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THE MIT PREss

CAM I Rto GE, MAss AcH u s €TTs

LoNDoN, ENGLAND ro) EIGHT

Throughout this book severalconnections berween interactive fiction and irs cultural context havebeen di,scussed.Thisfinal chapterseeks to explain in a bit more depth how interactivefiction hasinfluenced other aspectsof com- puting and other sortsof culturaiproduction.The chapter closes with some predicrionsregarding the future of interactivefiction-not in terms of what the shape of individual works will be like or even what sorts of creative trends u'ill predominate,but concerning, rather.rhe place the form might occupy rn'ichincomputing and literature.

Ir.r CorvrpurtNG AND Brvolro

MUDs and , online socialspaces that simulateworlds just asinterac- tive fiction doesbut that involve multrple characterscontrolled by different people, have recently receivedsome a[tention from scholars.These systems are direct descendantsof interactivefiction. Specifically,the "D" in "MUD" standsfor . MUDs are sometimeseuphemistically called "Multiple User Dimensions" or "Multrple User Domains," but as everyonewho has been involved with theseenvironments for a while knows, the acronynractuaily standsfor "Multiple lJser Dungeons," as it did u'hen the 6rst MUD u'as developed by Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle at England's Essex Universiryin 1979. As Bartleexplains, "The'D' doesstand for'Dungeon', but CHAPTER 8 lNTERAcrrvr FrcrroN rH 0un CULTURE

not becausethe origrnal MUD (ruhich I co-r"'rote) had a dungeon in it; Tbis Aduenttnz-inspiredganle rn turn \^as an inspirationfor role- rather it was becausethere was a hacked-up verslon of Zork doing the plafing games,although not the only one. Richard Garriott.who createdthe 'Dungeon"' rounds at the time, u.hich bore the naure (qtd. in Snuth and popular Lllrirraseries of conrputerRPGs at his conrpanvOrigin (usingthe Cowan 1999).Theseenvironments were sinrilar to rvorks of interactivefic- pseudonyrn Lord British) had programmed a similar sort of game uslng tion, but multiple interactorscould log on at the sametime and interactu'ith graphicson hisApple lI rn 1.979,u'hen he u'asin high school.For that game, one another.Thenature of the experiencechanged dramatically as a result, called Akalabeth, Garriott dren' inspiration from Dungconsand Dragons. and interactingwith others.rather than interactingdirectlv u'irh the simu- Aduenture\vas one of severalpredecessors to computer RPGs,however, which lated world, became the really important aspectof nlost MUDs.The advent have (along .,','iththe ideasof the MUD and MOO) led to a successfulnew of MOOs (u'ith MOO standingfor "MUD Object Oriented") brought a format, the MMORPG or MassivelyMultiplayer Online RoleplayingGame, powerful new paradigmto this virtual space,rnaking it easierfor many N4UD of rvhich EucrQuestand (Jltinn Online areexarnples. usersto create new objects on MUDs and to carve out their ou'n virtual One srgrrof rhe r.ervasiveinfluence of -Advettrurcand interactive 6ction spaces.AJthough the presenceof multiple interactors makes many things is seenin the u'ay it influenced the rnost talked-aboutinformation s1'stemof about the MUD or MOO experiencedifferent from the experienceof an the 1990s.TimBerners-Lee, rr'ho conceivedof and originallyimplemented IF work,those systemshave many afinities with IF wolks. Studiesof one of the Worid Wide Web, u'asinspired by interactivefiction in his work, asseen these rypes of systemsr','i11 surely yield resultsabout textual and interactive r','henhe testedhis earliersvstem, Enquire.Two of the original developersof propertiesthat will apply to the other. the\VorldWideWeb \&'rotethat"Tirn made bits of labyrinthinehyper-routes The influence of interactive fiction on different sorts of computer in Enquire that servedno better purpose than to exploit the program's gameshas aireadybeen discussedwith referenceto the graphicaladventure cap^cftyfor making them.'l made mazesof rwisry little passagesall alike,'he game,of the sort that Sierraand LucasArtspioneered and that, in one fairly explains,'inhonour of Adventure"' (Grlliesand Cai[iau 2000, 170).In his simple formulation, Robin and Rand Miller's Ml,st (1995), attainedn'ide- originalproposal for theWeb,Berners-Lee (1989) described the way Enquire spreadpopulariry But another rype of computer game,the RPG or role- workedin termsof Aduenture:"ln 1980,I wrote a program...Enquire... playing game, also dreu, its inspiration from the first work of i.nteraccive it allowed one to store snippetsof information,and to link relatedpieces fiction, Aduenture,One very influential early RPG, Rogue,used letters and together in any v,'ay.To find information, one progressedvia the links 6'or.n other charactersto visuallydepict the map of a dungeon,through u'hich the one sheetto another,rather iike in the o1dcompllter same'adventure."' intrepid adventurer(represented bV'@') quests.Tontove, the playerpresses Interactivefiction hasbeen used extensiveiy in educationto teachstu- individual keys. Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman developedthe garne in dents about cornputersand about language;interactors have encountered it 1980.In the 1980sit wasported to many difterentconrputers. in the nriddle-schoolclassroom (e.g., Desilets 1999) and, as u,as already men- tioned in chapter4, it hasbeen usedflor progranuning exercises at the uni- Most of the existingadventure-rype garnes had "canned"adven- versirylevel. Interactive fiction hasalso served in lessformal educationalroles tures-they were exactly the sameevery time you plaved,and of asan introduction to the con-rpr-rter.Asa curator once conullentedin conver- coursethe progranxxershad to invent all ofthe puzzies,and there- satt<>n,Aduenture teaches rr,vo essential principles of computing:Try absolutely fore would alwaysknow how to beat the garlre.We decidedthat everv"thing)rou can think of and saveall the time. It hasbeen the inspiration with Rogue,the programitself should "build the dungeon",giving for some people to learn to program and to discovermore about the work- you a new adventureevery time you played,and rnaking it possi- ings of .Interactive fiction has alsobeen used to aid rn language ble for eventhe creatorsto be surprisedby the game.(.Wichman learning, both in classroomcontexts and independentlybv individr.rals. 1997) Graphical adventuregames that do not acceptnatural languageinput have CHeprEn 8 INT€RAcrtvE FrcrroN tN OUR CULTURE

