Cyberdrama

The game that I chose to evaluate for its uses of cyberdrama is Little Big Planet, this game revolves around a character you can create - a sackperson. The goal of this game is to make it through a obstacle course like scene and to collect as many points and items you can. This game is a mix between a puzzle and a contest because you can play online with other players as well. The limitations of the game come from the traps and the knowledge base of the player. The character has to overcome obstacles in order to win the level. This game is very imagination based and is fictional. The article we read describes the difference between gaming and storytelling: "a story has greater emphasis on plot; a game has greater emphasis on the actions of the player" which I believe is true. The article we read describes agency as a term they use to distinguish the pleasure of interactivity from the two properties of the procedural and the participatory. Agency is interactive, this is shown in Little Big Planet when the player changes the outfits of their sackperson. The player is immersed in the game. Agency is taking a look at who's in control in the game, in LBP I would think the player who controls the character is the agency because they are in control of what their character does in the game. This game involves a visual narrative which uses writing, directing, and acting. You are able to interact with other players by writing to them and directing them what to do in the game and you are also acting as a character in a game. I would say acting is no strong in LBP but I would agree with the idea that it is used to a certain extent. The character's actions impact the outcome of the game by how well the player controls their character and how well they can maneuver through the courses.

Theatrical Concepts in Human/Computer Activity

The six qualitative elements of structure include action, character, thought, language, melody (pattern), and spectacle (enactment). 

One digital game that I think uses all six of these elements is Mario Kart. In Mario Kart the actions used are go-kart racing with different characters. The entire game is go-kart racing and you can choose different characters with different levels of skills to race against other characters. The characters in this game correspond to the characters of Super Mario Bros. mainly including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Donkey Kong and Yoshi. There is thought that also goes into this digital game, how the characters interact and we know each characters background from previous Super Mario Bros. games, etc. Language is used as well, the characters can interact with each other verbally through messaging and also through body language. Music is also a key element in this video game. The music and sounds for and Super Mario Bros. game is generally the same which makes it stand out from other games. Also some levels of the game require you to have a partner which would be someone else playing as a different character. Although the characters don't verbally speak they just type with speech bubbles, melody (pattern) and spectacle (element) are both used. The scenes and backgrounds of each game has the same color scheme or likeness to it that can mesh the entire game as a whole together. They all look like they were created together and they are all connected on some level of sameness.

Mario Kart characters.

Transmedia

Transmedia diagram:

One example of transmedia storytelling that I chose to discuss and explore was The Power Rangers.

Original Characters:

The Power Rangers had several movies and tv show series. They also had action figures, and games.

 

Games included board games and video games:

Movies included:

Remediation, Immediacy and Hypermediacy

two very useful concepts for our comparison of the virtual and physical museum/memorial: immediacyhypermediacy. The first can be defined as a process in which the medium is ‘erased’ from the experience as much as possible, in order to achieve a more ‘real’ experience. The latter refers to an explicit use of mediation; the medium is expressly present in the users experience. Differently put, immediacy is looking through a medium, while hypermediacy is looking at a medium. (http://www.mediatedmemories.com/general/immediacy-hypermediacy-and-remediation/)

Hypermediacy:

 Immediacy:

Remediation:

Digital Narratives

The digital narrative I selected was postsecret.com, I have heard of this website before and used to look at it from time to time, but I forgot how interesting it was. The framework and layout for this digital narrative is very, very simple. It is basically a blog spot where a group uploads cards they receive from people revealing their secrets and they post them online. You can click on the uploaded images and they enlarge on a separate window page. The reading says that "distributed narratives are stories that aren’t self-contained. They’re stories that can’t be experienced in a single session or in a single space. They’re stories that cross over into our daily lives, becoming as ubiquitous as the network that fosters them" which this website definitely is. To keep up with this website you usually have to check into it every day or every other day to see new posts and once the posts are gone you can't go back and revisit them. This narrative keeps going and going with threads. This website shows inspirations for people to write down their deepest secrets and anonymously post them online without someone figuring out who they are, it conceals their identity. In the article it also says:

1. Distribution in Time: The reader, player or viewer experiences the narrative in bits and pieces over a period of time.
2.  Distribution in Space: There is no single place in which the whole narrative can be experienced.

