General

Aside from working a full time job I enjoy spending time with my girlfriend, family, and friends. My main hobby is lifting weights.

[quote=LazyLazyLazy]I'm having fun secretly reading these game design essays by a basiler of same name. Now it's no longer a secret
https://omegathorion.wordpress.com/[/quote]
Oh hey, I was just about to post.

Anyway, this kind of topic is really important, and you're right, there really is a kind of disillusionment when you realize this. And that's why people do fanfictions and other things.

But the point of narrative is ultimately not to create a true, canonical reality. The point of narrative is so that the author can carry a message through the story to the reader. Whatever that message is, it's embedded in every aspect of the story. Everything is connected to a central theme: every event, every character, every goal, every conflict. So the narrative almost becomes something like a simulation of what could happen. We read it and we make the connections, we say "this character did this thing because this happened, and that happened because of this other thing," and we trace the whole narrative through these causal events. It makes sense, it has to be this way, under these circumstances there was no other possible outcome. That way, we can learn about how things could have gone, and how we might avoid such outcomes in our own lives.

I'm gonna copy and paste in this segment from [url=http://keithburgun.net/smash-bros-decapitated/]an article I like[/url], which isn't all about narrative, but this part is.

[quote=Blake Reynolds]Have you ever found yourself watching a film, and it seems relatively well-made, well-acted, and should be entertaining on paper? Have you found that, for some reason, it just feels drawn out, tedious, or just plain boring? This is generally due to the mishandling of, or the sheer lacking of a controlling idea.

A controlling idea, in short, is a very powerful prevailing value revealed at the climax, a prevailing value which all scenes leading up to contain in some way, either directly or indirectly, to support this core at the climax. It's the nucleus, and in a good story, the threads of this nucleus run through every single scene and character.

The reason this is so important is because, if too many superfluous scenes occur, if too many tangential themes or ideas are introduced, if too much gratuitous action or violence occupies screen time, we begin to feel a crushing sense of bleakness. "Why do I care? Why am I watching this? Does this fictional world make sense to me anymore or do I have any stake in it?" Engaging with the story becomes futile.

To illustrate this point, I'll use a famous and popular example, and break down how one character's actions are woven into the controlling idea for the entire film, and echo back to your unconscious mind when the climax is delivered.

The Empire Strikes Back's portrayal of Darth Vader is actually very subtle and careful, and is tied to the climax every step of the way. He's not just a "bad guy doing bad things for two hours." I'll give a quick rundown of the major events in his arc, and reveal how it all pays off in a holistic way at the climax.

1. He is "Obsessed" with finding Luke Skywalker in the opening crawl

The word "obsessed" is used. It's a very strong and somewhat strange word, but the viewer assumes it's revenge-driven for Luke having destroyed the Death Star in the previous film, and that his name has become famous for doing so.

2. He knows right away that the rebels are on Hoth, and he's "sure Skywalker is with them."

Vader makes specific reference to Skywalker, and again, the viewer assumes it's because he's priority target #1. Against the advice of his admiral on the likelihood of this system being special, he insists.

3. He throws a very irresponsible amount of Imperial resources at one ship.

He's after the Millennium Falcon, and doesn't care how many trained imperial officers have to die, or how many expensive Star Destroyers need to blow up to asteroids. This is strategically and professionally very stupid, and an excessive use of resources for a single target.

4. He protects Luke when the Emperor calls him an enemy.

"He's just a boy." "But if he could be turned, he would be a powerful ally." are things Vader says in Luke's defense.

5. Vader and Luke fight, and Vader can easily kill him, but doesn't. He's toying with him/trying to turn him evil.

Why is he protecting him? It's obviously not about revenge anymore. Which begs the viewer to re-evaluate the previous scenes. Why did they use the word obsessed in the crawl if it's not about revenge? Why did he waste billions of space bucks chasing an enemy of the state when he ultimately wants to keep him as an ally? Maybe his behavior isn't crazy. Maybe it's motivated by something else...

The climax is revealed, and Vader is Luke's father - now everything makes sense. All of these threads which run through every single scene Darth Vader is in makes sense. It is established after the climax he can make telepathic bonds with those close to him and the force, which explains why he was so sure "Skywalker was with them" on Hoth. This is why he was protecting him, and why the word "Obsessed" was used. This makes the revelation have impact. It's not just a shallow twist. The information is woven throughout the entire story. This means all the time you spent with Vader has meaning.

Go back to the list of events for The Empire Strikes Back. Read each one and get ready for the climax. Then, take the famous "I am your father" climax, and replace it with the exploding shark climax from JAWS, but change nothing else about The Empire Strikes Back. Now, all the subtle behavior of Darth Vader, all the small decisions he's making that spark intriguing questions, it's all futile. It makes no sense, and actually goes from being interesting to frustrating. The viewer's time has been wasted.[/quote]

People who write nonlinear narratives (such as video game writers) have also been struggling with this problem for a very, very long time. How do you make a story that has multiple branching paths to accommodate different players, but still make sure that each and every one of those paths is meaningful and carries thematic significance? In fact, I'm trying to write a story like this for a video game I'm developing for my senior project thesis. It's very hard, people make a living trying to figure this question out.

