Tag: Immersive

Round green shapes of varying sizes glow against the black background. The text reads, "Immersive."

Immersive #7: 17776

Liana Leave a comment

At the rate that technology is currently progressing, it’s easy to envision a chrome-plated future where autonomous technology is able to resolve even the most menial of issues we encounter in our day-to-day lives. With advanced technology, we’ll be able to extend lifetimes beyond our modern rates, perform more complex and previously unimaginable feats, and address the most challenging issues of our time: war, poverty, famine, and so on.

But what happens in the case that we are able to resolve all our challenges and fulfill all our ambitions with some sort of technological venture? What would that world look like where the impossible was possible? For sports writer Jon Bois, this futuristic world and its population would find a new sort of fulfillment through American football, or at least a modified version that exists in the year 17776.

Bois’ 17776 was an unprecedented multimedia narrative that sought to develop a world that was absurd and engaging without being gruesome or down-right miserable like the rest of the popular stories at the time. Thus, the story was created to follow the perspectives of three space probes as they watched on-going football games that spanned across state borders and involved hundreds of players at a time.

An animated gif of two lines of X's, indicating players, approach a football located around Seward that has a green line trailing behind it, indicating its path of movement.
Football Game Play Visualization

17776 first begins with an regular sports article, whose text quickly expands to fill up the rest of the page and eventually transforms into a calendar labeled “March ‘43.” Here, we are introduced to the character of Nine, a personified version of the space probe Pioneer 9, who’s urgent questions and existential crisis are left unanswered for months as the reader continues to scroll down the site, a physical and visual reminder of the time that passes within the story. The narrative continues through a combination of plain-text commentary, vintage graphics, and surreal videos, showing brief vignettes into the lives of various football players and human characters as the space probes comment more largely on how far the game has evolved to become more than just a simple past time: “play is the point of existence now.”

The graphic contains a yellow calendar. At the top, the text reads "March '49." From March 3 to 6, in green text, it reads "God damn it! I said no communications! NO communications! Now you have to start over. Please sit and wait. Remember: 27 years, 13 days. On that day, do not contact me. I will contact you. Do not respond to me. Don't." And in red, the text reads, "OK, sorry." On the 13th, the red text reads, "Wait, shit. I'm an idiot. I'm sorry. Starting over again. See you in 27 years, 13 days."
Space Probe Characters Communicate to Each Other

Altogether, the hodgepodge that is 17776 with its space probe main characters, niche facts and features, and absurd football gameplay is proof that inspiration and compelling stories can come from anywhere. But, beyond this brief insight into the existential and speculative tale that 17776 seeks to tell its readers, the story is best experienced in its actual form as its charming implementation of text language and visual space can not be described in words alone. To this end, I encourage you to read 17776 to experience the way in which all elements of the story come together to describe a world where the state of Nebraska is a perfectly valid football field and where technology has advanced far enough that space probes can become sentient.

Experience 17776: HERE

(A sequel story called 20020 also exists.)

Round green shapes of varying sizes glow against the black background. The text reads, "Immersive."

Immersive #6: The Sun Vanished

Liana Leave a comment

Social media holds immense power over how new information is received through its ability to inform us of current events, trends, and information that can go viral within seconds. As a result, our increasing dependency on these various platforms increases our risk of being exposed to fabricated news, causing us to question what is real and what isn’t in a world where deepfakes and other editing techniques can easily replicate real life scenarios. However, instead of perceiving this dissemination of information as purely negative, some creators have been able to embrace the fast-pace and impromptu method of communication that social media provides, messing with our perceptions of truth and fiction through productive means in the midst of all the noise that we consume on a daily basis.

In a few chance instances, these realistic stories are accompanied by the phrase “This is not a game,” signifying that the narration you are reading about is one of many alternate reality games (ARGs), a transmedia method of storytelling that can be influenced by player responses. For the most part, ARGs go left unnoticed due to their desire to be seen as “real,” unfolding their stories quietly in hopes of an eventual discovery. However, for the ARG, The Sun Vanished, produced by filmmaker Adam Elliott, it would soon gain widespread popularity due to its frighteningly complex and intriguing storyline, bypassing the long wait for discovery altogether.

