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October 16 - Halting State, Day1

Page history last edited by Jillian 15 years, 3 months ago

Subtitle: How to Judge a Book by its Cover. 

Thursday - October 16, 2008

 

 

Lich King Death Knight from Wold of Warcraft

Courtesy of Worldofwar.net

 

 

Discussion of Halting State by Charles Stross

 

     Before the actual novel was discussed, the class discussed their initial reactions to the novel, and how assumptions play a major role in how we view things in general.  The presentation (mass market size) and amount (15 novels in 5 years) of Stross's work causes readers to approach the novel assuming that it is a pulp fiction with little literary merit.  It is assumed that an artist who is able to create in such massive quantities must fall short in originality of style and plot development.  However, Stross has been nominated for the Hugo Award every year since 2004.  So is our preconception of the "pulp fiction" always true? Can you really read a book by its cover?

 

All of this ties back to Marshall McLuhan's notion that the "medium is the message". By picking up "pulp fiction," are we predisposed to treating it as a quick read that will be tossed? Do the smaller page sizes, margin sizes, and font indicate that the read is of lower "quality" than a book of larger print size? Also, when compared to hard back books, does Halting State carry less value as a piece of literature? Did we thus approach the book with a bias because of the medium? Many people in the class seemed to be dissatisfied with the prose, but was it because of the medium that we were so unsettled by the novel? 

 

Also, can the message of a medium change over time? Certainly we do not use computers today to do what older models did. Internet was once a medium for sending email at most (see early ISPs like Prodigy), but now we use it to surf the web, to share videos, even to communicate on a global scale. The message has certainly changed for computers in the past (about?) two decades.

 

     Halting State works much like a first person shooter, or a role-playing video game.  This is made possible by the use of the second person writing style, refering to the reader directly as "you."  With this style, the reader's perspective becomes aligned with that of the characters in the novel.  The hope is that the reader is becoming the characters of the novel, thus discovering things along side the characters.  Just as in a role playing game, the author forces the reader to become part of the action.  Reality is altered when the crime takes place, specifically when the detective must decipher where reality begins and fiction ends.  The same can be said for any reader because their world differs as they become a part of the story.   Their world continues to shift throughout the story as they delve into the lives of the three main characters.

 

A game of D&D

Courtesy of About.com

This class talked about how this theme works within the novel because the story itself is about a mystery within an RPG. It strongly parallels the narratives found in Dungeons and Dragons (hereby abbreviated D&D), especially since it is written in the second person. One might imagine Charles Stross as the dungeon master narrating to three players in a game of D&D. One might also draw parallels to World of Warcraft. The game allows a player to create a number of characters, and by entering the world as a different character, we are embodying the persona of the character itself. When we switch characters, we are changing personas. This parallels the switch between Sue, Elaine, and Jack.

 

Can you say old school FPS?

Courtesy of Teemu's Blog

We argued whether or not the second person is intrusive or immersive. In the case of the former, second person can disrupt the reading flow, pulling the reader out of the novel as they adjust to this non-traditional point of view.  The use of "you" can also cause the reader to feel uncomfortable when reading disturbing passages. In the case of the latter, the reader gets drawn in to the narrative and feels like the events are occuring around them. The parallel to a first person shooter (hereby abbreviated FPS) was made. FPS games put players (quite literally) in the shoes of the protagonist, and they progress through the storyline acting as Master Chief himself.

 

Passages: 

N/A

 

Definitions:

Science Fiction - Science fiction often describes a fictional world in which there is a logic to natural laws even though they are not our own.  Sci fi is also defined as speculative fiction with an emphasis on science and technology. Sci fi novels usually begin with singularity, a single event that changes the world as we know it.  In most casees, scientific advancements have exploded and become thoroughly integrated in society. Sci fi novels also often explore the relationships between man and machine (humans and technology).

A quote by Rod Serling: "Fantasy is the impossible made probable, science fiction is the probable made possible."

Notable Authors - Robert A. Heinlein, Issac Asimov, Karl Sagan, Phillip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert

 

Hard Science Fiction - Science fiction based on scientific conjecture.  The world has laws based on science, even if some parts of the fiction are untrue.  Hard SF writers are concerned with making their worlds as scientifically accurate as possible.  There is less emphasis on exploring human relationships in Hard SF than there is in general SF.   

