From Narrative to Gameplay (And

Back) - Studying Transmedial

Storyworlds

Frans Mäyrä, frans.mayra@uta.fi

TRIM / game research lab

Outline

• Background: cultural research into science fiction,

fantasy and digital games

• Stories and worlds: what are they?

• Narrative vs. game play

• Transmedial games and storyworlds

• Example: LEGO The Lord of the Rings

• Lessons: what is ‘translation’, anyways?

• Discussion

Background

• Studies into the polyphony of cultural texts (and textual

selves) since early 1990s

• Special interest on the conflicting, divided, hybrid and

transformative elements

• Studies on:

– Demons (daimon, the voice from within, e.g. daimon of Socrates;

the daimons/demons of classic tragedy)

– Werewolves, vampires (man+animal, human+corpse: the

ambiguous temptations and terrors of borderline ‘otherness’)

– Cyborgs and computers (man+machine, material+immaterial,

borderline ‘otherness’)

– Intertextuality and hybrid texts (texts, possessed by ‘other texts’;

texts and games as their ‘borderline others’)

Demonic Texts and Textual Demons

“This book combines the concerns of contemporary literary theory with information derived from history, philosophy and cultural psychology. It summarises the various functions that demonic adversaries and possession phenomena have held for the construction of meaning and identity in various cultures, and then points out some of the important roles that demonology plays in Western literary tradition. The demonic figures are an important way to articulate (often subconscious) conflicts and polyphony of the human condition. Proceeding from Dante’s immobile "Dis" to Milton’s dynamic Satan, and onwards to Goethe’s and Dostoevsky’s contemplation of amorality and modern individual, this study emphasises how "otherness" has gradually become acknowledged as an aspect of the self.”

Free download: http://people.uta.fi/~frans.mayra/Demon_2005/

Stories and Worlds

• Particularly in fantasy and science fiction there appears

a strong link between the ‘worldliness’ and the narrative

fiction

• Rather than “reading for the plot” (Peter Brooks), some

primarily are “reading for the world”

• My personal history: reading “everything Tolkien” in order

to spend more time in the Middle Earth

• Later: playing, reading “Forgotten Realms” (a franchise,

D&D campaign setting world, originally created by Ed

Greenwood)

• The destinies of (rpg game-)characters are tools for

exploring vast worlds, e.g. the continent of “Faerûn”

Narrative as Virtual Reality

• Marie-Laure Ryan (2001) book, Narrative as Virtual

Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and

Electronic Media

• “Is there a significant difference in attitude between

immersion in a game and immersion in a movie or

novel? What are the new possibilities for representation

offered by the emerging technology of virtual reality?”

• Our gameplay experience studies do suggest that such

significant differences do exist

• However, there are also significant continuities and

overlaps between the experiences of enjoying e.g. novel,

movie and a virtual-world computer game

SCI Model of Immersion

• Source: Ermi, Laura & Mäyrä, Frans (2007) “Fundamental Components of the GameplayExperience: Analysing Immersion” (with Laura Ermi; in Worlds in Play, Suzanne de Castelland Jennifer Jenson, eds. New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2007)

Narrative vs. Gameplay

• The early stages of Game Studies involved tensions

between “ludology” and “narratology”

• Mostly just meant that different researchers were

interested in different kinds of games and dimensions of

game design

• E.g. Gonzalo Frasca (1999) wrote that even while video

games may share e.g. characters and settings with

narratives, it is important to study them “as games” (i.e.

as ludic activities based on e.g. rules and simulation)

• Janet Murray’s Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997) often

used as cautionary example: (mis)understanding games

as “interactive drama”, or narrative?

Transmedia and Storyworlds

• Transmedial storyworld is an assemblage of characters,

storylines and milieu that extends beyond the boundaries

of a single medium

• Marsha Kinder (1993): “dual form spectatorship”, e.g.

child audience for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,

positioned both in active and passive modes

• Can also be dubbed as “consumerist interactivity”

• Henry Jenkins (2006) heralds fragmentary and dispersed

character of transmedia storytelling as intellectually

stimulating and social

• Stimulant for “collective intelligence”, or an efficient

franchising & marketing strategy? Both?

Example: LEGO The Lord of the Rings

• LEGO bricks are the classic, open-ended construction toys

• During 1990s LEGO started producing narrativized LEGO products, that were cross-branded with e.g. Star Wars, Disney, or Harry Potter characters, storylines and settings

• Playing with traditional LEGO bricks, children take also inspiration from media, popular culture and surrounding society (e.g. building guns, playing “cops & robbers”)

• Narrativized LEGO bricks have the media narrative “built-in” to the toy itself

• LEGO The Lord of the Rings (2012) is based on the translation of Tolkien’s novel into a movie, then into the LEGO toys, which are coupled with a video game translation of both the play behaviours of LEGO bricks, and the movie visuals & narrative

Gameplay Video Example

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OznCAJL0-ZM#t=14

What Is ‘Translation’, Here?

• Translation of The Lord of the Rings into a character and action focused movie narrative involves substantial alterations and adaptations

• Translation of the same material into a video game involves even more substantial changes

• Focus moves away from narrative continuity and emotional drama, to overcoming a series of individual gameplay challenges

• Overcoming the cave troll or Balrog in the game version might involve repeated attempts, careful preplanning, learning from mistakes and skill development

• The game player of LoTR is more like an athlete, than a member of a narrative audience: participating in a training ground, receiving narrative cutscenes as rewards

Discussion Time!

• (Parts of this talk were based on a forthcoming “Dark

Play” book chapter)

• More information:

• Frans Mäyrä, home page (research projects,

publications): www.uta.fi/~frans.mayra

• Frans Goes Blog: www.fransmayra.fi

• UTA Game Research Lab: http://gamelab.uta.fi