One approach that's been pretty popular lately is to funnel the story so that no matter what happens, the same end result always occurs, but the context surrounding that end result is different. Imagine a game where your final boss is a rival you knew since childhood. No matter what, you have to fight this childhood rival, but depending on your actions in game, it could have different contexts. Maybe you and the rival hate each other's guts and want nothing more than to murder the other in cold blood. Maybe you and the rival have the same end goal, but disagree on how to get there, and it becomes a battle of differing philosophies. Maybe the rival just wants to die, so they manipulated you into killing them in a tragic twist of events. So no matter what, the author still makes sure that every path is filled with meaning and you'll walk away with something to think about, but it still lets you make your own choices.

[quote=BobR]I've always been interested in creating (and playing) games which "adjust" themselves to the player's style and skill levels, and which progress differently depending on choices made in the game.
That way the game could possibly end an untold number of different ways, and be infinitely re-playable because unless you made exactly the same choices in every case, it's going to proceed differently every time you play. (And there are ways of introducing a bit of randomness just to push it in a different direction anyway.) [/quote]
Hey, that's what I'm trying to do too.

[quote=spidy78]The second question,what'd you do to kill time?[/quote]

I read long, rambling posts on Basilmarket. That kills many hours.

As far as the "multiverse" of story endings, most people like the feeling of direction it gives knowing a story ends "this way".
They're following the author's, or writer's, lead and listening to the narrative from that one perspective.
That things could have gone completely differently is understood because it's a common occurrence in everyone's lives, but in a story you're finding out how it ended in THIS case.

I've always been interested in creating (and playing) games which "adjust" themselves to the player's style and skill levels, and which progress differently depending on choices made in the game.
That way the game could possibly end an untold number of different ways, and be infinitely re-playable because unless you made exactly the same choices in every case, it's going to proceed differently every time you play. (And there are ways of introducing a bit of randomness just to push it in a different direction anyway.)

I also write long, rambling posts on Basilmarket to kill time.

@LazyLazyLazy That's an interesting blog... thanks for the link..!

@TheZigen In your diversification did you ever read any of Mark Twain's lesser known writing? I recently started reading one of his earlier books, "Roughing It", and just his description of riding in a stagecoach on the way out West was one of the funniest things I've ever read.

@spidy78: maybe you're not diversifying the type of stories you consume? For example I had a long bout of reading "YA fiction" and after a few years it grew to be very repetitive so I began to read more classical literature. This past summer I read all different kinds of books--crime thriller written in the 80s, a semi autobiographical work from the 60s, a sci-fi book from the 50s. All of them entirely different from one another, and they explored different themes, had different characters, different plots.
I don't think you sound depressed at all, I think you've just been consuming way too much of the same type of fiction (manga and anime probably) for too long and you've oversaturated yourself with it. try to branch out, look up stories from different cultures, different time periods, etc. Don't keep within the confines of a certain genre either. Stretch your boundaries.

@TheZigen: What I meant to say,after reading many stories, I got the feeling that they're repetitive..or contradict each other. like when I used to read Naruto, anyone can break walls easily,so when I read another manga,they made big deal of how someone broke a wall. (which's really annoying) you know how you're used to see something and then someone makes a big deal of it?that's really boring
Do I sound depressed btw? there're people who assumed that in some other forum..

@LazyLazyLazy:
Lost interest in reading at "ideas are worthless" as IMO games themselves are ideas,guess they're worthless too.

@spidy78 I'm not sure what you mean by fiction stories that go "99999999999ways"...are you referring to fan fiction? I've always read all kinds of literature (mostly professional literature, but a little bit of fan fiction here and there) and played video games and watched tv series, but they each have their individual stories with (usually) only one ending. I don't get bored of them; usually they're made for the purpose of entertainment and they succeed pretty well in that.
I don't think it's a matter of "growing up" that causes the stories to lose their fun. You have to remember that nearly all media and stories we know today are created by adults, but that doesn't mean they're not "grown up" or mature.

I'm having fun secretly reading these game design essays by a basiler of same name. Now it's no longer a secret
https://omegathorion.wordpress.com/

@TheZigen:
Have you been reading all kind of fiction stories? (so that you can see how it can go 999999999999ways) also how long have you been reading them? and did you ever get bored?
What you said makes sense although my present self just can't enjoys such things. Hence why I'm asking these questions^ (trying to see if they're actually not fun or I just "grew"/old up )

@spidy78: well, the point of fiction is to create a story that takes us away from real life...people absorb fiction because it ISN'T real and it exposes us to different ideas or situations that we wouldn't be able to experience otherwise. Choose your own adventures are personalized fiction stories. They give you that taste of a fictional world, but you still have some control as you would in the real world. Some people enjoy that. I'm not saying that you have to, but you asked why people enjoy it and I think that's why.

@TheZigen: You said it. When I was a kid,not now. Giving me more than 1 ending made me realize how stupid fiction stories are. It's like reminding you "hey this can go TOO many ways,you shouldn't care for the story"
How can you enjoy something like a fiction story ending because it's "true"? it's fiction,anyone can make it up. Not like it happened or anything. Except the fact,the author wrote that specific idea and probably,milked it well (made money off it). (not that I care)

i just don't get how can people care for something that didn't happen and as unimportant... could it be boredom? if so I should've been the one to care the most but nope...

this game must've really messed you up...didn't you ever do choose your own adventures as a kid? (as an aside, I really enjoyed ffxiii-2, despite the multiple endings. I searched up the one that was most "canon" and went with that lol)
I think the importance of canon is having a solid ending that is deemed as "true". Even if we don't like it and make up our own endings, it's the author's work that holds more weight because its their story and not ours. If I wanted my own story with my own ending then I would make it. But when I'm consuming other peoples' work, I want to know the story that they are creating, because it will always be different than something I can come up with.