How video games turn players into storytellers | David Cage

Translator: Nikolaj Johansen Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

The way we tell stories has naturally changed

Vores måde at fortælle historier har selvfølgelig forandret sig,

since Aristotle defined the rules of tragedy

siden Aristoteles definerede tragediens regler

about 2,500 years ago.

omkring 2.500 år siden.

According to him,

Ifølge ham skal historiefortælling

the role of storytelling is to mimic life and make us feel emotions.

efterligne livet og få os til at føle noget.

And that's exactly what storytelling as we know it

Og sådan har historiefortælling, som vi kender den

has done very well since then.

gjort rigtig godt lige siden.

But there is a dimension of life

Men der findes en dimesion af livet

som historiefortælling aldrig har kunnet gengive.

that storytelling could never really reproduce.

It is the notion of choices.

Ideen om valg.

Choices are a very important part of our lives.

Valg er en rigtig vigtig del af vores liv.

We as individuals are defined by the choices we make.

Som individer defineres vi af de valg, vi træffer.

Some of our decisions can have very significant consequences

Nogle af vores valg kan have meget alvorlige konsekvenser

and totally change the courses of our lives.

og ændre vores liv fuldstændigt.

But in a play, a novel or a film,

Men i et skuespil, en roman eller en film,

the writer makes all the decisions in advance for the characters,

træffer forfatteren alle valgene på forhånd for karaktererne,

and as the audience,

og som publikum

we can only watch, passively,

er vi bare passive tilskuere til

the consequences of his decisions.

konsekvenserne af hans valg.

As a storyteller, I've always been fascinated

Som historiefortæller har jeg altid været fascineret af

with the idea of recreating this notion of choices in fiction.

ideen om at genskabe forestillingen om valg i fiktionen.

My dream was to put the audience in the shoes of the main protagonists,

Min drøm var at sætte publikum i hovedpersonens sted,

let them make their own decisions,

lade dem vælge selv

and by doing so, let them tell their own stories.

og dermed lade dem fortælle deres egne historier.

Finding a way to achieve this is what I did in the past 20 years of my life.

Det er det, jeg har forsøgt at gøre de sidste 20 år af mit liv.

Today, I would like to introduce you to this new way of telling stories,

I dag vil jeg præsentere jer for denne nye måde at fortælle historier,

a way that has interactivity at its heart.

hvor interaktiviteten er i fokus.

Rather than exposing the theory behind it,

Frem for at snakke om teorien bag,

which could have been kind of abstract and probably a little bit boring,

hvilket nok ville være ret abstrakt og sikkert en smule kedeligt,

I thought it would be a great opportunity to do a little experiment.

tænkte jeg, det var oplagt at lave et lille eksperiment.

I would like you, the people here at TED,

Jeg vil gerne have jer her i salen

to tell your own story.

til at fortælle jeres egen historie.

So I came with an interactive scene that we are going to play together.

Derfor har jeg en interaktiv scene med, som vi skal spille sammen.

I've asked Vicky --

Jeg har bedt Vicky ...

hello, Vicky --

Hej, Vicky ...

to control the main character for us.

om at kontrollere hovedpersonen for os.

And your role -- you, the audience --

Og jeres rolle som publikum

will be to make the choices.

vil være at træffe valgene.

So Vicky and I don't know what's going to happen,

Så Vicky og jeg ikke ved, hvad der skal ske,

because it will all be based on your decisions.

fordi det alt sammen bliver baseret på jeres beslutninger.

This scene comes from our next game, called "Detroit: Become Human,"

Denne scene kommer fra vores næste spil, "Detroit: Become Human",

and we are in the near future,

og vi er i en nær fremtid,

where technology made possible the creation of androids

hvor det er muligt at fremstille androider,

that look exactly like human beings.

der ligner mennesker på en prik.

We are in the shoes of this character called Connor,

Vi styrer denne karakter ved navn Connor,

who is an android,

som er en androide.

and he can do very fancy things with coins, as you can see.

Han kan mange smarte tricks med mønter, som I kan se.

He has this blue triangle on this chest,

Han har en blå trekant på brystet,

som alle androider har.

as all androids do,

and now Vicky is in control of this character.

