consist of contradictions throughout the game that the player must overlook or justify by using the rules of the game. Coherent games are the opposite of incoherent world games and usually consist of adventure games. Lastly, staged games fall in-between both abstract and representational characteristics in an “elaborate world.” Juul also discusses the numerous definitions of narrative and their applications to video games compared to films or books. Juul concludes the reading by stating “Game fiction is ambiguous, optional, and imagined by the layer in uncontrollable and unpredictable ways, but the emphasis on fictional worlds may be the strongest innovation of the video game.”

Example

When reading this, I immediately thought of the game of solitaire that my family and I had been playing throughout quarantine. We first began playing with a deck of cards, but we each moved to different versions of playing the game. For example, I downloaded the app on my phone, and my sister plays on an app on her laptop. This game is entertaining due to the challenge it presents, rather than a storyline or fictional world. It also reminded me of the unique meaning given to cards like a king or ace in the deck.

Connection

After reading this article, I know that Solitaire would be classified as an iconic game due to the reliability on understanding the rules of the game to play and having meanings assigned to certain cards. It does not create a fictional world or have a narrative. It is only meant to challenge your mind. If you have an Ace, you can move it to one of the top four spots automatically. This represents its superiority or significance to the game compared to other cards. Similarly, Kings are the only cards you can move to a free space. This also signifies the cards’ significance to the game.

Reading Summary

In chapter eight of What Media Classes Really Want to Discuss, Smith explains interactivity, which is an interchanging term. In media, however, it is considered to have passive media consumption and make audiences do different things according to the type of media they are consuming. Smith decides to separate media into two categories: the kinds of things people do with specific types of media and the specific activities a medium encourages audiences to do. He also explains how meta-messages tells society how to watch and accomplish certain things a certain way. For example, these messages can tell audiences how to watch movies or television programs based on their biased reasonings; they only show what they want us to see. However, audiences can have more choices and control over what they are doing with the help of interactive media. Smith labels interactivity with “highbrow/lowbrow status of media’s content” (Smith 141). This means that a high quality and well-known media source can be considered more favorable over another. Space is a key characteristic in interactivity because it can give audiences a similar experience when interpreting media. It allows them to have more control over their media preferences and ultimately gives them more control over their media intake. By having multiple platforms to control our media intake, it allows audiences to have more control over their interactivity and make personal decisions based on their preferences.

Outside Example

While reading this, I kept thinking of Netflix and Disney Plus and how they have perfected the term interactivity. These big companies created these powerful platforms where audiences can pick and choose what they want to watch at any given time. Netflix is famous for their binge worthy television shows as well as their large selection of popular movies. Netflix created this platform specifically for audiences to watch whatever they want at the touch of their fingerprints. Disney Plus is new to our streaming services but it has become very popular for the short time it has been out. They have the same services as Netflix except it is strictly Disney associated movies, television series, and documentaries. Here, you have all these luxuries right at your fingertips and as society, we have become very comfortable with these platforms that we will give anything to have access to services like these.

Reading Connection

Smith’s idea of interactivity relates to our modern day world so much. We, as a society, have become so obsessed with streaming platforms like Disney Plus and Netflix. More specifically, we like to have this type of media interactivity because it allows for amounts of media right at our command. Audiences like to have a lot of control on what they watch and more importantly, how they interpret media on their own. This is not to say that Netflix and Disney Plus are bad to engage in but they definitely send meta-messages out to their audiences in a subtle way. I think our society has taken in these types of messages and what they decide to do with them is their business, just as Smith revealed to us in chapter eight. 

Reading Summary

In this reading, Juul explains how players imagine the world a game projects and how these games cue the players into imagining these certain realities. There are two determinants in envisioning a game world: the game rules and its fiction. Rules are designed to be unambiguous, objective, obligatory, and generally above discuss. Whereas fiction in a game is ambiguous, highly subjective, optional, and subject to discussion. We can speak of rules without fiction however we can’t discuss fiction without the rules. All fictional worlds are incomplete within games which drives the player to fill in the blanks of the game’s story by using a combination of real world knowledge and knowledge of genre conventions. Many games present incoherent worlds where the world contradicts itself thus preventing the player from imagining a complete fictional world. When we find certain aspects of the game too difficult to imagine, we resort by explaining the events in the game by appealing to its rules. Depending on the level at which a game is played and the extent of the players’ imagination, we find how representational the game is.

