Re: tracking conflicts

[JOHN KIRK <softscan@ar.com.au>]

HI Folks,
    John Kirk is writing:-
The point is that drama/conflict is read piece by piece as experienced by the
viewer BUT the overall resolution of the story conflict/problem is an abstraction
pieced together by the viewer after all the bits have been "read" - this is
assembled from the memory of the "reader".
In interactive stories the aim is to make the structure of that "reading" coherent
(obeying rules of plot and dramatic onflict.
My take is that the "bits" (short sequences - action or simulation or character
interaction) could be "marked" semantically so that the "story engine" knows their
significance and causal relationship to the chain of meanings (of each subssequent
"bit/sequence").
I think Chris's engine could handle that.
Comment?
What happens on the moment to moment level in each "bit" does have meaning (like
eg kill or get killed or gotta get the hell away from this maniac chasing me). Its
the integration and orchestration of these that count for a "story".
That COULD leave a lot of expressive flexibility within the Bits- we just -as
authors give them a "semantic label".
This could be at a "sentence" level AKA subject-verb-object. OR at Paragraph
level. If the "engine" knows the "value" of the label and how it fits then its OK.

Discursion good be an occasional good.
And for Erasmatron I think its original shortcommings were few pictures
(1pic=1000words).
Put in the pictures (video, 3d animation) and we have to label these for the
engine (at the right semantic "resolution")
And in da movies -film noir incl.- lighting codes play a big part.  AND camera
angles.
I am labelling these (Close up, Mid shot, camera point of view etc) trying to get
the Erasmatron to understand these.
Bye 4 now
John

Kenneth Lu wrote:

> At 17:08 -0500 2/4/01, WFreitag@aol.com wrote:
> >For example, a conflict could be a character not believing he can live up to
> >the name of his famous heroic father. One resolution would occur if at any
> >time the character's heroic-ness equals or exceeds his idea of his father's.
> >This resolution condition could be brought about as a result of any events
> >that raise the former (e.g. as a result of heroic successes) and/or lower the
> >latter (e.g. learning that the father wasn't so perfect himself). A different
> >resolution would occur if the character learns that he doesn't need to judge
> >himself against his father at all; this is triggered if the character's
> >self-reliance score (raised, perhaps, when the character solves problems or
> >forgives others) hits a certain threshold. A third possible resolution occurs
> >if the character dies.
>
> At 17:08 -0500 2/4/01, WFreitag@aol.com wrote:
> >I agree that current games are a bridge, although I think my example above
> >would qualify as descriptive of the "more dynamic" version you're speaking
> >of.
>
> Actually, I think you're right.  In fact, this sort of open plots
> thing is precisely what I think I'll work on once I get the free time
> (i.e. after I graduate :P).  I think the key is, as you say, to make
> the miniscripts as dynamic as possible, while retaining the essense
> of the meaning of the script.  In your example, it'd be good to have
> many outcomes for the character, as long as it all still portrays his
> living-up-to-father motivations.  Once that's there, it may be just
> enough for the dynamic elements to play off of in a way that becomes
> a dramatic core for the story..
>
> Actually, this is very similar, now that I think about it, to the
> "film noir" idea I have.. where the characters would all follow basic
> behavoirs of backstabbing and money-grubbing and seduction and so
> forth that make classic detective stories interesting...  I'll put
> that in another email.
>
> Anyway, very interesting thought.  Thanks, Walt. :)
>
> See.. NOW the issue is to figure out.. If we have this miniplot
> written, what's the point of making it more dynamic?  I think one
> reason is so we can see unique paths toward the resolution of his
> motivations.. I mean, it's true that watching an average person on
> the street go about their daily routine would probably often be
> boring, but if we filter out the extraneous details, and make sure we
> pick an interesting person to begin with, then I think their life can
> be interesting no matter what happens..

>
> After all, isn't that, to some extent, what spectator sports are
> about?  They're unscripted and dynamic.. but yet, they have an
> element of drama built in, so the probability of an interesting story
> emergent are high.
>
> -ToastyKen
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> | Kenneth Lu - kenlu@mit.edu - http://www.mit.edu/~kenlu/ |
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> | "Life is far too important to be taken seriously."      |
> |                                                         |
> |                                          -- Oscar Wilde |
> -----------------------------------------------------------
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