Characters - How We Care

To my left is Agro, the horse. For those who have played Shadow of the Colossus Agro is a dear friend. Despite any handling issues most gamers can agree that the wanderer wouldn't have gotten far without Agro.

This week I'm talking about the differences in how an audience sympathizes with characters between mediums. Agro is here for video games and I've chosen Carl from Pixar's UP! to represent film.

An interesting thing, or lack thereof, in Shadow of the Colossus is dialogue. There are maybe about a hundred lines of it in the entire game. For those unfamiliar: The player's avatar is the young man in the picture known only as the wanderer and Agro is his horse. The game briefly sets the scene, tells you which way to your first boss fight and then lets you soak up the scenery. What's odd is that in the in between time and throughout the 16 conflicts of the game we come to care about these two characters. Here I'm focusing on Agro.

Over the course of the game players come to sympathize with Agro. How? He's a horse? Yet the end of his story feels as powerful as the fall of Tony Montana (Scarface) or Donnie (Donnie Darko). Interactivity bred this attachment. [2] According to Murray Smith's Structure of Sympathy we come to like characters by Recognition, Alignment and Allegiance.

Recognition = is this character the same one from the last cut scene?

I'll disregard because it's irrelevant for this game. We never really leave Agro's side so there are limited opportunities to recognize Agro from one scene to the next.

Alignment = how often are we with them?

Agro soars in this element. We spend the whole game with Agro. Wander a few feet away and he will trot after you; patiently waiting as you climb trees or ruins. Through hours of wandering a green pastures devoid of life we bond with Agro. Players will be with Agro chasing lizards in the sun and galloping hard after a mile-long serpent risen from the sands of a forgotten desert. He's always with us. For the carefree fun and the fight.

Allegiance =  do we value the same thing they do?
Again this is an easy win for our horse. Agro is loyal. Should you whistle Agro will come running to your aid. I couldn't say if  Agro knows what's going on in the story or game world but it doesn't matter to him. His master and friend wants something. So Agro wants to help. He wants what the player wants.

Over the hours the player spends wandering the forgotten land and battling ancient creatures Agro becomes more than pixels. The player eventually shares the same relationship with Agro as the Wanderer must. He becomes our horse.

This post has run a little long so I'll save Carl for next week. If you haven't seen UP! I'd recommend giving it a look. Was the first Pixar film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. An animated film was nominated for Best Picture, it's that damn good.

New Media - The ARG

The Alternate Reality Game is a new art form for storytelling. Like video games it is lauded for interactivity but is set apart by alternating degrees of player agency. ARG's are difficult to define because they are so diverse. The format can vary from posts on Facebook, YouTube channels to individually owned websites.

Fun in an ARG can come in many forms. I find the most common to be in solving puzzles and enjoying the atmosphere the game masters are building. Where things get very interesting is when the audience can interact with the characters. Interactivity takes on a whole new meaning when you can talk to and advise the characters in a story. I'm using my first ARG experience as my prime example, Marble Hornets.

Centered around a film student trying to figure out why is friend dropped a project after months of work, marble hornets drops us in en media rez.(Hey guys I know Latin!)
After a few videos we get the sense that something isn't right about these tapes. Originally the videos were released weeks apart creating tension as we worried about Jay, the student watching his friend's tapes.

This style of ARG interests me for its delivery of story. We get movies allowing for more traditional forms of character recognition, empathy and similar forms of engaging in the story. However, through the twitter account we get interactivity with Jay. We got to advise and ask of Jay to bring us closer to the character and further into the story. This was effective because speaking with Jay gave a sense of reality to the events on the tapes.

Marble Hornets succeeded in bringing players in through interaction with the characters. Cause an ARG can take any form on any site I also applaud the game masters for using only YouTube and Twitter. The smaller range allowed for greater focus.

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SPOILER ALERT

I'm about to talk about the end game. If you have any interest in looking over the videos come back later.

It is a great experience I don't want to rob you of it!

You have been warned. Now I am wrapping up so I won't be saying too much. The fear brought on by their camera techniques was both frugal and effective. Between that and the video responses of totheArk I was petrified during some junctions of the game. Though we are left on a cliff hanger with no real resolution I eagerly await the next installment. After all, Jay never said he was done. 