Outside Example

When reading this excerpt, I was reminded of the interactive game Dungeons and Dragons. D&D is a fantastical tabletop role-playing game in which players are their own characters in an ongoing fantasy story. The game consists of one dungeon master who is the leader of creating this fantasy world and story-telling each game. The DM guides the characters through quests, battles, rescues, and basically anything the DM wishes to input into the world. The other players of the game work together to try and achieve the goals that the DM has set for the game. Prior to playing the game, all players get to create their own character. When a character decides to behave or act on a certain objective in the game, the player will roll a 20 sided die to determine if they follow through on this act (the higher the roll, the better your chances). In most games, how you play is limited by the options the game designers give you. However, in D&D your decisions create the story or the fiction of the game. The DM alters the story depending what the characters decide to do each session.

Reading Connection

This reading connects to my example because Juul explains 5 different types of games. Abstract games are those that do not in their entirety represent something else. The game is the rules (ex. Tetris). Iconic games are ones whose individual pieces have meanings. An example of this is a deck of cards. Incoherent world games are games in which the fictional world within contradicts itself thus preventing players from filling in blanks. Coherent world games do not prevent the players from imagining the world given in any detail. Lastly, staged games are abstract or somewhat representational games played in a more elaborate world. The puzzles and games to be solved are created by characters in a very curiously sketched larger world. With these descriptions in mind, I would categorize D&D as both a coherent world game and a staged game. Considering the characters create their own realities depending on their actions, they have no problem imagining this world in full detail. It also falls under a staged game because the world is elaborately formed by the characters within the game rather than the game designers.

Reading Summary

This chapter discusses how video games project a fictional world where the player can use their own imagination to control characters and other aspects of the games. Yet, the author mentions that in order to have a fictional world in a video game there must be rules. These rules are essential in not only explaining why the fantasy is the way it is. They use the game of Donkey Kong and the fact that Mario has three lives as an example. It may be absurd or fantastic to think that a player has three lives after dying once but those are just the rules of the game. The reading goes on to describe abstract to representational games which just means how elaborate their fictional world is. Something important to note from the reading is how to create a fictional world. The author mentions that graphics, sounds, text, cut-scenes, manual, haptics, rules and player actions are the ways to create a fictional world. With this said, all these only create the world but the author emphasizes on the fact that “the game designer cannot control the player’s interpretation of the game world, and the player may additionally believe that the game contains nonexistent elements and imagine the world accordingly.”

Outside Example

I do not play video games but I do watch a lot of shows. Hence, when reading this chapter, the first thing that popped into my mind was the Black Mirror’s Striking Viper episode which was very uncomfortable but interesting. The episode is about a group of friends: Danny Parker, his girlfriend Theo and his best friend Karl. The episode opens with them sharing an apartment where Danny and Theo come home to have sexual intercourse and after doing so, Danny heads to the living room to play fictional fighting game ‘Striking Vipers’ with Karl all night. Flash-forward 11 years, Danny and Theo are married with a child and Karl is living his own life. On Danny’s 38th birthday, Karl shows up and gives him a virtual reality update of ‘Striking Vipers’ as a birthday present. In the VR environment, they have full-sensation skins of their favorite fighters: Karl as Roxette, a women, and Danny as muscular (and frequently shirtless) Lance. In their first attempt to play the game, they try fighting but it rapidly turns into the players kissing. They get scared and suddenly ask themselves who they are now and what happened in the video game. Yet, they continue logging into the game to continue to interact sexually. At one point they meet in person and kiss to find out if maybe they are gay but they find out they aren’t and that they just like how it feels in the VR game. The plot of the episode is filled with different layers of fantasy. Like any other video game, the Danny is faced with desire vs responsibility and reality vs fantasy but this one is not just an obsession with a fighting game rather it is with the VR update to be able to control the characters into doing other actions like sex.

