HamletHoloDeck

Hamlet On the Holodeck

Introduction

Computer used for the counting of words not appealing for author @p5

Murray is positive and sees it as an analytical tool, yet others fear it @p7

Future storytelling is half-bard, half-hacker @p9

Chapter 1

Holodeck is a sort of futuristic novel, but it's so compelling that it might capture us entirely @p16

In Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 similar captivating technologies are presented @p20 The technology can be dictator and diversion in one

For Janeway the holodeck is empowering, because it allows control and she can reflect upon her feelings without her neurons being overtaken @p25

Chapter 2

The computer is the medium for all media @p27

They also led to new variations @p28 All media need development and this takes time.

A multiform storyline is a story with multiple versions @p30

There are several lineair books that try to break out of the linearity <=p34

Reference to Einstein physics @p34 As explaining the dubbelness of everything in multiform

You can get the same standpoint in variations (Groundhog day) or the same story in multiple standpoints (Rashomon) @p37

Why we think mutlilined can be debated. To really put it to use in a story we need CPU @p38

Reader may feel like writer @p39

Multiplot lines are setup even in traditional stories @p40

Internet allows for speculation on what characters will do @p41

D&D is a multiform game with holodeck qualities @p44

Holodeck gets compaired to stereoscopic cinema @p45

3D cinema works best in small convined spaces and when not cutting to different perspectives, but smooth camera movements <=48

Simulators are often transmedial, but ment for 15 year olds and not book lovers @p51

A lot of players turn storytelling of when playing fighting games @p52 Dramatic sacrifice of robot side kick is a successful cpu story

A game could be meaningful @p54

In many ways, story, cinematic, personal older works were suitable for hypertext, but it didn't excist yet @p55

One form of web story is having multiple blogs performed @p57

There is room for the medium to grow, although some serieus webstories were made @p58

Some convincing VR systems have been made @p60 Why don't they survive? @self

There has been some AI which boost narrative @p62

There is also a game where the ideal path is calculated for the average person.

Chapter 3

By using good montage drama was created in film and at first people though that the sounds would be distracting @p.66

Computer narrative is in it's early stages because the catchall multimedia refers mostly to the old media and because CD-Roms and websites mostly make use of the instant delivery instead of properties of the medium @p67

The eternal memory is one suc property and the choice to wonder into different plotlines is a second. A third is that they old media may tell to story combined where it fits the narrative @p68

Eliza comes to life

Weizenbaum has written a book about how dangerous it is to paste human accomplishment upon machines. He learned this with the experience of Eliza. @p70 Of course Eliza was not perfect

Nice story of a guy failing the Turing test @p70 Nowadays people wouldn't fall for it @p73

The four essential properties of digital environments

Digital environments are interactive due to: procedures and participation Digital environments are immersive due to: spatiality and encyclopedism All @p71 What happened to the time dimension? @self

Nice explaining of the Eliza program @p72 A computer is procedural and the wittyness of Eliza comes from making good rules that seem so lifereal. @p72 Isn't it a wonder that following rules has so much in common with what we consider free life @self

Procedures can be called asynchronously which give us the feeling of participation. @p74

The interactivity works because again the creators have thought in a sense of rules and they made templates which would get triggered whenever somebody types something inappropriate. In the case of Eliza. Talking about "you" is inappropriate. As is attacking a troll with a newspaper @p77

Zork is a story where there is some limited branching, but the objects and the actions also form their own logic, which is easier to create with OOP @p78

An interactive story begins with the scripting of the interactor @p78

A challenge here is that with slaughtering trolls the actions of a human are predictable, what about a romance? @p79

Another property of digital story telling is the digital space. @p79

You can navigate through these spaces which allows for another dramatic experience when you are not allowed to go somewhere or can't go back etc. @p81

We'll have to design the choreography of the story @p83

The last property is space. We can make use of the enormous memory that computers are giving to us. They allow for the tracking of complex storylines in series that run over years @p85

Isn't this encyclopedic character an invitation to do a 5%/95% revenue model? @self

We still need structure to overcome the overwhelmness of encyclopedic material @p87

Still a lot of things are decided for us in modern day games @p89

Digital structures of complexity

There are two main forms for digital storytelling. The hypertext which lets you wonder or organize the intens amount of data or the simulation which copies the world at system level and sees what happens. @p90

Simulation works as a form of digital time where the measure of time is the amount of iterations. In principle this time could go forward, backward or stay the same (as is mostly the case and it wouldn't seem to be a simulation. @self

Immersion

Immersion works like a kind of escapism @self

Entering the enchanted place

When we bring ourselves or other audience members into it we may kill the enchantment of otherness @p101

Immersion comes with problems like: how not to disrupt? will it remain fictional? will it not turn in a nightmare? @p103

Duck Amuck is an example of a animation that is searching for the boundaries of its own medium @p104 An action figure that taps the ground while waiting for human interaction is similar according to Murray

Another boudary searching example is when actors "enter" the projection screen and have actions there.