been developedespecially for languagelearning; No Recuerdoby Douglas threatening to take away your house,the car dealershipco repossess Morgenstern and Janet Murray is an early exarnple.Begun in 1984, rhrs your car, and rhe furniture store to confiscate all your furnitr-rre, interactivevideo work has the interactorplay a journalist who intervieits including tl.reTV set.To top it off, t'our baby needs an operation! charactersin Colombia, selectingchoices from a list.Foreign-iar-rguage inter- You may now begin your adventure. I will be vour eyes and active fiction works are particularly well suited to languagelearning since hands.Direct me with com-mandsof one or rwo words. If you need interactive fiction requires input in the languagebeing learned as rve1las help rype HELPTo see how you're doing rype SCORI. comprehensionof the rext that is presented.(lf the text isn't really under- stood, cannot be solved.)Of coursea program that acceptsgram- Although one critic finds that Loader! story is an attack on the lack of matically incorrect input is nor as tolerable in a siruarion like this, since rt interactivir1'in interactive fiction (Sloane 2000), this reading is at best ques- could reinforce poor usaee.Still, inreracrivefiction has obvious potenrial in tionable.The story,presenting a doonred interactor who can do nothing to this situationand in many sortsof educationalsituarions relaced to language escapefate. certainly does comment on this lack of freedom, as many lnrer- and computing. Perhapsit can alsohelp studentsdevelop cognirive skills and active fiction u'orks thernselvesdo.As one scholar has written in a note on aid in teachingabout other sorrsof subjectmatrer rhar can be simulatedin the Web. "lt rvould almost seem superfluous to point out that Loader is textuallypresented worlds.These computerized riddles should turn our ro be using this image of the illusion of agency in interactive fiction as an aile- helpful teachersin many new circunrstances. gory for the illusion of freedom offered by capitalistAmerica-an ethical Interactive fiction has influenced the incidents in and the sry*1eof at engagenlent not rvith a literary form, but wich a political system and rhe 'equal least one important rvork of , ScuartMoulrhrop's Victory ethics of claims of opportuniry' and freedom for all" (Edelmann Carden.An "interactive dream" sequencein this r.r'ork-an lF-like experi- 2000). Here. then, is another example of how the form of interactive fic- ence that is the result of a universiry researchprqect-is rold in the second tion has already been used effectively as a frgure outside interactive fiction person,as is typicalin interactivefiction. Adventure has also been an impor- itself, in a short story. tant part of a play;the 1990 PICK UPAX byAnthony Clarvoeis a period Interactive fictiont influence is felt in numerous other books. One is piece (setin the frenzied SiliconValley of the early 1980s)in n'hich one of the merrroir Extra LiJe: Coming of Age in Cyberspaceby David Bennahum the programrlers, Keith, plays a work of interactive Gction hke Aduenture, (1998).That bookt chapter 6, "Dungeon," is structured asa conmentary on completewith dwarvesand axes.During the play he learnsto rurn his think- a transcript of interaction with Zork (specifically, with the freely available ing about computing and his masteryof the game world into action in deal- version ca[.ed Dungeorr).Bennahum uses that chapter not as a ing with the other characters,suggesting that the experience of interaccive framework for a social conunentary unrelated to computing, as Loader did, fiction canhave meaning beyond rhe computer'sscreen (Jerz 2000b). but to discusshis experience as an interactor and to describe the way rhe In print fiction.Jayne Loaderi 19E9 short story "Wrld Arnerica" cornputer created a separate space for hirn, apart from the outside social rwisted the rypical text advenrurein a differenrwav: ..vorld he hved in.The memoir's final chapter is titled "Beyond Zork." Even more interesting is the way the experience of interactive fiction *auto* You are a thirry-year-old worker in *Derroit, Michigan*. is woven by Rrchard Powers into his novel Plowing the Dark, which deals Ten yearsago you married a fellorv rvorker.Youuorv have nvo chil- with virtual realiry as it rs being implemented by a sprawling company in a dren.A yearago, your factory closed.Neirher you nor your spouse space called the Cavern. There are several allusions and formal connectlons wereable to 6nd other en-rployment.Yourunemploymenr insurance to interactive 6ction, u'hich is imporcant throughout as an early virtual real- hasrun out.Nthough your savingsare gone,1'ou do r.rotqualif, for iry developrnent using text and is deeply related to the book's central ques- welfare.You'vealreadv sold vour lakesidecabin. Now the bank is fions and ther.nes.The form makes its most obvious appearance in chapter lNTERAcrrvE FrcrroN rN 0uR CULTURE

