Transformation

1. Transformation • Mutability – of our character, of our setting, of our actions, etc. • McLuhan’s mosaic media • Mosaic + transformation = kaleidoscopic • Challenge of how to limit and signal opportunities for transformation • “Part of the charm of each play is not letting the viewer know things, from showing us effects before we see the causes.” • Example of changing points of view

2. Morphing Story Environments • Where interactors enact or construct their own stories. • Examples today? • The Bronte family (Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne) • A written world playing out issues in their lives • Once issues are worked out the world changes or is left behind • Closure • “The experience of closure here … in the completeness of engagement with the whole range of story possibilities.”

3. Transformational Experience • Enactment in VR as therapy • “the virtual experience worked because it was enough like the real one to raise the same anxieties but safe enough to allow for imaginative rehearsal” • Escapist vs. progressive environments • Goal is not to exclude antisocial behavior • Need ability to engage, remodel, and work through

4. Refused Closure • Closure in changing worlds is often held back • Contradicting viewpoints • Lack of central information • Motivation of continued engagement • Reader decides on closure • “closure occurs when a work’s structure, though not its plot, is understood” • Different and less pleasurable than traditional closure • Fear of closure

5. Interactive Tragedy • Mind as Labyrinth • Moving among the thoughts • Web of Mourning • Moving among those affected • Simulation and Destiny • Manipulation of world

6. Multipositional View • Alternative to traditional closure • Replay from a different viewpoint • Learn about other effects and motivations after the story has played out • Understand higher-level constructs

7. Authoring Multiform Stories • Challenge of authoring kaleidoscopic content • Need to specify • The alternative perspectives • The actions of interactor • Events and rules of event occurrence • Potential for authoring based on patterns • Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth” • Tobias’s “master plots” • But not too formulaic

8. Lessons of the Oral Bard • Oral story composition includes features aimed to aid memory and recall • No single canonical version – varies based on audience and particular telling • Templates and replaceable names

9. Early Computer-based Literature • Verbal substitution a la Mad Libs • Icon palettes or action lists as alternatives • The difficulty of interactor language • Freedom – lose control of plot • Limit – remind them of fourth wall • Using alternatives to language • Gestures, moods, tones • Composing themes into plots

10. Fairytale Composition as a Model • Propp analyzed 450 fairytales • 25 plot elements • Common pairs of elements • Common order of elements • Similar structures in today’s media • Star trek episode structure • Lesson: algorithms and representations to aid authors or generate stories can be based on existing media

11. Computer as Storyteller • Limitations of current games • Stories are linear but potentially many • Represent alternative details rather than structure • Winston’s summary of Macbeth • sledgehammer causality • Generation is still tricky • Joe Bear is hungry … • Lebowitz’s Universe (goals -> plot fragments) • Interactivity is missing here • Oz group lesson • “plot satisfaction in an interactive environment is very different from plot satisfaction in an audience situation”

12. Supporting Human Authors • “A story is an act of interpretation of the world, rooted in the particular perceptions and feelings of the writer” • Support • Primitives of participation • Segmentation of story into themes • Rules for assembling plot • Control over particulars • Reference to known stories and worlds • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead