Forefronting Fan-Driven Research in Our Storytelling

THE BIG TAKEAWAY: We know that our storyworlds create passionate fandoms—but how can fandoms inform our storytelling strategies? The research team behind A Home For Every Hero are starting to answer that question by studying gaming communities (and other analogous movies and television fandoms) and lifting up implications for narrative design.

Earlier this fall, the Digital Waves team did a jam session with Harmony Labs and Gutsy Media to dig into A Home for Every Hero, “a first-of-its-kind map of storyscapes that can be used as a tool to construct truly diverse, truly engaging stories where audiences can see themselves as a hero.”

First, who is behind “The Home for Every Hero” research?

• Harmony Labs is a media research lab, using science, data, and creativity to research and reshape our relationship with media.

• Gutsy Media is an impact storytelling studio that—rooted in deep research and in partnership with communication specialists—inspires understanding and empathy to create media narratives that move our cultural conversation.

• Wildcard Alliance is a development studio working on their new game WildCard.

So, what’s the story behind the research? WildCard is an in-development new multi-player game, which aims to approach world building in a way that allows players and fans to feel a strong sense of belonging. The creators set out with the goal to create conditions that foster an inclusive community and counteract toxicity.

• As Gutsy Media Partner Julie Hermelin says: “I think audience research has been co-opted by the marketing world and the world of selling and buying products… it's gotten a bad taste in the mouth from creatives about like, ‘Oh, audience, I don't want to think about that.’ But if we are in this universe of constructing realities and new societies in our digital and real life spaces, artists and creators need to also own audience understanding as a part of the toolbox in their creative process.”

To help construct the WildCard game and fan experience, Harmony Labs and Gutsy Media teamed up to explore how people’s diverse values shape the media they both consume and create, across video games, TV shows, and movies. The result of their research is a first-of-its-kind map of eight storyscapes designed by and in alignment with fans’ values.

Developing the Eight Storyscapes

Through previous research work, the Harmony team had codified four types of values-based audiences: “People Power,” “If You Say So,” “Tough Cookies,” and “Don’t Tread On Me.”

Building on top of these audiences, the team behind Home for Every Hero pulled from more than 8 million internet queries for games, shows, seasons, series, merch, cheats, and hacks from opt-in media measurement panels to map hundreds of fandoms to the audiences.

The team analyzed this data and then developed eight storyscapes that map across the four audiences quadrants. From “Don’t Tread on Me x Tough Cookies” to “People Power x If You Say So,” each storyscape uses the audiences values to identify the common story settings, themes, heroes, antagonists, conflicts, resolutions, and rewards.

Riki Conrey, Director of Science at Harmony Labs, shared insights on the storyscape of: “People Power” x “If You Say So”:

• THE CORE CONFLICTS: For “People Power,” “our core conflicts are interpersonal complications and romantic difficulties.” For “If You Say So” it is much more “me against some big bad, an individualist perspective.”

• THE STORY STRATEGY: So the strategic creative query is: how can you develop a story that unites elements from these two groups? The storyscape identified the story bridge of personal growth and transformation.

• THE EXAMPLE: Conrey shared examples of Netflix’s Umbrella Academy and content about DC supervillain Harley Quinn. In Umbrella Academy, the ensemble cast is the “People Power” systems element—working together as a group. “But individually, everyone in Umbrella Academy is struggling with profound personal demons. So a lot of the stories and themes here are balancing personal internal transformation with a need to literally save the world,” creating a narrative bridge with the “If You Say So” element.

How to Explore and Use the Research: The dynamic web report is choose-your-own-adventure style and there are multiple ways to explore. 

• Explore the eight storyscapes. Within each of the distinct storyscapes, there are insights on:

  • Core Values

  • Top Affiliated Media for this audience

  • Recurring story elements this audience identifies with

  • Setting, tone, and texture of the storyworlds this audience consumes

  • Heroism/Antagonism traits analysis

  • Key Story Engines

• Explore by audience. Explore audiences by going to the “Which audiences do you want to reach?” section on the Narrative Observatory homepage, and clicking “Take the quiz to find out which audience you are.” Then you can dive into the storyscapes layered over that audience quadrant. 

• Explore fan values through the content they consume. In “the games people play (and the shows they watch)” section, a four-by-four indicates the most commonly consumed media per group, as you scroll around, descriptors of the media’s core values and narrative themes (like “evolution,” “collaboration,” or “expansive”) will automatically regenerate.

These insights are already in action—the research team has rolled up their learnings into creative briefs for the Wildcard Alliance to integrate into their forthcoming game.

Want to learn more? See this post “A Home For Every Hero: The Writer’s Perspective” on Gutsy Media’s Substack and Harmony Labs’ news briefing on the project.

QUESTIONS FOR THE FIELD

• How can you apply these audience overviews and storyscapes to your own story design process?

• How else can we work with fans to help us develop our storytelling strategies and creative vision? 

• How are you conducting or using audience research as you craft your own narrative strategies?