Narrative designer, is more than just a writer. Yes I play video games, but do I consider myself a gamer. I guess not. I have played World of Warcraft and still do. I enjoy it. It allows me to escape my real world blah for something more. I get to progress a character through stages of development. Although it hasn’t taken me long to get my recent toon to level 90. As of yet I cannot afford the expansion and therefore am not at level 100. I like the interaction with other players both within and outside of my guild. That communication brings a sense of community within the game.
A Narrative designer looks at all of this along with the storyline and tries to envisage how the game will be played by the players. They want to explore the various different story arcs that the individual may or may not pursue. They do not just see the words, they see the vision.
Perhaps I need to immerse myself into more games, but I have I guess. I played EQ once upon a time. I play on the iPad, all sorts of little games, that the kids have downloaded, that I seem to take charge of. I see how they interact with the game. Get involved with how the characters interact. They both play WOW (although I have put limits on what they can and cannot do within the game – they are still young). But I see the enjoyment and the fulfilment and the frustration on their faces when things go right and sometimes horribly wrong.
This is all part of immersion. Immersing yourself within the character and storyline. Finding out what you can and cannot do. This is part of the game play.
I have participated in gaming in the sense of RPG. I was introduced to the GURPs gaming system when I lived in the USA. I enjoyed the character creation. Knowing what the limits of my character where and then trying desperately to expand them. To make her better, stronger, faster or whatever she needed to complete the mission.
I also enjoyed coming up with the storyline that the troop had to follow. Being the Game Master (GM). This allowed me to set out a specific path, and true to human nature no one followed where you wanted them to go. SO you had to adapt on the fly.
With good narrative design, I can see that all these contingencies need to be thought out ahead of time, so that if your toon walks into the dark cave at the bottom of a deep ravine, there is a reaction to the action.
For gamers it is the ultimate goal to achieve that coveted spot, making your character better. But that is not all it is about. There is something about the storyline or the worlds that makes a game come back to the game and continue to play well into the wee hours of the morning. Or saying to yourself just one more quest, then bed.
So to be a narrative designer is more than just telling a story you have to live the story. Interesting.
A Narrative Designer doesn’t have to be a coder (thank the lord) but they do need to understand code. They need to be able to understand all aspects of game design as well as story writing. They are the glue between the people who can make the game and the people who want to play the game.
The links I had to Edwin Mcrae’s Blog no longer work, so I have removed them. He changed his site.
http://www.edmcrae.com/narrative-design.cfm
http://www.gamnesia.com/articles/narrative-design-in-video-games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPoxtPR-_cw
Rhianna Pratchett a games writer, gives a very interesting talk on what it is like to write for the gaming industry. As stated earlier you are not simply a writer, you are so much more. But the industry has biases regarding writers. This needs to be overcome.
As gaming evolves and uses such hardware like the Oculus Rift to get total immersion into a game, that storyline or narrative is going to be vitally important and it would be important to use someone who not only can write and write well, but also understands the medium.
The game is important, but so is the story.
BIG DATA ANALYTICS
So what is big data analytics? I figured I better understand this so that I can better understand what it is I am looking it. So a web hunting I went and I liked the definition I found at http://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/definition/big-data-analytics
‘Big data analytics is the process of examining large data sets containing a variety of data types — i.e., big data — to uncover hidden patterns, unknown correlations, market trends, customer preferences and other useful business information. The analytical findings can lead to more effective marketing, new revenue opportunities, better customer service, improved operational efficiency, competitive advantages over rival organizations and other business benefits.’
This says it all. It is a matter of hunting through the copious amounts of data retrieved and saved on a daily basis, from all the web searches, online shopping, etc. that people do every single day and finding out what t-shirt or shoe is more popular and to what demographic and then using that data to provide companies with the feedback they need to market a product to the correct people in the correct way.
So hunting mining data… sounds like fun. Looking for patterns, being able to read the patterns that appear. This does sound like fun. Not creative fun like the narrative designer position, but in depth fun, like playing a game of Sudoku, or doing a crossword puzzle, or even creating a crochet or knitting pattern and then creating the completed item.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pHzROP1D-w
Ted talk by Kenneth Cukier:
Interesting insight into big data… Not so much the analysing of the data, but more in the realm of what it can do for us and what can be achieved by looking at the amass amount of data that is collected. I also appreciated the way he presented the downside to big data, the fact that it could replace human jobs, and that we need to be careful and use it wisely.
So do I see myself as a big data analyst? Well there is a lot more that needs to be looked at. I am not a math whiz by any stretch of the imagination and it seems that statistics is somewhat used in this. The use of the tools such as Hadoop as a repository for the data… a data lake if you will, seems interesting. There are other tools in use to take that data and make it useful, so perhaps maths doesn’t need to be a strong point, just an understanding of the tools and knowing what it is you are looking at. So again further research is needed by me to truly understand what it is that Big Data Analytics is.
So really this is not what I was supposed to do for post number two whilst my tutor is away on a research week in Hamner. (Raised eyebrow look)
I am supposed to talk about the sources and whether I find them credible. Well for the sources on Narrative design, I do find them credible. Why because they are by people that work in that industry. They have been doing what they do for a number of years and their work is visible to many people not only respected professionals but also the little people who play the games that these people help to design.
As for the Big Data, information. The video from Kenneth Cukier on big data, well now… I had to look him up http://www.cukier.com/. He has his own website, and from that I can see that he has published many books and has worked for world renowned publication The Economist. The fact that I can look up his previous work history and who he is to makes him a credible source.
No I did not find three different sources, I found two a blog and some videos – ted talk video’s – but in doing this research for both of these topics I have realised that I have a lot more research to do, but I have a place to start.
FYI thank you Clare for the introduction to Narrative Design. Now my brain is running onto game design tangents. I need to look into animation and see what I can learn there . Dip the toe into the water and see what bites.
“You are the Master of your own Destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environent. You can make Your life what you want it to be” – Napoleon Hill
RES 701 