MachineMachine /stream - tagged with narrative http://machinemachine.net/stream/feed en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sweetcron text@machinemachine.net Re:Thinking Games http://www.furtherfield.org/researchpublicatios/artists-rethinking-games/artists-rethinking-games-wwwfurtherfieldorg Artists Re:Thinking Games | Editors Catlow, Garrett, Morgana | only a few left http://t.co/SmCu4kxu ]]> Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:50:56 -0700 http://www.furtherfield.org/researchpublicatios/artists-rethinking-games/artists-rethinking-games-wwwfurtherfieldorg VideoGames can't tell stories http://www.next-gen.biz/opinion/opinion-games-cant-tell-stories Games don’t do storytelling well because they can’t deliver the four key components of story. There is no hero. Time is in the control of the player, not the creator. There is no inevitability or sense of being powerless. And the story cannot have the player’s full attention. So a videogame Hamlet is just a guy running around a castle flipping switches and collecting items to kill his uncle, the big boss at the end. All those speeches just get in the way. The player is not treading the boards at the Old Vic. He’s solving problems, taking action, creating… ]]> Thu, 24 Nov 2011 03:53:57 -0700 http://www.next-gen.biz/opinion/opinion-games-cant-tell-stories Alien space bats http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats Alien space bats (ASBs) is a neologism for plot devices used in alternate history to create a point of divergence that would otherwise be implausible. [edit]Definition "Alien space bats" originally was used as a sarcastic attack on poorly written alternate histories due to lack of plausibility. These attacks are usually phrased as the need for alien space bats or by saying the alternate history has gone into "ASB territory". This original definition was used by one critic to criticize Harry Harrison's Stars and Stripes trilogy.[1] The term eventually evolved into a deus ex machina to create an impossible point of… ]]> Tue, 03 May 2011 15:13:35 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats Alien space bats http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats Alien space bats (ASBs) is a neologism for plot devices used in alternate history to create a point of divergence that would otherwise be implausible.
[edit]Definition

"Alien space bats" originally was used as a sarcastic attack on poorly written alternate histories due to lack of plausibility. These attacks are usually phrased as the need for alien space bats or by saying the alternate history has gone into "ASB territory". This original definition was used by one critic to criticize Harry Harrison's Stars and Stripes trilogy.[1] The term eventually evolved into a deus ex machina to create… ]]> Tue, 03 May 2011 12:27:43 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats “Primal Sound” by rainer maria rilke http://kaganof.com/kagablog/2008/12/19/%E2%80%9Cprimal-sound%E2%80%9D-by-rainer-maria-rilke/ it must have been when i was a boy at school that the phonograph was invented. at any rate it was at that time a chief object of public wonder; this was probably the reason why our science master, a man given to busying himself with all kinds of handiwork, encouraged us to try our skill in making one of these instruments from the material that lay nearest to hand. nothing more was needed than a piece of pliable cardboard bent to the shape of a funnel, on the narrower round orifice of which was stuck a piece of impermeable… ]]> Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:10:15 -0700 http://kaganof.com/kagablog/2008/12/19/%E2%80%9Cprimal-sound%E2%80%9D-by-rainer-maria-rilke/ B.S.Johnson - Albert Angelo http://www.bsjohnson.info/novels/content.aspx?title=albert%20angelo&type=home Albert Angelo is the second novel written by the experimental novelist B. S. Johnson (1933–1973). Published in 1964, the book achieved fame for having holes cut in several pages as a narrative technique. It is written in an unusual and pioneering style, frequently changing from first-person narrative to third-person commentary, and often descending into stream-of-consciousness interior monologue. Like all of Johnson's novels it is an auto-biographical work. ]]> Wed, 16 Feb 2011 07:59:53 -0700 http://www.bsjohnson.info/novels/content.aspx?title=albert%20angelo&type=home Interactive Art: What Video Games Can Learn from Freud http://www.themillions.com/2011/01/interactive-art-what-video-games-can-learn-from-freud.html What if the best thing art has to offer is freedom from choice?
There’s a reason it’s high praise, not criticism, to say that a film or a piece of music or a good novel “sweeps you along.” There’s a selflessness in it: not just the pleasure in pausing the parts of the brain that plan and calculate and select, but in the temporary surrender of investing in someone else’s choices. Good art can be where we go for humility: when we’re encouraged to treat each of our thoughts as worthy of being made public, it can be almost… ]]> Sat, 08 Jan 2011 08:38:49 -0700 http://www.themillions.com/2011/01/interactive-art-what-video-games-can-learn-from-freud.html When new narratives meet old brains http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/11/storytelling-20-when-new-narratives-meet-old-brains.html We're hard-wired to turn our lives into stories - how will we cope with the dizzying digital fictions of the future, ask John Bickle and Sean Keating

