While researching theories to use for our group's digital cyberdrama project in Second Life, I found myself constantly referring to Glassner’s Interactive Storytelling and the Janet Murray essays from the First Person text for inspiration.
I kept reminding myself and the members of our group of the importance of plot and the three-act form discussed in Glassner's Interactive Storytelling. I found Glassner’s Chapter 3 on plot, as well as Chapter 8 on structure, to be key.
I kept thinking that the unfolding events in our group's digital story had to remain true to the three-act elements of complication, development, and resolution. We had to have a coherent beginning, middle and end. We needed conflict, development and ultimately resolution in order for our attempt at cyberdrama to be successful.
Also, I found that it was important for us to keep in mind Janet Murray’s theory of cyberdrama. Murray believes that the computer is the perfect medium in which to attempt cyberdrama. Murray’s elements of cyberdrama, immersion, agency and transformation, were important for us to follow as well.
Our first challenge as a group was agreeing on story and plot ideas. We met in real life. We met online in Second Life. We realized that each of us contributed in our own creative and individual ways from script writing to research to taking creative photos in SL. Everyone within the group contributed. Ultimately, we were able to converge the technology of our computers and our experiences within SL to produce this cyberdrama.
The initial plot of our story began as a take off on Tarantino's film Kill Bill. The Kill Bill idea then morphed and mixed with elements of Alice in Wonderland. Suddenly, the creative juices were flowing. and we, as a group converging as a TechArt class and trying to converge SL and story narrative. It also probably helped that we were five pissed off chicks who were ready to hunt and kill our only male classmate, Will, who just happened to not be in class that night.
Overall, the experience with the cyberdrama project in SL has been very positive.
I have to admit that I am not a big fan of group projects. (I have had a couple of bad experiences with them here at Macon State.) But, I have to admit, the six of us in the TechArt class worked quite well together as a group.
Working on the SL project has definitely peeked my curiosity about machinima. I have been researching it online and have attempted to capture some film images. I have gotten Fraps and have been playing around with trying to capture filmed images within SL. I can see where working on this cyberdrama Techart project could lead to me possibly exploring a machinima project in the future.
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