Category: Interaction S19

DANGER:  SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

“People think there’s one reality, but there’s loads of em all snaking off like roots, and what we do on one path affects what happens on other paths. Time is a construct.”

Bandersnatch is a 2018 Netflix sci fi/ horror film that is a part of the fantastic Black Mirror series. Though it is a film it is also a choose your own adventure game. You, the viewer, make certain decisions for Stefan, the protagonist, starting with what kind of cereal he should have for breakfast.

Stefan is a young game developer from the 80s, creating a choose your own adventure based video game himself that he has titled ‘Bandersnatch’ after the book it was based on. Colin, another game developer and a hero of Stefan’s reveals to him that his own life is like a choose your own adventure game, his fate decided by the smallest of decisions.

What makes the interaction in Bandersnatch so brilliant is that it is entirely self aware. You, the viewer on Netflix is a part of the story as the one who is pulling the strings on the protagonist. As Stefan ruminates on Colin’s words, he becomes aware of you, the viewer’s presence and role in his fate as he realizes he no longer has control over his decisions. This is most convincing in the moment in which he actively resists the decision picked by the viewer. The moment of resistance to it draws attention to the own player’s agency, something that we tend to take for granted when playing games.

Bandersnatch’s drawing of the viewer’s agency as the player into the narrative is one of the most effective breaks of the fourth wall I have experienced.

“There’s a cosmic flowchart that dictates where you can and where you can’t go. I’ve given you the knowledge, I’ve set you free.”

The game One Night Ultimate Werewolf has its players bluffing and lying in order to win ( sort of like mafia).

At the beginning of the game each player is given a card. One or more players are werewolves and the rest are villagers. Each villager has an action that they perform during the ‘night’.

As soon as each player knows what they are, all players must close their eyes, only opening them to perform an action as instructed by the voice on the accompanying app during the ‘night’. Cards are stolen, swapped and spied on and when every action has been performed all the players ‘wake up’.

Now the real game begins. The players have 5 minutes to figure out who the werewolves among them are in order to vote on who to ‘kill’. The main interaction consists of discussion amongst the players as to who is trustworthy and whose story checks out. This stage can get pretty raucous and tense. But you never really know anyone’s true identity until after the voting and the cards are revealed.

Five whole minutes of the game are spent with the players talking it out. What I love about this game is how it has everyone in suspicion of each other which underlies the whole process of the interactions between them. Players band together, try to decide who to trust, bluff (double bluff and triple bluff), test other players to see if their story checks out, trick each other into revealing important information, look for inconsistencies in each other’s stories, double cross each other etc. Not everyone is who they claim to be and you decide who you can trust.

Here is an example of a game…

I really like the interaction between a cat-lover (human) and a cat because when such a person sees a cat, a giant smile instantaneously appears on the person’s face regardless of how the person has been feeling. The cat-lover goes up to the cat and begins patting the cat. Depending on how amiable the cat is, the cat either lets the person pat him/her or simply run away. I’ve seen my cat-lover friends talk to cats as if they are talking to a baby. They would talk nicely in a very high-pitched voice and place their face close to the cat. Although I do like cats, I am not a fan of petting wild cats, and so watching the cat-lovers interact in a way they do with the cats are amusing.

One of the few first-person-shooter games that I truly enjoyed and thought was brilliantly made is “Borderlands 2.” The bold-line-style artwork, huge collection of different forageable loot, and funny collection of quests makes the game endlessly enjoyable to play but what makes the game truly beautiful are the characters. The first NPC you interact with in the game is this robot named CL4P-TP, or Claptrap for convenience. The robot is, as the name ironically implies, overly enthusiastic and an endless talker. Claptrap has this iconic post-apocalyptic WALL-E similarity to it which just adds to the story and the artwork in general.

What makes the robot a true artwork is its personality. Constantly spewing comedy and dark satire makes it absolutely not seem robotic at all. The voice is kind of artificial but what is be said really give Claptrap the personality of a real character, truly an ideal NPC. The first interaction with the player is right after waking up in game. The player doesn’t really know what to do and just explores the frozen wasteland surroundings a bit, just to find this chatterbox robot come up to them. Instantly chatting and cracking jokes about be lonely and being a dysfunctional robot, immediately snaps the player into the present. Without any prior background, the player is placed into a comfortable scenario where they are being guided to the right location and helped with instructions.

Usually the initial instructional segments of games are blatantly obvious and boring. They are usually filled with simple tutorials and tasks that the player probably already knows. This tutorial is completely different, the player doesn’t even realize that they are being taught the controls and rules of the game because the hilarious robot is talking the entire time. Making jokes about the surroundings and about the player’s actions, being incredibly self-deprecating about being a lonely robot, talking about its intent to join the resistance so that it can get back at the villain who stopped its production line (making it lonely because it now has not friends). The chit-chat that seems totally nonsensical and like blabber actually turns out to be incredibly informative about the game’s storyline and background.

The NPC immediately, without question, states itself as the player’s friend and helper. Additionally Claptrap talks about itself and its history of creation. Topics that are obviously only possible for a non-human being but at the same time feels oddly personal. Claptrap helps, chats, cracks jokes, instructs, his informative, and has a personality which all do not match to its flimsy little robotic body. The character continues to stay by the player’s side for most of the game but the first interaction is what really gives a connection and convinces the player that there is a deep storyline within the game.

Blog about a particular interaction that you like (between two human beings, a human and non-human, an artist and their audience, within a game or other media experience, etc.). Be prepared to discuss them in class.