THE LITERARY QUALITY of DIGITAL ARTIFACTS by Steven James Koontz

HERMENEUTICS IN SIMULATED ENVIRONMENTS: THE LITERARY QUALITY OF DIGITAL ARTIFACTS by Steven James Koontz

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts

College of Humanities, Education, and Social Sciences Hammond, Indiana December 2020

THE PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE APPROVAL

Dr. Mark Mabrito, Chair Department of English

Dr. Dennis Barbour Department of English

Dr. Karen Bishop-Morris Department of English

Approved by: Dr. Jesse Cohn

Dedicated to my grandfather, whose wisdom still continues to inspire and motivate.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Composing a thesis has proven to be the most difficult academic endeavor with which I have ever been tasked; in fact, at times I have felt that voluntarily electing to undertake this route towards graduation almost bordered on masochistic. As an individual who works full time in a professional capacity, teaches, and has been taking courses, to say it has been challenging is an understatement. That said, the faculty and staff at Purdue Northwest have been quite accommodating, and without their assistance and understanding, I never could have completed this document. Much of the inspiration for my work was provided by the numerous courses I took with Dr. Mark Mabrito, whose insights into the media landscape helped me perceive new vistas of expression that exist at the crossroads of interactive technologies and the written word. Special thanks are also in order for Dr. Karen Bishop-Morris and Dr. Dennis Barbour, both of whom graciously offered to be part of my thesis committee despite their many other obligations. Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way, even simple words of encouragement were of inestimable value.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES ...... 6 GLOSSARY ...... 7 ABSTRACT ...... 8 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM ...... 9 METHODOLOGY ...... 16 MODES OF LITERARY EXPRESSION ...... 20 On Linearity ...... 22 The Meaning of Play ...... 23 BLOODBORNE: A LITERARY CASE STUDY ...... 26 Literary Pedigree ...... 26 Primary Narrative ...... 31 Uncovering Narration through Paratext ...... 33 Close Reading and Close Playing ...... 38 Literary Devices and Language ...... 41 Linearity in Bloodborne ...... 43 Reading Ability and Playing Ability ...... 44 DISCO ELYSIUM: CHALLENGES IN GAME EXPLICATION ...... 46 CONCLUSIONS...... 50 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH...... 52 REFERENCES ...... 54

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Illuminated poetry has been embraced for its multimodality. From William Blake; commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Ghost_of_Abel_(page_2).jpg...... 21 Figure 2. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice offers a darkly psychedelic vision in conjunction with an experience redolent of mental illness according to experts consulted for the game (Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice)...... 24 Figure 3. Madman’s Knowledge text description, a key item in Game lore (Bloodborne)...... 27 Figure 4. The Character creation screen allows the user to customize their avatar (Bloodborne)...... 31 Figure 5. A typical item description through menu paratext (Bloodborne)...... 32 Figure 6. Labyrinthine levels reflects complex narrative (Bloodborne)...... 33 Figure 7. Albert can be seen prostrating before an altar (Bloodborne)...... 34 Figure 8. Martyr Logarius (Bloodborne)...... 36 Figure 9. Ebriatas, Daughter of the Cosmos, a quintessentially Lovecraftian abomination (Bloodborne)...... 39 Figure 10. The note mechanic enables players to influence storytelling (Bloodborne)...... 44 Figure 11. Dialogue features (Disco Elysium)...... 47

GLOSSARY

Avatar: A virtual representation, often customizable, of the player in a digital game environment.

Boss: In the context of video games, an opponent that presents a greater challenge that normal enemies encountered in the game world.

Cutscene: Cinematic style scenes, oftentimes non-interactive, in digital media that serve to further the story. These are often triggered by reaching some milestone in the game or simulation.

Daedal: Complex, intricate, or labyrinthine. Etymologically linked to Daedalus, builder of the Cretan Labyrinth in Greek mythology.

Ergodic: A portmanteau of the Greek words ergon (work) and hodos (path) used by Epsen Aarseth to describe text reliant on exogenous elements, and kinesthetic actions beyond what is required by an average written work (1).

