#laure plays video games

[richincolor]

Happy Black History Month!

This Black History Month I'd like to celebrate the genre that makes us jump at every unknown noise, brings us nightmares, and has us up late turning the page in anticipation of what will happen next - Black Thriller & Horror! There has been a lovely uptick in the publishing of Black Thrillers and Horror in the past few years where Black protagonists are solving complex mysteries, fighting against all forms of supernatural beings, and sometimes a combination of both. I've had so much fun reading all of these novels and am greatly looking forward to what 2024 has to bring. 

When creating a list of Black Thriller/Horror writers I must begin with the queen, Tiffany D. Jackson. Her first book "Monday's Not Coming" was a perfectly written thriller with a plot twist that hit with a gut punch that I'm still recovering from. Since then she's been on a streak with hit after hit after hit. Her latest, The Weight of Blood, is a book you cannot miss.

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

When Springville residents—at least the ones still alive—are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation … Maddy did it. An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she's dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning a surprise rainstorm reveals her most closely kept Maddy is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the behest of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington. After a viral bullying video pulls back the curtain on Springville High's racist roots, student leaders come up with a plan to change their host the school's first integrated prom as a show of unity. The popular white class president convinces her Black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, leaving Maddy wondering if it's possible to have a normal life. But some of her classmates aren't done with her just yet. And what they don't know is that Maddy still has another secret … one that will cost them all their lives. 

2023 also gave us two amazing debut thrillers and I, for one, cannot wait to see what these two authors cook up next. 

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

You must work twice as hard to get half as much. Adina Walker has known this the entire time she’s been on scholarship at the prestigious Edgewater Academy—a school for the rich (and mostly white) upper class of New England. It’s why she works so hard to be perfect and above reproach, no matter what she must force beneath the surface. Even one slip can cost you everything. And it does. One fight, one moment of lost control, leaves Adina blacklisted from her top choice Ivy League college and any other. Her only chance to regain the future she’s sacrificed everything for is the Finish, a high-stakes contest sponsored by Edgewater’s founding family in which twelve young, ambitious women with exceptional promise are selected to compete in three mysterious events: the Ride, the Raid, and the Royale. The winner will be granted entry into the fold of the Remington family, whose wealth and power can open any door. But when she arrives at the Finish, Adina quickly gets the feeling that something isn’t quite right with both the Remingtons and her competition, and soon it becomes clear that this larger-than-life prize can only come at an even greater cost. Because the Finish’s stakes aren’t just make or break… they’re life and death. Adina knows the deck is stacked against her—it always has been—so maybe the only way to survive their vicious games is for her to change the rules.

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

Laure Mesny is a perfectionist with an axe to grind. Despite being constantly overlooked in the elite and cutthroat world of the Parisian ballet, she will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take center stage. To level the playing field, Laure ventures deep into the depths of the Catacombs and strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood. The primordial power Laure gains promises influence and adoration, everything she’s dreamed of and worked toward. With retribution on her mind, she surpasses her bitter and privileged peers, leaving broken bodies behind her on her climb to stardom. But even as undeniable as she is, Laure is not the only monster around. And her vicious desires make her a perfect target for slaughter. As she descends into madness and the mystifying underworld beneath her, she is faced with the ultimate choice: continue to break herself for scraps of validation or succumb to the darkness that wants her exactly as she is—monstrous heart and all. That is, if the god-killer doesn’t catch her first. From debut author Jamison Shea comes I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me, a slow-burn horror that lifts a veil on the institutions that profit on exclusion and the toll of giving everything to a world that will never love you back.

And to round out this list, we also gotta point out the fellas who are also killing it with the Thriller/Horror genre. 

Promise Boys by Nick Brooks

The prestigious Urban Promise Prep school might look pristine on the outside, but deadly secrets lurk within. When the principal ends up murdered on school premises and the cops come sniffing around, a trio of students―J.B., Ramón, and Trey―emerge as the prime suspects. They had the means, they had the motive . . . and they may have had the murder weapon. But with all three maintaining their innocence, they must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested. Or is the true culprit hiding among them?

The Getaway by Lamar Giles

Welcome to the funnest spot around . . . Jay is living his best life at Karloff Country, one of the world’s most famous resorts. He’s got his family, his crew, and an incredible after-school job at the property’s main theme park. Life isn’t so great for the rest of the world, but when people come here to vacation, it’s to get away from all that. As things outside get worse, trouble starts seeping into Karloff. First, Jay’s friend Connie and her family disappear in the middle of the night and no one will talk about it. Then the richest and most powerful families start arriving, only... they aren’t leaving. Unknown to the employees, the resort has been selling shares in an end-of-the-world oasis. The best of the best at the end of days. And in order to deliver the top-notch customer service the wealthy clientele paid for, the employees will be at their total beck and call. Whether they like it or not. Yet Karloff Country didn’t count on Jay and his crew--and just how far they’ll go to find out the truth and save themselves. But what’s more dangerous: the monster you know in your home or the unknown nightmare outside the walls?

The Forest Demands Its Due by Kosoko Jackson

Regent Academy has a long and storied history in Winslow, Vermont, as does the forest that surrounds it. The school is known for molding teens into leaders, but its history is far more nefarious. Seventeen-year-old Douglas Jones wants nothing to do with Regent's king-making; he’s just trying to survive. But then a student is murdered and, for some reason, by the next day no one remembers him having ever existed, except for Douglas and the groundskeeper's son, Everett Everley. In his determination to uncover the truth, Douglas awakens a horror hidden within the forest, unearthing secrets that have been buried for centuries. A vengeful creature wants blood as payment for a debt more than 300 years in the making—or it will swallow all of Winslow in darkness. And for the first time in his life, Douglas might have a chance to grasp the one thing he’s always felt was power. But if he’s not careful, he will find out that power has a tendency to corrupt absolutely everything.

If you are a fan of murder mysteries, supernatural thrillers, or just like to get scared, get thee to a bookstore (or library) and support your Black Thriller/Horror writer.

[alexhwriting]

A peek at my Master's Thesis

So as I prepare my master's thesis, I needed to write up a quick summary of what was actually going to be written during that process. The following is the rough draft and bibliography I'm starting with, though more research and details are almost a guarantee for later. This is also only about 500-ish words for the summary, so by no means the most thorough.

Environmental Storytelling, Ludonarrative Harmony, and Immersion: A Summary

            For my master’s thesis, I plan on exploring environmental storytelling in videogame narratives and the role that the background plays in immersion as well as ludonarrative harmony. During the Fall 2023 semester, I worked through some of the research for this paper as a directed study with Dr. Kee, which informs some of my bibliography along with some of the work I had done in previous classes with both Dr. Kee and Dr. Fox. I hope to argue, by the end of the paper, that the innocuous and mundane details that we see in the background of video games while playing are actually at the core of the immersive experience. To prove this, I will be referring to past work by many digital media scholars who have been working on game environments for the past 30 years, as well as games that both utilize and fail to utilize their environments for proper immersion.

