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.