Playing and Teaching with Interactive Fiction

Metagame Book Club: Game Studies. "Playing and Teaching with Interactive Fiction" by Sherry Jones. Published Apr. 6, 2015. Last Updated: Jan. 16, 2019.

**This page was first published on the Metagame Book Club.

Image Source: Scene from the interactive fiction game, Gone Home.

Welcome to Week 3!

Welcome to the third and final week of Track 1: Game Studies of Interactive Fiction (IF) for the March session of our book club! In the previous week, we studied the history of narratology, learned about the differences between a story, a narration, and a narrative, discussed how narratological theories have influenced Game Studies, and finally, considered how educators can apply narratological theories to the understanding of digital games and IF works. This week, we are doing something quite special: We will be playing IF works while reading articles about how IFs are used in education. Indeed, after spending two weeks studying complex theories about IFs and narratology, we finally will be playing with IFs!

Before we start playing the IF works, I would like to address some common questions that seem to serve as "roadblocks" to game-based learning and the application of interactive mediums (such as IF works) to teaching and learning. A set of questions that I often encounter at higher education conferences is this: "Do I need to play the games before I teach with them? I don't really play games. I am not a gamer." This set of questions reveals a lack of recognition (or resistance) to the idea that a game is a form of interactive text. Games and IF works, like novels, songs, and films, present a level of textuality that educators would need to decipher to help students access the textual meaning. Furthermore, games and IF works, as individual software-based "logic machines," possess a level of technical complexity that educators would need to recognize to troubleshoot problems that students may encounter while playing. By recognizing games as interactive texts, the above questions could be easily answered like so: "Yes, please play the games before assigning them." And, "if you have played any game before in your life, such as tic-tac-toe, rock-paper-scissors, or Monopoly, you already know how to play games with or without having to accept the title of 'gamer'." Therefore, we as educators who want to implement game-based learning should become "pracademics"; we have to be players as well as teachers. Playing games should become part of our practice and our craft.

Below, I have curated an extensive list of (free) IF works, tutorials for IFs, and articles on IFs in education; be prepared to sit in front of the computer for long hours while enjoying fascinating IF works. Although I did not assign commercial IF titles, I want to give particular mention to a few current and notable IFs (CYOA-based) that are well worth your time: Gone Home, The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, 80 Days, Life is Strange, and Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey. In the below list, the IF works are divided into two sections: The first section contains Parser-based IF works that require text command inputs (verbal phrases) to complete; the second section contains both point-and-click adventure games and Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) works that require point and click inputs to complete. The following sections list tutorials about IFs (and how to make them), as well as academic articles regarding the potential uses of IFs in education. You probably will notice that I have assigned several IF works from Emily Short, who is a well known IF author and scholar in the field. I highly recommend that you explore at least one of her influential works this week.

Please only choose to play one or more of the assigned IF works, and only choose to read one or more of the assigned texts from each section (remember that you are not expected to play all the games, and read all of the texts assigned! Although you might be tempted to do so this week). We will have a live discussion on some of the reading materials at the #Metagame Book Club G+ Community website on Sunday, April 12, 2015 at 4 pm ET (use this nifty time zone converter to figure out when the live discussion will occur in your time zone). Join our G+ Community to receive the latest notifications of upcoming webinars and discussions.

Enjoy the readings! Onward~

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

Playing and Teaching with Interactive Fiction

Welcome to Week 3!

**This week's recorded live streaming video is published at the end of the page.

IF - Parser Based

IF - Point and Click + CYOA

How to Play IF

How to Write IF

How to Make IF (with Twine)

IF Repositories

IF in Education

Recorded Live Streaming Video (Review of This Week's Readings)

IF and Education Series Playlist (Spring 2015)