TRANSMEDIAL UNIVERSES CHARTING THE HEURISTICS OF MEDIA CONSTELLATIONS Sjors Martens Sjors Martens Transmedial Universes Charting the Heuristics of Media Constellations Master thesis Sjors Martens 3614824 RMA Media and Performance Studies Supervisors: Dr.M.J. Kattenbelt Prof. Dr. Joost Raessens Cover by Wouter Martens. Character design by Ubisoft. © 2015 by Sjors Martens All rights reserved Contents Figure Credits v Abstract vii Acknowledgements viii Introduction: Gazing upon the Stars The Discovery of a Universal Trend 1 1 Connecting the Dots The Playful Ontology of Media Constellations 13 What in the World? – Formative Universe Characteristics 15 The Ontology of Sicartian Play 22 Playing the Universe – Interrelations of Universe Characteristics 27 2 To Infinity and Beyond Additive Comprehension in and Beyond ASSASSIN’S CREED 31 Comprehension Revisited 33 “I have so many questions” – Canalised Additive Comprehension 37 Parallel Worlds - Problematizing Additive Comprehension 50 3 Colossal Cosmic Powers Agency in Transmedial Universes 57 The Mantles of Worldly Agency 59 Killing by the Book – Agency in the IP Universe 62 Collective Creation: Curated and Negotiated Universes 73 Conclusion - The Edge of the Universe Finding that Proper Restaurant 85 Works Cited 91 iii iv Figure Credits Fig. 1 (p.1): “Assassin’s Creed II Third Person Ending.” Assassin’s Creed II. Ubisoft Montreal. 2015. Author’s Screenshot. Fig. 2 (p.1): “Assassin’s Creed II Direct Address.” Assassin’s Creed II. Ubisoft Montreal. 2015. Author’s Screenshot. Fig. 3 (p.38): Ubisoft Montreal. “Apple of Eden.” Assassin’s Creed Wiki. 21st April 2013. Screenshot. Accessed 27th July 2015. Fig. 4 (p.39): Kerschl, Karl, Cameron Stewart, and Nadine Thomas. Assassin’s Creed: The Fall. Montreal: Ubiworkshop, 2011: 19/8. Fig. 5 (p.39): Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominique. “Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne.” 1806. Louvre Museum, Paris. Wikimedia Commons. Oil on Canvas. Accessed 27th July 2015. Fig. 6 (p.40): Ubisoft Montreal. “ACI Animus 1.28.” Assassin’s Creed Wiki. 21st June 2012. Screenshot. Accessed 27th July 2015. Fig. 7 (p.42): Ubisoft Montreal. “Abs. Room.” Assassin’s Creed Wiki. 21st October 2012. Screenshot. Accessed 27th July 2015. Fig. 8 (p.44): Monette, Michael. “Assassin’s Creed 2 Omega Glyph.” supercheats.com, n.d. Screenshot. Accessed 27th July 2015. Fig. 9 (p.47): “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Multiplayer Glitch.” Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Ubisoft Montreal. 2015. Author’s Screenshot. Fig. 10 (p.54): “Batman Suits Arkham City All Skins.” clashofclanshackstrategy.com. n.d. Web image. Accessed 27th July 2015. v Fig. 11 (p.55): “Continuum of subcreation and multi-author heuristics.” Author Creation. Fig. 12 (p.61): “Overview of universal agency.” Author Creation. Fig. 13 (p.64): “Assassin’s Creed I Cinematic Prompt Glitch.” Assassin’s Creed. Ubisoft Montreal. 2015. Author’s Screenshot. Fig. 14 (p.64): “Assassin’s Creed I Cinematic Prompt Result.” Assassin’s Creed. Ubisoft Montreal. 2015. Author’s Screenshot. Fig. 15 (p.64): Gopinadh, Gautham. “Assassin’s Creed Unity Eagle Dive.” YouTube. 14th March 2015. Screenshot. Accessed 27th July, 2015. Fig. 16 (p.68): Kerschl, Karl, Cameron Stewart, and Nadine Thomas. Assassin’s Creed: The Fall. Montreal: Ubiworkshop, 2011: 7/1-4. Fig. 17 (p.68): Kerschl, Karl, Cameron Stewart, and Nadine Thomas. Assassin’s Creed: The Fall. Montreal: Ubiworkshop, 2011: Appendix. Fig. 18 (p.81): Freckenberg, Hans. “Der Ritter.” 1540-1543. theslenderman.wikia.com. 16th September 2011. Wood Carving. Accessed 27th July 2015. Fig. 19 (p.81): Freckenberg, Hans. “Das Kind.” 1540-1543. theslenderman.wikia.com. 16th September 2011. Wood Carving. Accessed 27th July 2015. Fig. 20 (p.84): “Continuum of explicated and negotiated possibility heuristics.” Author Creation. Fig. 21 (p.87): “Subcreation and multi-author plotted against possibility.” Author Creation. vi Abstract In the current convergent popular media culture transmedial universes proliferate as profitable strategy. This thesis introduces transmedial universes as imaginary overarching settings linking together multiple narratives spread over different media. These entities require an active audience to be inferred from oblique references. Academic and industrial attention to these entities is solely directed to what I call ‘the essentialist take’ on universes. This sees universes as solely corporate constructs that are carefully thought out as a strategy to ensure that the active audience consumes multiple products. It is falsely presented as being the essence of transmedial universes.The predominantly economic focus ignores new forms of audience agency and other ways to link media together. What is lacking is an understanding of the