16,which beginsu'ith the first diegetictext from Aduentttre:"Youare stand- longer basedon turns. This author also mistakenlybelieved that graphical ing at the end of a roadbefore a smal1brick building."Thissentence comes adventureganres might seeku,'ays to integrate the richnessof textual com- to JackdarvAcquerelli as a messageon his computer.He remembershis first municationinto the experience.(ln fact,such ideas rnight be borne out in encounter with Aduentt,tre^s an eleven-year-o1d,having been brought to an FaSade,u'hich rsin many v'aysthe culmination of the Oz Project.)But given office to interact with it (much as Grahaur Nelson r,,'as)and finding himself hou, foolish theseparticular predictions (Montfort 1995)rrow look u'hen "at the basecarnp of pure possibiliry"(Powers 2001, 105);there, he fbund considering the massof rtn'orkthat hasrecently been done in the form rhis Aducntureto be "nothing lessthan the transcendentalLego setof the human author is not about to continuein the samevein in thisbook. soul,itspieces infinite in both nur.uberand variery"(106).Then came his dis- Speculatronabout u'hat sort of interactiveficrion u'ill be createdin appointment at how little u'as actuallysimulated, although that gave\\/ay to yearsto come not only is usuallyunproductrve, but can alsobe counterpro- "challenge.Anotherhour, and challengebecame obsession" (107). He recalls ductive.To blithely mention the riddle of a h1'potheticalIF rvork eft-ectively hou' his obsessionrvith textuai interacttve fiction continued, hor.r'disap- ruins the u,ork for anv future rnteractorswho read such a prognosticatlon. pointed he was at the arrival of graphicalworks, and hovn'this passionled him The supposedlyhypothetical rvork that is so ruined may in fact alreadybe in to the work he does now.The grown-up Jackdaw playsAduutture u'ith and deveiopment.and babbling about what form a furure work might takewould for a remote audience,but rnostly he plays at retrremberingit u'ith others. be the most painful sort of spoilerfor an author u'ho is alreadytrying to real- Those on the systen.rrype fragmentsback and forth until they confessin a ize that work.The only real indicatorsof the future of interactivefictron will flurry of messages,at the end of the chapter.that none of them ever urade it be nerv rvorks from IF authors.Still, there are questionsabout the future of to the end of Aducrrture. interactive fiction that are worth pondering.Among them is the n-ratterof The previousexamples should suf3ceto shou'that interactivefiction whether IF u'ill be seenonJy as a pleasantand addictivehobby or alsoas a can and alreadydoes have sortterneaning in computer literatureand in meaningful art-just "fun" or perhaps"spiritually upiifting" as rvel1,ro use other literaryarts, and that it doesnot existapalt from our cultureas a mere Marc Blanki terms (Dyer 1984).There is also the broaderquestion of curiosirv. whether, in the future,the computer wiil be seenby the generalreading pop- ulace as a form of potential literature or as one that is capableof providing THe FuruRe or InrenAcrtvE FtcrloN the sorts of experiencesthat literary readersvalue.

