Myst and Framing

Like novels and motion pictures, Myst has a way of framing what the audience (herein, gamer) sees. Nothing should be discounted as insignificant, especially in a game like this. Close attention is warranted. So I would like to briefly examine more closely the opening frame and look closely for what might be the motivated details. The point of this is to understand not only that these details are useful for solving puzzles, but a vital part of the text of the game.

Here's the first frame of the game:


This is the very first frame the gamer sees in his/her unexplained start of the game. A few things come immediately to mind: 1) you're at the very least on a coast (and, indeed, on an island), 2) it's daytime, and 3) the terrain is unorthodox (the gears in the plateau). These details might be taken for granted by a gamer just embarking on a new game. However, these details have significant bearings on how the author crafts. The seeing the coast immediately gives the gamer a feeling of seclusion, especially with the sunken ship. No life appears to operate on this harbor. The author chose daylight not only to show off his/her cool ability to make shadows, but to also highlight the oddness of the setting. Finally, the unorthodox terrain, namely the gear in the plateau, provides a clear image to the gamer (who can be considered the audience and narrator in a way) that this world of Myst, as the title implies, is fanciful, strange, and intriguing.

Just like the opening paragraph of a good novel always aims to make the reader think/feel a specific way, Myst as a game does the same. It provokes feelings of isolation and interest, just by use of details in the setting. Gamers (like readers) take for granted the detail while embarking on the ever-frustating yet addictive puzzles.

The Legend of Zelda and Medieval Courtly Love

Upon thinking of the archetype of the green-clad knight the world has grown so fond of, Link, I realized where the author(s) received their inspiration from: medieval courtly love. The idea of courtly love is simple enough. The hero goes on a quest, typically with some antagonist trying to halt his every step, to prove himself and, invariably, win the affection of noble lady. Edmund Spencer's
The Faerie Queene, a British Renaissance poem, underscores the idea of medieval courtly love in the relationship of the Redcrosse Knight (Saint George) and Una. The Redcrosse Knight goes through many trials and tribulations to woo Una and earn her love.

I would argue that Link's (basically eternal) struggle with Ganondorf to save the princess is a reflection of this idea of medieval courtly love. First, it is necessary to provide a brief synopsis of the Zelda bLink starts out each of his journeys in a small village with little to no knowledge of what his future epic quest will be. Princess Zelda eventually (or immediately) becomes Ganondorf's captive, and Link struggles with various challenges to eventually defeat Ganondorf and save the princess.

This game has to have gotten inspiration from medieval courtly romance for at least three visible reasons. One, the setting clearly reflects a medieval setting. Link, with sword and shield in hand, traverses a medieval setting full of castles, farms, and small villages, void of any modern technology, in a word hierarchically not so different from the British feudal system. Two, Link fights a villain clearly inspired by the "Turkish Snipe" archetype. Ganondorf, with his darker skin, red hair, and overall distinguishing feautures, has a noticeable similarity to the foreign representation of an Eastern person (i.e., the Turks and foreigners encountered in the crusades). Lastly, the triforce of power, not far from the Christian Holy Trinity, is central to all of Link's quests and underscores the importance of this Western influence. Link harrows through hell (i.e., Ganondorf's world) to save a pure soul (Zelda) from evil. Although these games never end with Zelda and Link's marriage, the games certainly leaves room for interpretation. The overall feel from the games suggests a borrowing from the ideas found in medieval romance.

To conclude, this example shows not only a link between two different forms of texts, but also signifies the interesting fascination Japanese culture has with the West.

Text within Text

"I define 'texts' to include verbal, visual, oral, and numeric data, in the form of maps, prints, and music, of archives of recorded sound, of films, videos, and any computer-stored information, everything in fact from epigraphy to the latest forms of discography. . . . Until our own time, the only textual records created in any quantity were manuscripts and books. . . . A slight extension of the principle--it is I believe the same principle--to cope with the new kinds of material constructions we have in the form of non-book texts which now surround, inform, and pleasure us does not seem to me a radical departure from precedent." (McKenzie 13-14)

Voice acting is growing into a more popular medium for dipicting a video game's narrative than the traditional text boxes. Most of the exposition in Final Fantasy XII is shown in brief cinemas, using the Playstation 2's hardware to its fullest to generate crisp, life-like scenes among the characters. A question arises: does this transition to voice acting begin to nail the lid shut on the coffin of text within the game, especially those with deep narratives? More importantly, does it even matter? Is dramatization better than text boxes?

McKenzie uses the word "text" as a blanket term, covering more than the written word and encompassing the various forms of media still developing around the world (ala YouTube). By this notion, voice acting is a part of the larger text of the game that has a valid existence. Just as certain novels, one form of text, have been made into motional pictures, certain character interactions in games, especially RPGs (Role Playing Games), normally fleshed out with miniature boxes with words, now have full motion videos with actors (giving Mark Hamil [a.k.a. Luke Skywalker] a boost to his already iconical status). McKenzie, from the quote above, would seem to agree that voice-acted only adds to a video game's allure.

However, coming from the tradtion of the word boxes, I appreciate what they accomplish. Having little to work with (8 or 16-bit graphics), game designers and writers used these boxes, primarily for dialogue, to leave more for the gamer to interpret. In a novel the exact tone of a speak is unknown; the narrator's perspective usually inhibits a precise interpretation. The variance in interpretations for an acted piece, however, has little ambiguity, since the gamer hears the speech from the proverbial "horse's mouth." The allure of the simple text boxes endures even as technology grows more expansive.