Gaming as a Storytelling Platform

While reading through the Alexander chapters, I noticed he dedicated a section on Gaming as a storytelling medium. When thinking about how games can play a role in storytelling, I started thinking about the games I have played as a child and the games I continue to play as a young adult. In a way, I can see how some games I have played tell a story, but I really think that it depends on the type of game played. I’d like to break this down into two parts – that I have played that do have a story, and the ones that don’t have a story. Alexander mostly mentions computer games, but I would like to include some board games as well.

                Games that I have played that I believe tell stories include The Sims, Clue, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, and The Game of Life (although this one can go either way). The Sims is a computer game where you create people and play as them. You essentially live out their lives until they get old and pass away (or if you’re like me and create new people when you get bored with the others). This game has the ability to tell a different story each time you play, much like the board game Clue. Clue is a multiplayer board game where you have to solve a death and figure out who the killer is, what weapon they used, and what room they committed the murder in. This game tells a story in the sense of solving a crime, with basically a different ending each time you play. Carmen Sandiego is the same in a sense, another computer game (like Sims), however you are solving a crime and trying to figure out who did it – with a different ending each time. The Game of Life is a bit iffy when it comes to telling a story, but I still think it does. A bit like the sims, although you can’t create certain people as it is a board game. You play and while doing so you pick cards like what your house would look like, what job you have, etc.

                Games that I feel don’t include storylines are games like Scrabble, Sequence, Monopoly, and Scattergories. Scrabble you just lay out words and try to get the highest points. Sequence is a bit hard to describe, but it is more of a logical thinking game than a storytelling game. Monopoly is the type of game that could go on for hours and while it does seem like it could tell a story, it really doesn’t. Scattergories is actually one of my favorite games, because of how random it is. You can get really creative with that game, you have to come up with things that start with the same letter (in certain categories on a card) – and that is why you can’t tell a story with this game.

                Alexander talks about games that I have not played, including the World of Warcraft and Fallout games. I have never played these, so I don’t really know the gameplay or anything like that. However, I can see how these do tell a story. I believe that these games have certain storylines that the player follows. It is interesting to me that a game can actually tell a story though. I didn’t know when starting out with this class that there were so many storytelling platforms, so that is one of the main things that I have been the most interested in learning about.

Alexander, B. (2011). The New Digital Storytelling Creating Narratives with New Media. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Ideas I Have Had

I wanted to dedicate a post to how I came up with the ideas for my videos that I have made so far, as well as other ideas that I have scrapped. The videos I have done so far have been the picture selfie video, the Abigail West, and the Memories video. Those ideas came to me pretty quickly, especially the Abigail West one. I knew at the time that video was due was around Halloween, so I wanted to do something spooky. The selfie video, I thought of using pictures of myself “selfies” if you will. I thought that was the best way to portray who I am and it was a good idea for an introduction video. The memories one was being tossed around with another idea that I will write about in a minute. I ended up choosing the memories one because I felt that I could tell a better story with it, and that I would get more out of it. It was a bit difficult finding the older pictures, but I decided to stick with it, and I am really happy with the final product. I chose to share that one on my Facebook as well, and have gotten a positive response on it from family and friends.

The other idea that I was floating around with the memories one was sort of like a day in the life of my dog. Silly, I know, and that is part of the reason I didn’t do that one. I also didn’t go with that one because I was a bit unsure of how to go about it. I didn’t want to just tell my dog’s life story because that had already been done by someone else, but I also didn’t really want to do a whole video of what he does in a day – so that idea was scrapped. I think it would have been a cute video, but my heart wasn’t as into it as it was with the memories video.

Here are some other ideas I had come up with at the beginning of the course and why I didn’t go with them. A monologue type video about change, but I feel like I am still changing as a person and learning who I am after having been through a few rough years so I didn’t want to go with that. A video about how my Nana was almost famous. She was a beautiful singer and had a few opportunities to go on shows and get a record, but she decided to choose her family instead of fame. I wanted to do this video so bad, but I couldn’t find any of the home movies we have of her singing which I felt would have really added to the video. A video about the places I have lived (New York, Canada, Washington, Connecticut), but my heart wasn’t really into this. The last idea I had come up with at the start was a time capsule type of video to myself in a set amount of years. I didn’t go with this because I thought it might be a bit boring.