The Sun Vanished was created in 2018 and utilized Twitter as the primary storytelling platform. Here, the main protagonist, named TSV after the @TheSunVanished account handle, woke up one day to realize that all the stars in the sky had disappeared, casting the world into eternal darkness. Like everyone who wants to make sense of the unusual, TSV went onto Twitter to document his experience with the sudden disappearance of the sun. But, as the days go by, the sun doesn’t return. The world becomes less hospitable as flashing red lights begin to trail people walking outside, and the temperatures begin to plummet. Soon, we realize that there is something more ominous at hand.

What makes ultimately The Sun Vanished an ARG is the interactions that people are able to have with the characters of the story. By responding to TSV and his friends’ posts, advising them on next steps to take, or informing them of outside observations, people are able to guide the characters through the unfolding events as if they were also living in the same world themselves: it’s as if reality and fiction have become one and the same.

TSV responds to the concerns of other users

Ultimately, the ability to watch the narrative of The Sun Vanished unfold in real-time is a captivating experience that no other conventional storytelling medium can replicate without much difficulty. And it’s position as a creative project on Twitter challenges our very perception of what social media platforms can and should be used for, expanding our toolkits as creators in an increasingly digital world. As a result, I want to recommend that we all look into The Sun Vanished and other popular ARGs to understand how they’re able to cultivate high amounts of audience engagement through their compelling stories and transmedia narratives.

Experience The Sun Vanished: HERE

Round green shapes of varying sizes glow against the black background. The text reads, "Immersive."

Immersive #5: Hades

Liana Leave a comment

Even though many centuries have passed since the decline of Ancient Greece and Rome, the mythology of the time still exerts a significant influence on present day works ranging from classic books to popular films. As such, it is to no surprise when the “forbidden romance” between Hades and Persephone or even the struggles of Sisyphus appear in our daily conversations and in the media that we consume. But while these mythic figures and legends are often spun into fresh new stories that adopt different perspectives, these adaptations often fall into the trap of generalizing their allusions, lacking the nuance and depth that the original stories hold.

As a result, it’s not often that we witness retellings of myths that spotlight lesser-known stories or figures, which is often a result of the lack of substance or conflicting narratives surrounding these tales. But, in the rare occasions that these neglected narratives are brought to light, our understanding of the mythology shifts for the better, a change particularly witnessed after the release of Supergiant Games’ Hades, a roguelike action role-playing game.

In Hades, players follow the story of Zagreus, a son of Hades who attempts to escape the Underworld by defeating enemies and bosses, all of whom originate from Greek mythology as well. And through playing as Zagreus, each player is able to interact with the various personalities of the gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters through the branching narrative structure of the game, which customizes the dialogue of non-playable characters to the actions of the player, resulting in a personalized gameplay experience.

Achilles responds to Zagreus talking about Zagreus' love of history.
A Conversation with Achilles

It is through this ambitious branching narration style that allows for every character, familiar and unfamiliar, to be introduced to the player as if for the first time. Here, players are able to converse with Achilles, a mentor figure who slowly opens up about his relationship and separation from Patroclus, fight against Megaera, a potential love interest who is forced to battle Zagreus on behalf of Hades’ orders, and even barter with Chaos, a patron who offers various “power-ups” throughout the game, among many other storylines written for the player to gradually uncover over time.

Overall, the rich variety that Hades offers the player in terms of a unique experience with the Greek mythos is something to truly commend. It’s ability to balance the different stories of each character in a manner that closely resembles a charmingly dysfunctional family dynamic presents a fresh take on its mythological content that allows for players to endlessly replay the game without ever encountering the same narrative plot twice. Thus, it is because of this masterful adaptation that I must commend Hades for crafting an increasingly nuanced experience that goes beyond our present understanding of Greek mythology and its presentation in popular culture.