Hub: In video games, a place where the player character travels to make alterations to their character, purchase items, and access other areas of the virtual world. Generally a safe zone without enemies.

Neoteric: That which is newly emergent and novel.

NPC: Non-playable character. In digital games, these are the characters that populate the simulated environment. Non-playable characters are often benign and often serve to propel the story forward, or provide a simulacrum of fellowship.

Paratext: Text serving as a supplement to the main body of work, functions different depending on medium. Text within, alongside, or surrounding the primary text.

ABSTRACT

The topic of video games is expansive, encompassing numerous domains that have yet to be thoroughly examined within a scholarly context. Modern games, especially those in the adventure and role-playing genres, are oftentimes heavily laden with text, and therefore serve as excellent subjects when formulating hermeneutical models for simulated virtual contexts. Furthermore, many games belong under the umbrella of literary studies due to their reliance upon text to forge interactive, fictional narratives. While this means many games possess qualities that render them germane to academics within the sphere of English studies, they remain neglected outliers due to manifold factors, ranging from outmoded biases against the medium, to a lack of established evaluative methodologies. As a result, the field is largely bereft of consensus strategies for engaging digital works featuring literary exposition and dialogue in the form of on-screen text; however, existing theories, including more abstruse ones relating to ergodic literature, hypertext and cybertext, provide a foundation on which to construct new modalities for assessing texts that exist within virtual environs. Research indicates that audience experiences in text-driven games are markedly different than those offered by analog texts due to their interactivity and non-linearity, thus reinforcing the need for the expansion of existing models. Of additional concern, analyses of modern text-oriented games prefigure some important implications for the areas of pedagogy and textual information conveyance in general. These considerations all coalesce to illustrate the exigency for a new or updated theory for understanding and interpreting text in digital substrates, ultimately allowing for inchoate and emergent art facilitated by technology to be recognized as academically relevant.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

There is a dearth of scholarship that treats video games as valid literary expressions, despite the common utilization of literary style exposition and dialogue in the form of text as the cynosure of genres like role-playing and adventure games. There are myriad causes: foremost among these seems to be pervasive biases against text-centric games (and games in general), which preclude them from being considered as legitimate artforms. These tendentious dismissals are symptomatic of attitudes harbored by some individuals in academia who are either unwilling, or not sufficiently experienced, to make judgements regarding the validity of games as literary artifacts. Epsen Aarseth coined the term “ergodic” as a portmanteau of the Greek words ergon (work) and hodos (path) to describe text reliant on exogenous elements, and kinesthetic actions beyond what is required by an average text, in order to fully appreciate (1). The ideas posited by Aarseth in many ways are applicable to games, which have expanded greatly in sophistication since the publication of his seminal work, Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature in 1997. Aarseth, when writing about the reticence of scholars to entertain alternative texts as worthwhile offerings, noted that “typically… objections came from persons who, while well versed in literary theory, had no firsthand experience of the hypertexts, adventure games, or multi-user dungeons I was talking about” (2). Clearly, there is a schism here, wherein individuals serving as gatekeepers in literary studies also sometimes have a gap in their knowledge due to a lack of familiarity with text-heavy narrative mediums beyond the scope of traditional literature. Exacerbating the problem is an elitist attitude that something you “play” cannot possibly occupy the same sphere as “real” literature (Lebowitz and Klug 18). Further expounding this point is Nick Montfort, a professor of digital media at MIT, who readily admits that “not everyone will immediately agree with the assertion that a work with aspects of a game should be thought of in literary terms” (2). There seems to be a problem of perception, of old attitudes not being modified in order to accommodate new manifestations of art and literature. Montfort makes it clear that this is not an issue restricted to scholars, stating that “what is more troubling is that many people who are capable computer users and who also enjoy literature have never imagined something like interactive fiction could be part of their literary and computing life” (232). The work of Montfort and others in this currently niche area of study shows that the issue