Nu styrer Vicky denne karakter.

She can walk around, she can go anywhere, she can look around,

Hun kan gå rundt overalt, hun kan se sig omkring,

she can interact with her environment,

hun kan interagere med sine omgivelser,

and now she can tell her own stories by making choices.

og hun kan fortælle sine egne historier ved at træffe valg.

So here we have our first choice.

Her har vi vores første valg.

There is a fish on the ground.

Der ligger en fisk på jorden.

What should we do?

Hvad skal vi gøre?

Should we save it or should we leave it?

Skal vi redde den eller ej?

Remember, we are under time pressure,

Husk, vi er under tidspres,

so we'd better be fast.

så vi må hellere være hurtige.

What should we do?

Hvad skal vi gøre?

Audience: Save it!

Red den!

David Cage: Save it? Save the fish?

Red fisken?

(Video) (Fish plops)

(Video) (Fisken plopper)

DC: There we go.

David Cage: Sådan der.

OK, we have an android who likes animals.

Okay, vores androide kan godt lide dyr.

Lad os komme videre.

OK, let's move on.

Remember, we have a hostage situation.

Husk på, vi har en gidselsituation.

(Video) Woman: Please, please, you've got to save my little girl!

(Video) Please, du må redde min lille pige!

Wait -- you're sending an android?

Vent ... Sender I en androide?

Officer: All right, ma'am, you need to go.

Du er nødt til at gå, frue.

W: You can't do that!

Det kan I ikke gøre!

Why aren't you sending a real person?

Hvorfor sender I ikke et rigtigt menneske?

DC: OK, she's not really happy.

Okay, hun er ikke glad.

Her daughter's been taken hostage by an android,

En androide har taget hendes datter som gidsel,

and of course, she's in a state of shock.

og hun er selvfølgelig i chok.

Now we can continue to explore this apartment.

Nu kan vi fortsætte med at undersøge lejligheden.

We see all the SWAT forces in place.

Vi kan se SWAT-betjentene på stedet.

But we need to find this Captain Allen first.

Men først skal vi finde kommissær Allen.

That's the first thing we need to do.

Det er det første, vi skal.

So, again, we can go anywhere.

Så vi kan bevæge os rundt overalt.

Vicky's still in control of the character.

Vicky styrer stadig karakteren.

Let's see -- oh, I think this is Captain Allen. He's on the phone.

Lad os se ... Det er vist Allen. Han snakker i telefon.

(Video) Connor: Captain Allen, my name is Connor.

(Video) Kommissær Allen, mit navn er Connor.

I'm the android sent by CyberLife.

Jeg er den androide, CyberLife har sendt.

Captain Allen: Let's fire at everything that moves.

Allen: Lad os skyde på alt, hvad der bevæger sig.

It already shot down two of my men.

Den har allerede skudt to af mine mænd.

We could easily get it, but they're on the edge of the balcony --

Vi kan godt fange den, men de er ude på balkonen.

it if falls,

Hvis den falder,

she falls.

så falder hun.

DC: OK, now we need to decide what we want to ask the captain.

DC: Nu skal vi beslutte, hvad vi vil spørge kommissæren om.

What should be our choice?

Hvad skal vi vælge?

Deviant's name? Deviant's behavior? Emotional shock?

Forbryderens navn? Hans adfærd? Emotionelt chok?

(Video) C: Has it experienced an emotional shock recently?

(Video) Har den været ude for et emotionelt chok for nylig?

Capt A: I haven't got a clue. Does it matter?

Ingen anelse. Er det ikke ligegyldigt?

C: I need information to determine the best approach.

Jeg skal bruge information for at afgøre min strategi.

DC: OK, a second choice. Maybe we can learn something.

DC: Endnu et valg. Måske kan vi lære noget nyt.

What should we choose?

Hvad skal vi vælge?

Audience: Behavior.

Publikum: Opførsel.

DC: OK, deviant behavior, Vicky.

DC: Okay, forbryderens opførsel.

(Video) C: Do you know if it's been behaving strangely before this?

(Video) Har den opført sig mærkeligt før dette?

Capt A: Listen ... saving that kid is all that matters.

Hør her. Vi skal bare redde den unge.

DC: OK, we are not going to learn anything from this guy.