"We are our narratives" has become a popular slogan. "We" refers to our selves, in the full-blooded person-constituting sense. "Narratives" refers to the stories we tell about our selves and our exploits in settings as trivial as cocktail parties and as serious as intimate discussions with loved ones. We express some in speech. Others we tell silently to ourselves, in that constant little inner voice. The full collection of one's… ]]> Thu, 25 Nov 2010 09:29:00 -0700 http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/11/storytelling-20-when-new-narratives-meet-old-brains.html Talks Tree of Codes and Conceptual Art http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/11/jonathan-safran-foer-talks-tree-of-codes-and-paper-art.html There’s something about Jonathan Safran Foer that drives a certain breed of dyspeptic New York writer/blogger to drink—more so than usual, anyway. They chafe at the six-figure advances, the visiting professor gigs at Yale and NYU, the majestic Park Slope brownstone. There’s even a catchphrase for it—Schadenfoer!

However, those hoping for a colossal career misstep might want to pour another highball, because his latest book, Tree of Codes, is a quietly stunning work of art. The first major title by new London-based publisher Visual Editions, Tree of Codes was created by slicing out chunks of text from… ]]> Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:58:00 -0700 http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/11/jonathan-safran-foer-talks-tree-of-codes-and-paper-art.html Transition (literary journal) - Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_(literary_journal) Tired of the spectacle of short stories, novels, poems and plays still under the hegemony of the banal word, monotonous syntax, static psychology, descriptive naturalism, and desirous of crystallizing a viewpoint… Narrative is not mere anecdote, but the projection of a metamorphosis of reality ]]> Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:09:00 -0700 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_(literary_journal) Is There Too Much Exposition in Games? http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1125824p1.html "Exposition is a dirty word," was one of Kasavin's top points. Too many developers front- or back-load games with heavy exposition to create the game world instead of smartly weaving it in the game itself. This kind of world building sets up a series of... ]]> Thu, 07 Oct 2010 02:31:36 -0700 http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1125824p1.html Is There Too Much Exposition in Games? http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1125824p1.html "Exposition is a dirty word," was one of Kasavin's top points. Too many developers front- or back-load games with heavy exposition to create the game world instead of smartly weaving it in the game itself. This kind of world building sets up a series of potential problems. One, if done too thickly, it can completely overwhelm a gamer – or worse, leave them with no surprises. After all, if a game drops a massive info dump on you within minutes, you might struggle to remember all of it when it finally comes time for the story to be wrapped up… ]]> Thu, 07 Oct 2010 02:31:00 -0700 http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/112/1125824p1.html Porn for the Blind http://pornfortheblind.org/ Porn for the Blind is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to producing audio descriptions of sample movie clips from adult web sites. This service is provided free of charge. ]]> Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:27:00 -0700 http://pornfortheblind.org/ Next Big Thing - Literary Scholars Turn to Science http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/books/01lit.html?pagewanted=all This layered process of figuring out what someone else is thinking — of mind reading — is both a common literary device and an essential survival skill. Why human beings are equipped with this capacity and what particular brain functions enable them to do it are questions that have occupied primarily cognitive psychologists.