of interactive fiction being dismissed out of hand seems to be a pervasive attitude endemic to both academic and lay spheres. Despite these impediments to games being accepted into the literary canon, some theories about texts--both analog and digital--that operate in unconventional ways are useful when demonstrating how games may not be as incongruent with literature as attitudes suggest. The work of Epsen Aarseth is indispensable when trying to delineate this concept: The study of cybertexts reveals the misprision of the spaciodynamic metaphors of narrative theory, because ergodic literature incarnates these models in a way linear text narratives do not. This may be hard to understand for the traditional literary critic who cannot perceive the difference between metaphorical structure and logical structure, but it is essential. The cybertext reader is a player, a gambler; the cybertext is a game-world or world-game; it is possible to explore, get lost, and discover secret paths in these texts, not metaphorically, but through the topological structures of the textual machinery. This is not a difference between games and literature but rather between games and narratives. To claim that there is no difference between games and narratives is to ignore essential qualities of both categories. And yet, as this study tries to show, the difference is not clear-cut, and there is significant overlap between the two. (Aarseth 4)

This characterization is apposite to games in the most acute fashion, though defining the particulars is often onerous. What constitutes a player vs. reader, or a game vs. a narrative? Is it possible for such categories to exist in a superposition of both states? A cybertext is not necessarily a game, yet these ideas are directly applicable to games. Part of the issue in classifying games as literature seems to arise from a crisis of pedantry and obscure terminology in terms of genres and classifications. There are numerous niches and subgenres associated with interactive fiction. One only needs to crack open the IF Theory Reader journal to appreciate both the exciting possibilities afforded by interactive texts, as well as the lack of consensus regarding classifications of interaction fiction. If one were to take the term interactive fiction at face value, then video games would definitely fall into the category, seeing as they are normally fictions that involve audience interaction; however, the scholarship surrounding the term does not always treat video games as such. One accomplished author in the field of unconventional literature requiring non-trivial effort to read, Mark Danielewski, has been commonly characterized as an ergodic author, but would rather craft his own terminology: People over the years have constantly asked me if I’m a postmodern writer or whatever phrase was at hand. I finally decided I would invent a terminology myself: I describe my work as ‘signiconic,’ which is a word that combines ‘sign’ and ‘icon.’ What signiconic writing does is embrace the possibility of engaging the mind not only on a visual level

but on a linguistic level as well, and at the same time, without ever letting either side claim dominance. We can be completely immersed in text. And we can be completely intoxicated by the visual—whether it’s a television screen or an Instagram feed. But by engaging both at the same time, you destabilize both sides, and open the mind up to many other perceptions—even a third perception, if you will. My exploration is with how text and image can approach this place where both of them kind of fall away, allowing the reader to begin to sense a world beyond our purely retinal limitations or our syntactical, synaptic limitations. (Fassler)

This delineation of a balanced multimodal experience, of which text is one key element, is both fascinating and useful to the inquiry, but also illustrates the sort of quandary plaguing the area of interactive and non-trivial text where video games generally seem to belong, which is a lack of agreement regarding how to classify works that do not fit within the scheme of traditional literary formats. The “signiconic” idea is a useful exemplar of this, because it shows the propensity for theorists and authors to generate terms that, while arguably compelling and cogently articulated, bear little significance to those outside of a rather narrow and specialized audience. Some lexical standards of jargon should be universally used to describe interactive fictions so that they may be more easily incorporated into literary discourse. The existence of a standardized terminology would render discussions on the matter much easier; however, to achieve such a feat will require the expansion of the field of literary scholarship. Lack of familiarity with non-traditional modes of textual expression is only one hindrance to the advancement of the subject within literary scholarship. Another issue is the difficulty associated with conducting a proper textual analysis on video games, considering their presentation of text is often both transient and gargantuan. Part of this has to do with the way an audience interfaces with games vs. a traditional format like a novel; playing games will likely require specialized device like a PC or console. These hardware requirements impose potential barriers of entry to academics inclined to study this area. Even if the requisite equipment is available, there is a possibility the scholar would not be amenable to even attempting a non- traditional analysis, as Montfort notes. Additionally, the posterity of these works has been called into question by scholars who, noting the ephemeral and ever-evolving nature of digital technologies, propound that limited longevity relegates digital literature to the proverbial dustbin of history: “The situation is exacerbated by the fluid nature of digital media, whereas books printed on good quality paper can endure for centuries, electronic literature routinely becomes unplayable (and hence unreadable) after a decade or even less” (Hayles).

