Reading Watchmen by Alan Moore, as well as 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D. has helped with navigating the Digital Storytelling class for the spring quarter of 2024.
The uniqueness of the graphic novel that provides a wonderful example of storytelling that people can take inspiration from—one that I definitely think this class has definitely done. Like Watchmen, the Superhero’s Journey showcases multiples stories from different heroes who come from all different types of background, and posses their own type of superpowers that they can use to their advantage. Each story that we see starts from some sort of beginning, although the story doesn’t end with this class; instead, it leaves room to add something more from future students, whether its adding their own story to the mix, or continuing off from what someone has done before. The Superhero’s Journey is its own Watchmen with the way it embodies the element of storytelling…although, with a more happy ending.
100 Things is a wonderful textbook that goes through the elements of design and how to take into consideration of the general audience and make sure that, hopefully, all people can have access to. It also shows design tricks that can help captivate an audience by going to the psychology of a person’s mind and how they might interpret something based on where they grow up, or how their brain works, etc. This textbook has helped us to consider how we should design something, as well as how people’s interpretation of said design could evoke a certain sense of feeling out of them, and therefore craft a story that could come out of it.
Watching “Virtual Cultures in Pandemic Times” was a very informative and rather cozy documentary, and something that I found myself being immersed in as I remembered how I interacted with virtual worlds through the pandemic as well. I also thought it was an excellent piece on virtual worlds in general, and what being involved with virtual worlds can do for people who may not have had a lot of social interaction, or who may have lost social interactions from their daily lives when the pandemic hit. Being able to both interact with people while still at home, and especially during a time where people couldn’t interact physically with each other, played an important part in still being able to retain that sense of communication with other people even if the pandemic wouldn’t allow it.
One of the most memorable parts of this documentary was the part about how people were able to express themselves through different means through virtual worlds. For example, since Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) came out soon after the pandemic hit, people have been expressing themselves through their islands—as in, they were decorating and terraforming their islands however they pleased, as though it was a sort of art form for them. It can be therapeutic in the way that it allows for someone to express themselves for themselves without the pressure of being perceived by other people; or people would do the complete opposite—expressing their artistic talents for other people—which was another big thing about ACNH.
In that same vein of self-expression, Second Life was another amazing virtual world where people could turn customize their avatars into whatever they wanted them to—even inanimate objects, if they desired! People can also have their own islands in Second Life that they could decorate as well; whether they made another home for themselves, or had a shop to sell their own things, they could do whatever they desired without restrictions on their creativity.
Our work in Second Life is based on the idea of expressing yourself through the work that you do. Even though we are meant to create things for the Hero’s Journey, you are adding onto this ongoing story by telling your own, and therefore expressing yourself through that story. We are given the freedom—within a certain parameter—to create whatever we want and to express ourselves however we want.
I believe that, as a way to get others immersed into the Hero’s Journey Project, as well as maybe gain some new recruits into our digital storytelling world, is to help promote it in places where people will find it the quickest. At our own college, it would be nice to have physical fliers promoting our Superhero’s Journey project. Online, creating posts about it to people who might be able to spread it around would be a good way to promote our project to others as well.
(Update: June 6, 2024 at 10:12pm)
Since we have presented out J.E.D.I. Hub to our stakeholders as well as other guests, I feel as though we did a wonderful job at telling the guests our thought process behind each object and area, and the story that goes with it. For me, I definitely did have some nerves before it was my time to present my area, but I thought I did good! The nerves definitely went away as I was presenting (which I definitely think carried on from performing when I was younger, so it definitely helps for moments like these), which was a good thing. I do not think that I would want to change anything about my presentation, aside from the things that I would definitely nitpick about myself; however, overall, it was a fun experience, and I’m really proud of everyone and myself for being able to get things done and for how our presentation went!
I say this light-heartedly, but the better half of this blog post talks about My Hero Academia, which is something that I have mentioned once in a blog post before. Understandably so, I can get repetitive with mentioning this series as it has taken up my all-time favorite stories slot—plus, it is a topic I am always wanting to talk about—so if that is a section that you may not want to read, then please feel free to skip over the rest of the post, starting with the paragraph that starts with, “In lieu of…”
“Watchmen”, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbson, was a graphic novel that helped pave the way for future comics and their storytelling in a way that wouldn’t be appreciated by mainstream before.
