Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives (Mit Press)

Narrative strategies for vast fictional worlds across a variety of media, from World of Warcraft to The Wire. The ever-expanding capacities of computing offer new narrative possibilities for virtual worlds. Yet vast narratives—featuring an ongoing and intricately developed storyline, many characters, and multiple settings—did not originate with, and are not limited to, Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers, J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Marvel's Spiderman, and the complex stories of such television shows as Dr. Who, The Sopranos, and Lost all present vast fictional worlds. Third Person explores strategies of vast narrative across a variety of media, including video games, television, literature, comic books, tabletop games, and digital art. The contributors—media and television scholars, novelists, comic creators, game designers, and others—investigate such issues as continuity, canonicity, interactivity, fan fiction, technological innovation, and cross-media phenomena. Chapters examine a range of topics, including storytelling in a multiplayer environment; narrative techniques for a 3,000,000-page novel; continuity (or the impossibility of it) in Doctor Who; managing multiple intertwined narratives in superhero comics; the spatial experience of the Final Fantasy role-playing games; World of Warcraft adventure texts created by designers and fans; and the serial storytelling of The Wire. Taken together, the multidisciplinary conversations in Third Person, along with Harrigan and Wardrip-Fruin's earlier collections First Person and Second Person, offer essential insights into how fictions are constructed and maintained in very different forms of media at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
ASIN: 0262232634
VSKU: BVV.0262232634.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Harrigan, Freelance Writer and Editor Pat|Wardrip-Fruin, Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of California Santa Cruz Noah|Williams, Walter Jon|Parkin, Lance|Cornell, Paul|Orman, Kate|Sim, Dave|Laws, Robin D|Hite, Kenneth|Glancy, A Scott|Cook, Monte|Stafford, Greg|Miller, Matthew P|Bartle, Richard A|Gingold, Chaim|Thiel, Tamiko|Klein, Norman|Jenik, Associate Professor of Computer and Media Arts Adriene|Lewison, Assistant Professor Radio-Television Sarah|Grossman, Richard|Kalat, David|McDonald, William E|Price, Robert M|Bonesteel, Michael|Robbins, Trina|Moulthrop, Stuart|Lavery, Professor of English & Popular Culture David|Ford, Research Affiliate Sam|Hills, Reader in Media and Cultural Studies Matt|Carpenter, Assistant Professor Stanford|Cranny-Francis, Professor in Critical & Cultural Studies Anne|Tulloch, John|O'Sullivan, Assistant Professor Sean|Huber, Researcher Software Studies Initiative @ Calit2 Doctoral Candidate PH D Program in Art & Media H William H|Mittell, Associate Professor of American Studies and Film & Media Culture Jason|Krzywinska, Tanya|Reynolds, Ren
Binding: Hardcover
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and works perfectly. All pages and cover are intact including the dust cover, if applicable . Spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting. May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.