Old Plays, New Narratives

When a theatrical performance is digitally broadcast live to cinemas, the limitations of temporal and spatial specificity are removed and the theatrical experience is simultaneously opened up to a wider audience and inherently altered. One such production, Coriolanus (Donmar Warehouse, 2013-14), starring an actor with a particularly enthusiastic online fan community, was broadcast to cinemas by National Theatre Live, where fans recorded it on digital devices, extracted clips and produced animated gifs, which they captioned to reinterpret the play, sharing them online, removed from their original context. The transformation of theatre texts to cinemas to social media platforms raises exciting questions related to how fans interact with culture both as consumers and as producers of new media texts. How do the different transformations (technical and actively fan-produced) affect both the narrative and the cultural experience? How do new texts function as surrogates for, and extensions of, the ‘official' narrative, as well as new interactive narratives in their own right? This paper addresses these questions in the context of a specific theatrical event as it crossed the boundary from a live, co-located experience first into cinema, and then into interactive hypertexts and memes. Drawing on theories of fandom and participatory culture, as well as post-Web 2.0 analyses of Internet behaviours, the paper examines fan production of new media texts and how they both transmit and transform the source narrative via interpretation, re-interpretation, and misinterpretation. Image Credit: Still of fromhiddleswithlove (2014)

Emotional Response to Stories in Interactive Narrative

<p>The audience enjoys stories more if they present suspense. This is true for both non-interactive and interactive narratives. However, in interactive stories, for example in the context of a video game, suspense perception can be influenced by two factors: the audience’s choice and repeated exposition to the same story episode presenting suspense. Currently, there has been little research done on the audience’s emotional response to interactive narrative and the purpose of this thesis is to contribute to this area. The dissertation addresses nine research questions: (1) “How does a level of suspense change with repeated encounters?” (2) “How do choices offered to the audience influence their suspense perception?” (3) “Is the level of suspense reported from a distant observer perspective comparable to the degree of suspense experienced by the audience member immersed in the story and considering himself as a story character?" (4) Does a degree of suspense depend on the perspective from which the story is perceived (story character or external observer)? 5) “Does more suspense necessarily lead to the greater story enjoyment in interactive narratives?” (6) “How can one keep suspense high with repeated encounters in the interactive narratives?” (7) “Does greater uncertainty about the story outcome result in the greater degree of suspense?" (8) “Do male and female members of the audience perceive suspense differently in interactive stories?” (9) “Do the age and gaming experience of audience correlate with the degree of suspense they experience in interactive narratives?” In order to answer these questions, the dissertation employed two approaches – theoretical analysis and empirical study. The theoretical part of the thesis addressed the questions of the role of suspense in interactive narrative, the process of the audience’s involvement in the interactive narrative and its possible impact on suspense perception, as well as how the degree of suspense perceived in the story can be influenced by the interactive mode of the story through manipulating the choice. For the empirical research, quantitative methodology has been employed and one hundred and forty two participants took part in three experiments where they were asked to read and re-read non-interactive and interactive versions of a story created on the base of James Bond novels. The core data was collected from self-reports and surveys that the participants were asked to complete during and after experiments. Additional data came from the participants’ comments on their experience during the experiments. This thesis makes two main contributions to the study of interactive narrative and narrative-based video games. First, it empirically proves that choice does not reduce the level of perceived suspense in the interactive story as it has been argued by some scholars (i.e. Frome & Smuts, 2004). . Second, the results of the research suggest that by manipulating the choice offered to the audience it is possible to keep the level of suspense higher with repeated encounters. In addition, some other findings obtained from the experiments present factors that may influence suspense perception in interactive narrative such as the gender of the audience members, their gaming experience, and level of immersion in the story.</p>