In its own uniqueness, “Watchmen” changed how comic books were formatted for future comic book creating. “Watchmen” uses a color palette that brings together an entirely different vibe to the comic that can be sensed without even having to read what happens within it. Compared to other comics, “Watchmen”’ uses secondary colors as its primary palette, which gives the sense that something within the comic is off-putting—that something feels wrong about it (“wrong”, meaning that this is not going to be your typical superhero society setting). That is one of the many intricacies found within the comic that makes Watchmen so different from the others. Watchmen also pioneered the usage of Comic Sans—the font that everyone seems to hate, yet remains a staple in comic book formatting.
The storytelling that takes place in “Watchmen” is very captivating in its own right, using an unusual setting for a superhero society, as well as writing angsty and gut-wrenching scenes and themes that could be triggering to some people if not warned about beforehand; which, despite the mindset that it lives in, is an excellent way of getting people to become immersed in such a story despite its grueling themes. This is a brilliant way of not only captivating an audience, but it also shows that new ideas and inventions can inspire others to explore such topics in the safety of a story, and create something akin to it—this story has either sparked ideas, or influenced others, into creating stories that step outside the boundaries of what is socially acceptable in mainstream media.
I am someone who does not consume much media that makes it hard to do a little bit of escapism, but reading “Watchmen” has been a wonderful experience, and I am glad that I was given this opportunity to read such a novel in a medium that makes it enjoyable to read in.
In lieu of graphic novels and comic books, and inspiration, one series that inspires me—and, if you know me, has continued to inspire me for many years and ongoing (and seems to be the only thing I want to talk about…I apologize)—is My Hero Academia, a manga written and illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi. Coincidentally, this is also a story that rests within superhuman society. However, compared to “Watchmen”, My Hero contains a different premise and theme throughout the story that differs from it. In a superhuman society, where comic book and graphic novel heroes are a reality, as well as their rivaling supervillains, almost everyone is born with a superpower ability—only 20% of the population are quirkless, as opposed to those who have a quirk.
The protagonist of the story, Izuku Midoriya, is a boy born quirkless. Despite being outcasted for being quirkless, he proves to his number 1 hero, All Might, that he, too, can become a hero, despite being born without a quirk; after being the only one out of a crowd of civilians and heroes to rush out and save his childhood friend from being attacked by a villain, he is gifted a quirk, and promised to be trained under the number 1 hero to become the world’s greatest hero—to become a hero and save the world with a smile on his face, just as his idol has for many years.
The themes of hope, and humanizing those who have been wronged, are prevalent in this story, as well as learning to lean on others for support, even if that means that they could struggle in the process. Amongst that, we also see themes of learning to understand, lessons of atonement versus forgiveness, lessons of not giving up during a disturbing and hopeless time—a core theme of reaching out to others, which is the core theme that surrounds Izuku, and his childhood friend, Katsuki Bakugou.
I’ve become attached to this story not only because of the characters and the story building that comes with it, but because of everything else that I’ve talked about in this series. It’s a phenomenal story, and it has this depth that often gets overlooked by those who don’t read it, or have only heard hearsay about it. This is something I wish to recommend to those who might even be a little bit interested in superhero type stories, though I don’t believe that one shouldn’t go into this thinking that it’s going to be a typical action superhero series. It’s worth taking one’s time to read it, and to digest everything, and to remember little tidbits that might be mentioned in passing, and to not judge the characters upon first introduction (and, possibly, find posts that help break down translations and hidden meanings within the Japanese text that get localized…things can get lost in translations).
Media such as virtual realities give the feeling of immersion due to the fact that the user is able to engage in these worlds by their own means. A great example of this is experiencing virtual realities with a VR headset. VR headsets give the user a first-person perspective of the world that they’re set in, and they’re able to look around as though they’re the ones that have been transported within it—they have to physically turn their heads and their bodies to get a 360-degree view of the world. The controllers that they use allow the user to mimic hand motions such as gripping and swinging, which further enhances the experience and immersion.
