Katie Whitlock, "Beyond Linear Storytelling: Augusto Boal Enters Norrath"

(In Digital Gameplay)

- Player as performer in virtual world
- Game narratives are still simplistic, formulaic
- Crawford: "designers" vs storytellers
- Ignoring interactivity in lieu of linearity
- MMORPGs as the most narratively successful -> link to Augusto Boal's theatre theory
- Common features of Forum theatre/MMOs: player's time commitment determines length of experience; change and innovation within the game; continual changes; fluid experience; existing guidelines for characters and experiences
- Spectators assume a character, intervening as spect-actors
- Open forum of debate and dialogue
- Begin with a familiar conflict scenario, open up to improvisation
- Avatar as costume for spect-actor
- Everquest as a social, economic, political world
- Clearly defined world, existing social parameters (community)
- Racial tensions in EQ
- Character class (ie: rogue, warrior) does not in any way equal socioeconomic class! (Whitlock is not the first to conflate these two, and it makes no sense to do so.)
- "Ideal place" for Forum-style debate and dialogue (is it?)
- Character creation within parameters, step into any existing role
- Characters "reflect" creators task and psyche (this seems to contradict the previous statement about stepping into any role...)
- Spect-actor directly intervenes in the story
- Quests as "narrative frames" that can succeed or fail based on player action
- Instancing as different versions/performances of a scenario
- Player-driven economy
- "Rehearse revolution" or "rehearse life" through an active relationship to(simulated) models/systems
- The Sims Online as even closer to Boal (real-world, modern setting)
- Do MMOs really try to solve community problems or address political conflicts? Whitlock is unconvincing on this point.
- Importance of physical presence to Boal (Whitlock links this to EyeToy and Dance Dance Revolution... but these are offline games, so where does this leave MMOs?)
- Is a virtual, customized avatar enough to stand in for physical presence?
- Ubiquitous games that bleed into real life
- Whitlock's conclusions seem to leave MMOs behind. All of her arguments and links to Boal, it seems, would be much stronger if applied to offline games or even non-digital games such as tabletop role-playing games. She spends the whole chapter trying to explain that MMOs are similar to Boal's Forum theatre (or is she saying that they would be a good venue for Forum theatre? It's really not very clear), but I'm just not buying it, and it seems like she isn't either.