Interactive Fiction and Education Series

Welcome to Track 1: Game Studies of Interactive Fiction

Welcome to Spring 2015 edition of "Track 1: Game Studies of Interactive Fiction" of the #Metagame Book Club! This track will run from March 21 to April 12, 2015. I am Sherry Jones, your facilitator and guide to current literature and trending topics in the academic field of Game Studies. As the title suggests, this track will offer an overview of the history and theories of Interactive Fiction (IF) through critical and disciplinary lenses, and explore the educational potential of IF works.

What Are Interactive Fiction (IF) Games?

Interactive Fiction (IF) is a literary genre that is employed in several types of mediums, and is a complicated term that is theoretically difficult to define. In software, IF refers to computer games that offer players the ability to interact with the game narrative via text commands. This interaction involves the player typing words on the computer screen that could influence the outcome of the game narrative, or, could lead to discoveries of different branches of the game narrative via parser input. The earliest conceived IF Game is Adventure, a text-only parser-based computer game created by Will Crowther around 1975. Players would type texts into the command parser to navigate the narrative space of a colossal cave and encounter monsters and objects in the text form. The parser-based games essentially provided text interactions as gameplay. In the 1980s, adventure games, which provided graphic interfaces that accompanied text commands, were renamed as Interactive Fiction games. And, around the 1990s, the text-based IF Game market experienced a decline as new games with advanced graphic interfaces replaced text interactions.

Game Studies and the Rebirth of Interactive Fiction (IF)

In recent years, there is renewed interest in Interactive Fiction (IF) in the academic field of Game Studies. Scholars such as Janet H. Murray, Henry Jenkins, Jesper Juul, and Espen J. Aarseth, who have argued that games and stories are not the same things, recognize the IF Game as a unique medium that provides both game (interaction) and narrative (content) elements. Nick Montfort defines games as "contests," and argues that IF works are not necessarily "games" in that some works lack win states. He clarifies: "By definition, IF is neither a 'story' or a 'game,' but, as all IF developers know, a 'world' combined with a parser and instructions for generating text based on events in the world" (Montfort). In this sense, IF works are world-building texts, and can be considered as literature. Although Interactive Fiction originated from text-only parser-based computer games, the genre now exists in both analog and digital forms, such as Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) Novels, Hypertexts, Cybertexts, Electronic Novels, IF Games, and Interactive Stories (IS). For Game Studies scholars, the nonlinear narrative of IF games help create an illusion of player agency (where players feel that their gameplay choices matter in creating new outcomes out of the game narrative), and game elements are the mechanisms that facilitate the formation of nonlinear storyline. To solve the problem of the illusion of player agency in games, scholars such as Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern have begun to add artificial intelligence to drive the narrative design of Interactive Stories (IS), as seen in Matea's and Stern's IS game, Façade.

Simultaneously in recent commercial game market, AAA game studios have reintroduced the text-based narrative design of Interactive Fiction in new game titles to provide players a sense of agency. Most notable titles are The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us by TellTale Games, Gone Home by The FullBright Company, and The Novelist by Orthogonal Games. Indie game developers also are incorporating text-based narrative design into their works. For example, Gods Will Be Watching by Deconstructeam is a successful IF game title created during the Ludum Dare 26 game jam competition. The Stanley Parable, which started on IndieDB, is another great indie title that has reached commercial success. In fact, so many indie game titles employ interactive narrative design that the Independent Game Festival (IGF) has created an "excellence in narrative" award to recognize the games. Some titles that won the 2015 IGF awards are 80 Days (an Inkle game), This War of Mine, and Three Fourths Home. Particularly interesting is the title, Ice Bound, an IF game that combines digital gaming with an Augmented Reality (AR)-enabled print book.

Using Interactive Fiction in Teaching and Learning?

Educators have begun to use IF works in the classroom, or apply IF principles to curriculum or assignment design. In my own philosophy college courses, I have assigned The Stanley Parable to help students consider the philosophical question of whether freedom is possible in the game world. The nonlinear narrative design of this IF game provides multiple possible branching narratives, each branch with its surprising outcome. I have discussed in more detail about how I employ The Stanley Parable to teach philosophy in my 2014 publicated article (on page 23). I also have discussed the influence of Interactive Fiction on literature and CYOA Novels, which Joseph Jaynes Rositano renames as Choicefics. Other examples of IF games used in education come from K-12 classrooms, where some educators use IF to teach literacy, or ask students to create IF games to improve writing skills. The educational potential of IF has yet to be fully explored.

In order to understand the theories behind Interactive Fiction (IF) works, and how the IF works can be used in education and embedded in educational design, we will be reading a wide range of academic Game Studies articles that explore the narratology of video games, narrative architecture and narrative design in IF works, and the educational potential of IF. Toward the end of this track, we will be playing several IF games, and perhaps, even discuss how to create IF games in analog and digital forms for teaching and learning!

Enjoy the readings! Onward~

-- Sherry Jones (Track 1: Game Studies Facilitator)