"'We are standing at the beginning of a new fusion oi technology and liter- WHY CnenrE InrERAcrtvE Frcrrou? ature" (185),wrote Gary McGath in 1984, continuing u'ith pagesof predic- Interactive fiction is certainly alive and rvell,but the reasonmost interactive tions about what interactive fiction would be like in years to come-almost fictlon is createdtoday can be summed up as /o arnusethe initiated. Looking ail of them wrong. Increased realism, otre improvement McGath thought to the InteractiveFiction Competition asthe nain contexrfor pubiicatron interactors would see, is not a notable feature of later cornmercial or inde- of interactive fiction today,one easily seesthat IF works are '"vritten for a pendent works; nor has the turn-based system of interactiotr been discarded snrall sroup of people alreadyfarrriliar with the forrn, and the main, if not as McGath said it might be. In sone ways recent eft-ortshave improved upon onJy,concern is whether that group quickly finds such works enjoyable. the of characters and the range of alternatives; interescingll', the Having enteredthe InteractiveFiction Comperirion,I do not at ail seekto best l'u'ork in these rvvo areas u'as done after the coulnercial era ended. A placemvself above such a motive.Nor is this notivarion sornehowan impure decade later another author naively predicted, based on the direction of or base one. A poet nright similarly u.rite an occasionalpoem to amuse research at the Oz Project, that interacti"'e fictiou u,ould become more friends or fanrily; this is part of the life of poetry. However,such a purpose "highly interactive,"interruptable at anv point or else asynchronous and no hardly definesthe limit of poetry. CHAPTER 8 R CULTURE

