reader response

One challenge authors face when creating electronic literature is to balance immersion in the story with awareness of the underlying computational system (Wardrip-Fruin, 2010, 2013). This paper presents a preliminary investigation of the ways in which the representation of the underlying computational system in the user interface influences the readeräs focus on either the story or the underlying system. To begin exploring this question, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with seven participants. Each participant interacted with variations of a procedural hypertext story that represented the underlying system state either numerically or in natural language, and displayed the underlying system state either non-diegetically or diegetically. Observations suggest that although numerical representations make it easier for the reader to grasp the procedural nature of the system, they can also lead to a focus on playing the system, rather than on reading the story. Interestingly, participants reported that the natural language representation was harder to interpret, but that this difficulty actually enhanced their engagement with the storyworld. Although non-diegetic representation distracted attention away from the text of the story, participants could choose to ignore the display and focus on the story, whereas embedded, diegetic information focused attention on specific portions of the text, leading to selective reading. These findings suggest that authors of procedural electronic literature should pay particular attention to how the underlying system is represented on the surface of the work, as this can influence the ways in which the reader engages with the work.

(ELO 2015 Conference Catalog)

Riccardo Giovanni Milanesi is creator and author of the two Web Series L’Altra (The Other Girl, 2011) and FableGirls (2012). In thi interview he explains how the work for the realization of L’Altra were carried out, an online project which was co-created with users/readers on FaceBook e published in real time. Moreover he announces the new Web Serie Vera Bes (2013).

 In a New Critical approach rarely seen in academic discussions of IF, Buckles de-emphasizes the role of the programmer/author, taking "Colossal Cave Adventure" (Crowther, c.1975; Crowther and Woods, 1976) as a "given," and examining instead the reader/player's efforts to make meaning out of the experience. As an immature medium, IF has not yet produced great literature: "I do not believe that the literary limitations of Adventure means that computer story games are of necessity a sub-literary genre, or that there is something about the computer medium itself which pre-destines interactive fiction always to be frivolous in nature. The development of film can be taken as an analogy."

(Source: Dennis G. Jerz, Interactive Fiction Annotated Bibliography http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/bibliography/all.htm#Buckles_1985)

Interactive (or 'hypertext') fiction is a significant new art form because of the highly innovative narrative structures and delivery platforms it embraces, and yet in many extant examples the narrative and the delivery platform, the interface, are not happily wedded. This 'mis-match' can lead to negative experiences for readers. This paper discusses the style and usability of the interface, aiming to offer some guidance to writers. As well as considering the relevant literature, I refer to data from my empirical study of readers' responses to a range of interactive (hypertext) fiction, as supporting evidence for the conclusions offered. I argue that the design of the interface and its navigation systems are of absolutely crucial significance for readers' engagement and absorption with the narrative.

Although many issues about how we can construct and analyze electronic narrative remain to be settled, it is clear, then, that a central concern will be the ability of these game narratives to create the emotional impact inherent in our involvement in a story. Emotional involvement is especially important for the interactive text because the user must be prompted to act and move through the text to a degree not required by more traditional reading. In this essay, I would like to consider how electronic narratives balance interactivity and emotional force. Doing so means thinking about emotional involvement and its relation to narrative teleology, as well as its tolerance for interruption by everything from writerly asides to interactive play. To investigate this, I will draw not only on hypertext and computer games but also on American metafiction, which I will show confronts the same problems of emotional force within interactive or game-like patterns. (Source: Introduction to the essay)