Some things to keep in mind:
This is what i am interested in:
Documentary
Drama
Acting
Psychology
The WHY and the HOW when focused on a human being and their actions
Slips
People off-guard, unaware, or alone with themselves.
You can skip reading all of that and just arrive with me here at a notion of empathy.
Before you click on the links below, please keep in mind my philosophy:
When i watch i want to identify, and when i play i want to experience
OK, so all of these are going to be slightly gruesome - they are rare examples of nuanced (limited/designed/controlled) player experience in the First Person shooter world. Have your sound on.
From COD4, Basically - This is your death scene.
Kind of Graphic, but watch it to the end - You are Restrained while undergoing an alien process
You should only watch the first two minutes of this, it is similar to the second example
Of all of these, the first is my favorite.
If I am going to do another 'serious/doc' interactive project, then these would be my guidelines:
-I don't necessarily believe in informing - I believe this is a clean word and that it implies distance and analysis - I want to provoke....distance and analysis can come AFTER you have engaged with something legitimate and REAL (aka your reaction to my fakery).
-I don't necessarily believe that a serious 'game' is respectful, especially since I view games as relying on very (awesome) low level, compulsive behavior for progression. As a compromise, I believe that the game mechanics should be minimal.
-I don't want to show pivotal moments, I believe that you can and should experience them -- to this end I don't see why you ( the user) should be limited to a single viewpoint, or even a human viewpoint.
-I want vignettes that are short enough to be nuanced and doable, while still bookending a relevant experience
-I want to explore positions of weakness and limitation (rarely explored) in addition to those of power and freedom
Comments (2)
Each of these clips is relevant to the cinematic style of relatively non-interactive portions of first-person shooters with a player-driven camera. The Call of Duty 4 nuke scene was cinematically potent. It instilled into me a taste of awe. Thank you for exposing me to that!
Quake 4 stroggification process disturbed me. My emotions waffled between boredom, disturbance, and frustration, in the hope that the next moment something interesting, artistic, entertaining, humorous, or terrifying was about to occur, but never did.
The Prey clip was a blank. I simply didn't care, didn't feel anything except a little anxious while looking for something significant and distraction from nothing striking me as poignant or relevant.
Altogether, I'm put off that these examples seem to be nearly cutscenes whose only interaction appears to be rotating the camera. The Call of Duty clip is forgiven because the look and feel is so consistently awe-inspiring. Yet I personally am not satisfied with look and feel alone. There needs to be some thesis of interactivity as well. What is will the user DO? And why are the user's actions significant?
You've already done a disturbing, I'm stuck and can't control my destiny, piece with 9-11 Survivor. The clips you've linked suggest to me you want to play that tune again. As a friend, I'd suggest that you explore outside that comfort zone into other techniques for inducing emotional and cognitive responses in the heart and mind of your user.
On a meta-note, I'm sincerely confused. Because of our class, Preparing the Thesis, I came here wanting to offer feedback on a hypothesis, but I can't find a hypothesis to comment on. So my aim is frustrated. I see areas of interest, tone pieces for inspiration, and some notes. If it's more convenient, then I'll look at your hypothesis offline.
Posted by kennerly![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://interactive.usc.edu/members/jbrennan/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 10, 2008 7:09 AM
Posted on April 10, 2008 07:09
First, I primed for the examples by letting you know that they are industry work (and so not exactly experimental - but the best i could find in the commercial world)
Second, The pieces are disturbing because quake4 and prey are basically horror games - I stated my intent as provocation not merely 'disturbing.'
Third, There is an implicit thesis on interactivity in EACH of these examples. You even touched upon it with "nearly cutscenes whose only interaction appears to be rotating the camera." Really, I would encourage you to borrow COD 4 and play this one 'level' because youtube isnt doing you any favors here.
Posted by jb![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://interactive.usc.edu/members/jbrennan/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 10, 2008 11:41 AM
Posted on April 10, 2008 11:41