Llltirnately,the most profound irrrpulseto createany art (including businessbreakthrough nor dissipatethe group of interactorsand authors interactivefiction) may simply be irrational.It nray be a cor-npulsionto dec- involved rvith interactivefiction today.New sortsof interactorsmight conre orate the terrifiing, as seenin the ornamenting oi the destructivemachine to appreciatethe form and to author rvorks in it through a route other than portrayedin Robert PinsLl's poen-r"The FiguredWheell'Adam Cadre met phy'sicalor virtual sofrvvarestores. the absurdiryof the question"Why do you u'rite interactivefiction?" with an Already,difi-erent language comnrunicies are crearing interactive fiction. amusinganswer on rec.arts.int-fiction:"To impressJodie Foster."Perhaps the There is alsoa communiry of blind interactorsthat is essentiailyseparate from desireto q'rite interactivefiction at the turn of the century is,as this reference the group calling itself"the IF communirv" and that hasirs own online.;our- to John Hinckley's motivation suggests,pathological. The impulse to create nal.There is another group of people u'ho createand enjoy adult interaccive interactivefiction alreadyis, and will likely continue to be, asbroad and diffi- fiction (AIF), rvhich depictssexual activiry.The concepr of theIF conu.nuniry cult to estabiishas is the motivation for crearingany art, in horveverusuai or asit is so often mentioned is in fact a myth; although such a group exists,it unusuala form, however popular or obscureit may be. But certainly rt can is one of severalwith an interestin interactivefiction. For academicsand par- exceedthe narrow rype of motivation describedearlier. IF works havealready tiesinterested in literatureto.;oin in appreciatingthe form, andeven author- shown wonder; in the future they nlght continue to be createdbecause of ing works, could easill' add to the diversiry of interactive fiction works metaphysicalor political concerns,to explore the relationshipbenveen peo- availabierather than sirnply ruining this one existingcommuniry. ple and computersor beftveenpeople and texts,to describeutopian aswell Despitethe fixation on commercethat Americansexhibit, other sigrrs asdystopian worlds, and to expressor challengecultural norions. of successbesides market shareexist, even within our culture. Poetry is a good exarnpleof an art that is relevantto the everydaylives ofAmericans but lF Bevoruo rHE Mnnxer, Bevoruo Userer has never been economically sustainingin this country even for poets who Discussionon rec.arts.int-Gctionand rec.games.int-Gctionsometimes turns are highly' esteemed.Like poetry inreracrive6,ction does nor need to be to matters of money and to questionsof rvhether or not interactivefiction lucrative to become a form that helps us gain new realizationsabout our can be viable in the marketplaceagain. Few people q.ho considerthe topic rvorld, a form that is relevant to our lives.However, interactivefiction can seriouslythink that it can be, and there are many people in the lF corrunu- benefit from institutional and cultural respectif it is to be a part of culture in niry who would prefer,regardless of its commercial potential,that the form the u'ay that poetry is. remain on the margins. Some authors and interactors rvould rather have This author is one of severalpeople u'orking to bring legitimacyco the interactivefiction be a hobby for a group of enthusiasts.The,vsee that wider concept of computer literature, also called electronic literature-which popularity and interest from other sectors(cornmercial or academic)risks includesinteractive ficrion and other forms basedon the computert abiliry dissolvingor weakening the current communiry to presentdifferent media according to rules and user input.Today,it is easy Commercial interactivefiction in the future rvould have to take a very to go into many pubLic libraries and use a computer to look up a phone difrerent shapethan it did in the 1980s.If interactive fiction did somehow number or consult a streetmap on the Web. It is alsoeasy to pull a novel off become more widespreadas a resultof sucha commercialventure, this might the shelf at such a library sit dou'n, and srart reading it. But many of the changethe nature of today'scommuniry sincethe somewhat esotericnature placesthat are most congenial to reading,such as the library are not wel-l of interactivefiction is part of what definesthis group. However, the future suitedfor the experienceof interactivefiction and other fypesof computer of interactivefiction in our culture is not linrited to only nvo options-a literature.Nor are librarians or booksellersprepared to advisereaders about commercial boom or the continued existenceof onl1,a single group of fans how to find works of computer literature that they might enjoy.There are calling itseif"the iF commurury."Thereis another possibiliryfor more rvide- orher reasonsthat computer literature is a difficuit concept for people to spreadappreciation of the form, which would neither require a miraculous accept.A cultural bias againstthe computer asa literary rnedium exists;most

