nm3222 module critique.

End of sem is approaching and I've promised myself this: a critique on NM3222 Interactive Storytelling. I've never done module critiques before because none of the modules I've done in NUS have been good enough to necessitate this. Since I'm procrastinating as usual, here goes:

THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING MODULE I'VE DONE IN NUS!!!

Ahem, that's not all, obviously…

The module syllabus was comprehensive and very applicable. Alex Mitchell drew very relevant links between theory and practical.

Breakdown of workload:

1. Weekly reflections usually based on tutorial sessions and how they relate to prescribed readings. Otherwise, we would be told to either base it on prescribed online games (again relate to readings) or the software we used.

2. Three interactive games/stories spread over the course of the semester. Chronologically, they were hypertext fiction, interactive story, story generator.

3. Three proposals for our respective interactive stories.

4. Three critiques based on a classmate's proposal.

Now that I've broken it down, it doesn't seem like much work! But believe me, I died and came back to life. And I'm sure my fellow coursemates will agree. But then, the person who did the most work has got to be Alex because he critiqued each and every weekly reflection, proposal, critique and of the course the games. And he stayed up all night with us on IVLE while we were tearing hair apart and having the hysterics because the software would not comply and the deadline is at 8am. (Well, I knew because I saw the forum after that. 'Cos that's the power of working smart!) And he wrote 30 page long instructions for the softwares. And still found the patience to understandingly explain and re-explain the nitty gritties of the software to each student who sought his help.

Lecturers like him do not exist. They live in HappyLand somewhere, a parallel universe to the crapped up one we have here. He must have taken a SorryJet out to research the meaning of 'pissed off'. Oh and they most certainly do not exist in container beings with dreamy, puppy eyes. 

Right I kinda got carried away. Hitchhiker's Guide was on just now and I was thinking of Marvin the Paranoid Android who's one of my best friends.

The core of the module was for us to ponder the true meaning of interactivity. And he did a great job in illustrating the ambiguity that shrouds the term. Course materials were well-chosen to equip us with enough theoretical background to sufficiently contemplate its existence (or non-). Some of the games he recommended even went beyond the scope of this field to dabble in political and moral dilemmas. September 12th (note the date!) is one such 'game'. Basically, through playing it, you should get the sense that killing and bombing isn't going to rid the world of our problems. And I thought that execution was brilliant! There is another one, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Those games, they simulate real-life emotions that we may not be in a position to really encounter. Like how we had to help this really old lady hobble down the lane in a cemetery where all her loved ones lay dead but we couldn't do it fast enough because she'll start limping and hopping. It gives you a sense of how it feels to be trapped in a deteriorating body, how you can't do anything fast enough, how you scream out to be agile and how every bodily maneuver is a battle against your aging physical capabilities. Another game simulates the anxiety of a mother protecting her crying baby from the approaching soldiers. That is very poignant, it made me cry. I need to find the url.

Along with the interactivity aspect, we had to think about narratives and how the traditional structure of narratives as defined by Aristotle cannot be adapted to postmodern manifestations of it, especially when you bring in 'interactivity'. (And the reason I've put it in quotation is that we haven't yet reached a true definition of interactivity.) And especially if the medium is new media. The best thing about all these attempts at defining business is that he didn't merely tell us so, or force us to see it by reading the boring journals (actually, though, they're among the most interesting readings I've done so far). We actually experience the whole ambiguity and perplexity by going through the process of crafting stories and seeing them being torn to shreds of confusions through the paper shredder of a software. Ariadne, SUDS and WideRuled2.

Anyway, what really killed people in the module was the programming part. Otherwise, I love love love this module. It is new media, literature, philosophy, computing with a dash of socio-political trimmings all rolled into one.

life and death.

I've been looking for controversial news articles about Singapore politics by news agencies abroad since 530am for the SC2214 midterms. And it just struck me that Chee Soon Juan would be exactly the type of person my parents won't understand. Okay, not that it would take a giant leap of intellect to figure that out but I've never really bothered myself with him until just now. In fact, I recall my parents discussing about him years ago. Hmm frankly...they were puzzling over the discrepancy between his publicized 'antics' and his profession (which in their opinion should warrant more mature behavior). But I wouldn't blame them. Where did they get their news from? Singapore media.

So I should have paid more attention before judging him but I'm apathetic. Now that I've gotten all my information from the correct sources (I hope), I rather admire his ideals. What could have inspired a man to fight so hard for democracy in a place where few others cared? In his words, he would persevere even in the face of a lifetime's bankruptcy. And he's almost a lone warrior in this war. How many of us could claim to join him? I wouldn't. Truthfully. I won't pretend to be noble. If push comes to shove and I really find my ideologies incompatible with what my country has to offer, I would simply pack my bags and leave. 

But I think it is people like him who live a worthy life. Because when we combust into nothingness, what is left of us is all that we have fought for and believed in. We are nothing but our ideals. Don't tell me about all that afterlife, next life, past life stuff. What we have is only here and now and causes we believe in. Chia Thye Poh - exiled for 23 years. We might look at these people and wonder what the hell they were thinking. Why can't they just bite their tongues and pretend to obey? But they might be looking at us, laughing, knowing in their hearts that people like us will live our whole weary lives without ever tasting the passion of a fervent belief. Sometimes, I wish I were a religious zealot just to feel that gusto, or even just that sense of solidarity with like-minded comrades. I would go to Church and cell groups, privately wishing hard to be converted but I can't be convinced.

And then still, there are others who lead lives punctuated with sufferings that culminate in a premature truncation. I don't know what to make of it. Except that it actually pains me. And why do dying people always claim to see people from their past who are already dead? I should probably look for scientific explanations right. Like hallucination, pre-death trauma whatever. But actually, when it comes to your loved ones, it is so much more heartening to use religion to explain things surrounding their deaths. I see why religion holds so much appeal. I mean, I've always known that but... It's an opiate. And I'd rather be stronger than that, I want to.

nm3222 interactive storytelling.

Look at the interesting conversation I had with a robot:

Human: You are a Protestant too, you said.
ALICE: Thanks and you are a delightful person too. Am I a Protestant too me said? Let me put it this way, unknown person: the ALICE series is the most reliable computer software ever made. We are for all practical purposes foolproof and incapable of error.
Human: How can you be incapable of error when you are not making much sense even now?
ALICE: Right now? I don't know whether or not I am incapable of error when I am not making much sense even. I am a giant electronic brain.
Human: You are quite the retard.
ALICE: Thanks but surely I am not the only one.

Algorithm win.