            I will begin my essay talking about the core concepts that I want to show throughout the paper, those being Ludonarrative Harmony (as derived from Clint Hocking’s Ludonarrative Dissonance), theories of immersion and presence within the game world as discussed by J. P. Wolf and Marie-Laure Ryan, among others, and discussions of spatial practice and engagement within a video game’s world. Because of the layered meanings of the terminology, I will be using throughout the paper, I will be laying out some of my own definitions as well to make my essay more clear in its purpose. Specifically, I want to be precise with the term “virtual world,” which I will be using to refer to the environments of the games that will be discussed throughout the paper. An extension of this is “virtual world lore,” which will refer to those details given to the world through mediated sources, such as character dialogue, tooltips, and item descriptions.

            For the games I wish to consider throughout this paper, I have selected several from the catalog of FromSoftware, since these titles are famous for their ambiguity and lack of clear narrative as opposed to more traditional role-playing games (RPGs), such as the Fable series. For the FromSoftware examples I have picked Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019), Elden Ring (2022), and Bloodborne (2015), as each of these takes a different approach to their worlds and the way their narrative unravels. Bloodborne specifically shows off a high level of ludonarrative harmony in level design and player traversal, reinforcing its main message, through loss of character health, that progression is always painful. Sekiro takes a much more traditional narrative approach, with considerably more dialogue and cutscenes compared to the rest of the FromSoftware titles. Finally, Elden Ring, as an open world game, gives the player a lot more freedom and proves an interesting lens to approach the notion of game world, since it emulates a very large environment, The Lands Between.

            In addition to these traditional action RPG experiences, I have also selected some independent games that work well in this discussion. Unpacking (2021), Inside (2016), and Alien: Isolation (2014), all exemplify similar ideas to the FromSoftware titles, though in different forms, especially puzzles. Unpacking and Inside are both of note here for their lack of dialogue entirely, leaving the environment as the primary mode of storytelling for drastically different stories between the two. On the other hand, Alien: Isolation is more of note as an exploration of a place with few additional characters and survival elements recontextualizing the space around the player in times of intensity.

            Finally, I will be looking at some games that do not use the full potential of their environments and the detriment to the storytelling that is the result of such an experience. For this, I will be looking at Goodbye Volcano High (2023), and Cyberpunk 2077 (2020), both games that experienced several delays. Both offer empty virtual worlds, where there frequently feels like there should be more for the player to engage with given their Visual Novel and RPG genres.

Prospective Bibliography

Aarseth, Espen. “A Hollow World: World of Warcraft as Spatial Practice,” in Corneliussen, Hilde    G. and Jull Walker Rettberg, eds. Digital Culture, Play and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader (MIT Press, 2008): 111-122.

Alexander, Lily. “Fictional World-Building as Ritual, Drama, and Medium” in Wolf, Mark J.P.,        ed. Revising imaginary worlds: A subcreation studies anthology (Taylor & Francis,      2016): 14-45.

Álvarez, R., & Duarte, F. “Spatial Design and Placemaking: Learning from Video Games.”          Space and Culture 21.3 (2018): 208–232

Caracciolo, Marco. “Radical Environmental Storytelling in Video Games,” in Slow Narrative        and Nonhuman Materialities (University of Nebraska Press, 2022): 161-188.

CD Projekt Red. Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt. Xbox/PC/PlayStation. (2020).

Christopher, David, and Aidan Leuszler. “Horror Video Games and the ‘Active-Passive’           Debate.” Games and Culture, 2022.

Creative Assembly. Alien Isolation. SEGA. Xbox/PC/PlayStation. (2014)

FromSoftware. Bloodborne. Bandai Namco. Xbox One/PC/PlayStation (2015).

FromSoftware. Elden Ring. Bandai Namco. Xbox One/PC/PlayStation (2022).

FromSoftware. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Activision. Xbox One/PC/PlayStation (2019).

Grodel, Torben. “Video Games and the Pleasures of Control.” Media Entertainment, 2000, 209–      26.

Hocking, Clint. “Ludonarrative Dissonance in Bioshock.” Click Nothing: Design from a Long Time Ago, (2007). https://clicknothing.typepad.com/click_nothing/2007/10/ludonarrative-d.html.

Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture” in First Person: New Media as Story,          Performance, and Game. Ed. Pat Harrington and Noah Frup (MIT Press, 2004): 118– 30.

Kocurek, Carly A. “Who Hearkens to the Monster’s Scream? Death, Violence, and the Veil of the Monstrous in Video Games.” Visual Studies 30, no. 1 (2015): 79–89.

KO_OP. Goodbye Volcano High. KO_OP. Windows/PlayStation. (2023).

Krzywinska, T. “Blood scythes, festivals, quests, and backstories: World creation and rhetorics          of myth in World of Warcraft.” Games and Culture 1.4 (2006): 383-396.

Mark J.P. Wolf, “Beyond Immersion: Absorption, Saturation, and Overflow in the Building of      Imaginary Worlds,” in Marta Boni, ed. World Building, Transmedia, Fans, Industries          (Amsterdam UP, 2017). 204-214.

NetherRealm Studios. Mortal Kombat 1. Warner Bros. Games. Xbox/PC/PlayStation. (2023).

Perron, Bernard, Clive Barker, and Ewen Kirkland. “Storytelling in Survival Horror Video Games.” Essay. In Horror Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play.

Ryan, Marie-Laure, and Thon, Jan-Noël, eds. Storyworlds across Media: Toward a Media-Conscious Narratology. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2014.

Soriani, A, & Caselli, S. “Visual Narratives in Videogames: How Videogames Tell Stories             Through Graphical Elements.” img journal, 3, (2020) 474-499.

Thon, Jan-Noël, “Transmedial Narratology Revisited: On the Intersubjective Construction of           Storyworlds and the Problem of Representational Correspondence in Films, Comics, and          Video Games” Narrative 25 (2017): 286-320.

Playdead. Inside. Playdead. Xbox/PC/PlayStation. (2016).

Witch Beam. Unpacking. Humble Bundle. Xbox/PC/PlayStation. (2021). Creative Assembly. Alien Isolation. SEGA. Xbox/PC/PlayStation. (2014)

[mohs-aphmau-hcs]

Ooooooo. Do you have any agere headcanons for Garroth, Laurence, Travis and Dante? I’m obsessed with your agere stuff :)

thank you anon!! ik I'm answering these, super late but still sbhdf

I love the idea of boy house sleepovers/playdates when they're regressed!! complete with blanket forts, video games, pizza, someone probably brought battery acid [the drink], everything you'd expect at a boy's sleepover

long analysis after read more, this ask got my brain turning sjdnf, might revise some other HC lists sometime too, and add more detail like in this one to make it fair ! [I definitely don't have a favorite group of characters and its definitely not the most basic favorite group of characters ever in this fandom pssh ]

I also want to clarify since I don't think I have before, while I post a lot about agere and everything is absolutely 100% SFW always, that does not always mean my HCs are safe to read when regressed!! I am someone who's experienced this for a long time and consider myself very well read/educated on this topic, so I talk about all parts of regression. including the messy/scary parts like trauma caused regression, involuntary and stress induced regression, innerchild care and healing, regression brought on by mental health disorders, everything. AgeRegression is a complex topic and mental state, a lot about it is fun, enjoyable, gives people a sense of community, and a safe space to heal. But its not always sunshine and rainbows especially for trauma survivors and I like giving representation to that side of it in my writing

Obviously regressors are 100% welcome on my blog! but when going through agere HCs pleasepleaseplease just keep in mind there might be some more heavy topics discussed if you are not able to handle those at that time !