Including pictures of the places I have lived to spice this up a bit :)

The first is from a Halloween train ride I used to go on in Canada at Stanley Park, BC.

From Mount Baker in Washington

My home state (New York)

And my current state of residence (Connecticut)

Memories

Brooke McGarr

M2 Mobile Story Script

Memories are something that are very important to most people. They are something that we should hold close to us, especially the memories that we have of those that we love and those we have lost throughout the years. Today, I wanted to talk about two very important people in my life – my nana and papa, and some of my favorite memories that I have with them. They were there basically from the moment my life started, and I remember doing a lot of things with both of them. We would always have family get togethers, whether it be at my house, my aunt tammy’s house, or their house – we were always hanging out. I always loved having cook outs by the pool, and swimming at my Aunt Tammy’s house. I was always usually the first one in the pool, and the last one out. I loved hanging out with my nana and papa no matter what we were doing, I also loved spending holidays with them. Every Easter, we would color eggs together. Every Halloween, we would buy pumpkins, and we would carve them. Halloween was absolutely my favorite holiday to spend with my nana and Papa, I loved carving pumpkins with them, and I loved going to trick or treat at their house to show off my costume and I also really liked to look at all their cool Halloween decorations that they had. They always did have some really cool decorations. On Thanksgiving, we would eat turkey and other Thanksgiving dishes, and we would also watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – that was an absolute must. On Christmas, we would have Christmas dinner together, and then we would all open our presents. I remember that Christmas always seemed so magical to me, and I think that part of it was because I was spending it with people I loved. I always really looked forward to spending Christmas, and every other holiday with my Nana and papa. Apple Picking at Hicks is another fond memory I have with them, we used to go every year. Nana and Papa supported everything I did, especially dance. They would always give us flowers after our recital. Nana and Papa were with me on some of the most important days in my life. They were there for my prom, and they were also there for my high school graduation. I miss hanging out with them all the time, and I would like to talk about some of the things Nana and Papa have taught me before I wrap this up. Papa taught me how to be tough when I need to be, and he also taught me how to fish – a skill I have not kept up with over the years. Nana taught me to always believe in my faith, and to always be respectful to others even if I don’t like them. Unfortunately, my Nana passed away in March 2012, I really miss her. Earlier this year, we celebrated my Papa’s 90^th birthday. I have learned to really cherish the time I have with him. I have also learned to cherish my memories I have with both my Nana and Papa. You never know when you will see someone for the last time, and that is why memories are so important.

Scene setting – Various places including my Aunt Tammy’s, my Nana and Papa’s old house, my old house, Queensbury High School, and the nursing home my Papa lives in now.

Some of the pictures are a bit old, so the quality might not be the best. Most were taken by my mom and my Aunt Tammy, a few of the ones of just them were taken by me. People in the photographs are (in  random order) my Nana and Papa (Sylvia and Ray), me, my sister Amanda, my sister Emily, my cousin Sarah, my cousin Nikki and her daughter Bailey, my mom, my dad, my Aunt Tammy, my Aunt Kathy, my Uncle Hank, my Uncle Dave, my cousin Sienna, my cousin DJ, and my dog Brady. 

Without further ado, here is memories:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wiEiCKFsk&feature=youtu.be

Challenges

So far, the biggest challenge that I have had while making my stories is finding pictures to use. For my selfie video, and the one I am working on for Module 2, the pictures I want to use are older. I wanted to talk about the memories I have with my Nana and Papa for the module 2 story, which will include a lot of old photographs if I can find them. I have a few so far, but definitely need more. I have also included a clip from one of our home videos. I wish I had access to more of those as well.

Another issue I need to address is transitions in my videos. With the selfie one, I did have transitions between the photographs, however I forgot to include those in my Module 1 story. I will have to make sure that I include transitions from picture to picture in this video though, because of how many pictures there will be.

The pictures I plan to use for my next video were not taken by me. They were taken by either my mom or my Aunt Tammy. I do have permission to use them, because they do belong to me as well. I have had to really dig for these pictures, especially the ones where I am really young (baby/toddler). They’re all buried in a box in my garage, and I have briefly gone through it, but need to do a more in depth search when I have time. I was considering just axing this video idea completely and going with one of my other ideas, but I decided to just keep pushing with this one. I really hope it pays off! 

I decided to include this photograph because it is my absolute favorite of my Nana and Papa. This picture will be included in the video as well.