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Identity Transformation and Agency in Digital Narratives and Story Based Games

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Identity Transformation and Agency in Digital Narratives and Story Based Games Identity Transformation and Agency in Digital Narratives and Story Based Games by Joshua Glen Tanenbaum M.A. (Interactive Arts and Technology), Simon Fraser University, 2008 B.A., University of Redlands, 2002 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology Faculty of Communication, Art, and Technology Joshua Glen Tanenbaum 2015 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2015 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for “Fair Dealing.” Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. Approval Name: Joshua Tanenbaum Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title of Thesis: Identity Transformation and Agency in Digital Narratives and Story Based Games Examining Committee: Chair: Steve DiPaola, Associate Professor Alissa N. Antle Senior Supervisor Associate Professor Jim Bizzocchi Co- Supervisor Associate Professor Dene Grigar Supervisor Associate Professor, Digital Technology and Culture Program, Washington State University Richard Smith Internal Examiner Professor, Communications, SFU Margaret MacKey External Examiner Professor, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta Date Defended/Approved: March 13, 2015 ii Partial Copyright Licence iii Ethics Statement iv Abstract In this dissertation I propose a reimagining of two of the central pleasures of digital media: Agency and Transformation. The first of these pleasures – Agency – is a concept that has received significant attention in the discourse around games and storytelling. The second pleasure – Transformation – has received comparatively little deep investigation. In this work I will first undertake to map the territory of the discourse surrounding these two central concepts, returning first to the foundational work of Janet Murray (Murray, 1997), and then expanding my discussion to incorporate a wide range of theoretical perspectives from the different disciplines surrounding game studies. I argue that agency has been systematically misconstrued within the digital games and interactive digital storytelling communities in ways that overlook the core pleasure of agentic action within a narrative. To reframe agency, I draw on theories of communication and speech act theory to build a new understanding of how the pleasures of agency operate within a participatory narrative. This new approach to agency illuminates the ways in which the pleasures of enacting narratively meaningful moments in a game are equal to or greater than the pleasures of unrestricted action in a simulated world. I then turn my attention to transformation. I argue that understanding the pleasures of transformation can profoundly alter how we imagine, analyse, and design digital narratives. In order to build a robust theory of transformation, I turn to a field of study where identity transformation is a central concern: the dramatic arts. Drawing heavily on theories from Method acting, I identify a core poetics of transformation for digital stories. This new understanding of transformation highlights the importance of external frameworks of meaning (such as narrative scripts, rules, and goals) in guiding and supporting the enactments of a player in a story. I ground these two theoretical lenses in a close reading of the Mass Effect trilogy of story based games, from which I derive a framework of design poetics for digital narrative. Keywords: Digital Narrative; Game Studies; Agency; Transformation; Hermeneutics; Dramatic Arts v Dedication For Karen, (soon-to-be) mother of my child and companion and collaborator in all things. vi Acknowledgements A work of this size is an incredibly isolating and personal creation, but it’s also the product of a community of scholarship and a network of support. I’m perpetually indebted to the family, friends, colleagues, and mentors who have kept me sane through most of this process and listened to me rave when sanity wasn’t a possibility anymore. I’m deeply thankful to the cohort of students and researchers at the School of Interactive Arts + Technology, whose perspectives and insight shaped my thinking in countless, indescribable ways: Allen Bevans, Nis Bojin, Lorna Boschman, Kristin Carlson, Greg Corness, Ying Deng, Audrey Desjardins, Evan Dickenson, Milena Droumeva, Wendy Foster, Natalie Funk, Kirsten Johnson, David “Jhave” Johnston, Jo Jorgenson, Elizabeth LaPensee, Aaron Levisohn, Diego Maranan, Michelle Nilsson Levisohn, Anna Macaranas, Maryam Maleki, Angela Melgaard, David Milam, Vicki Moulder, Dinara Moura, Kevin Muise, Michael Nixon, Johnny Rogers, Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo, Roham Sheikholeslami, Jack Stockholm, Jeremy Owen Turner, Ben Unterman, Jeffrey Ventrella, Sijie Wang, Jillian Warren, Huaxin Wei and Veronica Zammitto. I’m grateful to my extended family of colleagues and collaborators who have taught, supported, encouraged, and inspired me: Dominic Arsenault, Jeffrey Bardzell, Shaowen Bardzell, Timothy Burke, Tom Calvert, James Carrott, Mark Chen, Sharon Chu, Elizabeth Churchill, Kate Compton, Mia Consalvo, Chris Crawford, Drew Davidson, Julian Dibbell, Steve DiPaola, Paul Dourish, Chris Eaket, Eric Ellis, Corvus Elrod, Jacob Garbe, Isa Gordon, Gillian Hayes, Garnet Hertz, Ian Horswill, Katherine Isbister, Hiroshi Ishii, Eric Kabisch, Aaron Kashtan, Jofish Kaye, Squinky Kiai, Noam Knoller, Elizabeth Lawley, Jason Lewis, Michael Mateas, Josh McCoy, Joshua McVeigh-Schultz, Jay Melican, Janet Murray, Bonnie Nardi, David Nguyen, Celia Pearce, Cindy Poremba, Francis Quek, Matt Ratto, Aaron Reed, Daniela Rosner, Benjamin Samuel, Thecla Schiphorst, Tawny Schlieski, Magy Seif El Nasr, Mei Si, Bart Simon, Gillian Smith, Anne Sullivan, T.L. Taylor, David Thue, Andre van der Hoek Janet Vertesi, Ron Wakkary, Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Amanda Williams, and Moses Wolfenstein. I’m also indebted to the efforts of an extraordinary and largely anonymous community of fans and volunteers who collectively create and maintain the Mass Effect Wiki online, vii without whom I would have been lost at sea many times during the writing of this dissertation. My parents, Ronald and Annette: your support and encouragement throughout the odyssey of graduate research has never wavered, and I cannot express how much I love you and appreciate the opportunities that you have provided me throughout my life. To my chosen family, David Leitch, Laura Wimberley, Spring Strahm, and Ian Luster, you have opened the door, broken the ice, and illuminated the path. You have been role models, inspirations, bastions of strength, and the finest friends anyone could hope to have. I have been blessed with unparalleled mentorship in my scholarly career. I am deeply indebted to the intellectual generosity and support of my external examiner Margaret Mackey and my “internal external” examiner Richard Smith: thank you for taking the time to engage with my work, for pushing me in interesting directions, and for contributing your time and expertise to this project. My third committee member Dene Grigar has provided remarkable insight from the world of electronic literature, elevating my understanding and challenging me to examine some long held assumptions about the field. My two senior supervisors Jim Bizzocchi and Alissa Antle have guided me and encouraged me and challenged me in ways that beggar the imagination. Thank you Jim for always pushing me when I needed to be pushed and for trusting me when I needed to take some risks: you are my intellectual father in many ways and it has been my honor and privilege to work with you. Thank you Alissa for stepping in when I was flailing and needed help and for teaching me what it means to be rigorous and interdisciplinary at the same time: your example will forever inspire me as I negotiate the murky waters of my academic career. Finally, Karen Tanenbaum: you make it all worth it! You make me excited to take on new adventures and challenges and you keep me honest when that excitement carries me away. You are unique, brilliant, intense, and inspiring and I can’t wait to see how our next magnificent collaboration turns out! viii Table of Contents Approval .............................................................................................................................ii Partial Copyright Licence .................................................................................................. iii Ethics Statement ...............................................................................................................iv Abstract ............................................................................................................................. v Dedication .........................................................................................................................vi Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... vii Table of Contents ..............................................................................................................ix List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiii List of Figures.................................................................................................................
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