Interactive Fiction as Literature

April 25th, 2008 asgoodwin

One idea we discussed in my class last semester, Textual Media, was whether Interactive Fiction can be seen as literature. In my mind they can.

I’ve played many games, both in high school and again last semester, and the quality of writing and plotting really does make a difference in the story. The author is incredibly important to the game, particularly in their ability to describe the scenery and drop hints towards the overarching story without being able to make the character do something in the room.

Looking at The Baron, there are metaphors and symbolism in many items. Part of the strength of the story is that there can be hints in places that the author isn’t necessarily sure you will reach. In the story, there was a prison underneath a grate in one corner of the Baron’s castle. In class, I was the only one who had found it. In it, there was a “father” doll tied up, and a “mother” and “daughter” doll inside a cell, starving, and he couldn’t reach them. On the other hand, I missed the part of looking into the dollhouse and at the drawings in the daughter’s room both before and after I was in the dream world. Still, I felt like I got a well written and shocking story even with what I had seen and what I hadn’t.

Of course, Interactive Fiction could never replace literature. However, I think more writers should consider experimenting with it as another form of storytelling. It is like a first person story made more intimate, as we discussed in class, because you are making the reader choose what they are doing. I think a large part of what made The Baron shocking in the end is that the main character – you – are doing that horrible thing to your daughter, and as the protagonist player you feel even closer to the character than just reading a first person story.

Entry Filed under: Game Log

3 Comments

• 1. Dennis Price | April 29th, 2008 at 11:36 am

  I definitely agree that Interactive Fiction is literature. It could obviously never replace literature, but it certain deserves to be considered a tpe of it. I think the most interesting thing about Interactive Fiction, aside from the stories, is when it is set up like a game like Baron was. Not only does this allow the narrative to be "choose your own adventure", but it makes the player feel like they are a part of the story. In The Baron, the player is able to identify more with the character since he has direct control over him. Normally in literature, the reader is going to hate a child molester. That still happens in this game, however, the player is able to identify more with the internal struggles of the Baron. The player is forced to make decisions as if he his self were a child molester. He is forced to think about what he would do and how he would feel if he were in that position in real life.
  While traditional literature can also allow the reader to enter the minds of the characters, the Interactive Fiction takes it to another level by allowing the reader to make decisions. The fact that it is set up as a game also makes it interesting. In a game, especially text based games, a player can and usually expects to do whatever he wants. However, in The Baron, the player realizes he is trapped and is forced to confront his daughter. This sends a strong message, in my opinion, that some problems in life are impossible to avoid. This is an extremely important message and it would be difficult to illustrate it so well without using a text based adventure format.

  Edit Comment

• 2. scify_rd | May 2nd, 2008 at 11:21 pm

  I think that the largest issue that stands in the way of Interactive Fiction becoming both a serious genre of literature and really at all practical for writers to create is the sheer number of options that are inherent to gamers in game. There is, of course, always the convention of "You can’t do that" or "You don’t feel like doing that right now" type responses, but those are usually very frustrating to come across, unless they are for particularly outlandish actions that the character, as described, would never try, and often take much of the realism out of the story (after all, in real life we do not come across little flying banners or voices in our heads that say "No. You may not do this." when we think of something we would like to try).

  However, as a collaborative effort, at least, Interactive Fiction could be a very interesting genre of play/narrative experience, and one deserving of exploration by serious writers. The biggest issue would be the time investment, really, as the sheer range of actions that… let us call them, interactors, might come up with in the context of the story being told.

  An interesting note on this point is the fact there is a genre of storytelling where each chapter ends at junction of possible choices and the readers are given the opportunity to pen both possible results. While the average person does not have the coding skills necessary to do the same with an interactive fiction game, it could be interesting if there were eventually some similar form of story crafting for games.

  One final note: there was, in fact, a guide on how to achieve the various endings for Facade. It cost $10, I believe, but…

  Edit Comment

• 3. mstarkey | May 5th, 2008 at 5:50 pm

  Interactive fiction as literature is an interesting concept. I totally agree that Interactive Fiction is truly a form of literature. In many ways Interactive Fiction engrosses the reader more then typically literature, forcing the reader to be actively thinking about the story, where its going, what clues have already been given, and alternative meanings. Being in high school literature classes, it is easy for the uninterested reader to skim over passages and take them at simple face value, missing important clues and points the author tries to have the reader uncover for themselves. Many missed the true meaning of the story that the writer intended. The nature of Interactive Fiction prohibits that, requiring attention to the story to progress in the game. There is no last chapter that one can flip to to find the conclusion, or answers, instead there are multiple endings and variations that make the story unique to the reader. Yet the playing aspect keeps the reader interested and involved, allowing them to contemplate the relatedness and importance of every scene or character. The decisions that the player makes during the game are the decisions that the main character of literature would be making. Instead of reading the decision the character chooses, Interactive Fiction allows the player to decide what actions the character makes. With literature the reader is either left questioning the outcome of other possible decisions the character could have made, or just takes the decision made as the only one, leaving out questioning and in-depth thinking on the readers’ part, which is crucial for literary analysis. Interactive Fiction allows the player to experience alternative decisions, furthering the depth and meaning in the story. The ability for the character to choose the path it takes in the game furthers the story provides additional background information to both plot and character development. These developments within the story are presented as decisions to the player; help keep attention and involvement on the players’ behalf. Alternative endings and alternative paths through which the story unfolds does not detract from the meaning of the game which the creator intended, it just allows people to create their own story to extract the meaning the creator intended. The player’s active role in unfolding the story beyond page turning is what really attracts me to the literary value of Interactive Fiction.