 

Singularity - a moment that absolutely changes everything in the world.  It is an irreversible change by which everything is affected.  This moment could also be called a dramatic shift.

 

Links

 

Charles (Charlie's?) Stross' blog: www.antipope.org/charlie/index.html

As you can see, Charles Stross writes a lot--and I don't mean just fiction. He scribes nearly every other day in his blog, whether it's about politics, novels he has been working on, or random vacations he feels like taking. His discussions on science fiction and technology are worth at least a look. 

 

MMORPG Headquarters: www.mmorpg.com/index.cfm

There's a whole list of MMOs to dive into (get your life sucked away by?) here. Popular games seem to be Warhammer Online, Runes of Magic, Age of Conan, Stargate Worlds, and of course, World of Warcraft.

 

Proof that virtual money is already translating into real dollars -  www.wowmine.com/wowgoldus.php

Why spend months tediously working your way up to level 70 when you can buy a character leveled, geared, twinked, and ready to gank overnight? Or, even better, you could pay someone to level for you while you rack up hours of sleep before your LAN party this weekend! Seriously, it's astonishing how much money some people are willing to pay to buy instant fame and glory inside of a fictional world.

 

Most recent news on hard science fiction - http://www.hardsf.net/

The website includes a list of books and authors of the genre hard science fiction. It also has updates on interviews with authors and even a couple of published stories online. It's worth a look, especially to get a better idea of what exactly the genre includes.

 

Do games tell stories? - http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/juul-gts/?ref=Fuckonly.com

Here's a rather long and interesting article on whether or not video games can be considered a form of "narrative." Since the class discussed how closely Halting State parallels a role-playing game, I thought the article would be of some relevance. In summary, Jesper Juul argues that games and narrative are not overlapping concepts; while games can have narrative within it, or while players can tell the story of the game, the concept of a video game as a whole is not a narrative. It is impossible for a narrative to be fully interactive.

 

 

 

Comments (8)

Hong Tran said

at 1:18 am on Oct 17, 2008

The source coding hates me.

And wow...wowmine.com. I definitely didn't make that connection before. It's kind of eerie in a way.

By the way, I'm not trying to be mean but I did notice simple typos in what someone wrote before me (didn't check who). I'm only pointing it out since we got marked down on typos and misspellings last time, so can we do each other a favor and keep an eye out for those? Thanks!

Hong Tran said

at 1:24 am on Oct 17, 2008

Oh right. Shall we also go back and edit the Baudrillard page?

Brian Croxall said

at 3:33 pm on Oct 17, 2008

Part of the reason I ask you to watch out for typos and the like is that it a way that I can force you to read what your other group members have written. As you're looking for typos, you can also be editing what they've written for content as well. Perhaps it's a bit sneaky. So it goes.

And while you're not yet done, let me suggest that Wikipedia links are not what I'm looking for in the links section. I want you to push beyond what is easy to find. Encyclopedias are useful, but we all know where to find them and how to find things within them.

Lastly, adding the link to wowmine.com is good. We're going to talk some about this concept on Tuesday.

Jillian said

at 6:56 pm on Oct 19, 2008

Thanks for adding all those links within the page! It looks great!

I didn't add very much because you guys had already covered most of what I had in my notes. Is there anything in particular you'd like me to work on?

Jillian said

at 6:57 pm on Oct 19, 2008

Oh, and I think we should go back and edit the other page. I don't have time until tomorrow night though.

Hong Tran said

at 9:29 pm on Oct 19, 2008

I guess we could use more links and a bit of discussion of the links? Sorry I kind of took over the page with my edit last week.

Jillian said

at 10:21 pm on Oct 19, 2008

Don't be sorry! You did a great job on it. I just don't want you to think I'm not pulling my weight. I'll look for some more links tomorrow. I have to go study for a test now.

Hong Tran said

at 8:38 pm on Oct 27, 2008

Ok. Added some discussion of the links? I hope that's kind of what we're looking for.

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