Article:
Narrative and the Split Condition of Digital Textuality

Simple item page
dc.creatorRyan, Marie-Laure
dc.date.accessioned2022-01-06T14:09:20Z
dc.date.available2022-01-06T14:09:20Z
dc.date.issued2005
dc.description.abstractWith computer games and avant-garde literary experiments, digital textuality has conquered both mass audiences and academic readers interested in theorizing digital art, but it has not yet reached the middle of the cultural spectrum, namely the educated public who reads primarily for pleasure, but is capable of artistic discrimination. This essay explores the possibility of curing this split condition by strengthening the narrativity of digital texts. After examining the conception of narrative that prevails at both ends of the spectrum, I investigate three types of interactive narrative that have been able to reach beyond the traditional audience of computer games and experimental literature: embedded stories, represented by Myst and mystery-solving games, emergent stories, represented by The Sims, and texts with a somewhat prescripted, but variable story, represented by Façade, Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern’s project in interactive drama. For each type of text, I suggest how to make the structure more appealing to a reader who engages with the text out of narrative interest, and is more interested in paidia—free play—than in ludus—playing by strict rules for the sake of winning or losing.en
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/17671
dc.identifier.urihttps://mediarep.org/handle/doc/18631
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherRoberto Simanowski
dc.publisher.placeProvidence
dc.relation.isPartOfissn:1617-6901
dc.relation.ispartofseriesDichtung Digital. Journal für Kunst und Kultur digitaler Medien
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
dc.subjectdigital literatureen
dc.subjectInteractive Fictionen
dc.subjectmedia theoryen
dc.subjectNarratologyen
dc.subject.ddcddc:791
dc.subject.workFACADE
dc.titleNarrative and the Split Condition of Digital Textualityen
dc.typearticle
dc.type.statuspublishedVersion
dspace.entity.typeArticleen
local.coverpage2022-01-06T15:13:33
local.source.epage22
local.source.issue1
local.source.issueTitleNr. 34
local.source.spage1
local.source.volume7

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Dichtung-Digital_34_1-22_Ryan_Split_Condition_Digital_Textuality_.pdf
Size:
329.58 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Original PDF with additional cover page.
Download

Collections

34 | 2005