Fiasco
What a fiasco…
In a flurry of narratives and laughs, I found myself at the conclusion of the grand story that our group created for ourselves. After a series of Wild West murders and opium drug deals, I found myself killed in the middle of a family opium operation. As the dust of Boomtown settled on the piles of cash and dead bodies of the narrative, my group felt an extensive assortment of emotions. Instead of a structured game, Fiasco revealed itself as a freeform narrative. The story was created together, which resulted in a feeling of collaborative story telling.
I was pleasantly surprised to realize that our narrative followed the pattern of events and actions of literary works. A clear introduction, complications, climax, and conclusion were evident in our crazy story. This was due in respect to the nature of the game that laid out a setup, act one, and act two. Majority of the introduction was established in the setup of the game. This stage was a stilted in comparison because we had a hard time finding a starting point. We were all new at the game, so it was hard to figure out the game parameters and play at the same time. Complications arose primarily in Act one when the needs of the characters began to clash. The climax was found in the Tilt phase in which the story took unexpected turns. For example, Frunk Trump’s prized Colt Revolvers were stolen by Killary Hilton, who was ultimately betrayed by her cousin, Lucy Kane. Killary Hilton went on crazy kill-rampage that ended in the deaths of side characters in the narrative. Most of the conflicts were forms of external issues. The conclusion was formed in the aftermath of Act 2.
Visual snapshots of the game in the early and late phases would serve to hugely juxtapose one another; in the beginning, we were all very confused and rigid in creativity. As the game quickly picked up, crazy narratives were formed, and the story quickly turned out of control. This made us realize how self-perpetuating plot formation was for writers or game developers. The narrative developed on itself as both logical progressions and unexpected tilts nurtured and energized the story. Not only did the narrative develop, but also the roles that we all took. Instead of acting out the game, we collective told a story in which we all contributed to. Clear personalities and character traits were made apparent for each player in Fiasco as we role-played the story in natural progression.
Playing Fiasco proved to provide a unique experience that was much unlike most of the work that I completed this semester. This game was more of a literary narrative than an analytical assignment or game. Since we all just contributed to the narrative on the spot, the story was not carefully constructed. From that, I learned to find a balance in my writing between creative idea sketching and structured plot making. Too much of one aspect leads to either an entirely unstructured plot or a stilted progression in the narrative.