Mr Plinkett and New Media Ventures - How Do They Work?

To my left is Mr Plinkett. He is an aging serial killer who spends his time downing pizza rolls and reviewing movies. Some new, some old but all hilariously broken down between condescending rants and critical points. I'm introducing Mr Plinkett as an example of a New Media Venture. I'm not too sure on my terminology because the subject matter is so new. Seriously, I could only find one course about these Ventures.

New Media Ventures are a medium for story telling set apart by their formats. YouTube videos, blogs, and even hidden inside of other mediums. These ventures are usually interactive and are thus forth called games. These games are, in most cases, defined by two traits; interactivity and emergent properties. The interactivity comes in many forms whether in solving a puzzle to help out the characters or actually conversing with the characters themselves. This is where emergent properties come in. These properties are brought in unexpectedly by the players or audience. Depending on how much agency, ability to affect the story, the game masters give their audience. The game masters have to alter their story and push forward in response to what the players are talking about and where they are headed. Occasionally they entirely veer off course. New Media Ventures are smaller forms of a greater art, the ARG. Alternate Reality Game. For more information about ARGs follow this link to ARGnet. 

For now let's focus on the smaller and the more easily defined Ventures.

Take Mr Plinkett for example: On the surface these are movie reviews with quirky commentary. However, upon further examination of his Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Reviews one could see the emergence of a story. Between the jokes and critiques of the films we get to know Mr Plinkett as we would any character in literature or movies. We come to know and like him, despite his psychopathic tendencies.

 Later this week I'll add another post to expand on New Media Ventures and next week at my regular post time I'll go into ARGs. Starting with Marble Hornets.

Note: If you watch the Marble Hornet videos I'd advise to do so in chronological order while watching out for video responses. It's the best way to make sense of it.

Retaining Focus - Preservation of Narrative

Hello everyone! This week I'll be referencing the book you see to your left. [1] Quests by Jeff Howard. This text concerns game design from the stand point of improving story. Or designing a game so that the actions re-enforce the themes of the game. The text is a pretty light read so I'd recommend looking it up if you're one for game design.


So last week's post was over the execution of choice in the Starcraft games. My end point was that I didn't agree with Blizzard's new direction in the story choices department. That static menu options that lead to potentially far reaching ramifications feels clumsy. Which is why I'm bringing in Mr Howard's works. To review his expert opinion on narrative, briefly, and purpose an alternate method.


Mr Howard writes about meaning in video games. How a game quest could be compared to medieval works of allegorical fiction. Heroes journeying to defeat an incarnation of evil or topple an oppressive government. That systems in games can reflect the greater world and buff up the story. Prototype's Web of Mystery is an interesting idea for this aim. The biological design of the Web's interface, soft whispers echoing in the background and the branching paths of neurons connecting the nodes made for good atmosphere while simply navigating a menu. I have a lot to say on Prototype and that will be my next subject. For now, back to Starcraft, Choice and the reason I bring up Jeff Howard. Direction. Howard's style of meaning is heavily influenced by linearity.


Developers have to choose how much power the player has over the story. Starcraft 1's original idea of alternate forms of the same mission is a hell of a choice. Though admittedly there's no real effect on the narrative this immediate gratification, though shallow, may be a very effective method for implementing choice. While it's true taking power away from the player preserves the story and message it also defies what makes the medium great.

Starcraft II's choices are so far reaching that the story is put at risk. Player choices affect certain character arcs, technologies and in some cases entire planets. This is what I'd call a continuity nightmare. These branching story paths will determine technologies available to the characters in the context of the story. The developers will have to plan out dozens of potential stories just to reach their desired ending. I'm not saying this is a mistake. After all, games like Mass Effect thrive under these constraints. The point of this particular post is to highlight potential problems and short comings with this style of choice.


Do you think I'm right or talking out of my ass? Let me know! Leave a comment, or send me an email. (jsnrez@gmail[dot]com)
I'm Mad and this is what I've gotten into today.