In terms of space, we are all familiar with television and film, and how we are confined to a square picture of space; this is called “on-screen” space. However, as we watch movies, we can assume that what we see “on-screen” is not limited. There is actually a world outside of what the audience sees, called “off-sreen.”

Comics, I’d argue, are actually very similar to videogames, especially when I read pages 722-723. There is an open-ended nature to comics that make them unlike television, film, and literature. In comics, your eyes get a sense of what may happen in the future, and still trackback to the past, or go your own path. In film, you are confined to whatever the director wants you to see. In Literature, you are confined to reading what the author wants you to read. In comics, much like in videogames, you have a choice. When I look at page 713, at the top picture, there are so many ways to go about and engage the picture. I can start from the left to right, or right to left and still an idea of what’s going on. Conversely, if you read a book backwards, or watch a movie in rewind, it’s not going to make a whole lot of sense. In videogames, you can backtrack to your heart’s content, and in fact, some games encourage this. Additionally, in videogames you can control the camera to see what you want to see, which is impossible in film and television.

To go further with the distinction between videogames and film:

Because movies are predetermined, that is, the audience has no choice but to view what is on-screen, it is very simple to determine what the important and relevant events in the narrative are. This is not the case in videogames, where the player has full control over the camera and has to direct the camera so that the important and relevant events are seen. I’ll use Halo as an example to illustrate my point. In Halo, there is one chapter called “The Silent Cartographer,” where Master Chief lands on a beach in the middle of an ongoing battle between the humans and the Covenant. The player has the option to directly participate and view the relevant battle, or the player has the option of completely ignoring the relevant battle by running in the opposite direction in which case, what should have been the important and relevant event becomes “off-screen.” In a film like Saving Private Ryan, where the allies land on Omaha Beach, it wouldn’t have made sense for the cinematographer to watch the (bloody) waves as the soldiers are running and dying for their lives in the opposite direction. The audience would most likely be able to understand what is going on “off-screen,” but the audience would be much more inclined to see what is going on during the actual invasion because it is more relevant to the narrative. In this case, the cinematographer would be fired.

Thus, the difference between videogames and film are clear. When the player has control over the camera, he/she would be inclined to direct the camera so that the relevant events are viewed, or conversely, the player would have the option to view the irrelevant events. Film, on the other hand, doesn’t allow the freedom that videogame players are so accustomed to, and so they hope that whoever is controlling the camera is making sure that the most relevant and important events are being filmed.

Although some may not see how videogames connect with comic books, I’m not saying that they parallel each other, but they do have some similarities in terms of their space and time.