Further compounding these difficulties, game scripts many times are not readily available. Transcripts of previously read text are not always available in-game, and even if these things were available, they are incomplete outside of the context of the game environment, which typically employs user input, graphics and sound to complement text. Furthermore, there is a great disparity between the amount of text found in the typical novel, versus that found in many text driven games. An “average novel” has been found to contain somewhere in the range of 80,000 to 100,000 words (Sambuchino). Contrast this with the text driven role-playing game Disco Elysium, which according to developers boasts over a million words presented on screen as part of the script (Wright). That is at least ten times the text found in a typical novel. Many text-heavy games contain a multitude of choices and branching paths that harken back to “choose your own adventure” games of yore, albeit it in a much more Byzantine and fully realized way. Keeping this in mind, it becomes clear that no two user experiences will be identical, and no one will experience the entire script throughout one playthrough. These cases of branching, divergent pathways, along with a high degree of player choice, necessitate multiple play throughs to experience all text. This is excellent in terms of offering an interactive experience, but compounds the difficulty of fully explicating the work in a formal analysis. Attempting to do so could easily become a monumental endeavor, seeing as completing one playthrough of Disco Elysium alone requires somewhere around 40 hours, according to aggregated numbers found on community sites (Gamefaqs). One final point of difficulty is that games are greatly variegated in their presentation. While it is true that the game genres focused upon in this study heavily employ actual text, there is no uniform way in which they do this. Any method of understanding must then be flexible enough to accommodate drastically different modes of text presentation. One familiar with authors like Vladimir Nabokov or Mark Danielewski may note that textual organization is also diverse in the medium of the novel; however, novels function primarily through one mode, text on paper, while the multimodal and interactive nature of a game require specialized approaches. These aforementioned points, among others, are often cited in what little scholarly discourse does occur as some of the main culprits behind the general lack of interest in exploring games in the arena of literary studies. Perhaps the greatest challenge is getting literary scholars to concede that games, regardless of how suffused with text they are, are worth considering. Epsen Aarseth, when recounting his experiences a few decades ago, found that he was “almost

invariably… challenged on the same issues: [experts asserted] that these texts (hypertexts, adventure games, etc.) aren't essentially different from other literary texts, because (1) all literature is to some extent indeterminate, nonlinear, and different for every reading, (2) the reader has to make choices in order to make sense of the text, and finally (3) a text cannot really be nonlinear because the reader can read it only one sequence at a time, anyway” (2). Games and available texts have evolved drastically since he penned those words; however, academic attitudes seem to have remained somewhat stagnant, despite a few noteworthy exceptions. More individuals than ever readily welcome games in their life, but there seems to be a tacit sentiment in academia that evaluating them falls under someone else’s purview, if they even merit critical consideration at all. The most compelling testament to this is the silence regarding game text in academic journals, which has created a void that has been mainly filled by popular culture websites and user generated valuations. The most elevated treatment a game like Disco Elysium has received comes from publications like Forbes, which included a review stating “Disco Elysium is text driven which is a plus because it’s exceptionally well-written. It can be hilarious, moving and profound all in a matter of moments just like the thoughts that fly through your head as you navigate your day. Disco Elysium is an utterly original game” (Murnane). Additionally, the game was given several BAFTA awards, one of which was for outstanding narration (Stuart). Despite “lay” recognition, there has been no scholarly work conducted on a game that academics would be remiss to overlook. Not all critical attitudes towards games are favorable; the late, preeminent film critic Roger Ebert, a widely recognized connoisseur of cinema and art in general, famously lambasted video games, stating categorically that they “can never be art” (Ebert). In a widely read polemic of the medium, he likens them to sporting events, and states that “No one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great poets, filmmakers, novelists and poets” (Ebert). While Ebert may have been a widely recognized authority on film, it is clear that he never developed much familiarity with the medium of video games. While the nature of art is highly subjective, the aesthetic component of games can not be understated. Aesthetic quality is a crucial component of any work of art. While qualitative analyses of art on aesthetic terms may necessarily rely on subjective or relativistic valuations, there are precise techniques that demonstrate aesthetic objectives in art. For the purposes of this examination, the inclusion of aesthetic intent shall be deemed sufficient in terms of classifying a work as artful,