Now English professors and graduate students are asking them too. They say they’re convinced science not only offers unexpected insights into individual texts, but that it may help to answer fundamental questions about literature’s very existence: Why do we read fiction? Why do we… ]]> Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:04:00 -0700 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/books/01lit.html?pagewanted=all The 'Basic' Plots in Literature http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/plotFARQ.html Q: I’ve heard there are only 7 (or 5, 20, 36…) basic plots (or themes) in all of literature. What are they?

A: People often say that there are only a certain number of basic plots in all of literature, and that any story is really just a variation on these plots. Depending on how detailed they want to make a "basic" plot, different writers have offered a variety of solutions. Here are some of the ones we’ve found:

1 Plot | 3 Plots | 7 Plots | 20 Plots | 36 Plots ]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:35:00 -0700 http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/plotFARQ.html Innovative Book Designs http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/136961 Innovative Books: I am looking to compile a list of the most innovative uses of the book format. Books that break the mould in their layout and design, perhaps books that use online systems to extend their content value or push their form into new places. I am most interested in narrative and theory, but any book that is interesting (artist books etc.) would be really appreciated. I have a few examples, in order of publication, to set the ball rolling:

Compendium for literates : a system of writing by Karl Gerstner - A book about book form… ]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:37:00 -0700 http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/136961 What do Amnesia, Immortality, and Mind Control have to do with Game Design, Immersion, and Suspension of Disbelief? http://eis-blog.ucsc.edu/2009/07/what-do-amnesia-immortality-and-mind-control-have-to-do-with-game-design-immersion-and-suspension-of-disbelief/ What breaks your sense of presence in a story? The culture of video game playing has developed a tolerance for the common practices and limitations in designing and producing games. We’ve stopped asking “why?” and have come to expect the typical input arrangements, the impermanence of death, and restrictions of our own free will. Although much of the work in the EIS lab is focused on investigating new practices in creating and playing games, I’ve found, in my personal “research” of popular games, that despite the predictability, certain innovations in narrative are notably novel. If we break down a game… ]]> Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:53:00 -0700 http://eis-blog.ucsc.edu/2009/07/what-do-amnesia-immortality-and-mind-control-have-to-do-with-game-design-immersion-and-suspension-of-disbelief/ Adam Curtis: It Felt Like a Kiss http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2009/06/it_felt_like_a_kiss_trail_3.html It Felt Like a Kiss started life as an experimental film I made for the BBC last year. My aim was to try and find a more involving and emotional way of doing political journalism on TV. I decided to make a film about something that has always fascinated me - how power really works in the world. To show that power is exercised not just through politics and diplomacy - but flows through our feelings and emotions, and shapes the way we think of ourselves and the world. ]]> Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:39:00 -0700 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2009/06/it_felt_like_a_kiss_trail_3.html I discovered the ants http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2009/06/i-discovered-the-ants.html

by Daniel Rourke

I discovered the ants

I discovered the ants trailing like gunpowder across my kitchen floor. Before I had time to think I had vacuumed up a thousand. Yet they kept coming, tending to resurge where last I had punished them; coursing like a rainless cloud on the exact same trajectory each time.

Somewhere unseen to me a billowing sack of protoplasm with the head of a Queen was giving birth to its hundredth clone of the day. But unlike its brethren… ]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:22:00 -0700 http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2009/06/i-discovered-the-ants.html Readers build vivid mental simulations of narrative situations http://www.physorg.com/news152210728.html A new brain-imaging study is shedding light on what it means to "get lost" in a good book — suggesting that readers create vivid mental simulations of the sounds, sights, tastes and movements described in a textual narrative while simultaneously activating brain regions used to process similar experiences in real life. "Psychologists and neuroscientists are increasingly coming to the conclusion that when we read a story and really understand it, we create a mental simulation of the events described by the story," says Jeffrey M. Zacks, study co-author and director of the Dynamic Cognition Laboratory at Washington University in St.… ]]> Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:04:00 -0700 http://www.physorg.com/news152210728.html