Marktollefson’s Weblog
doing the documentary thingArchive for Narrative
database project organization
In our discussion today we talked about the importance of naming. I think related to this is the issue of numbering … especially in relation to the flipbook I am doing. Numbering creates the sequence, it creates the narrative.
flipbook site
I found a great site dedicated to flipbooks. They have click-play movies of a many books.
Database Project – 100 images
The purpose of this project is to take and arbitrarily assigned 100 images and create a unique method of organization, retrieval and viewing. The interpretation of archive, database, library, collection, repository etc. are to be considered.
I have decided, after consultation with Professor Ingelevics, to create a flip book.
At this point I have begun working on the nuts and bolts of creating a flip book. I have visited Pikto to see if they could do the printing.
I have also checked with a paper company for options about paper stock which can be photographically printed.
Narrative in games
One of the primary distinctions that Alex made between online gaming (such as Counterstrike, Call of Duty etc) and Second Life is that the former have a narrative structure, a story that plays out. Second Life is just a big playground where a variety of endeavours … from the mundane to the sublime … can be enacted. There is not an inherent throughline of story in Second Life.
I have to agree that this is an important distinction, but I think there are subtle variables on either side … detail which Alex had no chance of addressing since most of us were busy goofing off in Second Life while she was delivering her lecture today.
Online games have objectives, but the teams of players who cooperate to achieve those objectives can do so in an infinite number of ways … and the elements of chance, human error, skill, luck and misfortune all play their parts. As an analogy, just because a football game has rules doesn’t mean that it is the same story every time. Once the game is completed, however, you can look at it as a story in hindsight.
So what about Second Life? There aren’t any formal objectives, and yet there is clearly a pattern of kinds of activities that are going on. So far, I have observed two basic things that happen in 2Life. People are hustling for money or looking for companionship. How successful they are depends on chance, human error, skill, luck and misfortune. How events unfold is never the same twice. And in hindsight, those events can be looked at as a story.
Therefore I would postulate that right now there isn’t that much of an actual difference between 2Life and online gaming. The big difference is 2Life’s potential to become something more.