Experience Hades: HERE

Round green shapes of varying sizes glow against the black background. The text reads, "Immersive."

Immersive #4: AI Dungeon

Liana Leave a comment

The ability to transport oneself into another world is an alluring prospect as it allows for people to explore choices and lifestyles that they typically wouldn’t be able to experience in the real world. As a result, people have found solace in immersing themselves in pre-existing worlds written by famous authors or in new worlds that revolve around decisions made within role-playing games. But, in order to have this imaginative experience, the work of worldbuilding must be done by someone else in the first place before others are allowed to enjoy it.

In order to bypass this requirement of human-touch, creators have begun to explore the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) within their works, creating unique AI-generated works that closely resemble those that have been made by a human hand. Therefore, it is to no surprise that programmer Nick Walton leveraged the power of AI and the appeal of interactive storytelling to develop AI Dungeon, a choose-your-own-adventure-type simulation.

Within AI Dungeon, players are able to select from a variety of different genres to establish the setting that they want their adventure to take place in, ranging from cyberpunk to apocalyptic, as well as the type of role they want to undertake in the setting. From here, AI Dungeon gives players a customized scenario from the options that they have chosen, and the story continues onwards in response to the inputs that the player provides afterwards.

An example of an AI Dungeon story
A Custom AI Dungeon Experience

Already writers have begun to take advantage of the unique story generation, creating their own works from AI Dungeon’s generated plot like Lady Emilia Stormbringer by Emily Bellavia. And as of now all rights of ownership of a specific AI Dungeon-created story belongs to the player who first produced the work in the program, enabling the creation of new published material and eliciting the joy of its players in experiencing a new adventure.

Ultimately, AI Dungeon presents a modern twist to choose-your-own-adventure stories with its constantly evolving prompt-based narrative that ensures that no two stories will ever be the same. But, for transparency purposes, it must be stated that prolonged-usage of AI Dungeon requires creating an account and perhaps even spending money if one chooses to use the “premium” version of the generator, a result of the immense memory usage that is required to host such an ambitious piece of software. Nevertheless, while the usage of AI still presents barriers in terms of accessibility, I believe that the application of AI to reinvigorate traditional methods of storytelling is an area that will continue to grow and will soon have wide-spread implications on how we perceive and define art and original content.

Experience AI Dungeon: HERE

Round green shapes of varying sizes glow against the black background. The text reads, "Immersive."

Immersive #3: Birds Aren’t Real

Liana Leave a comment

Currently, information on the internet spreads at a rapid pace. One small comment on social media can snowball into an entire movement, mobilizing hundreds, thousands, and even millions of people for its cause. However, for every good outcome that arises from the power of internet solidarity, there is an opportunity for misinformation to be spread and acted upon as well. This is the power of conspiracy theories and falsified information.

Conscious of these absurd movements that are able to captivate people into supporting its goals, Peter McIndoe created the Birds Aren’t Real conspiracy to provide a satirical perspective and commentary on conspiracy theories and the spread of misinformation in general.

In the Birds Aren’t Real campaign, it states that the government ordered the execution of all birds from 1959 to 2001 and replaced them with replica surveillance drones, which forms the foundation of the campaign’s “activism” to inform the public that birds aren’t real. This urge to make the public aware of the falsehoods of birds is highlighted in the campaign’s debut video that opens with a supporter shouting, “There’s a birdemic happening! Birds are a myth. They’re an illusion. They’re a lie. Wake up America!” However, while the Birds Aren’t Real campaign runs the risk of gaining true believers as it grows in popularity, the purposeful absurdity of its falsehoods and understanding of its roots as a parody movement in the end gives it the balance between reality and fiction that is needed to prevent serious harm from happening in the future.

