Alternative Reality Gaming

Over the last couple of weeks we have been examining and playing around with Alternative Reality Gaming or ARG. In high school I was a pretty hardcore gamer and played a wide selection of games. Nowadays I do not play video games to much besides a game or two of NHL on PS3 or Super Smash Brothers on the N64. I was excited to do some research and actually get to mess around a bit with the games. When playing the games, I asked myself are these games actually online literature? At first I thought no way they can be considered a form of digital literature, but after interacting with the material I changed my mind quickly. I view it this way, all these games convey a story and have a medium for their different stories. They all have endings some good and some bad so in my opinion they are not any different than a book or a story. Their is a central theme in the games and they immerse the gamer and they become attached to the characters or the plot. In essence for me playing these games is no different than cracking open a Sherlock Holmes novel, because they all have the same consistencies just a different approach or medium to convey their message. 

Games are so influential in culture just look across the world and see how many people play video games. From arcades to gaming consoles to phone apps the majority of people have played a video game at some point of their life.  With "The Intruder" it includes classic games such as pong and this relates to so many people. The game aspect draws readers in and then the actual plot is what keeps them there. It is like getting rewarded for reading with all the different games and challenges the piece presents. Also, these games the more modern they are have underlying issues in society that are present. It is like a digital representation of certain tragedies or issues we face in our daily lives. Another huge factor in the way we perceive video games depends on the media they are presented. For example, if I sit down to play Xbox I have the intention of playing a game, watching a movie, or T.V. show. When I sit down at a computer I usually have the attention of reading, doing homework, or buying a product. When I experienced interactive fiction I became much more immersed in the text and the overall plot because I viewed more as of a story than a game. Truth be told all game shave plots or objectives, but I had  a much more serious mindset then I would have if I was playing Call of Duty. The mindset that goes along with interactive fiction is much more serious and we think more critically because we perceive it more as fiction than as a game. Over time since we live in such a digital age and with technology constantly advancing interactive fiction will become extremely popular. It combines all the positives with a gaming atmosphere and it hard to compete with that. Overall, these games should be analyzed as literature because they contain the same content just presented in a more challenging, unique, and unconventional way, but produce the same effects as a book.

Personal Narrative

As I stroll through the student union students are sprinting into the tuck to get some dinner before their night class. I keep making my way to Blackington as I ponder various thoughts through my head. A huge project is due tomorrow and it could determine my final grade or even worse my future. Usually, I am cool and collected under pressure, but a little something called senioritis has recently struck me. Starting a project or paper the day before it is due is not something new to me, but this had a different feel. For the first time in a while I am absolutely clueless on a project like a helpless little kid trying to reach a top shelf in a grocery store. All those Thursdays I went to the bar or all the weekends all I did was watch football, maybe I should have worked on this project considering it was arguably the most crucial in my college career. 

    Sashaying my way past maintenance workers blowing leaves in front of Biddle I start to reflect on previous papers and such that I completed at the last second. This one had a different feel and I could not grasp the concept the professor wants us to illustrate. Upon reaching Blackington as I open the door I nod to a few people outside smoking that I know. As I make my through the lobby I notice the regulars who are at Blackington until the wee hours in the morning. The next thing I know I look up and theres a stampede of people sprinting down what my be the narrowest staircase known to man. “Must be late for a test”, I mutter quietly to myself. I go in to the first computer lab to the right and realize there is quite a cast of characters with only one seat open. This seat happens to be next to the girl who is spilling her life story to her acquaintance and my other would be neighbor is passed out drooling on the keyboard.  To top it all off, the would be person sitting behind me looks as if they have the plague and are hacking up a lung. No thanks, I plan on living past the age of 50. Not feeling the people or the vibe of the room I make my into the Mac Lab.  Entering the room, I brush shoulders with some kid who I believe is in my class as he has a look of absolute jubilation and is grinning from ear to ear.  

    It is about time I can get some work done. I exhale loudly  when I sit in the third row of computers directly in the center. As soon as the computer logs me in  I immediately do a bunch of unnecessary tasks like change my fantasy football lineup, check course web for the 40th time, and send out some extremely generic tweet that no one cares about. Anything I can do to put this off I try to accomplish in the next ten minutes. Why am I struggling so much? Have I killed too many brain cells this year? Honestly, it is just a lack of motivation and the fact that I know this is the last big thing to do before I get ready for the real world. I just stare at the screen blankly….. 

 

 

Finally! It hits me, actually no it does not because the concept I am thinking of has no tie to the central theme of the project. As I kick back and relax because I realize I am most likely going to be rotting away in the Mac Lab until 6 a.m. Something from the previous episode from Mad Men I watched comes to me. Don Draper said the best way to critically think is to ponder ideas for a while and just stop thinking then it comes to you. I try this twice, but no luck so hopefully the third time's the charm. Sure enough it is, like some sort of happy ending in a fairy tale. 

   I vigorously hammer away at the keys typing whatever comes into my mind. I am like a machine right now just churning out facts and key points left and right. With Pharrell's “Happy” playing in my head as I wrap things up in impressive time. This is one the best papers I have written and the PowerPoint to show the class is just magical. Then, all of a sudden a power outage and my screen flickers off and on. Some girl screams and hits the deck as if it is a category ten earthquake. Turns out my paper gets lost in the digital world as I get up and just chuck the computer. My frustration is through the roof and I am about to have a heart attack when I sit back down. A loud buzzing sound goes off and I wake up….. in Digital Humanities. What a nightmare.

 

Little Red Riding Hood & Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries

In this weeks assigned readings two pieces stood out to me. The first being Leishman's retelling of Red Riding Hood. I have come across different literature pieces or even video games that have retold fairy tales and I always enjoy them. This piece was no exception because it breathes new life into a story. Obviously, in terms of graphics it was extremely similar to Deviant because of it being the same author. This piece was much different then Deviant and not nearly as frustrating. I knew the ending was going to be much different than the original story, but was not expecting such a curveball. One unique aspect of this piece that intrigued me was when Red is sleeping you can witness her different dreams which are trippy to say the least. Something that agitated me was how short the piece was compared to Deviant. Even if it was just a couple more scenes it would have expanded the meaning of the piece and the viewer could have gotten more out of it.

 

 

 

I would like to briefly touch on the pieces that we looked at from Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries. The pieces were extremely vibrant which definitely kept my intention, but the flashing screen was hard to handle after a long period of time. Even though the stories were unique and different, it agitated me that none of them really seemed to have a central meaning. Of course, I may have missed something, but it seemed like a bunch of gibberish to me. Some people may complain about some of the vulgarity, but I really liked it. Rarely do you read a piece of literature in college that has vulgarity in it. To me, it gave me a sense of realism through the piece as if an average person produced the work. Realistically, the majority of people swear so it was a nice change of pace compared to the uptight and politically correct dialogue of other works. 

 



Google Maps Essay

After much consideration and deliberation I finally chose to provide the story of my 21st birthday. I chose this because it was over this past summer and was probably the most fun I have ever experienced. It was the transformation to becoming a full fledged adult over the course of one day. The story begins with me at work patiently waiting and I go on to tell the tale of the night before my birthday all the way through the next day. My birthday had a little bit of what is expected of someone's 21st birthday along with a twist or two along the way. 

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