2022
Blom, Joleen; Mikkonen, Kai
Virtual Assistants as Characters—Or Not Journal Article
In: Narrative, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 169-181, 2022, ISSN: 1063-3685.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Characters, Hikari Azuma, Kyara, Quasi-persons, Voice assistants
@article{Blom2022b,
title = {Virtual Assistants as Characters—Or Not},
author = {Joleen Blom and Kai Mikkonen},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10138/345328},
doi = {10.1353/nar.2022.0009},
issn = {1063-3685},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-05-25},
urldate = {2022-05-25},
journal = {Narrative},
volume = {30},
number = {2},
pages = {169-181},
abstract = {New technologies like voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and the Google Assistant give the impression that the lines between humans and machines are blurring as machines gradually take up social roles once occupied by humans. To counter that anxiety, this essay argues that these technologies are becoming more like characters, adapting to the templates we initially constructed for fictional beings whose space voice assistants occupy instead. It provides a textual reading of the Japanese voice assistant Hikari Azuma as advertised by the company Vinclu’s website in order to demonstrate how Hikari functions as a kyara, a character without story, whose development depends on the user. The essay proposes that we have to adjust
our conceptual understanding of characters as distinct from human beings and technology. Instead, the essay concludes that we should perceive current technologies like voice assistants as technologies operating on a spectrum in which some machines will look more like characters and others more like software-in-action with no humanlikeness at all.},
keywords = {Characters, Hikari Azuma, Kyara, Quasi-persons, Voice assistants},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
New technologies like voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and the Google Assistant give the impression that the lines between humans and machines are blurring as machines gradually take up social roles once occupied by humans. To counter that anxiety, this essay argues that these technologies are becoming more like characters, adapting to the templates we initially constructed for fictional beings whose space voice assistants occupy instead. It provides a textual reading of the Japanese voice assistant Hikari Azuma as advertised by the company Vinclu’s website in order to demonstrate how Hikari functions as a kyara, a character without story, whose development depends on the user. The essay proposes that we have to adjust
our conceptual understanding of characters as distinct from human beings and technology. Instead, the essay concludes that we should perceive current technologies like voice assistants as technologies operating on a spectrum in which some machines will look more like characters and others more like software-in-action with no humanlikeness at all.
our conceptual understanding of characters as distinct from human beings and technology. Instead, the essay concludes that we should perceive current technologies like voice assistants as technologies operating on a spectrum in which some machines will look more like characters and others more like software-in-action with no humanlikeness at all.
2021
Blom, Joleen
Characters in Fire Emblem Three Houses: A Ludo Mix Perspective Journal Article
In: Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association, vol. 5, iss. 2, pp. 101 - 130, 2021, ISSN: 2328-9422.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Dynamic game character, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Kyara, Kyarakutā
@article{Blom2021,
title = {Characters in Fire Emblem Three Houses: A Ludo Mix Perspective},
author = {Joleen Blom},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202104142962},
doi = {10.26503/todigra.v5i2.117},
issn = {2328-9422},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-04-09},
journal = {Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association},
volume = {5},
issue = {2},
pages = {101 - 130},
abstract = {The article focuses on how dynamic game characters create friction in a ludo mix strategy consisting of primarily ludic media, disturbing the narrative coherency that trans- or cross-media strategies strive for. In particular, dynamic game characters, with a development structure that the player influences, cause narrative inconsistencies with the character’s transmedia appearances. Yet, in Japanese media and ludo mixes, character proliferation is the norm so that different versions of the same character can exist without any issues of narrative coherency. Through a case study of the Fire Emblem: Three Houses ludo mix, this article argues that the Japanese concept of the kyara, a proto-character, demonstrates to be an excellent means to avoid a clash between the dynamic game character in one work and its appearance in another work. It concludes that through the use of the kyara, the IP owner avoids any clash between the dynamic game character’s appearance in its source work and its appearance in other ludic works, thereby giving the impression that the player’s agency over the dynamic game character stays intact.
},
keywords = {Dynamic game character, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Kyara, Kyarakutā},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The article focuses on how dynamic game characters create friction in a ludo mix strategy consisting of primarily ludic media, disturbing the narrative coherency that trans- or cross-media strategies strive for. In particular, dynamic game characters, with a development structure that the player influences, cause narrative inconsistencies with the character’s transmedia appearances. Yet, in Japanese media and ludo mixes, character proliferation is the norm so that different versions of the same character can exist without any issues of narrative coherency. Through a case study of the Fire Emblem: Three Houses ludo mix, this article argues that the Japanese concept of the kyara, a proto-character, demonstrates to be an excellent means to avoid a clash between the dynamic game character in one work and its appearance in another work. It concludes that through the use of the kyara, the IP owner avoids any clash between the dynamic game character’s appearance in its source work and its appearance in other ludic works, thereby giving the impression that the player’s agency over the dynamic game character stays intact.