Things to remember about Drama: Intro: Opening image to set tone and subject matter + show us disposition for

main character protagonist drives the action at every beat, an external pressure confronts the main character. The lead must make a difficult choice, choosing between one ideology and another, unsure of what consequences follow. Every decision made has an effect that raises the (3) stakes at every turning point save the cat! make us sympathize w/ protagonist Always know their external, internal, and philosophical motives for their action Character arc: change and / or development (they are not necessarily the same) external and internal goals can change or not. But philosophical stance and character maturity must change. Remember the story does well w/ 3 lvls of stakes at every point: 1) external 2) internal 3) philosophical. The whole point of the story is the PHILOSOPHICAL stakes. What does the end show us? -supporting characters do not take focus, but effects of story should show them developing not remaining boring / one-dimensional. Scenes in the movie and supporting ppl s changes may not necessarily be directly b/c of protagonist, but by the overall change in the ideology of the film..events and characters symbolically communicating a changing ideology Reinvent / deconstruct / hide / replace all clich ideas

What about video games? Does interactive gaming contradict meaningful narrative? http://www.airshowfan.com/videogames-narrative-storytelling-medium.htm Problems b/tn drama and gaming: 1. 2. You can t have mortal empathy for the main character (you) because you get to come back to life over and over again if you mess up! . . . my response: But. . .what about other types of empathy? Perhaps it is possible to have unhindered game play that greatly affects and connects with narrative events, and has consequential, lasting influences on your character. Can a game resonate with emotion and reveal things about human nature w/ out posing mortal risk to the player s character? What about consequences that somehow greatly affect the story outcome and yet allow the game to be enjoyable, flexible, and free, while still dealing with irreversible consequences? Perhaps you could still win the game if you make a bad mistake, but you can only have the best possible outcome if you make decisions of a certain ideological essence (NO confining certain problem-solving actions, but certain attitudes expressed in actions) counter: Still, maybe not even then, since you can replay and figure out which decisions are the right ones on another. YOU, the player, are the real protagonist. No matter what character you play as, it doesn t matter because YOU, are the real main character. And since in this world you face no irreversible consequences (you can start a new campaign from scratch), the only lasting effects are on supporting characters (allies, enemies, lovers, etc.) Also, the characters you play as are also practically only supporting characters since what happens to them has no lasting effect on real-life you (the REAL

protagonist). The only way to have real empathy for the protagonist in a videogame is if events affect real-life you. (e.g.: A plasma grenade coming out of the TV and blowing up your actual sofa, for which there is no reset button) a game I want to make: -maintain enjoyable, innovative, and flexible, enabling, unpredictable game play while having as much drama, emotion, and ideological consequence involved as possible Perhaps storytelling and interactive gaming maybe be more compatible and consequential w/ each other if the player functions as a CHORUS character or an EXTERNAL FORCE, or a co-author to explore how ideas have consequence on reality, rather than a protagonist. The narratives in games could serve a purpose if they become lessons about how values and ideas interact with the world. But they do not succeed if the game attempts to use the player as the protagonist to exemplify these ideas/values since there is no empathy for the player. It >The provisional ought(s) / problem solving belongs to the game - but the ideologies, philosophical truths, and values belong to the story