I feel like Garroth would regress a few times a month on purpose to destress with loved ones. But I also feel like he would experience some forms of involuntary regression at certain points of his life, like the rest of the Ro'meaves, this is a trauma response

Garroth would probably regress from 3 - 10, lots of smiles, constantly needs to be hugging something or someone. He most likely has some type of security blanket or stuffie he carries around

Similar to Zane he might have some hang-ups at first with insecurities surrounding his coping mechanism, because of beliefs their father instilled in them. But he definitely learns to accept his childlike states a lot sooner than Zane despite Zane experiencing them more often

The person he'd trust most as a CG would most likely be Laurance, but he's also a very trusting and loving little guy so I think hed honestly go to anyone who knows about his regression and is willing/able to be with him and help in those moments

["...Dante?"

"Yeah bro- oh hey, Aww.. heyhey cmere, you alright little grizzly bear?"

"Mhm- jus..Wanted a hug"

"Aw, alright I got you bud. You want to go play legos until Laur and Travis get home?"

"Mhm!"]

Laurance would be a lot more reluctant to regress around people despite desperately needing care and guidance

He's a character whos used to taking care of others and being kind of like the ring leader, he often falls into a caregiver role, but feels wrong letting others care for him.

Obviously, if Laurance voices that he genuinely doesn't want to be regressed and needs help coming out of it, Garroth will respect this. But sometimes Laurance recognizes that he just needs a little nudge to help him not worry so much ab others and let himself relax and Garroth knows this too

He regresses between the ages of 4 - 13 normally and drops down younger when very stressed.

If he does let someone know he's regressing, it will most likely be Garroth. In my HCs the boys are poly and obviously, everyone is equally loved and trusted, But Laurance and Garroth have a specific bond, mainly through being together through many hard moments, that make them more likely to go to the other when they need emotional support in a more intense or constant way.

Sometimes stress becomes too much even for him and he struggles to hide his regressed states, usually, this is when Garroth picks up on this and goes full papa bear mode. Making sure not to overwhelm him, and help him ease into being more comfortable since being vulnerable or letting other people take care of him can be an anxiety trigger, even though he does need it sometimes

When he does let himself regress, he usually just wants to cuddle

Quiet nights spent on the couch or in bed, listening to music while being held or rocked to sleep, or watching tv with some popcorn and a blanket

Him and Garroth also have. So many petnames and nicknames for each other both regression-wise and just in general

Me and Squid both HC Laurance to be a meifwa, when he's small he loves having his ears scratched and pet! kind of like playing with somebodies hair

He normally becomes pretty quiet when regressed, even if he's older

Usually just communicating with points and gestures, or small noises

TLDR: Laur needs to regress more to handle stress, he doesn't let himself, Garroth makes sure he still has that time for himself to relax and get cuddles

Travis would probably be a near life-long regressor due to a mix of mental health and neurodiversity, and trauma from a young age.

I could imagine them regressing younger or older, but honestly usually 3 - 4

They'd make huge pillow forts and blanket nests all the time, partly for comfort, and partly because when small its harder for them to mask demon instincts!! So they like having a small cavelike place to hide

Sometimes their regression can be flashback or fear caused, they've be through a lot and most of what they've been though happened as a kid. So sometimes a flashback can put them back in the mindset

When this happens they really only have a very small group of people their able to turn to and feel safe with, one obviously being Dante

Dante is also who they go to the most when they need a caregiver

Unless their regressed a bit older and more energetic, space for them is very very quiet and relaxing. Usually ending up in big blanket piles watching cartoons with some snacks

When their regressed, it's also a lot harder for them to hide in their human form which is another reason they normally go to Dante (I hc that Dante was the only person to know Travis is a demon in seasons 1 - 5 besides them and Terry)

Dante would definitely regress to around 8 - 10, big kiddo ages and energy to match!

If he doesn't get to a park within the first 5 minutes he is bolting to the backyard to run around and play with whatever he can find

He loves swings and seesaws, definitely stims on swings !

Sometimes he does go a bit younger, around 3 or 4

When this happens he's usually just as excited, but probably not running around as much. He's more likly to be playing some toddler apps on his phone or kicking his feet and watching animewith some juice(specfically bug juice if you know what that is, loved that shit growing up)

He's honestly comfortable being with anyone as his caregiver, obviously happens with Travis a tiny bit more because I see them as inseparable. But he's just as happy cuddling up with laurance or garroth, or even Aphmau and Aaron, and in later seasons especially Zane

He's just a little guy that's happy to be here

I feel like his head would tilt a bit when confused

In my aus and headcanons where Gene redeems himself, as adults when they regress together they still keep that playful sibling dynamic! And a lot of times gene will step up as a platonic caregiver since he knows all of Dantes old favorite cartoons and games from childhood

It took me, so long to finish this post but I'm really happy with it and I hope you all still keep enjoying my agere content!

[alt-wannabe]

omg an intro post

i post consistently enough i feel one of these is appropriate so hi!

i'm alt or laur (she/her) and i post about mcyt (specifically speedrunning but hermitcraft will sneak in every once and a while). i'm a senior chemistry major so i tend to yap a lot about that stuff too :)

tags/other info under the cut

my pfp is by nervousmonolith and you all should go check out their art :D

my twitch username is the same as here so if you see me say hi! i always love seeing tumblr people in chat :3

my asks and dms are basically always open- im pretty friendly and i love yapping so don't hesitate to send me stuff. also dont get nervous if i dont answer right away- i spend a lot of time in lab but trust ill answer as soon as i see it.

some other interests i have that i love chatting about (but dont post about as often) include d&d, haikyuu, video games, chemistry, makeup/fashion, and band (specifically marching band, im my college's tenor saxophone section leader).

video games i <3:

the persona games

baldur's gate iii

stardew valley

minecraft (duh)

pokemon (specifically legends arceus + black/white 2)

i was a teenage exocolonist (pls play this game it's so good)

road 96

slay the spire

mirrors edge

any/all mario party games

unironically the game of life on the switch

tag list:

alt yaps: legit me talking nonsense most likely

lab stuff: anything to do with the lab i'm currently working in

mcsrd&d: i've been making d&d character sheets and minis for speedrunners, you'll find all of those here

volleyball au: a volleyball au for mcsr, less formal than the d&d stuff mostly just a bunch of scattered thoughts

ask box: answered asks

most other tags are simply general (such as mcsr or a cc's name)

[starleska]

I'm not gonna lie, you're really convincing me to start writing/drawing/animating Y/N x Wally Darling stuff...

You have great concepts and the simp in me is being fed and I love it AHEGAJAGAJA I just worry that there's a chance that Clown had advised against it and I've yet to see that in a post somewhere in the past. But seeing as you're enjoying writing all the Reader x Wally Darling stuff with no worries (good on you btw!), it's all okay right?

