Letters from a brass watch man

A Deeper Look at The Iranian Firewall links to a blog post I came across thanks to Slashdot. It provides a look into how exactly the Iranian government is focusing on and how since the election. I notice that a lot of attention seems to be focused on Youtube and Flash video-sharing websites. It seems that what the Iranian government is really focusing on here is keeping people inside Iran from accessing the video that's already out there. Makes sense. They want to keep people from learning about anything that's outside of government-controlled media channels. Well. Have to see if that works.

In other news, why the hell are they blaming Britain? I mean, I guess they have to find some kind of scapegoat, but Britain? It just seems so random...

Oh, wait. Maybe not. Still, reaching a little far back in history there, aren't you, Ayatollah?

From CNN.Money: Tech sector has questions, few answers:

Here's how scary the times are in the technology industry: Nobody, not even the visionary, congenitally optimistic smartypants who invent the technological future, has a clue about where we're going next.

The Twitter guys don't know how they're going to make money. AT&T... doesn't know how the ever-increasing universe of smart phone operating systems will consolidate. Yahoo... (still) doesn't know who it is. Even John Malone, the veteran innovator of the communications business, isn't sure how producers of content will get customers to pay them for their wares.

Well, at least now I know for sure that it's not just me...

So the very day that I returned a book considering this very subject to the Tri-C library, I came across this article at the Escapist: String Theory: The Illusion of Videogame Interactivity. It poses a question about video game design that I've actually been thinking a lot about recently (and yes, I have been thinking about video game design a lot recently - for which I blame oogby entirely :)):

If well-told stories rely on specific pacing and structure that necessitate authorial control, then doesn't the interactivity of games run completely contrary to narrative?

Or in other words, how do you tell a good story that at the same time really and honestly gives the game player control over how the story develops?

One possible answer, as the article describes, is to essentially manipulate the player into thinking that he or she has more control over the narrative than they really do. Another possibility is to just do away with story entirely - there's not much character development or narrative in Tetris or in Donkey Kong, but it works out pretty well anyway.

One might argue that there's something more pure and more essential about those kinds of games - that by stripping away any non-essential features, it becomes just about the player figuring out how to play the game. And in the end, maybe that's what people really play games for.

I don't know, though. As story-focused as I am, I have a hard time just dropping the idea of a narrative altogether. This is in part because I like the idea of stories and characters and imaginary worlds; it's also because I sometimes feel like anything I (potentially) do has to have some kind of a practical, real-world point to it. Stories have themes and messages and meanings that you can use to communicate with a user; "pure" gameplay, not so much, or at least that would be my guess. (Though if anyone has a real good argument linking Tetris to the fall of the Soviet Union, I'm open to hearing it.)

That said, it still has me wondering if there are alternative ways of telling stories through games. The book I returned to the library, for instance, argued that the real point of games like the original Mario and Zelda was the exploration of 'spectacular environments', and that the narrative and characters really didn't matter. The user doesn't really care about rescuing the Princess, or who she is as a character; she's just the more-or-less arbitrary goal that marks the end of the game. It's not about the Princess; it's about all the neat stuff the user gets to see and do along the way.

I don't know about that, personally. But it got me thinking - okay, say a game really is just about exploring a virtual environment. Is there a way of telling a story using just the environment? The beginning of story is in character, my playwriting teachers always used to say. Well, environments can have character, and can reveal character; just ask an architect. So can an environment clearly and effectively communicate a story, or a narrative, to a player on its own?

I don't have an answer to the question myself. But I feel it might be a direction worth exploring.

My own conclusions:

1. sex
2. a sense of connection
3. financial opportunity
4. information

Did I forget anything? Or is that everything?

Well, damn. Didn't see that one coming.

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So I haven't talked about the first two acts of the brilliant Josh Whedon (though his brother Zack is involved somehow?) online musical Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. (Though, man, who the hell did they get to do the web design for them? Maybe it was the Hulu people who did it. But in that case, couldn't they have picked someone who knows... you know... about tableless design? And other things that are kind of basic for an operation like this?) Anyway, my newfound web elitism aside, it's brilliant. The music, honestly, is fantastic; did anyone think that Neil Patrick Harris could sing? Because I really wouldn't have guessed.

Anyway, so, yes. Watch this. BSG's on hiatus; it's not like you have anything better to watch anyway.

... and also, business homework is boring.