Thinking back on this semester, it's hard not to resort to cliche: "I can't believe how fast it went by," for example. You all were a lively bunch, and that was fine by me. It has certainly been a momentous few months from my point of view, both for the significant developments in my personal life (i.e. becoming a father) and for the professional significance of my first semester as an assistant professor. I'll be honest, not everything went as well I had hoped in this class, and I'm certainly going to be rethinking some things when/if I teach Forms of Narrative again.
 read more »

Hey! I don't know if anyone is checking the website, but I posted my final project to youtube.com. I had to leave school early because I had viral tonsillitis, and basically felt like I had the flu and mono combined! Ach! Alas, it is allll over with--but I had to finish my exams on the fly and I had planned on presenting my "exam" to you in class.
 read more »

this is my final project.
it is the short story with three parts, each part missing an key element of narrativity.
You can give me feedback by posting a comment to the story or by e-mailing me at cmarino2@umw.edu. Thanks and enjoy.

Dear class,

I wish I could say each and every one of you is known to me not only by your real life appearance but also by your cool, online pseudonym.. however.. I cannot.

Regardless, you all were fab, and I enjoyed looking at the backs of your heads, sides of your faces, your victories/losses at tetris, what one of you had for lunch every tuesday/thursday, and, of course, Professor Whalen's smiley blonde face.
 read more »

I'm pretty sure this is our last blog for this class - actually, I'm not even sure if this one still counts. But anyway, I just wanted to be all sentimental for a moment and say that I really enjoyed this class and all the people in it.

I hope to see some of you next semester - you all can be quite entertaining.

Good luck with all of your finals and have a happy holiday.

-Go Ask Jane

The internet is a strange place. You can find pretty much anything you'd ever need on the web, even go grocery shopping! With its creation, globalization started on an exponential level: two groups of people from different sides of the world who knew very little about one another could suddenly communicate with ease, assuming they knew the same language. People with the same interests could make a website and congregate there.
 read more »

Fresh on the heels of our discussing game, game, game and again game, Jason Nelson has released another work in a similar style. i made this. you play this. we are enemies appears to have some similar things going on, but I'm intrigued by the sense in which we as players/readers/critics/students are the game designer's "enemies." The comment in direction number 4, "stop trying to 'get it'" seems particularly targeted toward or relevant to our discussion of the game, especially since I made sure to set the game up by asking you to try and "get it" instead of "just" playing it.

So what do you think we should do with this? On the one hand, its energy seems somewhat more focused on playing with / mashing up specific online spaces, but I don't want to be a "shark with bees for hair" for saying so. Do you?

Nelson portrays a unique perspective of fundamentalism, faith, capitalism, life coaching, chemists, Buddhism, and other belief systems in "Game, game, game and again game". Through his use of clashing chords and blinking scribbles an endeavor to travel through each belief system results in a paradox to life. The adventure relates to a persons journey through life because each level conveys a different belief that effect people's opinions. However, each belief is shown through a Nelson-filter.
 read more »

When we play video games there are a few things we expect from them. Mostly we expect them to be entertaining. When we were young games would often have educational themes and would force us to learn something as we played and enjoyed these games.In a way we were tricked into acquiring knowledge through a medium that we deemed fun and not so much educational.The two games that we were assigned have similiar effects.The main difference is that t now we are older we do not necessarily need things to be as fun in order to be mentally stimulated.
 read more »

I found Façade interesting. As a player, I could create a story with the computer characters, the couple, Grace and Trip, together. I could even move some of the objects in the setting, like the wine glass and the wine bottle. During the evening gathering, the couple argued and I, as a guest at their home, could be the one who changed the intensive situation in the story. I have watched the videos about Façade on Youtube. Some of the videos like Façade- Gay and Façade Drinking Problem were really interesting.
 read more »

“Game, game, game and again game” has thirteen levels and discusses society. The author has a negative view of society that is aided by the music and drawings.
 read more »

In façade tension is created using the awkward conversation, overreaction, and most of all the music. The music uses drawn out and dissonant chords to create a feeling of insecurity. Strangely, I found the music to be similar to another video game I had played a long time ago. The game was a mystery type scenario, staged in a haunted mansion. The music itself made it weird to play the game alone.
 read more »

Well, due to a technical error last week I wasn't able to go into the idea of Oblivion as much as I wanted to. So, to continue.
 read more »

Game, game, game, and again game engendered several reactions in me. When analyzing the game as a narrative, one might question what exactly is the narrative? Jason Nelson is espousing an irreverence for many standard conventions of society. This is stated in the about at the top of each page( oh, and on a side-note, he misspelled consumerism), however the player of the game would be able to determine this from the narrative without the help of the about due to the layout of the game.
 read more »

When I started playing Façade I thought it was very strange. The characters Trip and Grace in the game behave somewhat awkwardly and I could not understand why if their relationship was so terrible they were inviting me over. The more I played the game, the more I began to appreciate the purpose and innovation of the game. Playing therapist to Trip and Grace and helping them resolve their issues is the objective of the game.
 read more »

When I first heard "Photopia" in class, I thought back to commercials for the Post cereal company's website for kids with "awesome" shitty flash games on it called "Postopia" (at least, I think that's what it was/is called). Fortunately, this was not what Photopia was about at all.
 read more »

I have just 'played' the game game game scribble "video game". I did not beat it yet, because I wanted to make this a two part blog entry haha. I played until I was a chemist three times. This is where the "game" end became a little difficult I also topped here because the content is SOOOOOO immense and needed to try and read, piece things together.
 read more »

Why is it that my beloved Sims is the best selling computer game of all time?

Is it because, according to Marie-Laure Ryan, computer games are designed for a purpose and real life is not? Or, as she says, you can win or lose a game but there are no strict definitions of those terms applied to real life?

Well my friends.. the Sims is neither one nor both nor any of those things. From here forward, when I mention the Sims, I am of course referring to the Sims 2 [sims 3 next year, woo!].
 read more »

When planning ahead for college, i thought of many things, but i probably thought most about the difference in classes compared to high school. I imagined classes in college being more creative, allowing me to expand my mind and get away from the textbook.

My first three classes of college failed me in that aspect. Chemistry, Biology, and History. But when i went to forms of narrative, that all changed

This class has allowed me to implement my creative side in school. I mean what kind of class allows me to create a comic strip for an exam grade?
 read more »

"game, game, game and again game", much like "Passage", is a game of life with a rather dark theme, but while “Passage” seems to be about the journey of life, “game, game, game and again game” is very much about the belief systems that form our lives as humans.
 read more »