since to further scrutinize the value of the aesthetic elements would then imperil the study by introducing biases associated with the evaluator’s personal taste: “In poetry, short stories, novels and non-fiction, authors use a variety of techniques to appeal to our aesthetic values. Depending on the type of writing an author may employ rhythm, illustrations, structure, time shifting, juxtaposition, dualism, imagery, fantasy, suspense, analysis, humor/cynicism, thinking aloud, and other means” (Stanford Aesthetics). Video games employ all of these aesthetic appeals and more. Further examination of games as interdisciplinary works helps to repudiate the spurious claims of their inviolability in the realm of art, which shall become apparent as key works are analyzed. When considering the treatment of game text, parallels can easily be drawn to the way novels are received. A prodigious amount of novels are released each year: many are reviewed by the public at large, higher quality/profile ones generally are reviewed in various popular publications, awards are furnished by various organizations to the select few found to be extraordinary in some way, and some of these make their way into academic discourse. What is problematic is that the progression of game from development to serious scholarly consideration seems to be truncated at the award level. The fundamental issue at hand is the ambivalence, or outright rejection, of scholars within literary circles to embrace a relatively nascent medium into their discipline. While one may easily find courses pertaining to graphic novels and comics in university English courses, the explication of text in games remains a largely exiguous topic as far as academic inquiry is concerned. It is true that not all games are literary in substance: in fact, many are bereft of text, or function as purely mechanistic, clockwork puzzle type exercises; however, the broad affordances of the gaming medium should not discount the numerous works of art that must be viewed through a literary prism in order to be fully appreciated. These concerns pose several pressing questions for the literary scholar in terms of their “job,” and what mediums are within their purview. Fictional text and narration are concerns that fall into their domain, yet tackling something like a game may require a modification of the traditional approach. Further examining works of this nature helps to refute the assertions made by the experts Aarseth mentioned, who asserted that games are no different than other forms of literature. Underscoring this is the fact that games, by their very essence, are inseparable from the element of “play”. Play is a term that may convey juvenile connotations, but within the

schema of the works in question, it refers to an integral interactive and participatory component. Understanding how play impacts the act of reading has remained mostly unexplored in academic literature; this lack of coverage is perhaps one of the soundest justifications for embarking upon this endeavor. Play, as a term, is typically associated with a game of some sort, but play is defined in the dictionary as: “[Engaging] in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose (Lambert). If this definition were to be applied to novels as typically conceived, then the supposed dissimilarities between digital text and traditional literature begin to fade.

METHODOLOGY

Efficaciously legitimizing games within literary studies may be best accomplished with a relatively straightforward approach that avoids the mire of terminology alluded to earlier. In the review of literature, it was noted that many thinkers willing to take up this mantle exhibit a tendency to occlude the issue though indirect and highly specialized treatments that hold limited appeal to subject matter experts. Rather than obfuscate the literary merit of games by devising new terminology apt to alienate those outside a small scholarly community already in agreement with this position, the utilization of established critical tools for content analysis on game text clearly makes the point by plying the argot of those to whom the case must necessarily be made. Employing accepted approaches allows one to expatiate how and why works that generally fall outside the canon should be considered by generating cogent results in service to a dyadic purpose: 1) The results rendered aid in articulating the direct compatibility of games to literary studies by plainly demonstrating incontestable correlations that adjoin analog and digital modes of exposition under the same general umbrella. 2) The exigency for some modified critical strategies is elucidated when examining digital, literary text that is unable to be fully appraised by the existent analytical toolkit. The need for neoteric methods that acknowledge and account for offerings in a digital medium becomes naturally apparent when attempting to situate analyses of games within the latticework of existing approaches to literature (both conventional and “alternative”). Close reading is a common strategy employed in literary analysis where the reader, in the simplest of terms, quite literally analyzes selected segments of text closely in order to discern meaning (Rapaport 20). While it can easily be employed on any segment of a game, conducting close readings on the whole piece could be onerous, depending on the scale of the work. This is acceptable, since overly obsessing upon details, to the detriment to the greater tableau, leads one into a reductionist feedback loop of sorts, “the closer one gets to details, the less likely to produce an interpretation of any kind” (Rapaport 29). Obviously, details are important, but an approach looking at the games as a holistic piece, rather than excessively focused on each individual piece, may be most fruitful for analysis. As such, close reading should be employed judiciously and in conjunction with other valuative techniques.

