Genre vs. Game Type - Week 4

Week four in Great Literature Great Games is more of a synthesis week than anything.  While our notes centered around the different types of video games (FPS, Action, Platformer, etc.) and genre, our discussion moved towards the conventions that specify literature and games into specific genres. 

We focused on Post-Apocalyptic and Western genre this week.  Playing the games Fallout 3, Metro 2033 and Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, students were able to identify the conventions that qualify these games in the post-apocalyptic genre.  With mentions of desolation, destruction, isolation, survival and despair, the students were able to see and interact with this world. 

Playing the games Red Dead Redemption, Call of Juarez, and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, students were able to identify the conventions that qualify these games in the western genre.  With discussion of stock characters and long, sweeping landscapes, students were able to interact with the world of the western genre. 

Classroom Practice: Read the short stories "There Will Come Soft Rains" and "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" and give students time to identify what conventions make these stories uniquely post-apocalyptic and uniquely western.  After a short discussion and analysis of the stories, allow the students time to play the games mentioned above.  Are the same conventions present in the games that were present in the stories?  How are they used differently/similarly? 

Stay tuned for my Week 4 reflection!  And feel free to comment below.

The Hero's Journey - Week 3

The Hero's Journey

Week 3 in Great Literature Great Games is focused on an intense study of Narrative Paradigm and Archetypes.  While planning for this class, a college professor friend and I had many discussions about games and their ability to tell stories.  Through our conversations, we found ourselves referencing Walter Fisher's work with narrative paradigm; we ultimately decided that games, just like literature, are mediums through which people tell their stories.  The problem, from a teacher's perspective at least, is does the game story have as much "merit" as traditional literature and, furthermore, who determines its merit? 

By examining Joseph Cambell's Hero Journey archetype, students were able to put a framework on the games that they were playing in class.  While it was easy to assume that game designers, because of their excellent creativity, develop stories out of thin air, it was even easier for my students to see how game designers start with archetypes such as the Hero's Journey and populate their games with archetypal characters.  Going even deeper, my students discussed how games, because of their interactivity, have the ability to go beyond the archetype's structure and add layers that traditional literature just cannot. 

Classroom Practice: Consider the PSN downloadable game Journey or the PS3 game Resistance 3 as prime examples of games that follow the archetypal situation of the long journey home.  With this game in mind, students could examine how closely the game follows that structure and how the characters reflect the story.  (Resistance 3 is an "M" rated game.)

Stay tuned for more literature and game discussion! 

Great Literature Great Games - Week 2 Reflection

After our second week, students are really beginning to think about how video games incorporate some of the same literary "stuff" that they are used to studying.  While in studying traditional literature we talk about character development differently, video games offer a whole new way of observing character development.

Most of the notes for this week's class come from Character Development and Storytelling For Games by Lee Sheldon.  In this text book, Sheldon highlights some of the major ways game developers handle character and story development in games.  While the book is pretty straightforward, I used video clips of new games in the power point presentations to show the students how the notes relate to some more recent games.

I allowed a bit more time this week to focus on game play because I wanted the students to have enough time to really dive into the game and connect with the characters.  We focused our attention on Heavy Rain, Alan Wake, L.A. Noir, and Uncharted 3.  Students kept game play logs with focus questions in order to focus their game play on analysis of the characters.

The reflection essays were both varied and thoughtful.  Here are a few excerpts from this week's reflection essays:

"...we can learn a lot about a character from more than just what he says and how he says it...Drawing clues from how a character looks and what they choose to surround themselves with is an important part of gameplay.  In this age of high-tech and extremely realistic graphics and movement, the smallest details can be important."

"...one can build believable characters not only by using techniques from literature and other forms of fiction, but by taking advantage of the potential of video games to tell a narrative in ways that other media cannot.  A video game by its very nature requires the play to be sympathetic to the player character's difficulties, usually physical, but also emotional."

"The two most important things for a [video game] character are its sociological and physical attributes because it really brings out the character more because it resembles a real person more."

At the end of the week, I believe my students have a better understanding of characterization and how character development is just as important in interactive fiction and storytelling as it is in traditional literature. As we look forward, we will focus on storytelling and narrative theory and discuss how characterization and character development plays a part in the development of story in video games.

Stay tuned!