Outside of using a VR headset to immerse oneself in virtual realities, I do believe that using snapshots and videos can be immersing for some people. As I have stated, immersing someone into media that they’re consuming means being able to elicit emotions out of them, and give them a sense of like they are part of that media. Graphic novels do this well, as they use art to convey character emotions and actions that people reading can relate to; in turn, they can also become attached to that same character. If something were to happen to that character, or if that character were to do something, that could cause someone to react in accordance with it. That person becomes immersed with the media, as well as the character they pay attention to the most.
My experiences with immersion come very easy to me, as I am someone who becomes attached to certain characters, as well as be someone who can become immersed in media that I engage with (granted I am also a bit more sensitive than others, so I feel emotions towards characters a bit more than the average person perhaps). I often find myself role-playing silently in my head when I play games such as Skyrim (which even has its own virtual reality version to really immerse the player into the game), or Baldur’s Gate 3, which are categorized as role-playing games, which encourages the player to create their own characteristics of the character they play, as well as make their own choices that affect gameplay and story.
When a piece of media becomes immersive to someone, it means that media is not only engaging, but it is something that the person has connected with in a way that elicits emotions, as well as a sense of feeling like they’re part of the media they’re experiencing. It gives that person that they’re physically in that world the media is presenting.
The first location that I went to was the Botanical garden ran by Kriss Lehmann, a person who began creating botanical life in Second Life just because he wanted to (as stated in his interview with Draxtor). His shop is set up to sell all of his botanical creations, providing a lovely atmosphere while walking around and purchasing his items.
The entire shop was beautiful, and looking at all of the details with everything that Kriss has created makes me appreciate the effort and time taken out of his time to create things that are so amazing. The details in each plant is astounding; not only that, but Kriss also makes other assets to go with his plants!
Content Warning: some of the visuals used here provide some Second Life users who may dress or dance in a way that may not be suitable for all viewers!
Micheal (mjvusl) is a musician who has brought his music to the virtual world of Second Life to spread his content around. He performs for everyone—and, so far, he has done over 100 of them! From what I understand, Micheal only performs in Second Life. He does not have a specific location in Second Life, as he preforms wherever he can be booked!
Fiona Fei is a Chinese American artist who has integrated her love of creating art into the world of Second Life, and has created her own gallery to showcase it, called the “Shui Mo Gallery”. Her art is based around the connection of her ancestry, and the traditional ink medium used by old Chinese artists from centuries ago.
Her gallery resides in the location of Dream, which hosts communities for those who have survived strokes, and for those who are autistic. Her own 2D art welcomes those who reside in Dream, as it is meant to give people a break from the virtual world of Second Life.
Creations Park is a Non-Profit organization that was first made to help raise money for Team Fox, an organization for Parkinson’s disease research. Creation’s Park offers support groups within Second Life, as well as research into positive outlooks for people in Second Life who have Parkinson’s disease.
Astrium is a location for medieval fantasy inspired roleplayers. Set with a marketplace, an academy, and many more, this is a virtual world where people can either immerse themselves into the world, or use this world as a place to hangout with friends!
Within Creations Park lies the recreation of the real-life location of Savoy. Savoy in Second Life educates people of the history of the Swing Dance Era, as well as provides classroom lessons on how to swing dance!
While I myself don’t have many plans for creating virtual goods within a virtual world outside of a school environment, I would like to believe that, if I could, I would like to provide things that people will actually use and enjoy, and be able to build upon themselves. I don’t have anything in particular that I would want to create, I would just like to create something that can help others for anything that they need.
I have always loved the concept of being able to create things that people can become inspired by, and utilize, to create something for themselves or to use for other things. Things like this already happen, such as assets and meshes provided in Second Life, or images that are royalty free or licensed under Creative Commons to use freely with attribution towards the creator. These things can help inspire other people to create their own things, and to provide those things for other people to use, which can create a continuous cycle of creating, promoting, inspiring, and so-forth.
