Keynote lecture notes for the University of Cincinnati, "Focus on German Studies" Conference, November 9th, 2013. Features a discussion of polyphony, conflicts and ambiguous heterogeneity in cultural texts and in cultural identities, concludes with an example of transmedial storyworld design from "LEGO the Lord of the Rings" video game.

1. From Narrative to Gameplay (And
Back) - Studying Transmedial
Storyworlds
Frans Mäyrä, frans.mayra@uta.fi
TRIM / game research lab

2. Outline
• Background: cultural research into science fiction,
fantasy and digital games
• Stories and worlds: what are they?
• Narrative vs. game play
• Transmedial games and storyworlds
• Example: LEGO The Lord of the Rings
• Lessons: what is ‘translation’, anyways?
• Discussion

3. Background
• Studies into the polyphony of cultural texts (and textual
selves) since early 1990s
• Special interest on the conflicting, divided, hybrid and
transformative elements
• Studies on:
– Demons (daimon, the voice from within, e.g. daimon of Socrates;
the daimons/demons of classic tragedy)
– Werewolves, vampires (man+animal, human+corpse: the
ambiguous temptations and terrors of borderline ‘otherness’)
– Cyborgs and computers (man+machine, material+immaterial,
borderline ‘otherness’)
– Intertextuality and hybrid texts (texts, possessed by ‘other texts’;
texts and games as their ‘borderline others’)

4. Demonic Texts and Textual Demons
Free
download:
http://people.
uta.fi/~frans.m
ayra/Demon_
2005/
“This book combines the concerns of
contemporary literary theory with information
derived from history, philosophy and cultural
psychology. It summarises the various functions
that demonic adversaries and possession
phenomena have held for the construction of
meaning and identity in various cultures, and
then points out some of the important roles that
demonology plays in Western literary tradition.
The demonic figures are an important way to
articulate (often subconscious) conflicts and
polyphony of the human condition. Proceeding
from Dante’s immobile "Dis" to Milton’s dynamic
Satan, and onwards to Goethe’s and Dostoevsky’s
contemplation of amorality and modern
individual, this study emphasises how
"otherness" has gradually become acknowledged
as an aspect of the self.”

5. Stories and Worlds
• Particularly in fantasy and science fiction there appears
a strong link between the ‘worldliness’ and the narrative
fiction
• Rather than “reading for the plot” (Peter Brooks), some
primarily are “reading for the world”
• My personal history: reading “everything Tolkien” in order
to spend more time in the Middle Earth
• Later: playing, reading “Forgotten Realms” (a franchise,
D&D campaign setting world, originally created by Ed
Greenwood)
• The destinies of (rpg game-)characters are tools for
exploring vast worlds, e.g. the continent of “Faerûn”

7. Narrative as Virtual Reality
• Marie-Laure Ryan (2001) book, Narrative as Virtual
Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and
Electronic Media
• “Is there a significant difference in attitude between
immersion in a game and immersion in a movie or
novel? What are the new possibilities for representation
offered by the emerging technology of virtual reality?”
• Our gameplay experience studies do suggest that such
significant differences do exist
• However, there are also significant continuities and
overlaps between the experiences of enjoying e.g. novel,
movie and a virtual-world computer game

8. SCI Model of Immersion
•
Source: Ermi, Laura & Mäyrä, Frans (2007) “Fundamental Components of the Gameplay
Experience: Analysing Immersion” (with Laura Ermi; in Worlds in Play, Suzanne de Castell
and Jennifer Jenson, eds. New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2007)

9. Narrative vs. Gameplay
• The early stages of Game Studies involved tensions
between “ludology” and “narratology”
• Mostly just meant that different researchers were
interested in different kinds of games and dimensions of
game design
• E.g. Gonzalo Frasca (1999) wrote that even while video
games may share e.g. characters and settings with
narratives, it is important to study them “as games” (i.e.
as ludic activities based on e.g. rules and simulation)
• Janet Murray’s Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997) often
used as cautionary example: (mis)understanding games
as “interactive drama”, or narrative?

10. Transmedia and Storyworlds
• Transmedial storyworld is an assemblage of characters,
storylines and milieu that extends beyond the boundaries
of a single medium
• Marsha Kinder (1993): “dual form spectatorship”, e.g.
child audience for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
positioned both in active and passive modes
• Can also be dubbed as “consumerist interactivity”
• Henry Jenkins (2006) heralds fragmentary and dispersed
character of transmedia storytelling as intellectually
stimulating and social
• Stimulant for “collective intelligence”, or an efficient
franchising & marketing strategy? Both?

11. Example: LEGO The Lord of the Rings
• LEGO bricks are the classic, open-ended construction toys
• During 1990s LEGO started producing narrativized LEGO
products, that were cross-branded with e.g. Star Wars,
Disney, or Harry Potter characters, storylines and settings
• Playing with traditional LEGO bricks, children take also
inspiration from media, popular culture and surrounding
society (e.g. building guns, playing “cops & robbers”)
• Narrativized LEGO bricks have the media narrative “built-in”
to the toy itself
• LEGO The Lord of the Rings (2012) is based on the
translation of Tolkien’s novel into a movie, then into the LEGO
toys, which are coupled with a video game translation of both
the play behaviours of LEGO bricks, and the movie visuals &
narrative

13. Gameplay Video Example
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OznCAJL0-ZM#t=14

14. What Is ‘Translation’, Here?
• Translation of The Lord of the Rings into a character and
action focused movie narrative involves substantial alterations
and adaptations
• Translation of the same material into a video game involves
even more substantial changes
• Focus moves away from narrative continuity and emotional
drama, to overcoming a series of individual gameplay
challenges
• Overcoming the cave troll or Balrog in the game version might
involve repeated attempts, careful preplanning, learning from
mistakes and skill development
• The game player of LoTR is more like an athlete, than a
member of a narrative audience: participating in a training
ground, receiving narrative cutscenes as rewards

15. Discussion Time!
• (Parts of this talk were based on a forthcoming “Dark
Play” book chapter)
• More information:
• Frans Mäyrä, home page (research projects,
publications): www.uta.fi/~frans.mayra
• Frans Goes Blog: www.fransmayra.fi
• UTA Game Research Lab: http://gamelab.uta.fi