/nm /gen

hey there Laurs!! aww, thank you very much 🥰💖 i love getting messages from people inspired by my fanworks, it makes my heart all fuzzy!! just a little endless cycle of good vibes and creativity :3c now, the bulk of your ask is a tough one to answer!! i know i've posted a lot of fanworks for Welcome Home, but at the end of the day, i'm just a fan like anyone else, trying to do my best to respect Clown's wishes. honestly, given the chance i would love to talk to them and ask these specific questions that a lot of fans have been firing in my direction. i have reached out, but understand those messages have likely been drowned under thousands of others!!

so @partycoffin, on the off-chance you're reading this: i hope you're doing well, and taking care of yourself in this terrifying, exciting time!! thank you for sharing your lovely world with us - we're all just so in love with your characters and universe 🥰💖 if you'd like to talk, please feel free to reach out. it would be great to know that you're okay, and i'd be happy to field any questions you have about your bustling new fandom (who have been destroying my own notifications for the past two weeks!!). it may be presumptuous of me, but perhaps having an inside look on what questions fans have might help make this explosive growth seem a little less scary. however, there's no obligation to reply - we're thankful all the same :3c

as far as i am aware at the time of writing this post, i don't think Clown has any problems with Wally x Anon/Reader/Y/N fanworks...or at least, i haven't come across any sources stating so.

the big thing that (if i'm understanding the guidelines correctly) is that Clown doesn't want us to be putting any NSFW Welcome Home material into the main tags. we have to remember that Welcome Home has blown up very quickly, and Clown deserves a chance to breathe and adjust to all this success before laying out those boundaries (if he wishes!). that's why, although i do write NSFW for other fandoms i'm refraining from doing so for Welcome Home until stated otherwise. i can't imagine how stressful it must be dealing with so many notifications, people impersonating, trying to sell their work, exhibiting invasive and creepy behaviour...on top of the overwhelming demand for new Welcome Home stuff. i think as fans we should just vibe and play in our own little bubbles without stressing them out too much, and adjust when we receive new information. for instance, i didn't know when i made my Wally Darling edit that they were uncomfortable with non-canon art being associated with the main game. i've since reached out to see if i should take the video down with no reply, and went with the consensus of a group of fans i asked for the opinions of - to leave it up until asked otherwise. pretty much - i don't think Wally Darling x Anon fanworks contravene the guidelines that Clown has given us so far. they aren't inherently NSFW, and i'd hope that anyone who is making NSFW fanworks is tagging appropriately, as is the courteous thing to do. i'm of the opinion that fans are going to do fandom things, and there's always going to be folks making adult-oriented works, and that's okay!! but i'm also always happy to respect the wishes of the creator in terms of how they'd like that work to be tagged and presented. i think Toby Fox did it best when he first suggested the 'Undertail' tag for NSFW works - a real stroke of genius that i see lots of fandoms still using today. again, do take this with a grain of salt! i don't know Clown, and very few of us do - we're just all interpreting his words in vastly different ways, and that must be terrifying to deal with; thousands of people getting very angry or very sad because they think they can or cannot do a specific thing they never actually said. it's not anyone's fault that Welcome Home blew up so suddenly and there wasn't time for precautions to be taken, but it is the fault of those fans who are overstepping boundaries and need to re-examine their relationship to this art. it sounds like you're good to go on making those animations, and i would personally love to see them 🥰 thanks again for being so sweet about my silly headcanons!! it's honestly been quite scary adjusting to the amount of attention, but please know i'm grateful and appreciative of every ask, reply and message that comes my way 💖

[bluebirdharry]

If you know anything about me, you know I love to talk about myself so I had to do this. 😛 I was tagged by @excuseme-greentea 💖

rules: color the ones that are true and tag fifteen (15) people

appearance:

I’m over 5’5" (1.67m) // i wear glasses/contacts // i have blonde hair // i prefer loose clothing to tight clothing // i have one or more piercings // i have at least one tattoo // i have blue eyes // i have dyed or highlighted my hair // i have gotten plastic surgery // i have or had braces // i sunburn easily // i have freckles // i paint my nails // i typically wear make-up // i don’t often smile // i am pleased with how i look // i prefer nike to adidas // i wear baseball hats backwards

hobbies and talents:

i play a sport // i can play an instrument // i am artistic // i know more than one language // i have won a trophy in some sort of competition // i can cook or bake without a recipe // i know how to swim // i enjoy writing // i can do origami // i prefer movies to tv shows // i can execute a perfect somersault // i enjoy singing // i could survive in the wild on my own // i have read a new book series this year // i enjoy spending time with friends // i travel during school or work breaks // i can do a handstand.

relationship:

i am in a relationship // i have been single for over a year // i have a crush // i have a best friend i have known for ten years // my parents are together // i have dated my best friend // i am adopted // my crush has confessed to me // i have a long distance relationship // i am an only child // i give advice to my friends // i have made an online friend // i met up with someone i have met online

aesthetics:

i have heard the ocean in a conch shell // i have watched the sun rise // i enjoy rainy days // i have slept under the stars // i meditate outside // the sound of chirping calms me // i enjoy the smell of the beach // i know what snow tastes like // i listen to music to fall asleep // i enjoy thunderstorms // i enjoy cloud watching // i have attended a bonfire // i pay close attention to colours // i find mystery in the ocean // i enjoy hiking on nature paths // autumn is my favourite season

miscellaneous:

i can fall asleep in a moving vehicle // i am the mom friend // i live by a certain quote // i like the smell of sharpies // i was involved in extracurricular activities // i enjoy mexican food // i can drive a stick-shift // i believe in true love // i make up scenarios to fall asleep // i sing in the shower // i wish i lived in a video game // i have a canopy above my bed // i am multiracial // i am a redhead // i own at least three dogs

tagging @fruitmans @caramello-styles @ivehadatechnicaldifficulty @daydreaming-laur @harryfeatgaga and anyone else who would like to do it x

[clyde-wy]

Tower of God characters playing ultrakill

Bam: is there a way to make peace with them or

Khun: makes a yt channel just for it and speedruns the game. somehow found size 2 fish

Rak: ran out of turtle names to give to the enemies

Endorsi: "do you know who i am? a princess of jahad. stop attacking me."

Laure: accidentally speedruns p-1 on first attempt

Shibisu: hides under the table at the sight of cerberus

Anaak: p ranks act 1 in 30 minutes

Urek Mazino: somehow p ranked the whole game in early access

Traumerei: threatens every enemy before killing them

Mustang: cyber grind wave 500, doesn't know it's infinite, keeps playing (his favorite weapon is the red railgun)

Kallavan: "jahad no tame ni" fucking shotgun blasts himself for the glory of king jahad

Eduan: i'd fuck that enemy. and that one. damn y'all my bitches fr (favorite weapon is the blue railgun)

Jinsung Ha: can't believe you can punch your fucking bullets this is insane

Rachel: uses hex editor to edit save files, doesn't even try to p rank the levels after

White: activates cheats to have four arms and sharpshoots everything

Yasratcha: activates cheats to make enemies stop attacking him "that's right you fucking animal"

Phantominum: p-3 boss

Arie Hon: the last arm better be a fucking sword

King Jahad: developped the game

Jue Violet Grace: i wish there was a multiplayer option so i could kill other players

Hatz: the last arm better be a fucking sword

Akryung: downloads mods (fug activities)

Hwaryun: makes guides on youtube

Serena: "i'm giving up ultrakill" video on youtube after 20 minutes of prelude

Augusgus: makes constellations with coins

V: is the size 2 fish guy stuck on the island

Arlene: kills everything in limbo and chills on the green spaces

Enryu: never died, speedruns everything everyday

Wangwan: sandbox activities

[slimeclimbtime]

fractals and dominos' fan-selected soundtrack!

a long time ago you guys wanted me to drop the inspiration video game soundtracks that i associated with each district in fractals and dominos (like as if it were a video game), so here is the list and explanations as to why! heavy spoilers for the fic, so be warned!

