3. GDC 2014 Proposal
Collaboration w/Prof. Fujita
Research findings:
Emergent Narrative is experiencing a period of
rapid growth/involvement
Embedded Narrative methods are multiplying
without coalescing into a model or consensus
The link between Emergent and Embedded
Narrative is still significantly unclear
The findings represent research problems that
will require much more time to present
meaningfully
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4. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (1)
Speakers:
Prof. Jos De Mul
Erasmus Univ.
http://www.demul.nl
Prof. Hiroshi Yoshioka
Kyoto Univ.
http://www.iamas.ac.jp/~yoshioka/SiCS/index.html
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5. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (2)
Homo Ludens (Huizinga 1955)
Oft-referenced in Game Studies
Provides first and still-mostly-feasible
definitions for:
Games
Play
Relationship with Culture and Humanity
Mul’s revision of the original
Objective: understand the “Ambiguities”
present in Homo Ludens
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6. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (3)
Ambiguities: “Ironic Dualities”
Freedom vs. Force
Simulation vs. Reality
Etc
Such Ambiguities are present, but not
accounted for in Huizinga’s work
Mul proposes that such Ambiguities and
their inherently-opposite natures existing
simultaneously is the anomaly that
accounts for the phenomenon of games
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7. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (4)
Ambiguities arise out of the interactive
nature of games
ie. Achieving escapism through willful
participation in a rule-based construct, or more
simply, “seeking and attaining freedom by
willfully agreeing to be a member of a
structured society.”
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8. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (5)
Aesthetic Appreciation of Games cannot
occur without these Ambiguities
Analysis:
Immersion:
Objective appreciation
of the form and
function of the work
True and complete
appreciation and belief
in the story
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9. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (6)
Aesthetic Appreciation of Games cannot
occur without these Ambiguities
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10. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (7)
Aesthetic Appreciation of Games cannot
occur without these Ambiguities
Analysis:
Immersion:
Objective appreciation
of the form and
function of the work
True and complete
appreciation and belief
in the story
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11. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (8)
Aesthetic Appreciation of Games cannot
occur without these Ambiguities
Aesthetic
Appreciation:
Analysis
The ability to enjoy
the work from
inside it while
retaining your
awareness of the
outside world
Immersion
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12. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (9)
In many ways, this is like thinking of things
that are not logically feasible (and
accepting them) such as:
1 + 1 = 2 (TRUE)
1 + 1 = 3 (TRUE)
Both are simultaneously true
This is obviously not feasible in the culture
of cold calculations
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13. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (10)
But for the realms of Aesthetics and
Philosophy, the idea of simultaneous,
double experiences that are both the very
form and function of a medium actually
goes a long way to reconciling or at least
indicating in some way, why Game
Studies of digital games cannot come to a
consensus, or settle on a model
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14. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (11)
Thinking in a binary fashion about Games
will inevitably lead to there being a
sufficiently large number of anomalous
cases which break any tentative
theoretical models
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15. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (12)
However, as Mul suggests, reframing the
argument to being a simultaneously ironic
duality (akin to Tavinor’s inclusive defintion
of the medium) AND considering that the
tension created by those simultaneouslyexisting forces IS the very essence of the
phenomenon of Games (especially in the
digital modern world) can potentially be a
very productive path towards a unified
theory of Game Studies.
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16. Workshop: “Homo Ludens 2.0” (13)
So what?
I am not entirely certain about how best to use
this great Lego piece for my Masters Thesis
But, it reverberates in the mind like an idea
about to bear fruit
What’s in the soup?
Embedded/Emergent Narrative phenomena
4th Wall/Magic Circle relationship and effect
Inclusive nature of Tavinor’s defintion and
Mul’s philosophy of Ambiguities
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