Simulation of Simulations

Part I

Simulation - The Book as Simulation

When Roger Caillois talks about games, he describes a simulated environment in which the game exists. Games themselves are simulations. In terms of games, a simulation is a virtual environment in which another reality exists where a theory can be tested. When I say another reality, I don't mean that it is necessarily real. But it is treated as a reality in order for the simulation to take place.

David Bolter says in Remediation the following:

"In a virtual environment, we have the freedom to alter our selves by altering our point of view and to empathize with others by occupying their point of view..." (p 232)

But this raises a question as to how much the user need to bring in to the simulated environment in order for it to succeed in its intentions. The user does not cease to exist outside of the environment, but their awareness drifts in and out as they become acclimated to the construct of the game.



House of Leaves (2000)

House of Leaves was written by Mark Z. Danielewski. The story is intended to be a collected series of documentation regarding an ever-expanding labyrinth that is invading reality itself. The narrators are unreliable and the book as a form itself is unreliable but reflects the nature of the writings. The way this book is structured revolves around documentations upon documentations, in itself a labyrinth that coaxes the reader into a sense that it is a collection of artifacts from a reality that existed. In this sense, House of Leaves is an artifact of a simulated world where the events of the story exists. The book presents itself in an imitation of reality. Books like this one could be regarded as a simulation, or a game, for a variety of reasons. In the same sense as H.P. Lovecraft's short stories, both are intended to be stories presented as realities, but also acknowledge themselves as existing as fiction. Both works entail a world that does not exist but through these artifacts. The reader immerses themselves into the story, taking on the perspectives of the narrator, and then go through the novel narratologically to reach an open conclusion. These works pose a question rather than an answer. And House of Leaves as a form expresses this question as it slowly trickles away from the form of a documentation of fictitious events and more toward ambiguities that the reader must interpret.

House of Leaves is presented as a collection of documents and slowly abstracts itself

Where House of Leaves falls short as a simulation is that the simulation has already occurred before the events described in the novel take place. Again, the novel collects together artifacts and presents the chilling tale in the same sense that a photograph describes a ghost. Reliability and understanding comes into question.

Tree of Codes (2010)

I also briefly looked at a book called Tree of Codes, remediated by Jonathan Safran Foer. The nature of the environment of this book makes people aware of the book as the form. Even though this book is bound by a machine, the slightest difference in binding may hide letters from appearing from behind other pages. Every experience of the readers could be different. The original text is broken down by cutting pieces out of the preceding pages, revealing text from underneath. This book is generally regarded as a work of art, not necessarily meant to be read, but meant to be observed. Tree of Codes explores the possibility of the book as a form in an unconventional way. However, it does not transcend the form in a sense that House of Leaves had done as an artifact from a simulation.



Part II 

Hypertext Fiction and Ergodic Literature as Simulations

House of Leaves is considered to be ergodic literature, which is essentially hypertext fiction. While a bound book is linear, ergodic literature breaks this assumption of the form by presenting the text in a flexible order or even the form itself in an unconventional manner. With this assumption, ergodic fiction is not bound by the media through which it is presented, but instead bound by rules that guide its usage. Ergodic fiction encompasses MUDs also, which are text-based adventures that have multiple outcomes.

an example of a MUD

Soft novels (short of "software" novels) or "dōjin" visual novels also exist in this category. Soft novels generally expect user input and are hypermediated novels, wherein they have images and sound that help drive the dialogue of the plot forward. The input of the user affects the outcome of the novel. Often, these games have other elements that interact with the fiction in an non-linear way, such as using a special item during a dialogue or choosing not to. There are other games out there that do this to a more complex extent.

The games that I chose to talk about do not, however, give the player choices that affect the story of the game. Instead the player is presented with a simulation of a game, that is advertised as a game. They go beyond their framework into a community that works toward solving a mystery that gives them no rewards to reap. In a sense, these two soft novels exist as games that essentially aren't games in a traditional sense, and yet have games that occur within and beyond their own system.




Part III

Meta Simulation - Games within Games

I looked at the games Umineko no Naku Koro Ni ("When the Seagulls Cry") and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni ("When the Cicadas Cry") created by 07th Expansion. The company itself is brother team, one of which cannot draw for the life of him. The artwork is very poorly drawn (some of the characters have blobs for hands) and the backgrounds are photographs that were put under some sort of metal varnish filter from an early version of Photoshop. Despite this crutch, both games go completely against the expectations of the interactive fiction genre (soft novels, in this case) and create an environment that one could argue is a simulation of a game, which is itself a simulation.