230 231 Crapren 8 INT€RAcrrvE FrcrroN rN OUR Culrun:

people exp€rience the computer aseither a u'orkplace fixture or a device for tive fiction and computer literacure rnore broadly rnakes the argunient that less cerebral entertainment in the fornr of video games. (Such games have the computer can be a device that challenges and enlarges us,a way of corn- their own interesting textures that are too often dismrssed,and the ufay in municating powerful and disturbing and deeply necessary ideas.This argu- rvhich they structure the actions of one or more players rs a lr.oefully over- ment answers the concept of the computer as a government-regulated looked toprc. Still, it is certainly the casethat comrnon preconceptions about entertainment device, a soothing palliative that can only emrt family-safe and what a conrputer game is arld the corrunon way in rvhich such games are dis- brand-conscious advertisernents for mediocriry. This is the concept that the rnissedrnake it harder to accept the idea of contputer literature.) Finallr'.there Disney Corporation and the motioll picture industry are spending millions of are a handful of purportedly anti-technology readers and critics rvho ernploy dollars to promote anrong lavn'makers;this is the very ryranny of thought that tlre machinery of the manual rypeu'riter to denounce the conrputer. Such is opposed directlv by an IF rvork like A Mind Foreuerlloyaging.It is opposed fetishists ofgears and rollers can hardly be taken seriously, and the onJv pop- by the way interactive fiction is now created outside of corporate control by ular trend they represent is a qeneral {bar-not of technologl', obviousll'- indii'iduals from many different walks of Life,worldwide. It is opposed as weil but of the replacernent of their familiar technologies ftooks as rvell as b1'the shattered perceptions of Suspendedthat assertthat things can be seen rn rypewriters) rvith unfamiliar ones. Interactive fiction rs hardly out to displace difi^erentwa,vs, and even by the way that product placement is mocked in Coke or replace the book in some sinplistic rva.v,and argunrents assuming that it Is /r/ The trend to courplacent entertainnlent is also challenged by rhe unan- is wiil soon be seen as obsolete.'What is more troubling is that many people su'erable terror beneath the sudaces of Slude and Little Blue Men and indeed who are capable computer users and v',ho also enloy literarure have never by the very complexiqv and individualirv of vision manifest in almost every even imagined that something like interactive fiction could be part of their large interactive fiction work of the last ten years. literary and computing life. As one of many forms of computer Literature, interactive fiction has The event described at the beginning of this book, the reading called already oftered vital and relevant worlds to fathom, riddles rhat challenge our the Boston T1 Parry held at the Boston Public Library', \\'as one attempt to assumptions, and machines that accept and produce texts so as to engage us bring computer literature into a context that has traditionally supported lit- rvith both their outputs and their workings. Given its history, it would con.re erature,and to bring it ro the attentioll of a nerv group of people. (lnteractrve as no surprise if authors and interactors were to continue to pursue interac- fiction was represented aiong u'ith many other forms at that event; eleven tive fiction not only for fun but as a form that can offer transforrning and authors participated in reading from eight different rvorks).As is the case for profound experiences. other forrns of computer literature, rvhile creatrve progress in interactive fic- tion is essentialto the future of the form, such progress u'ill be alurost impos- sible, and u'ill be for all practical purposes irrelevant, if the number of people with a deep interest in interactive fiction, worldu'ide, is only in the hundreds. The true populariry of computer literature-not its mass marketabiliry or brazen promotion, but rather rlaking works in the form available to those outside a narrow academic or newsgroup-based communiry-is an essential, not incidental, concern for all rvriters rr,'ho use che cornputer as a mediur-n for their work. People promoting computer literature are not doing so just to show other people u,hat is nice about this unusual literary purpose to u'hich com- puters can be put, aithough that is one reason.The ven' concept of interac-