Krzywinska

Archane Challenges Minerva:The Spinning Out of Long Narrative in World of Warcraft and Buffy the Vampire Slayer-by Tanya Krzywinska

The beginning of the essay summarizes Ovid's epic poem Metamorphoses, in which a mortal woman (Arachne) challenges the goddess of warriors, crafts, and wisdom (Minerva) to a tapestry weaving contest. Minerva's tapestry depicts her defeat of the god Neptune with four smaller depictions of mortals  challenging gods surrounding it (all the mortals lose). Arachne's tapestry depicts the seduction of Europa by Jove (along with other women seduced by gods). Everyone is in awe of Arachne's skill, and Minerva goes into a rage. She rips up Arachne's tapestry, hits her on the head, and turns her into a spider so she can weave forever.
Krzywinska suggests that this story portrays 2 approaches to long narrative in epic poetry-heroic epic mode Minerva) and unepic (Arachne). In heroic epic mode, violence is seen as bravery, gods are respected, and there is a set of structured rules. In unepic, gods are criticized, mortals are portrayed as gods' playthings, and there are no rules. Krzywinska uses this story and these definitions to examine how the epic texts World of Warcraft and Buffy the Vampire Slayer weave long narratives.
Krzywinska gives us a short history of the long narrative, saying that it began to appear in popular media around the 19th century. It started in printed serialized fiction and moved to cinema, radio and television (soap operas most widely consumed long narratives). Serialized fiction affects long narrative because studios want to make shows appealing to casual audiences. They create stand alone episodes with an overarching story arcs. The story arcs become more prominent after a show gains loyal fans (this happened with Buffy). Both Buffy and World of Warcraft contain several characteristics of new long narratives: heroic deeds, supernatural entities, and developed "worlds." Buffy's world is similar to the real world (except for the Hell dimensions), while World of Warcraft is set in a cartoonish world that is not meant to resemble ours. Buffy is more similar to Arachne's version of long narrative it weaves together multiple genres (soap, horror, and serial). Many of the events that occur in stand alone episodes are stitched to a larger story ac of interpersonal relationships and personal transformation. Krzywinska argues the main theme of Buffy is the experience of life changes on identity and relationships.
World of Warcraft does not use narrative in the same way, instead using a well developed history to create long narrative.World of Warcraft does have story lines, but players can choose their level of engagement with it.  The game even has a story bible that keeps track of all the narratives. Every player gets some of the long narrative when they begin playing the game, they can't just jump in the middle of a story line unlike television shows. This helps contextualize what players will later do in the game (offers potential meanings). Also, when a player creates a character, they get a history of the character's race (ex: Blood Elf). Next, they are given a quest. Quests represent longer overarching narratives, while smaller stand alone events happen along the way. Narrative is also created through the "lived story," which is individual players' actions in the game. The longer players interact with the game, the more they experience and understand their given and lived narratives. Players can also create their own backstories and interact with other players (sometimes subcommunities, guilds, are formed.
Geography (hell dimensions) is also important to long narratives because they create dramatic effect. It creates the need for heroism and provide history (Minervan qualities).
Persistance vs. Seriality also affects long narratives. World of Warcraft's world continues to exist after a player leaves the game, but Buffy's ends with an episode.
Questions 
1. Do our group stories more resemble Arachne or Minerva's weaving?
2. Is your story persistent or serial?
3. What is your story's geography and how does it affect narrative?