DISTRICT ONE - NARDIS - OLYMPIA (CYTUS 2)

many of the OSTs are from Cytus 2 (specifically the Conner collection) and the elegance of this song, as well as the strong melody it has has a bit of a somber tone to it, kinda reflecting the struggles doha and mingyu are going through when possessed. it ends quietly too, like as if it were a quiet defeat when they got taken by mnet. overall a really strong start to the story!

DISTRICT TWO - LAUR - L 'ULTIMA CENA (CYTUS 2)

this fast-paced hard dance beat, quickly kicked off after the calm piano at the start, kinda reflects the double-sided-ness of daeul and junseo's abilities as well as their attempts to stick together that ended up getting them targeted by mnet in the first place. there are a couple moments of calm, indicating their struggle to break free, and a ticking watch, further pressing that the longer they're possessed, the worse they get. it shares that somberness of district one

DISTRICT THREE - SAKUZYO - IMPRINTING (CYTUS 2)

like district 2, it has a fast-paced hard dance beat as well, as well as a strong piano and violin line that gets quickly overtaken by the other electronic instruments in the background. considering seowon and woongki's attempts to stay in a delusional happiness, that overwhelming drown-out gets reflected here really well. also the title imprinting is really nice, a mark on how radically different their district is from the first two, as well as the way they try to rope zoom team into staying forever

DISTRICT FOUR - VILA - ABDUCTION (CYTUS 2)

with district 4 being the first district not in the city environment and down a member (hence the title of the ost), it's a great change to how dire the circumstances are and how dangerous things really are setting in. the menacing tone helps to add onto how strong and deadly jay is, and how desperate zoom team is to get ollie back.

DISTRICT FIVE - TEAM GRIMOIRE - APHASIA (CYTUS 2)

district 5, while taking place in a castle, ironically has the least orchestral song so far, adding onto the dissonance between the original battlefield and the one on the rooftop. the chaotic talking in the background, hardstyle beat, nonstop drum and heavy dissonance all add onto the chaos of the fight, with a monster being put into play for the first time. jiwoong and jongwoo are both extremely strong fighters and this reflects that well; had they been in possession longer or had stronger issues for mnet to take advantage of they could've been even more deadly

DISTRICT SIX - MASANORI AKITA - GEKKOUKA (CYTUS 2)

while district 6 doesn't really count as district since yujin was an outlier/defect, the calmer tone of this piece helps to add onto the strange beach environment and how yujin is different from the rest in how he's supposed to be saved. it also helps that the start of this ost is similar to the start of district 3's, a foreshadow for god-shattering mania :)

DISTRICT SEVEN - JOHTO ELITE FOUR: WILL (POKEMON MASTERS EX)

finally breaking away from cytus 2 for the district that actually makes use of the city around it. this particular pokemon theme is pretty menacing, yet still hopeful since zoom team is so close to the end and the win conditions seem easy enough... barring shanbin and matthews telekinesis powers, ofc. also i feel like this beat being much faster paced compared to previous osts helps to sell the whole racing aspect of the district. its a very huge tonal change

DISTRICT EIGHT - POWERLESS - DEUS EX MACHINA (CYTUS 2)

jumping back into cytus 2 with this song, this was the particular ost that kinda inspired the whole track in general. the heavy violin helps to represent hao while the electronic bass helps represent gunwook's more pragmatic approach (that is, using a fucking rifle). the choir adds onto the stakes, with this being a fight that involves trying to save a hostage while also take out the two possessed contestants. considering how action-centric this district is, it really adds onto the whole "this is one of the most important fights" point of this

DISTRICT NINE - TEAM GRIMOIRE - XIORC (CYTUS 2)

out of all the districts, this has the fastest beat, almost breakbeat pace, because of how urgent it is and how high the stakes are at this point. its a very violent and overwhelming piece since it manages to take out four of the zoom team easily, even though anthonny and krystian get purposefully let go. also adds on to how dangerous this district is, attacking the members' insecurities and with phanbin being forced to tap into mnet's possession to help hyunbeen and wumuti take down the district (and fun fact! ollie, wumuti, hyunbeen, and phanbin were unaffected as they had little to no negative opinions from the bp fanbase during the show)

DISTRICT TEN - RAGE AWAKENED (KINGDOM HEARTS 2)

with hui being the last district, and with how depressing his is compared to everyone else's, the somber violin and quiet near drum and bass beat give this district some extra sadness, with how easily hui gives up and how the goal changes from trying to attack him to keeping him safe long enough for mnet to interfere. it feels like a struggle to get to the finish line

FINAL BOSS - DARK EVE (BAYONETTA 3)

(THERE'S A TEN VID LIMIT SO I CAN'T POST THE EMBED BUT THE LINK IS IN THE TITLE)

this theme is pretty elegant and almost sad-sounding, but in a way that shows mnet's overshadowing power over everything, how it was the puppeteer behind everyone's struggles, really depicting how much rage in set between the members of zoom team versus the thing that created them yet destroyed them at the same time. also, of course, obligatory final boss choir

overall fnd has a very orchestral track, with the violin and piano being common appearances. fnd's track is a lot more cohesive than the one i had for god shattering mania due to the nature of their premises. glad i could share this with yall and thanks for reading this far and entertaining my aus :)

[shelbydelrey]

Cappuccino : What’s your middle name?, Mocha : Dream Job?, Caramel Frappe : Favorite video game?,

Thank you for sending an ask, Laur 🤗

☕ What’s your middle name? 

Luiza. It was also my greatgrandmother's middle name and it was supposed to be my first name in homage to her, since she was the woman that raised my father, but my mother's preference for Isabella ended up winning 😅

☕ Dream Job?

Comic book colorist. Filling up the black and white pages with colour sounds like a lot of fun and it's also challenging since there's a need to balance the author's creative vision and colour theory. I actually had the opportunity to graduate in graphic design but unfortunately it didn't concretize.

☕ Favorite video game?

I don't play video games and i never had the interest honestly. I love to watch youtubers suffer through gameplays though 😂 Markiplier and CDawgVA are two that comes to mind 😅

Send me a CAFE ASK!