Both Umineko and Higurashi are divided up into several "scenarios" or chapters. Each scenario, though connected, is the same story re-explained. Each game from these series is a collection of scenarios. The intention is to illustrate the mystery contained in the game by showing how it still happens even when things appear to happen totally different from the previous scenario. When the events happen differently, the player becomes more aware of the differences and similarities, then understanding the inner mystery more fully.

These scenarios make more sense when they are played in order, but they do not necessarily have to be in order. They can be played out of order.


Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (2002)

This was the first major game made by 07th Expansion and begins to explore the complexities of game simulation within the narrative of the game, but not to the extent that is realized by Umineko by any means.

Plot

In June of 1983, Keiichi Maebara moves from the city to a small rural village called Hinamizawa. There, he befriends some classmates who have an after-school club where they play games that often end in the loser doing some sort of humiliating punishment (oh, anime.). Keiichi slowly adjusts himself to the quiet village life, until the arrival of the Watanagashi festival, where Keiichi learns that a murder has happened each year in the last few years during the night of the festival. He and his friends soon find themselves tied up in the mystery, often resulting in paranoia, making it difficult to distinguish the narrator's reliability.

Keiichi is unsure if he or his classmates are being accused of murder...

It is hidden from the player until later in the series that Rika is the only character actually aware that history is repeating itself and that she intends to fix it. No other characters are aware of this happening, not even Keiichi. It is as if the player forms an alliance with her to solve the mystery, while unable to directly interact with the things that occur.

"That's a lie!!!" - Keiichi think his friends may be possessed. They begin behaving oddly.

At the end of each scenario is an extra piece, where all the characters congregate in a meta world and discuss what they believe in the cause of the tragedy. Keiichi does not appear as a physical character in the game series until much later. They even discuss what the participants in the beta test of Higurashi thought was the cause. It's even more bizarre to see them say things like, "Oh, but what if I murdered everyone? How would that change the theory?" Don't toy with me, 07th Expansion!

Rena explains the experience of the beta tester...

Structure

Higurashi is divided up into "scenarios", where the story is mainly experienced through the eyes of Keiichi. As the story progresses, the player must question whether or not the narrator is reliable in the sense that he may have paranoia. For example: the fist game introduces the entire story and the characters, which are few. After the Watanagashi festival, a detective comes to Keiichi's school and informs him privately that someone he was seen speaking to at the festival was brutally murdered and then goes on to tell Keiichi that he can't tell his friends. This makes him extremely paranoid. One day, his friend Rena confronts him in a way that is completely shocking (and scary if you have headphones on). This, on top of other events, makes Keiichi paranoid that his own friends are trying to murder him.

HOWEVER-

There is a scenario later in the series that potentially solves this mystery. There is a moment in the game where Keiichi thinks that someone is about to stab him with a syringe, but in this new scenario presented, there is only a felt tip marker. I hate the idea of spoiling the plot, but I theorize that there is a disease that only happens in Hinamizawa that causes something like schizophrenia. (imagine Scarecrow from Batman).

These events occur over and over in different ways. My theory would solve the mystery that exists within (...I think) all of them. It also debunks the idea of the supernatural being the cause.



Unreliable Narrative

Just as in House of Leaves, there is evidence that the narrator is unreliable. Johnny Truant in House of Leaves modifies the Navidson Record to fit his own understanding and perhaps to even lie to himself about what is happening around him. The Navidson Record is presented to us as documentation of the surreal and the book itself is wrapped around this artifact. There are subnotes and quotations from literature that does not actually exist, but are treated as legitimate. Higurashi and Umineko both have these elements as well. Within both games is a nonexistant poet who is quoted frequently, who we meet as a character in the meta-world of Umineko, and possibly an incarnation of Rika from Higurashi.

We hear Keiichi's account as a first person narrative, but we later learn that Keiichi is not experiencing reality normally.  When going back into the first few scenarios, we begin to see places where Keiichi could either be hallucinating or reading too much into what is going on around him. But initially, he seems to be a victim and may even still be the victim.

In Umineko, we also experience this disruption in reliable narrative, but structured to game rules and constructs into logic puzzles. If the focus of the game is magic vs logic, what does it mean when a magical being in the game introduces the game's construct?

House of Leaves, Umineko, and Higurashi are all three complex mysteries. The characters, when exposed to this other reality, are often driven to complete madness.




Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (2007)

Umineko is a complex, multi-layered murder mystery game simulation.


