The chapter we read in Electronic Literature was about interactive fiction. Making a piece of literature interactive makes the reader feel like they are in control of a story. I think the only way to create this genre on paper would be a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. Digital media really brings this genre to life and gives the author unlimited outcomes. Printed books can be limiting in this sense, because the book would need to be a certain length before it becomes too long to be enjoyable. Zork was a very popular form of interactive fiction because it was one of the first of its kind. I was extremely confused by Zork, and I needed to research a little bit about the game first. I managed to get into the building and get the sword and lantern, but that was pretty much it. I could not figure out how to get into the forest and was confused because I thought the entire thing took place underground in tunnels but I had no idea how to get there. The game seems very time consuming and confusing. I think you would have to have an understanding of what the goal is because the website does not really tell you anything.
I looked at the game Galatea by Emily Short and was also very confused. The format is very similar to Zork, but I was not familiar with the Greek myth that it was based off of. The story is about a sculptor who fell in love with the sculpture he made of a woman named Galatea. Aphrodite brings the statue to life and in the game you are talking to her. I am confused about what you are supposed to do during the game and at one point I typed "walk" and it ended the game with my character saying a sassy remark about her not being a beautiful as she thinks she is and then leaving. It makes me think of the program we looked at where you can just talk about your problems to a computer. The author said that it is an unusual game because there is no direct way to winning. I think Zork is more interesting because it is more game-like and there is a more direct goal. You get to explore a bunch of different places, while in Galatea you stay in the same room.
http://pr-if.org/play/galatea/
Meg Champagne
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HAPPY GRADUATION to the VERY first class of TBD majors!!! (I wish we could celebrate in person!)
I agree that it felt like when we talked to the computer about our problems and had to say the correct thing to get any sort of good response. I too would like games with a direct way to win instead of an endless circle of conversation that led me nowhere...
ReplyDeleteI had a similar issue with the game I researched. At one point I typed "look around" and it didn't understand that term, however it responded to simply "look". I found it frustrating to be the one in control of the story but having no way to know what words or phrases would be correct objectives. I found there was no way of winning that game either, which lead me to wonder if there has been any e-lit game we've seen thus far that has had a definite ending.
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