Reading Connection

The episode of Black Mirror and the reading connect because they talk about how in order to live a fantasy in video games, there must be rules to explain what is happening. When it comes to Virtual Reality games, the possibilities are endless. Just like in the episode of Black Mirror, in which the players logged in with the purpose of actually playing the game by fighting but ended up in kissing because the VR game allowed them to interact in such way. Yet, different VR games have different rules so the one shown in the Black Mirror had no rules exempting from having sex in the game. Apart from this show, I have seen funny videos where a woman is with her husband and she tries the VR head gear which suddenly turns into a make out session with someone in the game but the husband can not see who it is because he is not wearing the head gear. Like in the episode of Black Mirror, the person seen in the VR game is a fictional character but the game experience allows people to interact in endless ways. This brings me back to the reading, which mentions that the actual player is the one in control of the character, their scenarios, settings and more. The reading was only talking about regular video games so imagine the experience with the new technology of VR games, where a person can experience being in a 3D environment and interact with it. It is safe to assume that the player has way more control than in a regular video game. Obviously VR games were not made for sex purposes but it’s not implausible for some to have that option. Going back to the episode, it goes deep into the fantasy that underlies many virtual worlds just like the reading discussed. The fantasy in the show was created by the players not the actual game. The actual VR game used sounds, texts of “Fight,” and graphics to create the fantasy world but the players extended their imagination to going beyond just fighting. The reading talked about how people can get so emotionally invested in the games that they start creating other fantastic scenarios for their characters like punching killing all the bad guys, doing your own thing on GTA or Sims without actually staying true to the games’ missions. Video games are appealing because they have an imaginary world where it is safe to play out fantasies. Just like in Danny and Karl did in the VR game. Yet, the episode just showcases another possibility that most games do not play out.

Reading Summary

This reading from Juul discusses the rules and fictional worlds that are created within video games and how these dictate how the game is categorized. Juul first highlights the importance of recognizing that while “rules can function independent of fiction, fiction relies on rules.” Some games make use of number of rules to help establish a fictional world and storyline, but others use rules without this objective. The extent to which rules are used and a storyline is established dictates the category in which a particular game falls. Abstract games do not represent anything beyond the rules that make them up, such as the game of checkers. Incoherent games contain a fictional world, but one that contradicts itself, a contradiction that can not be explained without referencing the rules of the game. Staged games are those where an abstract or more representational game is played within a more elaborate world, think playing a game within a game. Juul goes on to discuss ways in which games create worlds, including graphics, sounds, text, cut-scenes and other features.

Outside Connection

During quarantine I recently watched the first of two remakes of 1995 film Jumanji, in which the world of a board game enters reality. The 2017 remake attempted to modernize the story by pulling individuals from the real world into a video game. To escape, they must beat the game, playing as characters with specific traits and abilities helpful in completing tasks and defeating enemies throughout the storyline.

Reading Connection

The fictional storyline within the movie adhered to many of the same principles that are common in most adventure games. One of the major aspects of the movie that the reading reminded me of was the fact that the characters, once in the video game, had three lives, represented by tattoos on their arms which disappeared when an individual died in the game. Therefore, the game in the movie most closely fit the description of Coherent world games from the reading, where nothing prevents us from imagining the world in any detail, but there are still aspects of the game (like characters having three lives) that the world cannot explain by itself.

Reading Summary

To start, Smith defines interactivity by distinguishing it from passive media consumption, claiming that it is the ways media makes us do things and the activities they elicit.For example, these meta-messages broadcast by types of media encourage viewers to view it in a certain environment, consume the story a certain way, or discuss the meaning in a certain breath in our circles. Furthermore, there is a level beyond television and film that requires more mental and physical participation by the viewer, such as video games and trivia shows. Video games, on one hand, embodies interactivity in giving control and choice to what the viewer sees on screen, where trivia shows such as Jeopardy mentally engage viewers even though they’re not physically engaging or participating.