[beyejun]

hi everyone this is laur (except im changing my alias to august) and i figured i'd do all of my muse announcements in one lil post <3

first of all, you might have noticed that i've k*lled alex. it wasn't a lack of muse so much as i felt that he didn't suit wannabe's premise as much as i'd hoped he'd evolve into. even after his closest friends were getting signed, he had no interest in being an idol so it was kinda a lost cause there... plus, i had wanted to bring yejun back since i dropped him about a year ago, and didn't want to break any rules, so... here we are now!

if u remember yejun you might also remember that i dropped him almost exactly a year ago bc of my terrible seasonal depression. well, i am happy to report that i am doing much better (so far) this year and regularly taking vitamin d makes a huge difference! so now the boy is here to stay.

very little changed about him, but i'll still do a quick recap under the cut!

a lot of this is copied-pasted from my last intro post on yejun... work smarter not harder aksjdhfas

tl;dr of any changes

i changed his history a bit so the last year+ was spent doing his military service; he's only recently returned in time to return to his studies this fall semester.

he's in @bejoomi's band! drummer (which is also a new skill).

tl;dr of his backstory

knew he wanted to pursue music professionally basically since middle school, however his parents are extremely opposed to the idea and would rather see him do something more “respectable” (aka something that he’ll actually make money at lol)

saved up his allowance to buy his own guitar and taught himself to play with the help of youtube because his parents said that if they were going to pay for instrument lessons, he’d have to learn violin or piano or something more “formal”… so as u can see as a child he was (respectfully) defiant and did his own thing anyway (also learned the drums somehow in this time)

he made a deal w his parents that if he could get scouted by an entertainment company by the time he graduated high school, he could pursue music. obviously, he is not a trainee or an idol, so that failed. so his end of the bargain was that he’d go to university for whatever they wanted instead.

he had to retake the exam once bc the first time he took it his scores were so bad so he started a year late and is currently in his sophomore year as an economics major. it’s still a mild disappointment to his parents since he has a brother who is a lawyer and the other is in med school, but it was the best program that yejun could get into.

needless to say. he hates economics. he’s doing his best but his motivation is at an all time low, he constantly feels burned out and tired, and honestly he’s probably depressed but he doesn’t know it bc he doesn’t think he’s “bad enough” to be “actually depressed” but he is just gaslighting himself honestly

interests and personality quirks

since starting economics school he’s slowly lost motivation to do anything that he used to do for fun, which unfortunately includes playing guitar. he hasn’t touched it in about a year… :( he is playing drums again tho

does the bedtime revenge thing where he stays up late when he really shouldn’t… he says it’s bc he doesn’t want to wake up and have to go to class

because he doesn’t sleep much at night he survives on a delicate balance between a caffeine addiction (he loves a good iced americano) and mid-day depression naps.

kinda hard to get him out and about these days… but that said he’s into video games, mostly team-based first person shooters, and is apparently a tank main. i don’t actually play any first person shooters so i have no idea of the details on this but he’s supposedly a decent player (nowhere near pro but able to be somewhat competitive in casual games)… when he’s staying up all night he’s probably playing games with his friends

also plays minecraft when he wants something slower paced… not particularly good at anything in it but he likes building his silly little house

oh by the way! he has an aunt who lives near his parents who visited often… she’d often make remarks about his chubby cheeks, call him fat and ugly, and after growing up hearing that constantly yejun honestly believes her

another fun (and by fun i mean decidedly unfun) tidbit is that he had a gf he was very serious about in his freshman yr of uni… it was a relatively short relationship but he genuinely thought he’d marry her. until she gave him chlamydia right after he came home from the military (he was going to propose too btw). turns out she was cheating! needless to say they broke up, yejun is now healthy after a round of antibiotics, and he doesn’t want to talk about her ever again. he tried a rebound or two to see if they’d cheer him up but they honestly made him feel worse so he ditched that idea pretty quickly… happy to stay single for now (supposedly)

plots & relationships

this boy… needs some friends in his life that’ll deal with his depressive tendencies and maybe push him out of his comfort zone. maybe a friend who keeps trying to set him up w other girls to help him find someone who actually makes him forget about his ex? or a friend who invites him out for coffee at least once a week just to make sure he gets out of the house for something other than classes sometimes… other cute ideas too pls i would like to put so much love into his life he has no choice but to get better

classmates too ofc… i dont expect anyone else to be an economics major but maybe they had some gen eds together? or were in the same freshman orientation and stayed in touch? i didn’t specify where he’s going but it’s not an arts school, so this is open for plotting out the details!

along w classmates… study buddies? they dont have to go to the same school or anything tbh they can just meet up at the same libraries, cafes, etc. and work on their own stuff… just having someone else around helps keep yejun on track a little bit better

high school friends too… he went to sopa thanks to the deal w his parents, so anyone he was close with then would’ve probably known about it and known what became of it… he’s a lot quieter and more subdued than he used to be so i wonder what your muse would think about that 🤔

i also do love some good antagonistic plots so maybe some old rivals who are happy to kick him while he’s down… alternatively rivals who miss his competition and want him back in the music/idol wannabe scene to help push them both

considered the idea of him having been in a band in high school with friends that’s since dissolved… so ex-bandmates might be cool

he's in dead calm but there's no rules that say he can't also play in another band as well! maybe someone should convince him to pick up the guitar again

[bexalex]

INTRO.

oops i'm already late but a quick intro while i have a chance!! hi everyone this is laur (@bejinyoung) again attempting a second muse because this dude spawned in my head a couple weeks ago and won't leave me alone!!!!

to be honest i haven't finished his bio yet so i'll put a quick tl;dr under the cut with the highlights and hopefully i can get some plots rockin' and rollin' with alex!

ps. this is a new blog so i'm stuck with the new post editor. please pray 4 me.

the history!

mom's a particularly cutthroat lawyer and dad is a former major league baseball player who was more or less babytrapped by mom while she was visiting her extended family in korea. due to conservative beliefs and values, he married her anyway and moved to canada with her to raise the baby (it's a girl!).

alex was also born in toronto, ontario (canada) and was more or less an accident. his mom really didn't want a second child, especially not one FOURTEEN years after her first, but due to conservative beliefs and values (there is a pattern here) she kept the baby (alex) anyway. that said, she was not a very affectionate mother. his dad, on the other hand, was fairly doting but not always present.

alex kinda grew up a little too independent. his sister didn't want much to do with him (what high schooler wants to deal with an infant anyway?), his dad was always busy, and his mom was distant at best, cold at worst.

side plot: alex at some point realized that he looked nothing like his father. and also not that much like his mother. while he's never dared to ask, he assumes he's the product of an affair. he can tell that there's no love left in his parents' marriage one way or the other, but they stay together due to conservative beliefs and values.

CW INJURY // like his dad, alex had a keen interest in baseball from a young age! he started out in little league and was quite the little talent. he continued to play until 8th grade; he made the junior varsity team (he passed the special test for underclassmen to play with high schoolers) but in an unfortunate accident in practice, he broke his femur. he's now fully healed, but whether it's physical or psychological his leg has never really felt the same. while he can walk and function normally in most of his daily life, it still aches with too much hard activity. the pain was bad enough that he had to give up his baseball career dreams.

while still initially recovering from said injury, alex was quite bored. he's always been competitive so he eventually fell into the wild world of video games. first person shooters in particular appealed to him. and he became quite good at them. this will be important later.

another side plot: his sister is married to @bexabbi's brother. alex was only invited to the wedding because people would ask questions if he wasn't.

somewhere halfway through high school, alex's dad decides he has had enough. he legally splits from his wife (she takes everything) but alex is old enough to tell the judge that he'd rather stay with his dad than his mom. his mother puts up a fight at first, if only just to spite her ex, but eventually she relents and dad gets sole custody. alex and dad move back to south korea a year later and alex finishes his schooling in seoul.

