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.
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)
**This week's recorded live streaming video is published at the end of the page.
IF - Parser Based
- “1893: A World’s Fair Mystery” by Peter Nepstad (Literary)
- “A Day for Fresh Sushi” by Emily Short (Humor)
- “Alabaster” by Emily Short (Fairy Tale)
- “Bronze” by Emily Short (Fantasy)
- “Coloratura” by Lynnea Glasser (Horror)
- “Counterfeit Monkey” by Emily Short (Espionage)
- “First Draft of the Revolution by Emily Short (Literary)
- “Floatpoint” by Emily Short (Science Fiction)
- “Galatea” by Emily Short (Mythological)
- “Interstellar Text Adventure” (Based on the film) (Science Fiction)
- “Lost Pig” by Admiral Jota (Comedy)
- “Metamorphoses” by Emily Short (Literary)
- “Mystery House Possessed” by Emily Short (Mystery)
- “Photopia” by Adam Cadre (Fantasy)
- “Rameses” by Stephen Bond (Teen Perspective) (Explicit language)
- “Savoir-Faire” by Emily Short (Fantasy)
- “Spider and the Web” by Andrew Plotkin (Science Fiction, Espionage)
- “The Chinese Room” by Harry Giles and Joey Jones (Philosophical) (Educational)
- “The Paper Bag Princess” by Adri (Based on book of same name) (Literary) (Children)
- “Varicella” by Adam Cadre (Counterfactual History)
IF - Point and Click + CYOA
- “A Duck Has an Adventure” by Stillmerlin
- “A Perfect World” by Narcissist Reality (Social Commentary) (Adult)
- “Air Pressure” by Bentosmile (Philosophical)
- “Don’t Escape” by Scriptwelder (Horror)
- “(Do Not) Forget” by Lectronice (Surreal) (Some explicit language)
- “Fragments of Him” by Aceria620 (Philosophical)
- “Freshman Year” by Nina Freshman (Social Commentary) (Adult)
- “Gods Will be Watching” (Survival)
- “Happiness Simulator” by Porpentine (Social Commentary) (Adult)
- “Howling Dogs” by Porpentine (Social Commentary)
- “Icarus Needs” by Stillmerlin
- “Inside the Japanese American Internment” by tfickle (History)
- “Lethal Dose” by bowatatoy (Film Noir) (Mystery)
- “Mere Anarchy” by Bruno Dias (Struggle, Choice)
- “Parasite” by Porpentine (Gender Issue)
- “Player 2” by Lydia Neon (Interpersonal Conflict) (Adult)
- “Pure Again” by Kevin McGowan (Science Fiction)
- “Quing’s Quest: The Death of Videogames” by Deirdra “Squinky” Kiai (Social Commentary)
- “Secret Net” by 31eee384 (Secrecy) (Hacker Culture)
- “Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher” by Chief Wakamakamu and ToMorning (Philosophical) (Educational)
- “Storyteller” by danielben (Plot)
- “The Dark Side Detective” by Doom Cube (Mystery)
- “The Writer Will Do Something” (A Writer’s Experience of an upcoming AAA game)
How to Play IF
How to Write IF
How to Make IF (with Twine)
- “Learning Twine: Part 1” by Dan Cox (2013)
- “Learning Twine: Part 2” by Dan Cox (2013)
- “Learning Twine: Part 3” by Dan Cox (2013)
- “What is Twine? (For Developers)” by Liz England (2015)
- “st33d on Twine 2” by Aaron Steed (2015)
IF Repositories
- “People’s Republic of Interactive Fiction”
- “The Interactive Fiction Archive”
- “The Interactive Fiction Database (IFDB)”
IF in Education
- [ARTICLE] “Bringing Computer Games into the Teaching and Learning Environment” by Hap Aziz (Jan. 4, 2013) (Article focuses on using Inform 7 in the classroom)
- [ARTICLE] “Challenging the Reader: Using Interactive Fiction in the Classroom (Part 2) by Chris Bailey (Mar. 22, 2013)
- [PDF] “Digitally Implemented Interactive Fiction: A Systematic Development and Validation of Mole, P.I., a Multimedia Adventure for Third Grade Readers” by Denise Haunstetter (2008)
- [ARTICLE] “Gamifying Stories -- Using Interactive Fiction in the Classroom (Part 1)” by Chris Bailey (Mar. 7, 2013)
- [VIDEO] “Get Lamp: The Text Adventure Documentary” by GoogleTechTalks (Mar. 21, 2011)
- [ARTICLE] “Interactive Fiction and the Common Core” by Gerald Aungst (Nov. 13, 2012)
- [ARTICLE] “Interactive Fiction vs. the Pause That Distresses: How Computer-Based Literature Interrupts the Reading Process Without Stopping the Fun” by Brendan Desilets (1999)
- [ARTICLE] “Mark Engelberg: IF for Home Schooled Students” by Mark Engelberg (March 16, 2009)
- [ARTICLE] “Rameses” by Joe Pereira (Lesson plan for using “Rameses” to teach language skills) (2015)
- [ARTICLE] “Something to Imagine: Literature, Composition, and Interactive Fiction” by Stuart Moulthrop and Nancy Kaplan (Nov. 9, 1991)
- [ARTICLE] “Teaching Composition with Interactive Fiction” by Jonathan Kotchian (May 2, 2013)
- [ARTICLE] “Teaching IF” by Emily Short
- [PDF] “Teaching and Learning with Interactive Fiction” by Brendan Desilets (Feb. 2015)
- [ARTICLE] “Teaching with Interactive Fiction: Critical Thinking Skills” by Stephen Grenade (2010)
- [ARTICLE] “Teaching with Interactive Fiction: ESL by Stephen Grenade (2010)
- [ARTICLE] “Teaching with Stanley Parable” by Sherry Jones (2014) (pg. 23)
Recorded Live Streaming Video (Review of This Week's Readings)
Published: April 12, 2015.