Structuring participation as a visit

There usually exists a clear structure and the audience can only remain within that structure or break the illusion (together with something else) @p107

The screen itself is such a structure, nothing happens outside of that screen. @p108

We want to do more than just immerging, we want to act in it aswell @p109

The Active Creation of Belief

to believe takes effort from the audience @p110

taking action (with an object) in a virtual world and seeing effects we would normally see enhances belief @p111

Having an avatar helps @p113 Essential to have an avatar? @self

Avatars are for social, less violent games @p114

Stepping in and out of character is the way to correct inappropiate behaviour @p116

Character descriptions can consist of relationships + goals + background story @p117 They become a smart custume! Memory packages are scripts that run when events occur Major and minor goals

Too much arrausal will make you break @p119

Climaxes are: 1) climax 2) failed climax 3) alternate climax (provocation)

Longin for something out of reach is seems to work well with VR @p121

The idea of actors taking on different custumes @p122 Give in character solutions for out of character rogues

Some MUD commands <=p125

Chapter 5

Traditional agency is limited @p126

Computer agency is similarly limited, but there is more choice and switching is possible between different modes of agency @p128

Modes of agency: 1) Switch on/off 2) Follow set of rules 3) Change parameters in simulation <=p128

Interaction is not necessarily agency. Your choice and clicking in gamble games have less effect than in chess @p128

Exploring space both virtual and web can be rewarding activity @p130

The maze is both spacial and story. Can be used to visualize a moral problem @p131

Drawback is that options are limited @p132

The rhyzome is a kind of maze as the web where there is no exit and truth @p133

Giving shape to anxiety

The labyrint and rhizome have weaknesses. The middlepoint will be that there is an event, which structures the information. This event is often violent and there nees to be a certain uncannyness or fear to stimulate involvement @p135 The story should change according to the sequence the audience is choosing.

The Journey Story and the Pleasure of Problem Solving

Traveling stories also lend themselves very good for the navigational medium. On TV travelar series (like Route 66 and Star Trek) became most popular. @p137 Did those stories become popular because of our nomad roots? @self

When Oddyseus defeats the cyclop he uses an algorythm based on the repeating behaviour of the giant. @p138

Games into Stories

Myst is a very good story telling game with 4 different endings, where only one ends positive. It is the question whether games can go beyond the good/evil opposition. @p140

Games as Symbolic Drama's

There are only a few abstract basic storylines:

• I encounter a confusing world and figure it out
• I encounter a world in pieces and assemble it into a coherent whole
• I take a risk and am rewarded for my courage
• I encounter a difficult antagonist and triumph over him
• I encounter a challenging test of skill or strategy and succeed at it
• I start of with little commodity and gain a lot (or I have a burden that I lose)
• I am challenged with constant moments of emergency and I survive

Each of these lines are symbolicly meaningful for our daily existance. @p142

Even Tetris can be red as an attempt to cope with information/work overload Is this why the game became popular? @self

Can there be a game where email filters are taking place. It structures the way that data is being saved for algorythms to react upon it. @self

The Contest Story

Two players opposing each other is a classic setup. At the moment this is often done in fighting to the death games. Violence in humans is so strong, that those games are appealing and here to stay. What kind of interaction is needed/possible to immerge us similarly but with different "sides" of our character?

Constructivism

MUD is a very compelling way of being in a story, where you partially make your story. However this is something for the technical elite at the moment. Movement is predicted to become important (think wii) With MUD a lot of time is spend on determining the course. @p148

LARP or in other words face-to-face is often better in social interaqction than over networked mediation @p152

The interactor as author

There is a difference between interacting and authoring. If an author has made an environment where users can interact and have agency, then this doesn't mean that the users are creating. @p152

Transformation

Another aspect of digital storytelling is that anything can morph into anything. At the same time we need a set of guideliness as interactors and know what we can expect to enjoy such transformability. @p155

Kaleidoscopic narrative

A narrative where somebody can jump from perspective to perspective. This is not yet done by digital artists instead she gives an example of Alan Ayckbourn where multiple scenes are running at the same time and he makes smart jumps to other places. Curiosity should be the motivation for interactors to jump from place to place. In the digital narrative this kind of jumping could go into encyclopedic dimensions @p158

The freemium model = paying money to see a certain perspective in the story @self

The kaleidoscopic story needs clear rules for the user. Can it go backward in time?

Morfing environments

Is like daydreaming. The creator fascilitates creation to a high level @p162 Could for instance be a factory function @self

People can project upon these genereated entities @p169 People use this kind of story as self fulfillment, but no digital example given.

Enactment as a transformational experience

You can push your limits and learn in a digital environment @p170

People may also become more violent, because they are allowed to act out violence @p172

The more morphic an environment the more room for escape from violence @p173

Refused closure

At some time you may feel you "get it" and stop interacting even though you haven't unveiled the plot. This doesn't feel good @p173

In principle the computers work towards delayed satisfaction, hold up the carrot, but rarely give it @p173

Tragedy in electronic narrative

For instance a suicide in 3 ways: 1) mind of the suicider mapped as an hypertext where progress gets manipulated (can't return to happiness) in order to get to the final act @p176 2) a web where you can visit everybody who mourns @p177 3) where you can have influence upon the simulation of suicide, like God, but not almighty

The computer allows us to do things over and over without being exactly the same @p179

When do people disengage? When are they done @self