While close reading is largely concerned with meaning, there is the question of the words themselves and the aesthetic value they hold. Literature is often inextricably tied to notions of elegant or artful prose, “Without doubt, the various genres of literary works belong to the category of aesthetic object. Prose as… literature, is without exception aesthetic. That is, it gives reader pleasure” (Chen 513). Though what constitutes good prose may be subjective, fictional prose is something that typifies literature; examining fictional prose in games then serves to underscore their belletristic quality and provide another opportunity to analyze them in a way comparable to traditionally written works. There seems to be something timeless and perennial about adroitly composed prose; while the medium may change, quality writing seems to remain an immutable artform. In fact, the presence of on-screen fictional text, serving a narratological purpose, may be one of the most important constituents when attempting to formally incorporate games into the literary world. This differentiates the medium with which the treatment is concerned from something like screenwriting (an area in which some have suggested games would be better categorized) since the text located in the games being discussed is meant to be read, rather than veiled by a performer’s voice; similarly, this text is clearly functioning differently than subtitles, since they are not the primary concern when writing a film, nor do they typically inform other elements of its construction (Lazar 14). Games, as multimodal offerings, rely on a phenomenological constellation of disparate elements, which combine to offer an aesthetic experience that shares commonalities with many forms of artistic expression. The literary aspect of this aesthetic experience requires proper examination in order to fully appreciate. Literary devices present in the text should be highlighted and identified within the game being assessed in order to solidify its place within the field. Next, literature often is defined as belonging to specific genres or movements. While this may be true of many varieties of entertainment, the ability to associate the text in the game with well-established literary movements, genres, or traditions is helpful not only when discussing the game, but also when establishing its literary pedigree. This point is interlinked with the notion of games exhibiting aesthetic value, in that the prose can be looked at through a literary lens and compared with text that has already been established as being indisputably literary. For the purposes of this examination, the primary game to be focused upon will be argued to generally fit into the “Weird fiction” category, with Bloodborne having heaving leanings towards Cosmicism that owe a great deal to the Lovecraftian tradition that frequently hits upon elements

of the strange and esoteric lying behind the illusory wall of mundane life. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but can be helpful in understanding a work within a given place in the canon. This commonly accepted description offered by Penguin publishing serves as a useful reference point when establishing the games in question as literary works in the Weird Fiction: It’s [Weird fiction] a literary style that can blend speculative fiction with elements of horror, fantasy, magical realism, Lovecraftian Cosmicism, and others to create a genre that is surreal and deeply unnerving. According to H.P. Lovecraft — a twentieth-century master of the genre — weird fiction is more than ‘secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted form clanking chains.’ Although weird fiction most certainly has a grounding in the macabre, the central power of the weird tale is the ever-present sense of mounting and inescapable dread. Of forces outside both the power and understanding of man. According to Lovecraft, the weird is a malign suspension of the laws of nature, of the very things that we rely on to safeguard our fragile lives and psyches against the chaos and malignancy lurking just beyond the world we know (So you want to read Weird fiction).

