Myths and Games: How Digital Stories Shape Our Future

THE MYTHOLOGY IN AND OF
GAMES Why the Legend of Zelda is just as
important as the Legend of Beowulf
Jonathan Padua
Thomas May III
Christopher Michael Yap

ROLL CALL
PAX East, Apr. 13, 2014
2
Thomas May III
• Games Researcher
• Michigan State University
• Games Researcher / Producer
• NAIST Japan / Plain Box Interactive
Jonathan Padua
• Artist in Residence
• Lower Manhattan Cultural Council

1ST SPEAKER
Jonathan Padua
Writer/Artist-in-Residence
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
3

Why is
Storytelling
Essential to Us?
4

To Pass Down History and Knowledge
5

To Preserve and Maintain Identity
6

To teach values and morals
7

STORIES CONNECT US TO ONE ANOTHER ...
and the world at large
8

Stories are the
realities we create
for ourselves
9

ONE OF THE MOST ENDURING FORMS IS...
MYTHOLOGY
10

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT MYTHOLOGY?
It gives reason and order to the unknown
11

IT REMINDS US THAT HUMAN BEINGS ARE CAPABLE
of shaping their own destinies
12

MYTHOLOGY BEING RETOLD AND RE-INVENTED IN...
VIDEO GAMES
13

CLASSIC MYTHS ARE BEING REINVENTED
14

Classical
=
15
Dynasty Warriors
Example: Nuwa

Reinvented through videogames
16

Games are creating new mythologies
17

WHERE DO VIDEO GAMES AND MYTHOLOGY INTERSECT?
THE GAMER
18

WITH ENOUGH DETERMINATION...
… the impossible can be achieved
19

Video games are an immersive experience
20
We no longer have a passive role in storytelling

The possibilities
are
endless
21

2ND SPEAKER
Thomas May III
Graduate student
Michigan State University
22

Myths have been
told in a variety of
ways
23

WORD OF MOUTH
24

PRINT MEDIA
25

TELEVISION & MOVIES
26

GAMES
INTERACTIVITY!
27

DANTE ALIGHERI
● Poet
● Journey of understanding
● Exiled from Florence for
being a part of rival political
party
● Died 1321
● Soldier
● Save Beatrice
● Redemption of himself as
well as Beatrice
● Died 1191 (third crusade)
29

BEATRICE PORTINARI
● Unrequited love
● Poems written about her
by Dante
● Only appeared in DC to
ask Virgil to guide Dante
● Dante’s fiance
● Made a deal with
Lucifer that Dante
would stay loyal
30

PUBLIUS VERGILIUS MARO (VIRGIL)
● Consistent
through both
mediums
● Dante’s guide
● Asked by Beatrice
● Being Pagan,
couldn’t enter
Paradiso
31

WEAPONIZATION OF POEM
● Faith as a weapon ● Old Fashioned violence
32

WHAT’S THE POINT?
• Story is still there, despite (obvious)
changes.
• Gives players a different view on a classic
literature.
33

ASURAS
35
●Low level deity
●Warlike
●Embody thirst for
power, wrath, pride
●Constantly angry
●Only concerned with
material gain
●Live in constant strife
●Love to fight

ASURA (GAME)
● Former Guardian General
● Framed for the death of Emperor Strada
● Wife killed and daughter kidnapped by other generals
● Thrown into Naraka (hell)
● “REVENGE!!!!”
36

ASPECTS FROM MYTH
SYMBOLISM!!!
37

STATUES
38

AGAIN, WHAT’S THE POINT?
• Introduces something new to those who may
not know about it.
• Cyborgs and spaceships? REALLY?
39

KRATOS
●Spartan
GeneralSoldier of
AresGhost of
Sparta God of
Warsoldier of the
titansSolo dolo
●Son of Zeus
●Killed gods, titans,
monsters, people, etc,
etc.
●New character in Greek
culture
42

KRATOS’ IMPACT IN WORLD OF
GREEK MYTH
Icarus
Atlas
Hercules
43

SYMBOLISM
44

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL?
• Something new within something old
• Gives the player a visual interpretation of
the characters they’ve heard so much
about
• It all revolves around Kratos somehow
45

WHAT DO THEY TEACH US?
• “It’s only after we’ve lost everything that
we’re free to do anything”- Chuck
Palahniuk, Fight Club
• Reach for your goals, no matter what.
• It’s okay to tell society to suck it.
46

INTO THE FUTURE…AND BEYOND!!
100 years later, what will
they say?
47

3RD SPEAKER
Games Researcher – NAIST Japan
Producer – Plain Box Interactive
48

UNTIL NOW...
1) Myth is important:
a) Cultural Identity
b) Transmission of Values
2) Myth has been reinvigorated by
Games
50

WHAT NEXT?
Games are the Digital Mythology of
the 21st Century!
• Goal of Myth are best served by
Games
51

THE GOALS OF MYTH THROUGH GAMES
Transmission of Values
• Player is passive observer active
participant
• Ownership/Authorship of the tale passes
to the player
• Player manifests as the Hero
• Myth becomes the story of the Player
52

THE POWER OF GAMES FOR MYTH
53

=
Immersive
Properties
of Game
Worlds
Power to
create
indelible
Narrative
Experience
55

Games are:
• better than static media due to
exploratory sim-worlds
• simultaneously convey both:
o the core myth/lessons
o what-if scenarios
56

MODERN EXAMPLES ARE GREAT, BUT
FRANKLY...
57

OUR LEGENDS!
58

OUR EPIC STRUGGLES!
59

OUR ODES TO THE FALLEN!
60

OUR SONGS OF VICTORY!
61

THIS IS OUR TIME!
LET’S MAKE THE BEST
OF IT!
62

63
Logic
Reason
Order
Analysis
Science
Control
Freedom
Creativity
Passion
Chaos
Imagination
Feeling

64
Stories Tech
Creativity Ingenuity
Digital
Mythology
Of
Our Time

THIS IS OUR TIME!
“The aeroplane and the radio
have brought us closer together.
The very nature of these
inventions cries out for the
goodness in men - cries out for
universal brotherhood - for the
unity of us all. ”
-Charlie Chaplin
“The Great Dictator” 1940
65

LET’S MAKE THE BEST OF IT!
“It is what life is about. We are only
here for such a short amount of
time, we happen to all be living in
the same era, and let's help each
other, let's make each other's life
better. And that's why I think, as a
game developer, that's the best
thing we could do and that's
why I love making games.”
-Jenova Chen
GDC 2013
66

WE HAVE A DREAM...
…where the games of the future allow the
flexible telling of an infinite number of
mythologies--that which reflects the
infinite, cumulative experiences of life--
told in such an engaging, interactive way
that the tale of all humanity can not only
be learned, but enjoyed as well.
67

LIFE IS
72
A STORY IS
A GAME IS
A STORY IS
A LIFE

The mythology in and of Games
is there to remind of us that
we have the strength and
goodness in ourselves
to win.
76

So long as there is humanity,
So, too, will there be the Quest…
77
Jon Padua:
thefinishingmove@
gmail.com
Chris Yap:
Smartbad
@gmail.com
Thomas May III:
tmaycubed
@gmail.com

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