lalalou's blog

I am surprised to find my interest in alternate reality gaming to be of significance. The details that each of these stories employ are impressive. While I do not foresee myself pursuing them further, I have come to an appreciation for their creators and their followers. The work and creativity that is required to create a successful ARG is immense and therefore warrants an appreciation.
The article on Undefining ARG, comments on players' notions to focus on one of two elements of an ARG: the interactivity or the fictional construct. I believe that I am one to focus on the fictional construct. I researched the ARG "48 Hours in Purgatory" and I found the back story to be quite fascinating. The story develops through a series of stories. This series creates a larger narrative that the ARG is centered upon.  read more »

We talked today about using narrative to construct and understand our realities. This is evident within Cathy's book. The distinction between narrative and narrativity allows us to consider all the related forms of narrative as part of the larger narrative. The forms of media that the book employs add to the reality of the book, as well as, create a larger product outside of the novel. From the napkins, business cards, phone numbers, websites, and drawings, the reader is able to gather a larger picture of the narrative that is written in the novel.
As humans, we construct narratives about everything we come into contact with so as to better understand and comprehend. This idea of creating narratives about objects is almost the basis of the novel of Cathy's Book. With the help of the symbols and clues that are included within the book, the reader creates his or her own personal experience with the narrative. The order in which the reader discovers truths of the story varies depending on the reader's tactic of reading the book. This is a very interesting aspect of Cathy's Book as it is not what we would consider a different form of narrative.  read more »

I know many of us have expressed our ideas as to why interactive fiction was never able to make the fortunes traditional literary forms have. I believe that people have an innate desire to read. Reading allows one to escape all that reality and enter into a world that is strictly their own; one that is created just in their own minds as well as the author. Reading allows all of us to quietly demonstrate our own creativity without fear of someone finding out our level of creativity.
I know in my own life sometimes the thought of my creativity being displayed for others stifles those ideas. However, I have always been able to submerse myself into fiction and create my own narratives. Since I was young this has been my way to escape.
So to answer the question, "Why has interactive fiction not taken off?" I believe it is because people truly desire traditional forms of narrative, in which they can escape reality. Interactive fiction requires thinking and action on the reader's part. However, traditional reading only involves a couch, a snack, and an eager mind!

Hayes referred to narrative and data engaging in an imagined combat, in which databases act as the Ebola virus as it has come to occupy the largest amount of new media. I find this to be almost disturbing. I know that she argued that they can coexist, and that she does not foresee databases forcing narratives to become obsolete, however, the mere notion that narratives could lose their importance in human societies is upsetting.  read more »

While I can agree with some of the designers that Helvetica offers a clean, crisp look to many advertisements, I do not understand it's perfection. A font can add personality to the text, however, Helvetica does not do this. It is a clean slate, devoid of any innate personality. This text can offer its crisp, breath of fresh air to many projects that need it, however, I do not believe it to be the fix-all for advertisements everywhere.
There are many that cry out for a different, unique persona that can be accomplished through creative fonts.  read more »

I really enjoyed the Lady in Lake video. As a young child I loved the choose your own adventure books. The ability of the director and actors to create a visual narrative that draws the viewer in as these beloved children's books do is incredible. Taking what is a normal video, and giving it another spin was really interesting and creative! The thought of looking at narratives, whether written or visual, from different points of view brings so much added depth to any form of narrative. Seeing the clip, interested me and I want to see more of the video. I feel like this is a form of narrative that I find much interest in and curiosity about. I would have never thought to bring my interest in choose your own adventure books to the screen.
Chatman's diagram of the different authors and readers also brings added depth. When discovering who the readers and authors are, one finds more points of view to understand the narrative. I am just really intrigued by the viewer (you) being part of the narratee. What an interesting concept!

I was very intrigued by the Animator vs. Animation video. My interest in characters that make reference to their own reality is only heightened by this video. I really liked the abstractedness of the theory that characters are those that do actions, allowing the cursor to be considered a character just as the stick figure is. A character is not confined to its conventional definition, instead any object has the potential to be a character in a narrative. We are able to determine who it is that we are to identify with, due to the paradigm clues, as Chatman points out. We understand that the "victim" is to invoke empathy and sympathy for the actions that are inflicted upon him. However, the mood is kept as one of humor and play, due to the musical cues that create the tone of the video.  read more »

As we discussed the characters of Krazy Kat and their tendencies to refer to their reality of being drawings, I thought how similar the human race is. Don't we do this as well? If one holds the belief that there is a higher being that acts as creator, we must, at times provide humor, or perhaps frustration, in the fact that we play with the constructiveness of our own reality. In the same way that the reader finds humor in the characters' reference of their reality as drawings, so would a higher creator find humor in our desperate attempts to change our own reality. In a different way though, frustration must occur as humans begin to make a mess of their reality by trying to change things that are out of human capabilities.  read more »