The Illusive Ludonarrativity and the Problem with Emergent Interactive Storytelling Models in Interactive Movies
Abstract
Cinematic games are increasingly reaching more audiences and have establish successful formulas able to engage their audience in gameplay. On the other hand, interactive movies remain niche and have not found new formulas able to preserve narrativity and at the same time introduce immersive gameplay. Using a combination of surveys, interviews and observations of 150 university students who were asked to play the interactive movie, The Outbreak, the paper concludes that the problem with interactive movies is the lack of a successful model of an emergent interactive narrative format that can introduce meaningful ludonarrative experiences capable of maintaining the narrative but also successfully introducing meaningful gameplay. The paper recommends that for interactive movies to be more immersive, the experience needs to include non-obstructive interactive mechanisms that are complex enough to create an immersive gaming experience, while fully integrated in the narrative and able to keep the audience suspense within the ‘narrativity’ structure and flow.
Downloads
References
Aarseth, E. (2003). Playing Research: Methodological approaches to game analysis. In Proceedings of the digital arts and culture conference (pp. 28-29).
Aarseth, E. (2012). A narrative theory of games. In Proceedings of the international conference on the foundations of digital Games (pp. 129-133). ACM.
Admiraal, W., Huizenga, J., Akkerman, S., & Ten Dam, G. (2011). The concept of flow in collaborative game-based learning. Computers in Human Behavior, 27 (3), 1185-1194.
Ang, C. S. (2006). Rules, gameplay, and narratives in video games. Simulation & Gaming, 37(3), 306-325.
Arsenault, D., & Perron, B. (2015). De-framing video games from the light of cinema. G| A| M| E Games as Art, Media, Entertainment, 1(4).
Aylett, R., Louchart, S., Dias, J., Paiva, A., Vala, M., Woods, S., & Hall, L. (2006). Unscripted narrative for affectively driven characters. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 26(3), 42-52.
Barr, T. (2011). Television's newcomers: Netflix, Apple, Google and Facebook. Telecommunications journal of Australia, 61(4).
Borderie, J., & Michinov, N. (2016). Identifying flow in video games: towards a new observation-based method. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations (IJGCMS), 8(3), 19-38.
Bressler, D. M., & Bodzin, A. M. (2013). A mixed methods assessment of students' flow experiences during a mobile augmented reality science game. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 29(6), 505-517.
Calleja, G., & Langgaardsvej, R. (2009). Experiential Narrative in Game Environments. In DiGRA Conference.
Cavazza, M., Lugrin, J. L., Pizzi, D., & Charles, F. (2007). Madame bovary on the holodeck: immersive interactive storytelling. In Proceedings of the 15th ACM international conference on Multimedia (pp. 651-660). ACM.
Cheng, P. (2007). Waiting for Something to Happen: Narratives, Interactivity and Agency and the Video Game Cut-scene. In DiGRA Conference.
Chua, Z. (2019). Bandersnatch: a good introduction to interactive films but not the best. Retrieved from https://www.bworldonline.com/bandersnatch-a-good-introduction-to-interactive-films-but-not-the-best
Crogan, P. (2002). Blade Runners: Speculations on Narrative and Interactivity. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 101(3), 639-657.
Crumpton, M., & Murray, J. H. (2004). First person: New media as story, performance, and game. Mit Press.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975). Beyond boredom and anxiety. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper and Row.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Diver, M. (2017). Late Shift Is an Intriguing Failure of an FMV Game. Retrieved from https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/kbvzzz/late-shift-is-an-intriguing-failure-of-an-fmv-game.
Edmond, C. (2015). The impact of video game interactivity on the narrative. Retrieved from https://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/services/Download/mq:42933/SOURCE1.
Edwards, R. (2003). Narrativism: Story Now. Retrieved from http://www.indie-rpgs.com/_articles/narr_essay.html.
Ensslin, A.(2017). The Digital According to Ryan: Immersion–Interactivity–Ludonarrativity. In Narrative 2017 conference, Lexington.
Frasca, G. (2003). Simulation versus narrative. The video game theory reader, 221-235.
Galloway, A. R. (2004). Social realism in gaming. Game Studies, 4(1), 2004.
Hales, C. (2005). Cinematic interaction: From kinoautomat to cause and effect.
Hales, C. (2010). Audience Interaction in the Cinema: an evolving experience. In Papers presented at the conference in Tartu, 14-16 April 2010 (p. 378).
Hales, C. (2015). 3 Interactive Cinema in the Digital Age. In Koenitz, H., Ferri, G., Haahr, M., Sezen, D., & Sezen, T. _. (Eds.). Interactive Digital Narrative: History, Theory and Practice (pp. 36-50). Routledge.
Hales, C., Pellinen, T., & CastrŽn, M. (2006). A story between storeys: algorithmic and audience control of video segments in an experimental interactive television programme. Digital Creativity, 17(4), 234-242.
Heikkinen, T., & Reunanen, M. (2015). Once upon a time on the screen–wild West in computer and video games. WiderScreen/Widescreen, 1(2).
Interactive Movie. (2016). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_movie
Jenkins, H. (2001). Convergence? I diverge. Technology review, 104(5), 93.