3. Distribution of Authorship: No single author or group of authors has complete control of the narrative.

This is true in this narrative, you get to see different secrets daily which is just bits and pieces of the overall site and all of the cards that have been posted in the past. Also although the narrative can be experienced on one web page, scrolling down ad up is no single place to view the entire thing and also because it changes periodically nothing will stay visible to the public on this site forever. The third point is also true, although there is a person or small group that posts these secrets but millions of people send in their secrets to be posted on the site. 

Personally, I really like the narrative I think it is creative and interesting. It can also be emotional with some of the secrets that get sent in and posted. I think it is a good space for people to tell their secrets without being exposed.

an example:

Interactive Narritives

From Born Magazine I chose The Secret Lives of Trees by David Hamilton. This is an interactive media done through animation. I think Flash is used to make this animation. It is a distribution in time narrative. I think this piece if very successful because it is very simple yet informative and artistic. I think this narrative goes through the seasons and the colors change as the seasons change from green to a dark red. This doesn't seem like a very hard media to interpret and use on my own. As the power-point on Digital Narratives says there are 5 elements that differ between old and new media. One of the differences that new media has is modularity; elements are assembled into larger objects but maintain their separate identities. This is very noticeable in The Secret Lives of Trees because each season is a different section and has different words to go along with it, but they all come together as a whole in making the animation work and be cohesive. Another key difference between old and new media is numerical representation which means that the new media is programmable. People, like David Hamilton, who use new media use programs like Dream Weaver and Flash to make their interactive medias. 

The other media I used was from poemsthatgo.com it was one called Nine by Jason E. Lewis. He uses distribution in space which means there is no single space where the whole narrative can be experienced, although it is a single window that shows the narrative you have to click on 9 different squares to change the interactive parts of the narrative. Personally, I don't think this is a very successful piece as a whole, I was confused at first how to view this media and what to do to change it or how it was supposed to work. You have to move around the different blocks one at a time to produce a picture. It reminded me of one of those puzzles where you have to rearrange the pieces to form a larger picture except in this one if you click on a frame the picture changes slightly. 

Artifact Blog

      Bruce Sterling personally defined authenticity (for his dad) as something that involves land, crops and cattle; which to him were his personal enjoyments in life and in his culture industry his interest was in ranching. Like his father, Sterling wanted to engage himself in personal struggle to provide himself with personal integrity. Farming and being a ranch owner/worker was not his 'authenticity of work' and it gave him no personal satisfaction, to him being a writer gave him integrity and made him happy. He writes about 'design fiction' which is similar to science diction except for the fact that to him and many other readers design fiction is easier to understand when reading it as opposed to science fiction.He chose 'design fiction' because he enjoyed writing about design rather than actually designing things himself.
      People in today's society are consumed with gadgets and pricey objects and products produced by a world of technosavy people. Consumer in a product technosociety consists of not only knowing about design and objects but engaging yourself into the design world.
      In my world I consider many things to be authentic. Gadgets are authentic and they can change with time. Authentic things are also symbolic to certain people and can have different meanings to different people. To me doing what I love to do and hoping to make a career out of it is authentic. I enjoy design and learning new things about graphic design and software. People who are passionate about what they do make what they do authentic, whether it has been thought of before them if they enjoy it to them it can be authentic. A 'gadget' that has engaged my interest and represents my personal history and culture could be many things. One example could be a book I used to read as a child, or The Tale of Peter Rabbit stories my dad would read to me before I went to bed every night. Something that consumed me for so long even though I heard the same story over and over again I still loved it.
     I think an object that is nostalgic to me is the old worn out red book of all the Beatrix Potter tales. I remember as a kid my dad would read each story to me, one a night until we got to the last one and he would start the entire book over the next night. This old book is symbolic to me of my childhood which is original and authentic.

 

A gadget that is nostalgic to me for recent times would be the iPod because over the past 10 years I have owned four iPods, the first generation iPod which was thick, while and had a black and white screen, then the first generation iPod touch, a pink shuffle for running, and lastly the new Nano touch.