Untitled - witz cultural

253RECONFIGURINGNARRATIVEthey provided valuable lessons directly applicable to the use of computeranimation and video. In this training system, a surgeon would sit beforea computer that was attached to a television and a video disc player andencounter the following scenario. A session begins when the surgeon, whohas been assigned to a field hospital, arrives suitcase in hand, goes to the hospitaltent to present himself to the officer in charge, expecting a warm greetingas a new member of a team. Inside the tent, as he greets his commandingofficer, who is in surgical garb, he hears the sound of approaching helicopters.His superior, all business, orders him to drop his bags and get to work,since the short-handed unit needs him to begin immediately. In the scenarioI saw two medics bearing a wounded soldier on a stretcher appear, tellinghim that the patient who has no apparent wound and whom triage had thereforeclassified as not requiring immediate treatment has stopped breathing.They ask him what to do. At this point a clock appears at upper screen right,and its second hand begins to move. If the role-playing trainee makes a mistakeand orders an x-ray, the corpsmen respond angrily that there's no timefor that and the patient will die.17 The clock keeps moving-the physician hasa fixed limit, say, 120 seconds before his patient dies. If the trainee finds theright solution in time-thepatient has a collapsedlung caused by a barelydiscernible wound-the patient lives. At this point the surgeon in charge, thetrainee's new commanding officer, appears and, depending on his actions,praises him, welcoming him to the unit, responds rather more coldly, or, ifthe patient has died, bawls him out, ordering him to improve his skills.Viewing this project demonstrated several points of value to anyone consideringthe relation of narrative, simulation, and games. First, the simulationdid not have to achieve anything like a complete reality-effect to immersethe user (and onlookers) in the situation. Although the acting and productionvalues were not of the highest qualrty, these lacks did not reduce the tremendousemotional effect of the simulation exercise. As part of the project, theresearchers filmed physicians using the system and recorded their blood pressurebefore and during each session; their pressure shot up, they perspired,and in other ways they acted as if they were confronting an actual medicalemergency. The fundamental connection of the scenario to the user's professionand selfimage as a professional immediately produced a reality effect, afact that reminds us the amount of authentic detail unconnected to the mainenterprise-here making a correct diagnosis and saving the patient's lifeplaysonly a minor role in the effectiveness of the simulation.A second point: although this simulation has important narrative elements,they obviously play only a secondary role, setting the stage for the