formal characteristics of these universes, their possible interrelations and the heuristics required to study different forms. In this thesis I offer three heuristic models of transmedial universes that can structure holistic analyses of these complex media entities as a solution. This solution comes in the shape of the intellectual property, the curatorial and the concept universe. By using play, as defined by Miguel Sicart, as epistemological tool different configurations of universe characteristics are scrutinised. The cases of ASSASSIN’S CREED, Batman, and Slenderman help to distinguish aforementioned heuristic models of the intellectual property, curatorial, and concept universe respectively. The evocation of universes and the interaction of the player with them shows the different structures possible and the most stand-out elements related to them, based on the freedom of play. The main difference between universes is found within the focus on either a subcreated, normative world or a multi-author negotiated multiverse. Additionally, what is considered possible within the universe can be a process of negotiation or an explicated certainty. As a phenomenon that will keep expanding like the products it entails, the analytical flight plan created here is a basic academic need. Keywords: Transmedia, World building, Possible Worlds, Play, Subcreation, Forensic Fans, Convergence, Agency, Additive comprehension, Carnivalesque vii viii Acknowledgements Exploring the universe, let alone multiple variations of the universe, would be a foolish endeavour to undertake alone. Explorer of strange worlds par example, the USS Enterprise, has at least 428 members of crew. This thesis is more modest in scope, though. While it does partly venture ‘where no man has gone before,’ it remains firmly rooted on Earth and especially in Earthen popular media culture. This obviously results in a high amount of mandatory pretentious space puns, for which I apologise. Still, I am similarly indebted to many others on board this thesis ship. In the official channels, four professors have contributed to this final product. Principally, I want to thank dr. Chiel Kattenbelt, my supervisor, for his patience, philosophical insights, and editing and writing tips. Before that, prof. William Uricchio set me on the right track by helping me find the overarching entity in my dispersed research interest. In a way, he showed me what universe I work in (Sorry). Next to that prof. Joost Raessens and the GAP-seminar group have helped me streamline my approach to play. Finally, ITU Copenhagen’s Hans-Joachim Backe deserves a thank you for his critical insights into transmedia. Outside the official channels, this work has been long in the making. Functioning as a consolidation that has influenced most of my research at Utrecht University, many people have directly and indirectly contributed, whether through a passing remark or constructive criticism. My fellow students at ITU Copenhagen have inspired the more videogame aspects, while my BA colleagues have indulged, both formally and informally, in many of the other media. Thank you to my fellow RMA students for keeping up my motivation. Especially thank you to Esther van Ede for her help with formatting, something I am still hopeless in, to Alexander Hadziioannou for his critical comments and to my brother for the cover image. Finally, I really appreciated my family and friends’ patience for putting up with my near-obsessive dealing with this thesis. Together, you helped me chart this final academic frontier (again, I am truly sorry, but it must be done). ix x Introduction: Gazing upon the Stars The Discovery of a Universal Trend Kill the Pope to get the answers. With this assignment in mind the player of the 2009 game ASSASSIN’S CREED II (Ubisoft Montreal) sets player-character Ezio Auditore to the task of bringing the pain to Pope Rodrigo Borgia. This grants Ezio access to a hidden crypt below the Sistine Chapel inside which the deity Minerva appears (figure 1). Instead of addressing Ezio, Minerva turns towards the camera to look the player square in the eye. She ignores the more than confused Ezio and instead addresses ‘the one in control’ (figure 2). The deity starts to foreshadow events from subsequent instalments from the ASSASSIN’S CREED franchise. She also unveils a great amount of backstory to the franchise’s struggle between Templars and Assassins, which historicises the game’s events outside of the Renaissance Italy setting of part two. Ezio, to whom Minerva’s talk of solar flares and technological annihilation are black magic, can only choose what visualisation to look at for the information is clearly directed at the player. Deities, a primeval advanced civilization, an impending earthly cataclysm, a perpetual historical struggle between