Bolt in particular is so innocent and lovable, and it really hurts seeing him being torn apart emotionally, repeatedly throughout the film.

Nice response.

On a similar note, but the flip side... having my disbelief suspended isn't why I love games. But at the same time, I love being fully engaged emotionally, physically, and mentally. I never believe that the game is real (or forget it's just an artifice) but how I relate to the experiences, devote my time/attention, and interact with the system are all real.

Everything I brought to the table in competitive Smash Brothers was an extension of my life (however big the part that was extended).A match was a test of one players' will fighting another for survival.

So I can see where you're coming from. Allowing oneself to buy into the premise of a work of art (or anything really) gives one the powerful ability to relate and share experiences. Just like there are many ways to experience a sport (from the player's perspective to the fan's) the experiences stem from the work itself.

I hope you still can find some fever dreams in gaming yet?

I had a completely different reaction. It seemed incredibly crass to me and I didn't enjoy it at all. Likewise, my time with the classic Counter-Strike -- the only multiplayer FPS I've ever played with any regularity -- didn't feel like a sport to me, even if that's the most apt comparison.

I enjoy being able to become emotionally invested in games, buying into their premise as I would a film. When I played Counter-Strike, it generally felt like a very real, intense life-and-death struggle to me. It was kill or be killed, served up fresh each round, and KD ratio posturing meant very little to me. I can't say it was an entirely pleasurable experience, but it was a compelling and evocative one, which, like film, is something I appreciate from games when they can give it to me.

As multiplayer FPS games become more sport-like and socially competitive, particularly through the party-like atmosphere of voice chat, I've lost almost all interest in them. Suspension of disbelief is no long attainable. Settling down in the dark to absorb The Seventh Seal and trying to screen it at a frat house blowout are not the same thing. I'm not saying these games have gone down the wrong path. What they are doing is a very worthy and effective way to connect people, which is what multiplayer gaming should be all about. It's just not a path I'm much interested in following. I miss my shared fever dreams.

Compared to Paprika (which I've only seen once) I think I know exactly what you're talking about. Paprika is more like a mind trip.

It also focused more heavily on character development and featured multiple protagonists.

lol.

I have the most experience with stories from America and Japan. Or perhaps, these are the styles that I write about and watch most often. In my head I have a map of different storytelling styles. I wanted to convey that this story was very unlike two styles I know very well. But instead of explaining the mental map, I just left it how it is. :(

I guess I follow stories from other places around the world, but I typically don't remember where they're from or author names. Really, I like to evaluate things purely based on theory cause I don't have to worry so much about histories or cultural categories. I'll leave all of that to you!

I must say though, I almost laughed aloud when I read "The telling of her story is neither western (American) or eastern (Japanese)". Surely, you don't think that the world, or at least the one of storytelling, exists in these dichotomies? I'm not sure if you conveyed your meaning right there. :/

The 2D side-scrolling segments definitely called to mind a video game, and it got me thinking about the possibilities of a 3D story-based game where all the action segments are in 2D. I thought the stop-motion puppet art style would be really cool to see in a game as well.

Thanks for the link to my AS3 guide, by the way! Good luck starting with Flash! :D