DC: Okay, han kan ikke fortælle os noget.

We need to do something.

Vi må gøre noget.

Let's try to go back in the lobby.

Lad os gå tilbage til lobbyen.

Oh, wait -- there's a room over there on your right, Vicky, I think.

Vent, der er et rum til højre, Vicky.

Maybe there's something we can learn here.

Måske kan vi finde ud af noget her.

Der er en tablet.

Oh, there's a tablet.

Let's have a look.

Lad os tage et kig.

(Video) Girl: This is Daniel, the coolest android in the world.

(Video) Det her er Daniel, verdens sejeste androide.

Say "Hi," Daniel.

Sig, "hej," Daniel.

Daniel: Hello!

Hej, hej!

G: You're my bestie, we'll always be together!

Du er min bedste ven, vi skal altid være sammen.

DC: That was just one way of playing the scenes,

DC: Det var bare en måde at spille scenen på,

but there are many other ways of playing it.

men der er mange andre måder at spille den på.

Depending on the choices you make,

Afhængigt af jeres valg kunne vi have set

we could have seen many different actions,

mange forskellige handlinger,

many different consequences,

mange forskellige konsekvenser,

many different outcomes.

mange forskellige udfald.

So that gives you an idea of what my work is about as an interactive writer.

Det giver et indtryk af, hvad jeg laver som interaktiv forfatter.

Where a linear writer needs to deal with time and space,

En lineær forfatter skal håndtere tid og rum,

as an interactive writer,

men som interaktiv forfatter

I need to deal with time, space and possibilities.

skal jeg håndtere tid, rum og muligheder.

I have to manage massive tree structures,

Jeg skal holde styr på enorme forgreninger,

where each branch is a new variation of the story.

hvor hver gren er en ny variation af historien.

I need to think about all the possibilities in a given scene

Jeg skal tænke på alle muligheder i en given scene

and try to imagine everything that can happen.

og forestille mig alt, hvad der kan ske.

I need to deal with thousands and thousands of variables,

Jeg skal håndtere tusindvis af variabler,

conditions and possibilities.

betingelser og muligheder.

As a consequence, where a film script is about 100 pages,

Så hvor et filmmanuskript er omkring 100 sider,

an interactive script like this is between four and five thousand pages.

er et interaktivt manuskript mellem 4000-5000 sider.

So that gives you an idea of what this work is about.

Det giver et indtryk af, hvad jobbet handler om.

But I think, in the end, the experience is very unique,

Men i sidste ende er oplevelsen meget unik,

because it is the result of the collaboration

fordi den er et resultat af samarbejdet mellem

between a writer creating this narrative landscape

en forfatter, der skaber det narrative landskab

and the player making his own decisions,

og spilleren, der træffer sine egne valg,

telling his own story and becoming the cowriter

fortæller sin egen historie og bliver medforfatter

but also the coactor and the codirector of the story.

men også medspiller og medinstruktør af historien.

Interactive storytelling is a revolution in the way we tell stories.

Interaktiv historiefortælling er en revolution i fortællekunsten.

With the emergence of new platforms like interactive television,

Med nye platforme som interaktive fjernsyn,

virtual reality and video games,

virtual reality og computerspil

it can become a new form of entertainment

kan det blive en ny form for underholdning

and maybe even a new form of art.

og måske endda en ny kunstform.

I am convinced that in the coming years,

Jeg er overbevist om, at vi i fremtiden

we will see more and more moving and meaningful interactive experiences,

vil se flere og flere rørende interaktive oplevelser

created by a new generation of talents.

skabt af en ny generation af talenter.

This is a medium waiting for its Orson Welles

Det er et medium, der venter på sin Orson Welles

or its Stanley Kubrick,

eller sin Stanley Kubrick,

and I have no doubt that they will soon emerge

og jeg er sikker på, at de snart vil vise sig

and be recognized as such.

og blive anerkendt for det.

I believe that interactive storytelling can be

Jeg tror på, at interaktiv historiefortælling

kan blive, hvad filmen var i det 20. århundrede.

what cinema was in the 20th century:

an art that deeply changes its time.

En kunstform, der grundlæggende forandrer sin tid.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Klapsalver)