Post 4 - Story Arc and Agonizing Decisions in the Stanley Parable

Jonathan Degan defines story arc as "What I call Story Arc in a game is the quality of having the situations and decisions metamorphose during the course of a single game so that the player has the experience of participating in a story with a wide sweep". In the Stanley Parable, originally the game seems to have a rigid plot, but that is because I made the decision to listen to the narrator. After a few run throughs, it is clear that the Stanley Parable is not just one story, but instead a collection of stories with diverse endings. There is however a clear story arc because the gamer does face multiple situations that pose multiple choices. The user writes Stan,why's stories as their motives change during the game's progression. The story arc of the Stanley Parable quickly escalates, as each route you take has its own unique ending. The game has incredible scope, meaning that the game utilizes the same resources over and over, but the context hat the resources appear in is frequently changing (Degan). How the user chooses to respond to the context and use the resources decides the game's story arc. These choices dictate the course of the game and so clearly the Stanley Parable has a story arc with user interaction, even if it's hard to see originally.

These choices that he user is faced with can be seen as agonizing decisions, or as Degan puts its, "those difficult decisions which determine whether you, the player, will come out victorious or blow your best opportunity and hand the game to your opponent". The Stanley Parable has many agonizing decisions. The choices you make are immediately followed by consequences that are often drastic (beating the game, dying, ending the game in various ways, countdown timers begin). Because it is easy to become confused and frustrated, these decisions become increasingly agonizing as the story arc is worked out.

http://ktuftsprofessional.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/theme-vs-mechanism/

http://susancinderella.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/game-theory-and-designs/

Blog Post 3

I think that McLuhan took too much acid in his time or something. He seems like a paranoid schizophrenic man who is overcome by anxiety as new technologies emerge. He doesn't realize you do not have to abandon your entire lifestyle just because new technology emerges. It reminded me of that commercial for a smart tv where the dad is singing to some girly hip hop and his daughter comes in to tease him. The ad reads " so easy an adult can figure it out". So clearly technology still intimates people. I will admit I dreaded switching from windows to the Mac operating system, but eventually I did and Iw as glad I did. It's pretty funny to watch most adults try and play video games. I can only imagine my dad trying to play the Stanley Parable. He would quit within minutes and he wouldn't enjoy it at all. The game's interface allows almost of much freedom to make it playable for people without prior gaming experience. I think the best interfaces for games re those that are simple. Flappy bird literally only has one thing a user can do, tap the screen, and it is so popular that the creator had to take it down due to unwanted attention. We see this trend continuing on other gaming platforms. N64 games are more expensive than Xbox games on eBay today because people still cherish the simplicity of game play.  McLuhan may have been so sweat prophetic in the sense that technology does now play a major role, but he need not be so abrasive but rather should become embracing.

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http://meganpetersonwsu.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-instantaneous-world-of-electric.html?showComment=1392171951756#c9043762823625932476