noitCARetni-interACTion

question 2. Is project 1 a game? WHy or why not?

This may seem long but it really isnt... If you'd like, you can skip part 1 and go straight to part 2 and read just the first line and then skip to part three where the argument really lies.

1. A brief background of Project 1:
Project 1, “The Others”, was transposed from a movie to interactive media whereby hyper-multimedia – text, images, videos and audios, was incorporated. Designed to allow for the non-linear unfolding of the narrative, users are able to interact with the system and explore the environment in which the story is set based on their personal choice. A mind map at the top right hand corner of the interface allow for users to navigate their way through the environment at any point in time where necessary.

2. Argument
While the project may present features which may lead one to deem it a game, it can be argued that it is not really the case. Instead, it is really more of a narrative than it is a game. We shall now consider the reasons why this is so.

2.1 Goal
There must be something that the user strives to achieve in the course of the game. In relation to “The Others”, the only objective or mission for the user in ‘playing’ or exploring the system is that of unraveling the story or to help Grace (Nicole Kidman) recall the events that have happened. However, having a goal is arguably insufficient to make a work a game. Even if a goal remains explicit throughout the work, it may become limited after awhile as users find their choices constrained. To contrast “The Others” with another work to better illustrate my point, I refer to the example of sim city as was referred to in the article by Costikyan. On top of having an ultimate goal of creating a functioning city, players are able to affect and influence their city based on their preferences and interest. They are thus able to set different targets for themselves. On the other hand, users in “The Others” are unable to create their own goals and have lesser sense of control or ownership over the system.

3.2 Control/Agency
The illusion of control is vital in gameplay. In “The Others”, while the user seems to have the illusion of control in the sense of being able to unfold the story in any way they want, there are many limitations. They seem to have local agency and no global agency where their decisions at any point in time have no effect on the outcome of the story. While it may be argued that this is the same with games like Indigo Prophecy, “The Others” differs in the sense that users can only move literally between pre-determined time and space, based on chance and with much uncertainty; and with the click of a mouse on hotspots. The inability to know where the hotspot which you’ve decided to click on will bring you to also minimizes whatever agency that you possess.

3.3 Interactivity
Although the system is able to provide an output based on the user’s input and therefore provide some form of interactivity, the system is incapable of recalling the previous actions of the user. There is thus a possibility of the user going through the same place over and over again. The user is also sometimes forced to sit back and listen to the narrative. Therefore where narrative is focused upon, the element of play is significantly reduced. And since the work has a greater focus on the narrative, the element of play is minimal.

The user is also unable to interact much with the environment, affect any characters or change anything in the system especially since the story is in the past. The element of play is also minimal when narrative is at the core of the system. The user then experiences only external interactivity at the level where the discourse and the presentation of the story is affected. While there is the illusion that the user takes on Grace’s perspective of the story, it is often the case that the user sees the sequence of events from the third person perspective too.


3.4. Space, Time, Rules, Quantifiable outcome
The situation of Grace having lost her memory is put into perspective right from the beginning and this sets the context for the user, therefore providing some form of motivation to enter this exclusive dimension. The system thus provides a dimension with limits of time and space, something which is characteristic of a game. The user is also free to exit the work as and when he pleases. In this light, it may be arguable that “The Others” is similar to that of a game.

Yet, there are not many rules that exist and the player cannot really push the boundaries of the work except by cracking a code for them to have access to all the nodes on the mindmap. In fact, there is also no quantifiable outcome to measure the level of success of the user. The only sense of satisfaction the user will get is the knowledge of the ending of the story. There is also no save mode for the system to recall the point in which the user quits the game.

3.5. Structure and others
The sequence of events have already been predetermined in project one and they all converge towards the end to form a linear narrative. From this point forward, the focus of the work becomes strictly narrative as the user need not manipulate the system in any way. This aside, other comments to be added includes the fact that there is no element of conflict, struggle; not much of role playing, no resources to manage, no competitors, not much of a puzzle to solve, no character interaction, minimal decision making and no chance for character improvement.

These points, though not exhaustive, provides evidence that “The Others” is not really a game (though it has some features which resemble one) but more of a narrative.

posted by shamanthayan @ 8:34 AM