Laurel, B. (1993). Computers as theatre. New York: Addison-Wesley.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 15/05/2008, 10:25
States that the reason early users of CRT displays hit on a game to demonstrate prototype graphics software (MIT 1962 spacewars) was "its capacity to represent action in which humans could participate."
A good definition of a virtual object: "..may be one that has no real-world equivalent, but the persuasiveness of its representation allows us to respond to it as if it were real."
"If "natural" sound (as opposed to speech or music) is an aspect of an environment, it must be employed consistently; that is, the causal relationships between sound and other modalities must be preserved. When things fall down (in a world that has sounds), they go "boom.""
"...we tend to expect that the modalities involved in a representation will have roughly the same "resolution." ... A computer game that incorporates breathtakingly high-resolution, high-speed animation but produces only little beeps seems brain-damaged."
"...it is well known in the folklore of computer game design that high-quality audio makes people perceive visual displays to have higher resolution."
"[t]ight linkage between visual, kinaesthetic, and auditory modalities is the key to the sense of immersion that is created by many computer games, simulations and virtual-reality systems"
Laurel develops Aristotle's four causes (Poetics) and applies them to theatre:
Formal cause. The plot or complete action subsuming form, genre etc.
Material cause. The enactment of a performance: words, sound, props, art etc. Spectacle.
Efficient cause. The skills and tools of all personnel contributing to the play.
End cause. Catharsis. Audience response. The reactions and emotions aroused.
Discussing four criteria of characters from Aristotle's Poetics:
Characters must be good in the sense of successfully carrying their function within the play - ability to transfer thought into action.
Characters and their traits must be appropriate to the actions they enact.
Characters must be probably in terms of understood reality. Logical causal connections between thought, characteristic straits and action.
Characters must be consistent. No arbitrary changes.
Makes the case that human - computer activities are more akin to drama than narrative:
Between the two, time is different, has a different scale.
Narrative is description, drama is action.
Drama is more cathartic, less episodic, has unity of action.
Persyn, L. (2024). The sound of a shared intimacy: A phenomenological research into sound(ing) and listening in performance practices. Unpublished Doctor of Art Studies PhD, Ghent University, Belgium.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 13/08/2024, 10:33
Reeve, C. (2000). Presence in virtual theater. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 9(2), 209–213.
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard Last edited by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard 02/08/2018, 13:20
"Actors come with the ability to imagine, role play, communicate, and create a shared environment"
"Presence in virtual theater is reliant on three key relationships. The actor-avatar relationshipe represents the psychological link between the actor and his self-representation in the world. For this to be effective, there must be transparency between the actor's natural action/reaction and the movements of the avatar. The relation of actor to space creates an increasingly familiar environment and allows the actor to orient himself. Finally, the actor-actor relationship generates a group dynamic that adds personality to avatars abd promoites communal and individual ownership of the world that simultaneously engages users."
