Storytelling

What is storytelling

Telling or transmitting stories to others is called storytelling. From paintings in caves to series on Netflix: people are always looking for new media to tell stories.

Stories often contain symbolic values, emotions, ideas and experiences that are shared in a creative or expressive way, and a story is always colored by the perspective of the narrator. People form a image of reality (reflection) by choosing an certain images (selection) and making a respresentation of them (deflection)

Stories in different domains

In all domains stories are a source of moral insight. Within sociology, stories offer a voice to those who are usually not heard. In psychology, stories play a role in identity. Within philosophy stories promote empathy and in pedagogy, stories contribute to skills, empathy and the importance of the representation in a diverse society.

Importance of stories

Thanks to sociology "stories of ordinary people are finally heard"! Within psychology stories help individuals to orient themselves in the world. Narrative psychology also helps in various therapies. An example is psychotherapy where people tell stories about what they have experienced. After all, this would have a healing effect. In philosophy stories help to understand the world and offer the opportunity to look to the world from a different perspective“ Stories ensure people stay connected to traditions and morals.

Stories can contribute to the development of knowledge, skills, attitude“. They stimulate communication, reflection and creative skills. People frequently hearing and reading stories get to know different points of view and perspectives in this diverse society. They show a greater openness and more respectful attitude towards others. We can ask ourselves: "Are people getting better by reading stories?" Readers take different roles during reading and think about them. This way, reflection on daily or social problems are stimulated. Readers evolve in their ideas and beliefs about others. Readers get to know values and norms from other cultures. Stories provide moral insights, understanding and, above all, empathy. This is narrative imagination. Narrative imagination is an important skill needed to deal with the complex world.

There are three types of empathy: sympathy, empathy and identification:

• Sympathy is a feeling of affection towards the characters of the story.

• Empathy arises when the reader can empathize with a character's feelings without sharing the same feelings.

• Identification occurs when the reader recognizes themselves in a character as they both share the same feelings

The medium is the message?

“Is the story is more important than the medium” or "The medium equally influences the story"

Each medium has its own functions, possibilities, limitations and each medium creates different expectations among the audience.

Due to the increasing digitization and technology, traditional media are experiencing a transformation:

Implementation of a new medium happens in four phases

1. The new medium is applied without any real benefits being visible (substitution).

2. Slight functional improvements are observed (augmentation).

3. Major improvements are noticed (modification).

4. The insight that the new medium can accomplish tasks that were not possible before (redefinition)

Storytelling in cinema and games

Cinema

In the beginning, filmmakers mainly tried to arouse curiosity. The focus was on the visual pleasure and not on the story. In order to represent the entire setting and atmosphere of a story, better storytelling techniques were invented throughout the film evolution. Today, facial expressions, emotions, events and atmosphere can be visualized in a high-quality way at the same time. This ensures that the viewer sees the film as reality.

This sense of reality is the strength of film

it convinces people to step into the world of the story.

Filmmakers make use of sound, a popular storytelling technique within the film. 2 types of sound exist:

• Diegetic sound are all the sounds in the story world that are also perceived by the characters (An example of this is the ringing of a phone or a conversation between two people )

• Non-Diegetic sound are not perceived by the characters but by the audience. (Examples include background music and voice-overs.)

Often both elements are provided together.

In the beginning, films were often wrongly compared to literature. After all, films could never convey stories as strongly as books. Currently, the comparison between literature and film is outdated.

Narrative strategies concerning the viewer

There are 3 types of intrigues regarding the viewer – narrator/story. This means how much information receives the viewer? The 3 types are :

• Suspense

• Surprise

• Curiosity

Suspense

The viewer knows more than the character. The problem is shown (e.g. bom, knife in shower). We anticipate on the consequences for the characters: you don’t know what will happen, but your phantasy is stimulated!

Suprise

The viewer knows as much as the characters. A nice example is the red wedding in Game of thrones.

Curiosity

The viewer knows less than the characters. We ask ourselves: Who did it? What is the motivation? We play with camera positions/angle to withhold information (e.g. camera on corner, in closet, mist). You can play with showing only fragments of events. A nice example is the movie "The usual suspects" (1995).

Games

We talk about ludology versus narratology In ludology, the game as a whole is not seen as a story. It is merely a gathering of characters, rules and patterns of player action.

In Narratology, on the other hand, we focuse on the story of the game, but less on technical game elements. In addition to the initial storyline, other elements such as avatars, landscapes and events can be seen as narrative elements. The spaces are often designed in such a way that the player is immersed in a narrative. In games we also say that the reader/player has to make an unusual effort to discover the story (this is called Ergodic literature).

The game designer decides how much freedom the player has. When a player's choices have an impact on the final plot of the story, it's called the Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) genre. It is certainly not always the case that a player chooses his own path. Sometimes it is the game itself that steers the player with the help of rules, algorithms and boundaries. For example, players may have to work a country before earning money. The game therefore steers the player in a specific direction with that rule, without explicitly doing so with spoken or written language.

Space: a new relationship between stories and games

Game developers should be seen as narrative architects, because they build virtual spaces or worlds in which the players can move. These environments provide a lot of narrative possibilities and immersion.

Storytelling in VR

hypermediality versus transparant immediacy

In hypermediality, the user is aware of the medium that conveys the story. This can be illustrated by a viewer who notices the screen at a film or a reader who is aware of the pages in a book.

With transparent immediacy, the user experiences the story as a reality because the medium becomes invisible. However, few storytelling media manage to make themselves invisible. It is impossible for any medium to obtain transparent immediacy.

Still, since the advent of virtual reality, there are several storymakers who believe that VR stories can be a step in the right direction. The medium ensures that users experience the story as if they were present in the virtual world themselves.

storytelling in games & VR versus literature

In literature you have:

• Defined duration

• You can’t get ‘stuck’ in a book

• Books end at the end: when you read the final page, the book is done

• Chapter-based

• Carefully controlled pacing: this is defined entirely by the author

• Fixed story

In games & VR you have:

• Flexible duration: the same game could take 10 hours for one player to complete, 100 for another

• Gated progress: if a player lacks certain skills, or the difficulty curve has been poorly implemented, player progress in the story will halt

• Ends when victory conditions are met: these may or may not by in sync with the story’s natural conclusion

• Level or quest based: games tend to have hundreds of micro-tasks, pulling the player’s attention in multiple, potentially conflicting directions

• Non-linear and changeable: many games are not fixed, allowing the player to directly influence the path and pacing of the story

• Requires multiple skills: being good at one type of game does not mean you will be good at all types of game