Pigeon drone with labeled parts called camera, speaker, cpu, battery, inductive charging coil, microphone, and wireless antenna
Pigeon Drone Diagram

Additionally, because of the campaign’s reliance on the internet for exposure, it’s able to take advantage of insider culture where everyone is “in on the joke” through its usage of popular meme formats and through its merchandise line, which appeals to those who are aesthetically motivated. As a result, having the origins of its satirical purpose be public information to those in the know allows for more people to get involved with the campaign and interact with its lore.

Valentine's message saying roses are red, violets are blue, don't trust the birds, they're watching you.
Valentine’s Message

In the end, the Birds Aren’t Real campaign presents a compelling conspiracy theory that allows for its supporters to treat the movement’s goals as both real and fictional without presenting real harm to societal institutions that seek to do good. Even though the nature of it being a conspiracy that purposefully perpetuates falsehoods still raises ethical concerns about how we should spread information on the internet, I must applaud the Birds Aren’t Real campaign for its clever usage of internet culture to capture the influential power that extreme beliefs have on the public from a satirical perspective. But in the end, I must make note that it is important now more than ever to be aware of how conspiracy theories, satirical or not, can generate skepticism that harms relationships and perspectives towards certain institutions or individuals.

Witness Birds Aren’t Real: HERE

Round green shapes of varying sizes glow against the black background. The text reads, "Immersive."

Immersive #2: Scarfolk Council

Liana Leave a comment

With the rise in popularity of horror films within the past decade, the desire to witness a new and haunting story for the first time has firmly rooted itself in mainstream consciousness due to the cleverly-crafted mixture of uncertainty and anxiety that keeps its audience on edge and in eager anticipation for the next scare. As a result, the horror genre has rapidly diverged into subcategories to consistently create fresh and frightening experiences across many different forms of media and on many different levels of intensity. One such divergence, occurring in the late 1990s and early 2000s, was the creation of hauntology, which originated from French philosopher Jacques Derrida who coined the phrase in his book Spectres of Marx when describing the tendency of Marxism to haunt Western society. However, hauntology has now evolved into a complicated and overarching term within popular culture to refer to situations in which elements of the past continue to persist in the present.

Thus, it is to no surprise that hauntology has swiftly manifested itself within the aesthetics of the past where anxiety, unease, and scrutiny was most prominent when one considers the eerie detachment that can come from reflecting upon the strange and dystopian-esq structures of the past. Inspired by these surreal memories and the imagery that it generated, writer and designer Richard Littler took it upon himself to create Scarfolk Council, an unsettling satirical blog about a fictional town called Scarfolk in northern England that has found itself trapped in the 1970s.

Poster labeled "gullibility is a disease & an indicator of crime" with a sheep on the cover with censored out eyes
The Gullibility Campaign (1976)

Through the Scarfolk Council blog, Littler used the aesthetics of the 1970s to create historical documents that turned the familiar and ordinary sights of British public information posters, product branding, photographs, and artifacts into a dark and dystopian reality that invoked similarities to the evocative writings of George Orwell. The intentional use of mundane objects from the time period that had long since faded from public memory allowed Littler to create an unnerving atmosphere around his work as viewers attempted to piece together fragments of the past, uncovering an alternate reality that was all too accurate and all too incorrect to be true with its implicative themes of surveillance, occultism, and civil rights and reminder to reread for more information.

 

Poster labeled "Illegal to gather in groups of one*" with a pink person standing behind a police do not cross line
Social-Distancing Laws (1970)

Ultimately, Scarfolk Council is a fictional creation that has cleverly twisted the aesthetics of the past into an alluring and unsettling reality that triggers indescribable emotions from our deepest memories. The expansion of the small town of Scarfolk into several books and an upcoming TV series along with its accidental features in official UK publications indicates the subtle power that unconventional applications of hauntology have over traditional productions within the horror genre. That’s why I believe that Scarfolk Council has successfully mastered the anxiety and unease of horror through its creative re-imagination of the past that draws upon the normalcy of its fake artifacts to tell an eerie and compelling narrative that illuminates concerning realities behind its satirical gaze.

Experience Scarfolk Council: HERE