Plot

In the year 1986, the wealthy Ushiromiya family congregates at the family mansion on Rokkenjima Island to see the head of the family, Kinzo, on his deathbed. He is preparing to announce who the heir will be to the family fortune, but then mysterious deaths begin to occur on the island. These murders are associated with an old family legend about a witch who would one day reclaim the fortune she bestowed upon the family long ago. The witch, Beatrice, ultimately revives in the same way the legend foretells. However, the protagonist, Battler Ushiromiya, thwarts Beatrice's complete revival because he refuses to believe in magic. Beatrice then takes Battler against his will to a parallel meta-world, where they argue whether or not magic exists. Should Battler fail to explain every murder with logic (or how he got to the meta world), Beatrice will win. Through this, however, the family is cursed to repeat the events on Rokkenjima in 1986 possibly forever, as a separate consciousness of themselves watches from the meta-world.

The grand-children of Kinzo Ushiromiya, along with two servants.

Structure 

Umineko only has a few ways that the player can directly interact with it: one can click forward, choose to read previous text in that scene, save the game, or watch extra material, called 'TIPS.' Only at the final installment of Umineko (unlike Higurashi) can the player make choices that affect the outcome. Otherwise, the player is treated to a simulation of a game, wherein they experience the characters confronting game-like constructs within the game that have pre-determined outcomes, but the player must devise separate from the game their personal solution.

The debate as to whether or not magic exists is fought out on a stage called the meta-world. In the meta-world, characters are and sometimes are not self-aware. In this place, character debate using complex theories, such as Schrödinger's Cat, to explain solutions to the closed door murders that have occurred.

The menu screen of Umineko shows the family tree with the deceased darkened out.

Truth in Umineko

The most significant simulated game device that the characters as well as the players are faced with are varying degrees of truth. As text scrolls across the screen, the witch Beatrice suddenly introduces this concept, beginning with the red truth. She claims that whenever you/the characters see the red text, then this is undeniable fact.

But I don't even trust witches to begin with...

It should also be noted that the characters then become aware of the algorithm of their environment, meaning that they then see the red text and are aware of these truth constructs within the game that they must play.

- Red Truth is a statement that is true that directs the player (and characters) toward a conclusion about what happened.

- Blue Truth operates like red truth, provided that there are no red or golden truths that refute it.

- Golden Truth occurs twice in the game, and is essentially red truth, but highlights a very significant truth.

- Purple Declarations are the most complex of these truths. They are used when the remaining surviving characters in the scenario state facts regarding the murders. But the culprit can choose to lie under the purple declaration; the culprit meaning the one who was responsible for the murders. When all of the characters state their purple declaration, any number of them could potentially be lies. But, if the player is to base their deduction on purple declarations, then they could make a possible solution.

In order for this game to function, one must assume these rules in the same sense that the characters do. Otherwise, stepping back from the game, one has to decide whether this is functioning as a legitimate rule that the game can abide by; that perhaps Beatrice exists to make rules to deceive the player's reasoning. The game defines what truth is and defines varying degrees of truth. The reason that the truth is colored text is described as the use of "magic" within the game. If we don't believe in magic, however, is this a proper tool to measure what we are fundamentally learning from the game that the characters are playing?

The truth is that Beatrice wins provided that the player, not Battler, willingly theorizes that magic may be the cause within the context of the game's plot. This creates a simulation of a game, where the player unwittingly uses their expectations of a game to allow Beatrice to have power over them in their decisions about the solution of the plot in a fantasy game. There is no proof but assumptions that any truth described as a device in the game is, in fact, truth.

Someone heard that I was writing this paper, so they sent me this on Valentine's day.

Fantasy Genre

Umineko is fantasy. Under that pretense, anything is possible, such a magic. So why are the characters debating the possibility that magic does not exist with logic in a fantasy game? With a fantasy-themed game, the system is set and the experience happens within that set. While Umineko's interaction is limited to reading text like that of a book, the plot is multilinear. The characters are murdered, but then they exist again only to be murdered again in the next scenario. Removed from all of this is everything that happens in the meta-world that overlooks the repeating "real" world. The scenarios are contained as their own realities. Within that understanding that they are their own contained realities, the meta-world is where magic exists, but then logic can be applied to the contained reality of the scenario.

Rules on Top of Rules on Top of Rules

In a closed-door scenario, the slain lies in a room that locks from the inside. If there are no doors or windows, where is the culprit?

