Twisty Little Passages

[lightreads]

Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction by Nick Montfort

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Okay, awesome. A historical/literary/narratological analysis of interactive fiction (computer games played entirely by text). I have a deep, long-standing affection for IF, so seeing someone's academic take on it was delightful. I mean, it's the intersection of the human/computer interface and the reader/literature interface; of course I think it's cool.



Only disappointing in that Montfort missed the point a bit in his brief discussions of player character gender. Though these games are usually played by personal avatar in a very intimate psychological sense, it's clear that the default assumption of most games is the male viewpoint, and Montfort does very little except gesture vaguely in that direction and wonder about a game that would allow the expression of gender and sexuality as different concepts. Also, his focus on the Inform gaming platform excludes some really interesting work done in TADS, to name the most important alternative. Montfort also excludes discussion of IF as a favored gaming medium for the blind community, which I personally think is a pretty stunning oversight.



Someone really needs to start talking about IF as transformative works because, well, yes.




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