at some point, his prowess at fps games earns him a spot on an overwatch contenders team (the very same as @renxbe) as another dps. i actually don't know too much about games so bear with me here because i have no idea who he mained at the time, we will determine these details later. anyway, through a series of unfortunate events, alex's contract was not re-signed or extended and he ended up leaving overwatch entirely to join a valorant challengers team instead. he's still playing valorant professionally and streams on the side just for fun. his whole team is hoping to win the challengers league and become a franchised team in the Big international competitions &lt;3

his stream content is a lot of valo (again i dont know much so can't tell u who he mains rn) but he also does some other variety content.

anyway these days he's a creative writing major (mostly to spite his mother, who would've dropped dead if any of her kids weren't doctors or lawyers, etc.) and has vague plans to write a novel if streaming fizzles out for him. he doesn't currently have any particular interest in music but i'm hoping to give him some connections to change that!!

a little bit of personality info too:

i kinda consider him the guy asking the question "aren't you tired of being nice? don't you want to go ape shitt" and he is currently tired of playing nice and is going a bit ape shitt

not completely impulsive but definitely doesn't overthink so many things. sexuality in particular. he's not defining himself by any one label and is currently in an experimental stage? he's figuring out what he likes and his preferences at a pretty laidback pace and just kinda enjoying the experience.

sarcastic piece of shit. not exactly loud, but annoying as hell when he does speak up. i don't really know how to describe this vibe but just know that despite having nothing to contribute to any conversation, he was very demanding for my attention and to be brought to life in wannabe. he still has nothing to contribute to the conversation.

he sometimes acts like he doesn't care too much about school but he's academically very intelligent. he pretends he's taking creative writing because it's easy but he's secretly very interested in storytelling in unique ways; he thinks it'd be fun to use what he's learning to create some sort of arg or maybe even write a script for a video game someday? he's not entirely sure yet, he's a bit too unfocused to really commit to any one project. maybe he'll just be a boring novelist someday!

i don't have any particular plots in mind Yet and this post is already so long omg so i might try to get some ideas up in a separate post later! but for now! if anything piques your interest please let me know, leave a like, whatever you're up for and i'm so excited to get to plotting with the boy!

[alexhwriting]

Bloodborne: A Study of Environmental Narratives and Ludonarrative Harmony.

So I am finally adding more to this blog, beginning with the Bloodborne paper that I wrote following the streams that I did of the game last fall. Because of the sizes of these projects I'll be posting them in sections, just so I'm not battling Tumblr's word limit. I'll do my master's thesis this way next.

I. Introduction

Early scholarship in Video Game Studies wrestled with the very nature of games themselves: were they more narrative or ludic in nature? In his 2004 article “Game Design as Narrative Architecture,” Henry Jenkins suggests that the field of video game studies would benefit from a third element in the discussion of games, spatiality.[1] He claims that spatiality is something that has drawn people to stories since the time of questing myths, and that the spatial game, one in which space is utilized as part of the game experience, is an extension of this engaging mode.[2] Jenkins compares these in-game environments to amusement park rides, in that they replicate the atmosphere of the story.[3] For example, replicating the sounds and objects from a particular story, such as Pirates of the Caribbean or Star Wars to immerse and engage the player in what’s going on around them.[4] An example of this kind of spatiality can be seen in the game Bloodborne (2015), in the way that the game relies on exploration of the in-game environments for the character to engage with the game mechanics (which consists of fighting enemies).

Amy Green argues that the backbone of the gaming experience, which distinguishes it from the amusement park attraction, is an interactive component: agency.[5] Agency is a ludic component of the game: the player interacts with the story unfolding around them as an active participant in that story. Without consistent and active input from the player of a game, the narrative and game cannot progress. For Green, this agency also affects the space of the game and makes it, as she calls it, negotiated space.[6] By negotiated space, she explains that the story is not yet set completely in-stone, and the player retains some control of the meaning expressed by the experience.[7] If a book is the set-in-stone narrative, then video games are mostly finished books where the player can add in their own actions into their text as they play, akin to a Mad Libs story (though not necessarily comedic in intention).

Marie-Laure Ryan, speaking more generally about the experience of finding oneself invested in any story world, game or otherwise, discusses the way that space is reliant on narrative to elevate it from space to place.[8] By this, Ryan means that stories give the space of a story its meaning and therefore its status as a recognizable place instead of just a non-descript area where action occurs. For example, a city street is just a city street, but Time Square in New York City is a place because of the stories and impact that the particular place has. This idea of narrative making spaces important will become important as we see the intertwining of narrative and location throughout this paper.

Over the course of this paper, I will argue for the use of the phrase ludonarrative harmony, a term I use to indicate the successful blending of story and action to create an immersive experience for the player that goes beyond the ludic and narrative dichotomy. To illustrate this, I will be using Bloodborne, developed by FromSoftware in 2015, as an example of ludonarrative harmony, which occurs when a game’s story and mechanics both act together to strengthen the immersion for the player. As the player explores the game world at the behest of strange notes, is frequently rewarded with gruesome revelations about the world, and their character takes mechanical damage from the act of progression, the combination of ludonarrative harmony, and environmental storytelling comes to the fore. It is these elements that allow a game to create an immersive experience for the player, rather than just the ludic or narrative elements.

[1] Jenkins, “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” 121.

[2] Jenkins, 122.

[3] Jenkins, 124.

[4] Jenkins, 124.

[5] Green, Storytelling in Video Games. 36-37.

[6] Green, 37.

[7] Green, 37.

[8] Ryan, Narrative as Virtual Reality 2. 86.

[haylorinthewoods]

Laur you have to admit that Gold Rush/Eagles Dr intersection sign is a nod to Taylor even if Satellite isn’t about her. It’s not a real intersection too, it was specifically made for the MV.

Harry is a music buff, he absolutely has listened to Taylor’s albums post 1989. Personally I think he’s just continuing the musical game of tennis that Haylor play w/ each other (which I don’t think is bc they’re hung up romantically but bc it’s fun and inspires creativity)

I mean….maybe??? Like I said in my prev tags, I really don’t think Harry has much to do with the creative direction of his videos. Yes he’ll put small touches in, but I’m not ready to fully commit to this imaginary intersection being about Taylor.

[mischievouslittlecreature]

Hi, Laur!! For the oc game:

🎮 VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER — what are three of your oc's favorite hobbies?

💔 BROKEN HEART — what are three of your oc's negative traits?

❤️ RED HEART — what are three of your oc's positive traits?

😓 DOWNCAST FACE WITH SWEAT — is your oc open-minded or stubborn? are they inquisitive or do they prefer to keep to their bubble of knowledge?

Thank you for the ask, Flor! 🖤

I'm answering these for Lucy from the Love Me Where I'm Most Ruined series!

🎮 VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER — what are three of your oc's favorite hobbies?

She loves and is an extremely accomplish horseback rider, and takes her horses out whenever she gets the opportunity. She also loves wood whittling, often making little figurines to give as gifts to people. And she enjoys playing cards or chess.

💔 BROKEN HEART — what are three of your oc's negative traits?

Two faced. While she often makes an effort to be warm and friendly to everyone, that sometimes is not a reflection of her true feelings about them, and she is known for telling secrets told to her in confidence to Tommy.

Emotionally avoidant. She has horrible fears of being annoying or a burden, and often doesn't want to trouble others with her emotionally issues, including feelings like insecurity or depression. She prefers to just keep them to herself and not tell anyone how she is actually feeling, which of course then means that no one can reassure her or help her to feel better. This gets progressively worse for awhile as the series continues.

