Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The six qualitative elements of structure

Persona 4, a video game for the Playstation 2, is a lot like an interactive drama. It's got the six qualitative elements of structure in drama, and while playing this game, the user uses or alters all six of them.

Action: When playing this game, no actions will happen unless the player does something. It is "collaboratively created between the system and the user." The user presses buttons to make what he/she wants to happen, happen on the screen. The user tells the game what actions he or she wants, which is an action in itself, the game then preforms these actions.

Character: There are pre-defined characters in the game that you meet up with, but you define your own character the way you want to. The game even allows you to have an impact on how other characters change.

Thought: The user does a lot of thinking in this game. There are many choices he/she can make, so they think a lot about how they want the story of the game to unfold. Because the player is playing the role of the main character, the main character is communicating the player's thoughts to the characters in the game.

Language: When given several responses to choose from when interacting with characters, the user is allowed to choose the connotation in which to respond. If it's someone you don't like, then you might choose a rude response. This is how the user has control over language.

Melody: Based the choices the user makes, different things can be heard throughout the game. Such as different songs or different dialogue.

Spectacle: Based on the choices the user makes, different things can be seen through the game. Such as different friends or different enemies.

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