I successfully defended my thesis today, which means I can finally post what I hope will be the final draft online. (I may still need to make some formatting changes for the library, but the content is now set.) I probably had too much fun at the defense, given that I was supposed to be defending my work, however the mood in the room remained one of congenial academic inquiry, rather than one of hostility.  There was this sense that we were all exploring the problem space together, and that the conferring of a Masters degree was just a happy formality that emerged naturally from our conversation about Interactive Narrative.  I am pleased with the outcome, and am grateful to the contributions of all of my committee members!

So for those of you who dare, I present:

Believability, Adaptivity, and Performativity: Three Lenses for the Analysis of Interactive Storytelling

by Joshua Tanenbaum

Abstract

In this thesis I present a methodology for performing analyses of Interactive Narrative experiences, and use this technique both to explicate a particular game—The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion—and to demonstrate the utility of approaching the game via three different analytical perspectives.  This methodology is a form of close reading, a technique which was developed in literary theory for the explication of narrative experiences, with roots in earlier epistemological practices such as theological exegesis and hermeneutics.  I have focused this thesis on examining and clarifying a technique for reading and explicating these experiences. Interactive Narratives are problematic due to their indeterminate nature and often unwieldy scope; in this thesis I propose a solution to these two problems.  My solution takes the form of a series of constrained readings, which I argue allows me to productively explicate specific aspects of my play experiences.  By using the notion of analytical lenses to filter my playings, I hope to simultaneously overcome issues of indeterminacy by narrowing the focus of my playing to observations of specific phenomena within the game, and also address issues of scope by reducing the undifferentiated experience of the game to a series of more readily assimilated sub-experiences. I believe that the method demonstrated within this thesis has utility for theorists of Interactive Narrative and Games, and I contend that the lenses presented herein provide three good examples of possible “constrained close readings”. 

 

Keywords:

Interactive Narrative; Game Studies; Close Reading; Believability; Adaptivity; Performativity

Subject Terms:

Storytelling; Computer games; Literature and technology; Belief, Problem of (Literature); Improvisation (Acting); Adaptive computing systems