Play-within-Play –
Authoring and Design Approach for Story-World Participation
By Mika ‘Lumi’Tuomola, [email protected]
Crucible Studio / Media Lab Helsinki, Department of Media
Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Finland
http://crucible.mlog.taik.fi
Abstract submission
For the “Narrative Minds and Virtual Worlds” conference; Tampere, Finland, 21-22 May 2013
The paper investigates selected participatory ‘story-world’ productions from the point of
view of play-within-play. As in Shakespeare’s Hamlet's famous Scene ii in Act III, the
external play can be seen as interaction between story-world participants, and the play
within it as the drama between story/game characters. Through critical investigation of
the case studies, the paper introduces a play-within-play authoring and design approach
for narrative media productions that are reshaped by story-world participation. The paper
asks, for example, how internal narrative can contain the ‘instructions' of the external
narrative participation? Can interface be designed as an organic part of narrative and
interaction, perception and action? How have our preceding (oral and improvisational)
storytellers dealt with the challenges? The practice-based research paper recognizes
storytelling as one of the oldest forms of communication, the aim of which is not to
convey an event as such (as information). Storytelling submerges the event into the life of
the storyteller in order to give it to listeners as an experience. This necessary subjectivity
of participating storytellers' points of view calls for attention to the selection and
representation of the points of view – the ethics of narrative esthetics. The issue is visited
in reference to a story-within-story, Dedalus’ and his study partner’s conversation within
James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), according to which
narrative, including participation within it, should escape seduction and propaganda, as
"The esthetic emotion is… static. The mind is arrested and raised above desire and
loathing."
Author bio
Mika ‘Lumi’ Tuomola is the founder and director of Crucible Studio, the New Media Storytelling
research group at the Media Lab Helsinki of the Department of Media at the Aalto University
School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Finland, where he also teaches Generative/Interactive
Storytelling and Participatory Drama. As an internationally awarded writer, dramaturge and
director, his productions include the web drama “Daisy’s Amazing Discoveries” (1996), moving
image installations “Myths for One” (2002) and “Alan01” (2008), avatar and game world designs
for “WorldsAway” (2000) and the dark musical comedy series “Accidental Lovers” for television
and mobile devices (2006). He’s in the editorial advisory board of Digital Creativity Journal, a
founding member of m-cult, the Finnish Association of Media Culture, and an affiliated member
and visiting artist of the Digital Studio for Research in Design, Visualisation and Communication,
University of Cambridge, UK.
“What if ... ?”
Environmental narratives in video games and ecological simulation models
Prof. Dr. Baltasar Trancón y Widemann
(Institute for Practical Computer Science, Ilmenau University of Technology)
Melanie Fritsch M.A.
(Research Institute for Music Theatre, University of Bayreuth)
Since the antiquity humans create world models. Be it in order to understand the environment
by which they are surrounded, be it for the purpose to escape that very environment and dive
into a more comfortable world, for aesthetic or artistic reasons, for religious absorption, or
just for the reason to play. These worlds can be abstract and reduced to the minimum quantity
of information needed, or overfilled with everything a creative human mind can imagine.
In a seminar series given at the University of Bayreuth between summer 2010 and 2012
entitled “The role of the environment in virtual worlds” we examined the multifarious
manifestations of such virtual or artificial worlds (e.g. books, theatre, movies, games,
judicature) discussing with students and colleagues from different fields of study.
This talk bases on the results of this collaboration. We examine two virtual worlds, which
seem very diverging on first glance: video games and ecological simulation models. Whereas
the first is created for the purpose to be fun, the latters are developed for future prediction and
scientific research. Nevertheless, the worlds presented have something in common: They
present a distinct scenario, which can be influenced by a user on the basis of fixed rules.
Therefore, the question comes up, whether it just depends on the users’ interpretive mind,
what sort of narrative can be drawn from the events he or she causes in the virtual world, and
what story this narrative tells.
To exaggerate: Can we predict the climate change by playing SimEarth?
Czechoslovakia 38-89: Between Nazism and Communism
Methodological Reflections on Developing a Serious
Game for Teaching History
Vít Šisler,1,2 Cyril Brom,1,2 Jaroslav Cuhra,3 Kamil inátl1, Jakub Gemrot1,2
1
Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts
Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
3
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Institute of Contemporary History
2
Abstract
In this work-in-progress paper, we introduce a complex educational serious game,
Czechoslovakia 38-89: Between Nazism and Communism, which is currently being
developed at the Charles University in Prague and the Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic.
The general educational objective of the game is to present to the students the key
events of the history of Czechoslovakia in the second half of 20th century and to
enable them to “experience” these events from the perspective of different actors. By
doing so, the game aims to develop deeper understanding of the complex and
multifaceted political, social, and cultural aspects of this time period. Emphasis is
given on the diversified historical experiences of various segments of the population.
The game is a single-player dialog-based adventure game with a strong narrative,
featuring interactive comics and authentic audio visual materials. Importantly, the
content of Czechoslovakia 38-89 is based on personal testimonies of eyewitnesses of
the respective periods. The player assumes a different role in individual modules and
interacts with the eyewitnesses in the present and “travels” back in time on memories
of the eyewitnesses yielded during conversations.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce game concepts and discuss the
methodological issues stemming from adapting the real-persons’ – oftentimes
emotionally and ethically loaded – testimonies in order to construct the in-game
narratives. This paper can be informative for researchers and designers working on
similar projects.