Emotional Response to Stories in Interactive Narrative

<p>The audience enjoys stories more if they present suspense. This is true for both non-interactive and interactive narratives. However, in interactive stories, for example in the context of a video game, suspense perception can be influenced by two factors: the audience’s choice and repeated exposition to the same story episode presenting suspense. Currently, there has been little research done on the audience’s emotional response to interactive narrative and the purpose of this thesis is to contribute to this area. The dissertation addresses nine research questions: (1) “How does a level of suspense change with repeated encounters?” (2) “How do choices offered to the audience influence their suspense perception?” (3) “Is the level of suspense reported from a distant observer perspective comparable to the degree of suspense experienced by the audience member immersed in the story and considering himself as a story character?" (4) Does a degree of suspense depend on the perspective from which the story is perceived (story character or external observer)? 5) “Does more suspense necessarily lead to the greater story enjoyment in interactive narratives?” (6) “How can one keep suspense high with repeated encounters in the interactive narratives?” (7) “Does greater uncertainty about the story outcome result in the greater degree of suspense?" (8) “Do male and female members of the audience perceive suspense differently in interactive stories?” (9) “Do the age and gaming experience of audience correlate with the degree of suspense they experience in interactive narratives?” In order to answer these questions, the dissertation employed two approaches – theoretical analysis and empirical study. The theoretical part of the thesis addressed the questions of the role of suspense in interactive narrative, the process of the audience’s involvement in the interactive narrative and its possible impact on suspense perception, as well as how the degree of suspense perceived in the story can be influenced by the interactive mode of the story through manipulating the choice. For the empirical research, quantitative methodology has been employed and one hundred and forty two participants took part in three experiments where they were asked to read and re-read non-interactive and interactive versions of a story created on the base of James Bond novels. The core data was collected from self-reports and surveys that the participants were asked to complete during and after experiments. Additional data came from the participants’ comments on their experience during the experiments. This thesis makes two main contributions to the study of interactive narrative and narrative-based video games. First, it empirically proves that choice does not reduce the level of perceived suspense in the interactive story as it has been argued by some scholars (i.e. Frome & Smuts, 2004). . Second, the results of the research suggest that by manipulating the choice offered to the audience it is possible to keep the level of suspense higher with repeated encounters. In addition, some other findings obtained from the experiments present factors that may influence suspense perception in interactive narrative such as the gender of the audience members, their gaming experience, and level of immersion in the story.</p>

Co-Designers Not Troublemakers

Players in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) generate long-standing histories with their characters, but cannot express or see traces of their adventures in the game worlds. We are interested in designing game systems where players shape and contribute their own narratives as game content. Study one designed and playtested three Virtual Tabletop Role-Playing Game (VTTRPG) prototypes where we found that structured, graphical representations of players' traces support co-design and narrative analysis. We also identified four categories of traces: environment, build, memory and object. We introduce Play Traces, a novel analysis method for representing and co-designing with players and their narratives. A structured observation including Play Traces studied 17 players over 16 four-hour sessions in the third VTTRPG prototype. We found that players successfully (and enjoyably) co-designed novel narratives. We identified three themes for how traces can affect and support players in shaping new interactive narratives. We present four design implications describing how player-created narratives in MMORPGs should first Reveal & Pull Attention from other players, Invite & Push further exploration, Guide & Assist toward endings, and optionally Show & Hide traces. Finally, we discuss how treating players as co-designers offers a promising approach for developing the next generation of MMORPGs.

Designing Interactive Narratives for the Fashion System. MOOC and blended learning in a transdisciplinary design module

From distributed interactive narratives to games and playful systems, complex interactive projects challenge the fashion ecosystem introducing new possibilities that require innovative and transdisciplinary competencies to be adequately tackled. However, to properly deal with digital media, designers need to master their logic, potentialities, and implications. Therefore the urgency to include such knowledge in building, reframing, and implementing the curricula and design education of today's and tomorrow's fashion designers. This considers the complexity of getting acquainted and implementing vocabulary, design methodologies and practices from other fields of studies. This paper presents the lessons learnt from the first application of the MOOC “Data Science, Visualization and Interactive Narratives for CCIs” to an intensive design module in the Design for the Fashion System. Attention is posed on how it was included in a Blended Learning context to meet the scope and answer previously identified criticalities as providing knowledge from neighbouring fields, and to what extent it succeeded.