Chapter 4 - Hannah Prevost

 Chapter 4 stresses the shared history that electronic literature and computer games share. While computer games didn’t come until after generative poetry was well established, “text adventure” games like Zork were some of the first of their kind to be able to be played on a personal computer. With the demand for games with graphics increasing drastically, text adventure games gave way to what we know as IF, or interactive fiction games. These games involve the interactor, or the person playing the game, solving puzzles or overcoming a set of obstacles seen on the screen to achieve a desired outcome, like leveling up or defeating a boss. The IF community has persisted in becoming one of the largest and most well-loved gaming communities today and has been known to outperform TV shows and movies from time to time.

 

While playing Zork, I was very confused about how to get started at first. When I clicked on several different areas on the screen to see if anything would happen, it wasn’t until after a while that I figured out that I was supposed to click next to the “<” symbol and type text in the box. From there, it prompts you to type different verbs into the text box, and you are supposedly aiming to get to a point where you fight monsters. I did not get to this point and instead felt that I was going in circles playing this game. It kept telling me “You cannot go that way” or “You cannot see such a thing” and the only scenery it would offer me would be a forest. I wish there was a bit more direction to playing this instead of blindly trying to get somewhere.

 

For my bring-to-the-table this week, one game that falls into the IF category that I have absolutely adored for many years now is The Last of Us. While the common textual interface of many IF games is absent, the player is still undergoing an adventure and following a story to achieve a desired outcome. This horror survival game takes place in post-apocalyptic America, where our two main characters, Joel and Ellie, are journeying across the states to try and save humanity from a fungal outbreak caused by cordyceps. HBO is currently airing its TV adaptation of this show, and I’m very invested in that right now as well.

Comments

  1. CJ VFebruary 27, 2023 at 7:29 PM

    I also had this problem with Zork, I think that that is one of the challenges of old E-lit. There was so much limitation with the technology at the time and the UI suffered. Still, it makes for a really cool experience.

    ReplyDelete
  2. suchana sFebruary 28, 2023 at 2:41 PM

    I love the last of us, I am so happy its getting a tv debut and I hope they keep some aspects of the story the same. That's similar to my example too, I'm glad you mentioned it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Image
Hello my name is suchana I have no pets unless you count egg-laying chickens. or my brother. I've lived in the Dover area for about a decade, and this will be my third year at UNH. I initially thought I would switch majors at some point, but I guess I never hit a point where I disliked English. I love making stuff - woodworking, ceramics, painting, drawing, videos, collages etc. Making is a process I really enjoy and I love doing it digitally. I would say I am most excited about the new programs we will use and how I can apply those skills in my future career. I think this class will be fun!  When I'm not in class, you will find me binge-watching television in my room, and if the weather permits it, outside with my friends. I also like podcasts, fat cats, aquariums, lime-flavored sodas, and pocket knives.
Read more

Sharing Digital Texts - Cameron Whitney

Image
  Post Secret Ted Talk Post Secret Website Post Secret reminds me a little bit of the Yellow Arrow Project. It involves anonymity and sharing words with others. Thinking about this website and project warms my heart and simultaneously makes me feel like I could cry. It started with Frank Warren, a man who printed out 3,000 pre-addressed postcards in 2004 and randomly handed them out on the streets of Washington, D.C. He included instructions on one side and the other was blank. The instructions told the people who received the cards to “anonymously share an artful secret they’d never told anyone before.” Some people send in deep secrets and others send in funny ones. It is a beautiful form of digital literature as he posts them on the website so people can view new ones every Sunday. I’ve always wanted to send one in and I know that eventually, I will.
Read more

Combinatory Poetics

Image
 Chapter two discusses the emergence of combinatory poetics, a form of digital literature that emerged in opposition to the ideology of nationalism and rationality that many believed led to the horrors of WW1. One group of artists, the Dadaists, used randomness and hyper individuality in their art. They rejected structure and embraced stream of consciousness. One way to do this was through cutting up a newspaper and combining words to create "permutation poems." With the creation of computers, this process could be expanded upon through algorithm and code. Alan Turing took this one step further with his imitation game. The goal of this experiment was to see if computers could manipulate humans through language. The game consisted of an interrogator, a man, and a woman, but Turing would replace either the man or the woman with a computer. He wanted to see if the computer could fool the interrogator through its encoded language. He theorized that eventually, the technology woul...
Read more