Secondly, Smith discusses strongly and weakly designed mediaspaces. The former gives consumers similar experiences while still maintaining personalization while the latter is a space that doesn’t bring anything compelling in itself. In relation to interactivity, the strongly designed spaces promote imagination, power, and DIY, creating real lures to consumers. They are object-orientated, which give a sense of real activity and unpredictability, but do contain limits as to what the user can do with those abilities. Weakly designed spaces, on the other hand, place emphasis on the participants making the space compelling and less on the structure elements that can appeal to all. These elements include timing, access and people-oriented engagement, which can make the weakly designed space and entertaining or dull form of interactivity.

Outside Example

During quarantine, the one thing that has kept me somewhat sane has been Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This game, as well as the Animal Crossing series, encompasses what a free-realm, mentally engaging, strongly designed interactive video game should be. Users are placed on a desert island and tasked with building the island into a 5-star island that can bring the artist KK Slider to perform a concert. The guidance and freedom begin very strict and structure, but ease as the early days of the game go by and are essentially eliminated after the first week. While central missions still exist, there is no strict timeline to complete these missions while still giving users control over their island activities.

Reading Connection

As stated, ACNH is an example of a strongly designed mediaspace. The game freely allows the player to be unique, imaginative, and stress-free in the design of their island and home. There are a wide range of activities for users to do, such as fishing, designing, constructing, catching bugs, and visiting other islands, that are constantly available without any constraints on mission progress, time, or length of play. Limits do exist, such as movement on your island across rivers and inclines, real-world time, or needing a “recipe” to construct something, but play is completely independent and relies on no outside factors beyond the user’s imagination. This free-lance nature and lack of a rigid structure of gameplay keeps users engaged for hours at a time with no push factors that make users stop playing if they can’t beat a certain “level”. Interactivity is significantly drawn from the structural genius of this game, allowing users to create their perfect island that is entirely unique.

READING SUMMARY

Interactivity has no set definition and its ‘definition’ is constantly changing, but media is considered either interactive or passive. Smith, though, argues that no media is truly passive. Rather than defining media as either passive or interactive, Smith chooses to separate media into a different two categories: “the kinds of things people do with media and the kind of activities a medium seems to encourage” (Smith 138). There are meta-messages that tell us (society) how to watch movies and television; we are supposed to watch things a certain way. With interactive media, the user is in control and has choices about what they’re doing. Interactive media may require little physical activity and more mental activity. Interactivity is also labeled based on the “highbrow/lowbrow status of the media’s content,” where mental and physical are blurred; a famous television show is considered ‘better’ and ‘higher-brow’ than a video game (Smith 141). The idea of spatial imagination is important for interactivity. Media spaces are also divided into strongly and weakly designed spaces. Strongly designed spaces, like video games and television shows, give audiences similar experiences. Weakly designed spaces, like chat rooms online, are not as compelling and depend on user content. In a strongly designed space like a video game, characters and physical items are both considered ‘objects’. The player asks what they can do to the object, how it will respond, and what the object can do for them. Narrational interactivity, meaning changing the perspectives on action, the series of events, and the sequence of events, increases the complexity of interactive media.

OUTSIDE EXAMPLE

When I was a kid, I loved reading and would spend all day with a book sometimes. My brother, on the other hand, liked video games and hated reading. When I was reading, my mother wouldn’t get annoyed that I wasn’t doing anything or moving at all, but she’d demand my brother to stop playing so many video games. If he spent all day in his room online, she’d bother him for doing nothing, but me reading a book was different. Smith discusses why reading is seen as better than television and video games in Chapter 8 of What Media Classes Really Want to Discuss, explaining why my mother never bothered me for reading all day but pestered my brother to shut down the video games.

