Cole Hermida

POWER OF STORY TELLING

One of my favorite TED talks ever given was by novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It was about the danger of the single story and the importance of both embracing and celebrating the beauty of the tales of those around us. For me, personally, I believe that there is no single story in our world. There are layers upon layers of memories, experiences, hardships, triumphs, love affairs and birthday cakes that define each and everyone's life, creating stories that not only challenge us but define us as human beings.

My name is Cole Hermida and I embrace that truth. As a sophmore English major and also hopefully a soon to be Marketing major by next Fall, I strive to uphold this idea presented by Adichie and live my life not by my story alone but with the stories of others.

Adichie's talk on the danger of a single story

STORIES IN THE GAMES WE PLAY

Speaking of storytelling, I particularly find the stories told in video games to be particularly enthralling. From the crafting of strange worlds in the digital space to the usage of the controller as a direct form of connection to the protagonist in a game, video games create a new form of storytelling unseen before in books, movies and television shows. It places the player in the mind of the character and pushes them to make choices that not only define the story of fictional characters but the morals of the player himself.

Now, I find this to be extremely fascinating because you can do so much with video games! For example, video games have definitely evolved into a whole different kind of monster after years and years of technological advancements. The video games played in the late 1980s are not like the video games today that are racking in millions of dollars in revenue. Likewise, this evolution in the video game industry has sparked developers to create games that challenge the gamer mentally AND morally. A ball thrown at a child in a game can represent years of development for the main character as he makes choices in the future.

Everything is connected.

VIDEO GAMES THAT HAVE LEFT AN IMPRESSION:

The BioShock series [BioShock, BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite]

The Portal series

Dishonored

Ni No Kuni