I think that, as much as it’s very nice—and sometimes even a necessity—to place things behind a paywall in order to make more money to pay bills, or to be able to buy food and other necessities, I think it’s equally important to be able to cater to those who can’t afford to buy assets. I believe that open resources can help provide assets and tools to those that are limited on money and resources, or for those who do not want to pay money to use it, and help smaller creators with getting themselves familiar with how everything works. It’s important to create things that everyone can use, even if that means giving up the monetary resource that you can make from it.
Reading through everyone else’s Immersive Engagement Proposal, I can find that there are connections between each of our proposals and how we are engaging with each other’s ideas to create something wonderful to present.
Since we are building upon the previous creations made from the past students who took this class, it is fairly easy to either take inspiration from what they have done to create something new, or create something of our own caliber that fits within the theme of the entire project. This also gives us a chance to interact with our fellow classmates to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other, which helps strengthen bonds and help others with coming up with ideas and ways to go about completing their projects.
With our classmates, I can see that we already have a sense of how our storytelling is going to work, and what we need to do in order to execute those ideas to fit within the narrative we are trying to tell. Even if our ideas seem to be completely different from one another, we are going to be able to combine them all in a way that can tell an interesting story for those who are able to witness it.
The Hero’s Journey is a project that has been worked on by previous Digital Storytelling students from previous years and is a continual project where new things are added each year to create a wonderful world. This is a project that caters to new students, as well as new for people who are considering entering the college world. There are a total of 12 steps. The step that I am working on, step 5 of the Hero’s Journey, is supposed to represent the part of the hero’s story where the hero takes their first step into the new world of their journey that they’ve embarked on.
It’s supposed to be engaging because, not only is this supposed to be viewed within a virtual world where you can interact with almost anything that catches your attention, but it was made to help encourage new and potential students to join and pursue their passions at the college, and to take that first big, and intimidating, step into the world of Peninsula College.
Audience and Market
The intended users for this are anyone who has an interest in Peninsula College, as well as new and even current students—whether they are technically savvy and can comprehend how things are working in this virtual world, or if they are just curious how this was made. There is hope that this project can appeal to them because of the integration of art and technology to create something that is truly amazing.
The usage of virtual worlds, information, and art integrated into one thing is not something that is new; many interactive and games catered to learning and teaching already exist—even things that exist within virtual worlds.
Medium, Platform, and Genre
The Hero’s Journey takes place in the virtual world of Second Life, which is a virtual world where anything can be created and used for other user’s personal—or, in this case, educative—purposes. SL has a function where people can communicate to others via instant messaging (IM), or even vocally. Each user remains anonymous unless they decide to share in their In Real Life (IRL) profile who they are outside of SL.
The strength of using Second Life for this project is that, unlike creating something physically, you are able to create almost anything that your heart desire—this includes replicas of things that you find in the real world, as well as things that do not exist at all. There are practically no limitations when it comes to creating something and customizing yourself within the space. The real limitations that I can think of is that people who aren’t tech savvy, or don’t work well with virtual spaces because of the nature of them would not find the process or nature of Second Life to be appealing to them. I also believe that, without the right technical and graphical components, as well as a lack of internet access, it can be hard for people to participate in Second Life.
Second Life is a 3-dimensional (3D) virtual world that can only be accessed through the usage of a computer or PC that can run the application. The genre of Second Life itself is virtual reality.
Narrative and Gaming Elements
The Hero’s Journey itself is a narrative that outlines events that could happen to the hero of the story; not every step is completed in the same order, and some can even be repeated. The objects that are found at each step, and surrounded everywhere as you walk along the path and other places of note, also contribute to the storytelling of the Hero’s Journey as they each have their own story, meaning, and interpretation attached to them.
The tone of this story is to be a sort of guide to people, and a way to showcase a journey that everyone goes through, even if each person’s circumstances are different, or don’t happen at the same time. It’s supposed to encourage others to identify themselves with where they are in their own journey, and to inspire themselves to seek out solutions to get them to the next step.