READING CONNECTION

Smith explains the difference between “highbrow” and “lowbrow status of media’s content” (Smith 141). Reading is seen as highbrow, as it requires more mental activity, and media values “our ability to imagine spaces,” or spatial imagination (Smith 141). People create the worlds of books in their heads, acting everything out mentally, which is a very powerful interaction. Reading, therefore, is considered better than television and video games, as it requires so much imagination. My mother understood this, and let me read all day in my room sometimes when I had a good book, unbothered. However, Smith also asks “what about the process of predicting what will happen next in a film/television narrative?” (Smith 141). The video games my brother played also required some amount of mental activity, and the television shows we all watched made us think and wonder what would happen next. The idea of interactivity with imagination and mental activity is greatly debated, and Smith discusses the many points of view with this issue.

Reading Summary

Chapter 8 of What Media Classes Really Want to Discuss by Greg Smith goes in depth about Interactivity which is what makes “new ” media actually “new”. There is passive media which is considered old media such as television where the viewer doesn’t have to do much apart from staying awake. Interactive media would be something like video games where games require for the player to be in control to keep the game progressing. The chapter then talks about strong and weak designed mediaspaces. A strong designed mediaspace would be a personalized world created for individuals to have a similar experience as others. A weakly designed mediaspace would be a world where the individual creates their own content such as social media. Interactivity in strong designed mediaspaces is focused on the interaction with objects not with people unlike weak desgined mediaspaces. Last of all, the chapter mentions how strong desgined mediaspaces such as video games allow the player to have a choice on what happens next.

Outside Example

This chapter made me think about a new video game I purchased last week called Doom Eternal. Doom Eternal is a first person shooter where you play as the Doom Slayer and try to liberate humanity from a demon invasion. As you play the campaign you learn the story of how demons invaded earth, who the doom slayer is (the charater you are playing as), and how you can save humanity. This game has been highly recommended as it is a fast paced game with an extreme amount of gore, great gameplay mechanics, and great graphics. At first I was undecisive whether to buy the game or to wait until it was on sale, but being in quarantine and getting bored playing the other games I have, I decided to buy it and would recommend it to anyone who is into first person shooters.

Reading Connection

Reading the chapter made me think of how I interact with video games. Since Doom Eternal was the last game I bought and the one I played the most this week, I focused on how I interacted with its campaign. Although some games allow the player to interact with the narration, Doom Eternal doesn’t allow for that, you simply follow the story line to progress through the campaign. There are a few easter eggs that can be found throughout the missions by deviating from the storyline a little which is a way of interacting with the world the player is in but it is nothing major unlike some open world games. But the main two ways a player can interact with this game is the way each player plans on defeating a hoard of demons by targeting certain demons that may be more powerful than others and by deciding which gun to use to defeat them. This is the major way of how this strong designed mediaspace makes the player interact with objects. As I played the game there were a lot of situations where the game forced me to make a choice of what gun I wanted to use and which demon I should attack first. These gameplay mechanics were new to me but overall I enjoyed the complexity of the game although it took some time to get used to.

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Summary of Reading:

This week’s reading discusses propaganda and its mechanisms for effectiveness. According to Delwiche, propaganda is “developed by an organized group and systematically disseminated with the intent of prompting certain attitudes and behaviors” (93). Propaganda is diverse and encompasses advertisements, TV, video games, political leaflets and more.

Outside Example:

One example I thought of while reading the chapter was Rosie the Riveter. Rosie the Riveter was the face of a campaign aiming to recruit female workers into defense industries during WWII. The campaign was launched to compensate for the hit industries such as munitions and aviation took following the enlistment and deployment of men to the front-lines.

Connection to Reading:

Rosie the Riveter is a classic example of propaganda, working effectively to recruit women as they aspired to and identified strongly with her. Rosie is portrayed as a strong, independent and confident woman through the positioning of the character (a flexed arm is symbolic of strength), her calm and even facial expression as well as the large speech bubble enclosing the words “We Can Do It!”. By portraying Rosie as a woman doing her part to help her country in the war effort, the every-day woman identified with the character not only on the basis of gender but also as a fellow American patriot, spurring them to enter the workforce.