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Extra Lives

  • found (emergent?) narratives vs. scripted narrative
  • gameplay (or mechanics or ludic) vs. story
  • The issue of freedom
    • Is it illusory in games?
      • A bunch of different per-coded choices may not be actual freedom
    • What is freedom anyway?
      • The ability to act without consequence?
  • Games as a medium
    • Other narrative formats want to advance; games are based in challenge, which resists advancement
      • Although this may make narrative advancement a kind of reward
    • Players are compelled to act according to the game's rules
      • In Super Mario Bros., you can't go left regardless of desire. If you want to advance the game, you must fulfill its expectations.
  • Games compared and contrasted to other media
    • What's the place of cinematic narratives?
    • Does abstraction lead to greater engagement?
    • How are games alike/unlike the fictive worlds created through engagement with books (or films, or songs, or television shows)?
      • TV series
        • Lost
        • 24
      • How does the structure and format of these affect the experience?
      • What happens to shows when a viewer binge watches?