Jenkins, H. (2003). Transmedia storytelling: Moving characters from books to films to video games can make them stronger and more compelling. Technology Review. Retrieved from http://www.technologyreview.com/biotech/13052.
Jenkins, H. (2004). ÒGame Design as Narrative Architecture.Ó First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Eds. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan. Cambridge (pp. 118-30). MIT Press.
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York: New York University Press.
Jenkins, H. (2011). Deep media, transmedia, what's the di1erence? An Interview With Frank Rose (part one). http://henryjenkins.org/2011/01/deep_media_transmedia_whats_th.html (accessed 1 May 2016).
Jordon, J. (2010). 3 Free Interactive Movies On The Web Where You Are In Control. Retrieved from http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-free-interactive-movies-web-control/
Juul, J. (2001). Games telling stories. Game studies, 1(1), 45.
Kaye, L. K. (2016). Exploring flow experiences in cooperative digital gaming contexts. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 286-291.
Khatchadourian, R. (2017). The Movie With A Thousand Plotlines. The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/alternate-endings.
Koenitz, H. (2010). Towards a theoretical framework for interactive digital narrative. In Joint International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (pp. 176-185). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Koenitz, H. (2015). Towards a Specific Theory of Interactive Digital Narrative. In Interactive digital narrative (pp. 107-121). Routledge.
Kromhout, R., & Forceville, C. (2013). LIFE IS A JOURNEY: Source-path-goal structure in the videogames ÒHalf-Life 2Ó,ÒHeavy RainÓ, and ÒGrim FandangoÓ. Metaphor and the Social World, 3(1), 100-116.
Kumar, P. K. K. J. (2017). FPGA based System on Chip IPTV Set Top Box. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security (IJCSNS), 17(2), 113.
Louchart, S., & Aylett, R. (2004). Narrative theory and emergent interactive narrative. International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life Long Learning, 14(6), 506-518.
Mancini, C. (2005). Cinematic Hypertext: investigating a new paradigm (Vol. 122). IOS press.
Mangan, L. (2017, March 7). Netflix's interactive storylines will destroy actors - and relationships. The Guadian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/media/shortcuts/2017/mar/07/netflix-interactive-storylines-destroy-actors-relationships-tv
Mateas, A., & Stern, M. (2005). Facade. Retrieved from http://www.interactivestory.net
Murray, J. (2004). From game-story to cyberdrama. First person: New media as story, performance, and game, 1, 2-11.
Neitzel, B. (2005). Narrativity in computer games. Handbook of computer game studies, 227-245.
Nordin, A. I., Ali, J., Animashaun, A., Asch, J., Adams, J., & Cairns, P. (2013). Attention, time perception and immersion in games. In CHI'13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1089-1094). ACM.
Pavlik, J. V. (2008). Video games beat Hollywood. Television Quarterly, 38(3), 3-13.
Perron, B., Arsenault, D., Picard, M., & Therrien, C. (2008). Methodological questions in 'interactive film studies'. New Review of Film and Television Studies, 6(3), 233-252.
Quantic Dream. (2010). Heavy Rain [Video game]. Sony Computer Entertainment.
Rettberg, S. (2015). 'The American Hypertext Novel, and Whatever Became of It?'. Interactive Digital Narrative, Interactive Digital Narrative: History, Theory and Practice (pp. 22-35). Routledge.
Roth, P. C. H. (2016). Experiencing interactive storytelling.
Shuker, R. (1996). Video games: Serious fun: Globalisation and the media in the third millennium. Continuum, 9(2), 125-145.
SilkTricky. (2008). The Outbreak. Retrieved from http://www.survivetheoutbreak.com
Simons, J. (2007). Narrative, games, and theory. Game studies, 7(1).
Ubisoft. (2017). Assassins Creed. Retrieved from https://assassinscreed.ubisoft.com
Vardi, G. (1999). Navigation scheme for interactive movies with linear narrative. In Proceedings of the tenth ACM Conference on Hypertext and hypermedia: returning to our diverse roots: returning to our diverse roots (pp. 131-132). ACM.
Wales Interactive. (2016). Late Shift. Retrieved from http://lateshift-movie.com
Wardrip-Fruin, N. Pat Harrigan, eds. (2004). First person: New media as story, performance, and game.
Wark, M. (1994). The video game as an emergent media form. Media Information Australia, 71(1), 21-30.
Weiberg, B. (2002). Beyond interactive cinema. Keyframe.org. Obtenido el, 23.
Wolf, M. J. (2001). The medium of the video game. University of Texas Press.
World's First Interactive Movie. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.kinoautomat.cz
Zambare, A. (2005). Hypertext theory and criticism: An annotated bibliography. Serials Review, 31(1), 3-13.
Copyright (c) 2020 Sohail Dahdal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in the JDMI agree to the following terms:
-
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0. This licensing allows others to share the work with no changes and acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal, but not for commercial use.
-
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
-
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after publication, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
Copyrights to illustrations published in the journal remain with their current copyright holders.
It is the author's responsibility to obtain permission to quote from copyright sources.
Any fees required to obtain illustrations or to secure copyright permissions are the responsibility of authors.
Additional Information
All correspondence concerning contributions, books and other review material should be sent to: deca-jdmi@ua.pt