Another game-like device used in Umineko are various game theories used to work from a prima facie impression down toward a logical solution that debunks the use of magic. Such theories used include the Devil's proof, Schrödinger's Cat, and Hemple's Paradox (it will hurt you.). There are also less traditional theories brought into the debate, such as Father Knox's Decalogue, which summarizes how logical conclusions are reached in murder mystery fiction, but is not necessarily reliable in disproving magic in Umineko. These theories are used in the debate in the meta-world, but it is up to the player to decide for themselves what theory they would use to solve the problem.

You just got Cthulu'd.

Awakening to the Algorithm

There is ultimately a point where Battler becomes aware of the system that Beatrice's game runs on. Even though he does not believe in magic, we see him using "magic" in the meta-world. He is shot down, but lives. According to the witches of the meta-world, one who becomes aware of the system in which they exist, gains the title of Game Master. This is the point where Battler uses the golden truth and reveals an undeniable fact that changes all previous theories.

While we see Battler become aware of the game and its devices that were once termed as magic, such as using red truth, the player does not necessarily achieve awareness to the algorithm as he does, otherwise the game can no longer offer theories to the player because the player will disconnect. Like with those who play games, Battler begins to become aware of the algorithm and it becomes less about the plot and more about solving the game using the tools of the game against itself. Again, this proves that Umineko is a simulation of a game because Battler alone can become aware of the algorithm and use its constructs. The player cannot use the power of truths, but in their own personal separated deductions.

Battler Speaks a Golden Truth, initially a power reserved for magical beings.

Solution Theories to Umineko

The goal of Umineko is the same for the player as it is for the characters. The player repeats the horrible tragedies at Rokkenjima seemingly perpetually until they choose to either disconnect or reach the end of the entire series. When the player is freed from Rokkenjima, then they win no matter what, while the characters may or may not win. It may even be argued that the player must decide what their terms for winning may be.

Within the game, the player can develop theories to make their own sense of the game's solution. An example of one theory revolves around a character that may or may not exist named Yasu. Yasu would be the illegitimate child of the head of the family, Kinzo, and the rightful heir to the family fortune. The Yasu theory would prove that magic exists. Yasu is several characters all at once, through magic. It also details motives for their intentions. But there is only potential that this character exists. If another theoretical character were to exist, named Lion, who is still the illegitimate child of Kinzo, then Yasu could not possibly exist.

If Yasu exists, then s/he is all three, among others, all at once.

...Does Lion exist?

Part IV

Conclusion and Disclaimer

While Higurashi was successfully interpreted to an animated series, Umineko, even as a novel, completely failed--and without great surprise. The complexities of Umineko can only exist as a game. While one could argue that Umineko is only an interactive fiction, it reaches beyond its own confines to the player to make decisions based on the decisions of the characters within the game. Umineko is a simulation where the player is tricked into playing a game in the mind while watching the characters play a game. In our reality, we look into the meta-world that is looking into several realities that may or may not exist. On a critical level, Umineko is achieving a complexity that no other soft novels to my knowledge have done.

As a disclaimer, Higurashi and Umineko both have severe violence in them. I obviously don't condone violence, and both anime versions are very explicit and were even censored. This violence is still present in the games, but exist mainly as text accompanied by sound, which still tends to be disturbing. There are also a lot of implications in this game that could also be explored that would more specifically pertain to Japanese culture and sexuality. But instead I specifically chose to talk about how the games function critically.

There is also a lot to be said how sound masterfully functions in these games. While the majority of the games bombard you with generic repetitive soft novel background music, there are moments when that world completely shifts. There is a moment that I found to be very impactful in Hugurashi when the Keiichi is standing in his house alone in silence when the phone rings as he's trying to sort his thoughts. You can also notice moments when the sound of the cicadas slightly warps. The terror of Higurashi is realized through subtleties, in the way words are delivered, the pacing of the text, and especially the sound. The initial pacing is exhausting, but I believe that this occurs for a reason.

This is a university class in Japan studying the logic paths of Umineko. Doesn't it look like half the class dropped or something? I don't blame them!

Umineko is not officially available in English, but can be purchased with an English patch overlaid. Higurashi is currently available for purchase as an iOS app through the Apple Store here.

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni is awesome even if anime is lame.
I will make an A+ on this paper and you hopefully get this joke.
I wrote this paper last week.

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Books:
Remediation - Jay David Bolter & Richard Grusin (1999)
Writing Space - Bolter (2001)
House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski (2000)
Tree of Codes - Jonathan Safran Foer (2010)

Games:
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (2002)
Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (2007)