Premise and Purpose
Audience and Market
Every quarter, there is something added to the storytelling space that adds onto the ongoing story that is being built. We get to showcase the progression of this place by hosting an end of the quarter showcase of the island and the place itself, inviting anyone that is wanting to join—students within the college, and any others interested in what we are doing.
Medium, Platform, and Genre
We use the very open world Second Life to create the storytelling space.
Join a Journey
In this journey, we are all trying to tell a story that anyone can relate to, and anyone can participate in. Depending on what kind of story we are telling, we create things within world that fit within world and the themes that we are playing with.
Narrative Elements
A bouquet of flowers made out of gear and metal pertains to the idea of the Neo Pirate Steampunk theme that is prevalent in our area in Second Life. I had the idea of using flowers as our Achievement Award, since flowers are usually gifted to people in varying situations (after a big event, as a gift for something, etc.), so I thought it would be nice to have the achievement award I make be something almost exactly like that, but within the Neo Pirate Steampunk theme.
User’s Role and Point of View
We tell our stories in a way that can be read as both First Person POV, or Third Person POV, so that the reader can connect themself to the story in whatever way they can connect to it.
Characters
Typically, we use ourselves as the “hero” of our stories; creating things that align with the story that we are trying to tell from our point of view. We have also been using animals in our storytelling, since that is a common thing that we see in stories, especially in folklore and fairytales. Whomever our protagonist—our hero—of the story may be, we want to make sure that our characters can be relatable to the reader, and help them connect themself to the story.
Structure, Interface, and Rhythm
Since we are building off what we have created before, we get to see memories created in real-time as they are placed within world. We also get to see the things that have been created and placed before us, which also acts as a time capsule of all of the amazing and creative things that were created in the time that it was made.
Storyworld and Settings
The adventure is set within the islands of Eutopia, where we host everything that we’re creating for our college.
Overall Appearance
Since our environment and virtual, we are able to create any 3D objects that we desire (within reason) and place them anywhere we want on the islands that we’re working on. So far, our islands represent an area very similar to the northwest, with lots of evergreen and animals that are found in the northwest. We create objects that stay in theme with the environment of the island, as well as the Neo Pirate Steampunk theme.
User Engagement and Opportunity
We all try to present our own different messages in the objects and stories that we create within our world. As long as the things we make are engaging and some people can get inspired by what we create, and wants to make people pursue their own things, I feel like that is the most important part of what we are doing (aside from telling our story and projecting our voices for others to see).