Some people can consider the Hero’s Journey as sort of a self-fulfilling game for themselves, with themselves as the main character of the story—aka, the Hero. Except, unlike other games, there is no real loss. The only thing you are capable of achieving is learning something new with each step, and the act of trying even if it fails at the end.
User’s Role and Point of View (POV)
The user sets themselves up as both the observer and the Hero—just as though they were playing a game of their own, but using themselves rather than a different character. They can consider this a first-person interaction through an observant lens.
Characters
The non-playable characters (NPC) are the animals and objects that are scattered throughout the Hero’s Journey that can be seen as the hero walks the path. Their purpose is to help enhance each step with their own stories and meaning behind them, to hopefully inspire the hero as well and make them ponder while they navigate.
Structure and Interface
Chronologically, in the Hero’s Journey, the starting point is at Step 1: The Ordinary World Before the Adventure Begins, and ends at Step 12: Becoming the Mentor and Return with Education Elixir. This is meant to be viewed from one point to the next until the user/hero makes it to the end; however, the user/hero can go back down the path and view each step and its location at any time. They will be able to navigate using their own character.
Each step is labeled, so it is unlikely that the user will get lost as they navigate the path and stop at each step. After they have viewed and visited each location and the objects it has to offer, they can progress on from there.
Storyworld and Sub-settings
The island that the Hero’s Journey is on in Second Life is called Etopia, which is an island inspire by the Pacific Northwest (as that is where the location of Peninsula College is located), and littered with forestry and animals found in the PNW. The path weaves towards different ecosystems and weather biomes that showcases the multi-faceted areas and locations that are set within the PNW. It can be challenging, creatively, to create a world with different types of seasons and ecosystems, as it takes time to create a diverse setting and make it all work with each other; however, I think because of that, it makes the entirety of the Hero’s Journey very interesting and intriguing to navigate through.
Our time period is present day, but with different genres mixed within—a mixed theme of science fiction, fantasy, and Neo-Pirate Steampunk.
User Engagement
I think being able to have interactive objects that contain things within each object will help with making people feel engaged as they explore our project and wander around. The goal of the project is to both gain something out of it—learning something new about the college or themselves, or about the virtual world—and to have had a good experience with engaging within the virtual space, whether or not they have experience in this type of space. It’s important, as storytellers, that our audience is able to identify something that they have discovered and carry that with them for whatever task they decide to pursue next; either that, or they are able to enjoy whatever they have read and watched.
I personally believe that is no need to add tension to this particular project. This is meant to be a learning experience, as well as a fun one, so there shouldn’t be any reason to create tension in a space that is supposed to be calming and fun. That means that there are no set rewards or penalties as well, aside from gaining experience and learning something new.
Overall Look and Sound
I am leaning towards the usage of text and imagery to tell the story, as I feel that it is easier for me to write as a way to visualize and tell my story rather than using imagery (though I do think that using imagery will help a lot in what I am trying to convey).
The overall look, I feel like, is supposed to be welcoming and whimsical, as well as eye catching with the bright objects, all at the same time.
Interactive Scavenger Hunt
Things that people can find in the scavenger hunt are the objects and animals that have been littered around Second Life, which can help with people teaming up together and possibly becoming acquainted with each other. While each team, or individual, finds each animal and object, they can have the opportunity to learn more about them and how they intersect with the Hero’s Journey.
Since Etopia is supposed to be a virtual and personified representation of the Peninsula College campus and its resources, each location is a representation of the buildings and locations found on campus.
Marketing of The Hero’s Journey
I think a few ways for our project to be marketed is on social media, as well as by advertisements throughout our college campus for those who go to class in person. From my knowledge, students are the most active on Facebook and Instagram, so I believe that those two areas are the best areas to market our project. Things such as flyers and maybe even an electronic banner/slideshow with our project marketed on there would be a nice way to advertise our project as well.
I believe that it would not hurt to have someone who is an expert at marketing and management help us advertise our project outward to others, as well as encourage the creators participating in this creation make efforts to advertise as well in some way shape or form.