Ruthless. She is not merciful at all, and is particularly violent when she needs to be.

❤️ RED HEART — what are three of your oc's positive traits?

Loyal. I've always felt that Lucy's best and worst trait is her loyalty to Tommy. She loves and trusts him so much, and no matter what he does, she'll always support him and be by his side. But that also means that she ends up excusing away some of his terrible behavior, and dismissing some genuinely legitimate issues that some people have with him.

Friendly. She's a sweetheart, and is generally very thoughtful and emotionally intelligent. She tries her best to be nice to others.

Dependable. There's a reason Tommy trusts her more than anyone. She's competent in her job and can be relied on to get things done.

😓 DOWNCAST FACE WITH SWEAT — is your oc open-minded or stubborn? are they inquisitive or do they prefer to keep to their bubble of knowledge?

She's somewhere in between being open-minded and stubborn. Probably leaning a bit more towards stubborn. It depends on the topic.

She's incredibly inquisitive. She loves to learn, and is constantly reading books about new topics that interest her and seeking out new knowledge on things. Almost always, she's teaching herself a new language.

Details about OCs!

Send me an ask

[fedor-bortnik-digital-media-blog]

9. Interactivity and Immersion in Virtual Reality.

During one of my classes at my University, we discussed virtual reality - how it works, how it was created and its details generally. We discussed some theories that, for example, interaction can oppose immersive, or that too much of logic and game mechanics can ruin the immersion of the player. But how a combination of interaction and immersion can affect a virtual game? What would be the effects of that?

During the class, I got curious by a quote from Marie-Laure Ryan, where she states that “The aesthetic criteria of interactive drama will not be those of classical drama; the future of the genre will be as a game to be played and an action to be lived, not as a spectacle to be watched. [...] will this involvement be a source of aesthetic pleasure—will the game, in other words, be worth playing at all?” (Ryan 2003: 328). I wondered how this quote could work in some interesting VR titles, since both interactivity and immersion have a major role in virtual reality.

While this quote works smoothly for a VR game called Half-Life: Alyx (2020), where you play as Alyx Vance, who has the objective to save her father - you directly interact with the story and with the characters around you. Moreover - almost every entity in the game is interactable, the characters will react to some of your actions (like finding and wearing a helmet, or trying to close the elevators when a hostile fraction tries to capture you). In this medium - you play the game, and the user is continuously aware that the world around him is ‘an attraction’. This can be felt during some moments in the game, when you use a game menu, get a notification, or have subtitles for the dialogue - all these factors remind you that you are inside a virtual game.

However, if we look at a different game, called Into The Radius (2019), we see quite a different picture.

This time, in this game we play as a nameless character, who explores an isolated and destroyed world because of an unknown event. In this game, the main story is told through specific locations and by an ambient voice, once a player progresses through them. The user will have to listen, see and analyse all the visual and sound information they get if they desire to survive and progress in this game. The world will also not wait for the player to do something - it works on its own rules: Days will become nights, anomalies will reset, monsters will travel around locations, and anomalies will happen. The player can still find the story behind the locations, and events of past and present in traditional ways - such as reading notes and listening to tapes, which can be found by looting throughout the map. Into The Radius (2019) remains one of my favourite VR titles because of the way how the authors combine the immersion and interaction, by quickly teaching the player simple and intuitive controls and letting them use all human senses to gather information about the world and environment they are in.

In the end, I believe that it is important what developers are trying to pursue with their projects, since immersion in a virtual world is a very complicated factor. Too much logic or game mechanics can ruin a virtual game immersion since it can distract the player from the experience. However, a smart, intuitive design of a video game can help the developers push the limits further and develop interesting mechanics, that would make the player even more engaged. This can be said with the immersion as well, since by making virtual creatures with a wrong or simply improper design can disconnect the user from the experience. So why not use both the immersion and interactivity together?

Reference: 

CM Games. (2019) Into The Radius [Video game]. CM Games. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1012790/Into_the_Radius_VR/

Valve. (2020) Half-Life: Alyx [Video game]. Valve. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/546560/HalfLife_Alyx/

Ryan, Marie Laure, (2003). Narrative as Virtual Reality. The John Hopkins University Press.

[ponnilavanmuthuramalingam]

Academic Blog Post 9 : Structures of Interactive narratives

On the topic of narrative theory, I would like to talk about the path structures of interactive narratives and their usage in various known media objects.

Path structures of interactive narratives : Analysis

The path structure for interactive narrratives as classified in Mary Laure Ryan’s book Narrative as Virtual Reality 2 consists of three types, The complete graph ,The Network and The Tree. These structures are classified based on the narrative cohesiveness in the stories

The Complete graph

The complete graph is a narrative structure where all the story nodes are connected and the reader has complete freedom of navigation for the reader since the structure allows a free shuffling of text . This type of a narrative can be seen in the game Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor in the form of 'Nemesis' system where the antagonists in the game, the orcs, are not just the regular nameless NPC's who are cannon fodder to the protagonist but a living society with an unstable foundation internal conflicts and power struggles.

Other than fighting with the protagonist, they fight amongst each other to reach top ranks of the orc society. They have their own weakness and strengths which are reflected in gameplay. This adds an additional direction to the narrative of the game where an orc that might have barely survived an earlier encounter with the protagonist might come after him in revenge.

The Nemesis system creates an interconnected web of stories where every character have their own physical and mental traits allowing every playthrough to be memorable and the clostest implementation of the the complete graph narrative structure.

The Network :

This type of narrative has limited freedom in the readers navigation. An example for this would be the critically acclaimed action RPG Elden Ring.

Elden Ring consists of an intricate and deep lore of the Lands Between, a fictional world ruled over by several demigods. It was previously ruled by an Immortal queen who guarded an Elden Ring, a physical concept of order. When the ring was shattered and each shard of it went into the possession of the demigods. The player is a Tarnished, one of a group of exiles returning after the shattering. The goal of being the player repairing the elden ring and becoming the elden lord.

The story has six possible endings and based on the players actions in the game they can receive one of these 6 endings. But Elden ring gives the player a point of no return beyond which they are locked into one of the 6 endings. on reaching this point the player has to do certain actions like obtaining a certain item or defeating a particular enemy in order to reverse their progress to a certain extent and get a different ending.

The Tree :

This type of narrative has branching paths but is uni directional with no option to return to a previous point.

A Prime example of this would be The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The players play as Geralt, a legendary witcher in the search for his adopted daughter Ciri, who is being pursued by otherworldly tribe known as the Wild Hunt.

The adventure consists of the main storyline along with additional side quests. The storyline has several different combination of several different endings based on the players decisions in game. The main storyline starts to branch at set number of points during the story and the combination of decisions made by the player at these points influence the final ending of the story.

In conclusion, I find that video games can be a versatile tool with regards to storytelling, using many of its constituent parts to tell multiple narrative types to players in an engaging manner.

References :

Ryan, M.-L. (2015). Narrative as Virtual Reality 2 : Revisiting Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor . 2014. Windows, Playstation, XBox [Game]. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment: Worldwide.

Elden Ring . 2022. Windows, Playststation, XBox [Game]. Bandai Namco Entertainment: Worldwide.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. 2015. Windows, Playststation, XBox [Game]. CD Projekt: Worldwide.