J.E.D.I. Hub Overview
As part of the project of our Digital Storytelling World, we have been tasked with creating objects and choosing an animal to go with our Area of Study that’s found within the J.E.D.I. Hub. I have decided that my storytelling animal will be a Jellyfish. It is a little bit of an unconventional animal, as most of the animals that you will see on Etopia are either land or sky animals; however, I believe that there is a way to incorporate a sea creature to a storytelling world such as this. I plan to make sense of it as I create my story and the objects that I have to go with it.
Images used for the textures are credited to the users on Pixabay!
Just as we do in storytelling, we need to consider the ways that we can keep people engaged in what we are doing; things that keep people focused on the subject, as well as motivate them to participate willingly. What is going to keep someone engaged and invested in what they are being presented? What is going to help them be motivated to continue what they are doing?
RSA—the royal society for the encouragement of arts, manufacturers and commerce—is an organization that helps promote the act of bringing people together to find new ideas and solutions, as well as create opportunities for others to make the world a better place. They post videos on YouTube of different talks hosted by people from their organization—almost similar to TED Talks. Oftentimes, they create visual representations of their talks in the form of an animation where someone draws on a whiteboard and creates small drawings and graphics to aid the presenter on their topic. In a way, we can use this concept they practice as an example of how to motivate people with information, education, and mastery.
In one of their presentations, “RSA ANIMATE: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us”, they use the concept of motivation and personal satisfaction to discuss this topic. Dan Pink, the presenter, talks about the reward system and what motivates people to do their job (in the workplace)—aka, salaries, and how monetary rewards might not have the outcome that someone expects. Pink tells us that, while high monetary rewards favor the ones whose job requires manual labor, those who work in an area with a high need of cognitive thinking actually tend to struggle and end up becoming demotivated the higher the monetary reward became. He concludes that the three main things that there are three main things that motivate people to perform better and gain personal satisfaction are as follows: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
Autonomy to decide what we get to do and how we do it gives people that drive to do something without being told by someone how to do it until we ask about it. In interactive design, we can give people the autonomy to decide whether or not they want to interact with something that they see—this can also be said about video games and the autonomy that is being granted to you when you play.
Mastery is the act of doing something until you are near perfect, more commonly a skill that you have to learn or are wanting to learn for the sake of the satisfaction of having that skill. In combination with autonomy, we can develop a drive to continue doing the task until we are able to master it; and after mastering it, we can continue to use those skills for personal things, or to better your performance in the workplace. Through the autonomy we are given within certain parameters, we can home in our skill and learn to be better in how we design something and how we can present these projects to others.
Purpose is the starting point of anything that we do, even if the purpose is as simple as wanting to do something “just because”. If someone has a purpose, and is given the autonomy to create and master the art of creating and storytelling, then they are able to achieve anything they can, and help inspire others to do the same.
By giving yourself that drive, you can spread that sentiment to others, and help motivate them to achieve their own goals.
When a story is engaging, the audience themselves are also engaged into the story—they are able to retain information easier, and produce different theories to themselves about what could happen next. When there are visual or audible clues—hand gestures to guide the viewers and give context, followed by creating sound effects with your mouth or giving characters in your story different voices—it helps keep the audience engaged and willing to listen to what you are sharing. The same can be said about doing things in a virtual world; they follow the same sort of style of storytelling, in which the storyteller shows and tells the audience what they want them to know, and can create specific things that are related to the story to help keep the audience engaged.
While presenting a story visually is not my strongest suit, I would like to try and find a way to create something visually to aid my writing as a way to give the audience a better idea of what I’m trying to portray. I want to create stories that are fictional and entertaining to consume and have fun with, while containing ideas and conversations that can help others digest topics that may be hard to express and talk about in any other setting. I want to create things that people can relate to in some way, or find themselves at least gaining a new understanding of things.
I think movies and stories that I have read in general have inspired me to create stories that are both entertaining and informative in their own way. No specific story comes to mind, but I know that stories themselves are influential, and with that responsibility of being a storyteller, more than anything, I want to make sure people have a fun time with the stories that I create; and, hopefully, I can inspire others to do the same and have fun with their own story creating.