In addition to genre and literary provenance, social concepts and theories involving race, gender, disability studies, colonialism, social constructivism, ecocriticism, and more are common angles by which literature is viewed (“Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism”). A content- oriented approach to criticism is tenable, since it does not require much special accommodation for the non-linear structure of the games in question. It should be noted that none of the selected approaches, in fact, require any special accommodation for the structural challenges presented by games. While structure and interface may seem to provide challenges to literary criticism of game text, many critical methods may be easily and readily applied to a game without much difficulty at all. Close reading, genre awareness, and aesthetic concerns, in conjunction with a holistic approach that remains mindful of hermeneutics and interpretive modes of analysis, are not at all incongruous with the framework of a game. This allows for a comprehensive exploration from a standpoint of semiotics, structuralism, content and ergodic conceptualization; when these things break down, the need for the expansion of existing theories and approaches should be noted, rather than dismissed (Martin 105). Following this line of thought, as analyses are conducted, the need for new approaches to explication become evident, since games are rich in structure and often include more planes of functionality than a novel. Still, the ostensibly clear line of demarcation between novels and some games becomes blurred as these methods

allow one to posit that games are simply more interactive than novels, which are themselves not without participatory functions. An approach focused on commonalities between games and accepted literature allows for a more frictionless assimilation onto the radar screen of academia in literature.

MODES OF LITERARY EXPRESSION

A review of history suggests that the literary impulse represents a primordial drive within humans. Evidence of this assertion is supported by the fact that the first recorded story, The Epic of Gilgamesh, manifested concomitant with the rise of the written word at the dawn of human civilization (The Epic of Gilgamesh: The First Epic from the First Civilization). These first offerings were inscribed on a series of clay tablets, the medium available at the time, in a system of writing called cuneiform. As new mediums became available, new variations of written expression emerged, with the modern novel as typically conceived—a collection of bound pages—making its appearance in 1605 with the classic Don Quixote (This Day in History). The novel subsequently came to dominate the landscape of fictional narration and remains a cornerstone of the literary world. While the experience of reading a story on a clay tablets is quite different, in spatial, tactile, and aesthetic terms from reading a paper novel, few would contest their value to the corpus of world literature and its students. In the 415 years that have since transpired since the novel’s rise to prominence, new storytelling modalities that utilize text have emerged. The electronic book is one such way of taking content that would traditionally be presented as text on a paper page and digitizing it. It is generally accepted that taking a story from the realm of tangible literary expression, transmuting it into code, and presenting it once more as a digital artifact on a device of the reader’s choosing, does nothing to negate the resultant digital product as a work of literature. Again, there are significant spatial, tactile, and aesthetic disparities between the paper book and the electronic one, and the mode of text traversal that do not prevent its classification as literature. That said, there are differences in audience experience that have been observed. Some decry the transition to electronic text and have produced empirical justifications to back their position. There is no consensus, however, since studies seem to indicate that there are positive, neutral, and deleterious effects associated with reading on an electronic display, including one notable study that “compared the Kindle 3 eBook reader and Apple's iPad tablet computer to a printed document to determine if text presentation format had a significant effect on reading time and text comprehension. Results indicated that those reading printed materials had faster reading times than those reading from eBook readers and tablets. Participants found the tablet the most usable, followed by the eBook reader, and the printed

material was considered the least usable. There was no effect of text presentation format on reading comprehension, supporting the use of eBook readers and tablet computers in academic environments” (Connell et al 131). While the jury may be out in regard to whether the benefits constitute a net gain for students in the long term, such studies have led to the widespread transition to electronic reading in an educational environment.

Figure 1. Illuminated poetry has been embraced for its multimodality. From William Blake; commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Ghost_of_Abel_(page_2).jpg.

The previous examples would likely fail to generate much controversy within scholarly spheres, but what does scholarship have to say about works that were designed to feature text, yet also have accompanying imagery that rivals or eclipses the importance of the text? Such works exist in the form of graphic novels, children’s stories, illustrated books, the illuminated poems of William Blake (see Figure 1), and on the list goes interminably. Blake’s reliance on non-textual elements has not proscribed his acceptance within the arena of poetry, far from it.

His visuals seem to enhance the text, promoting a sort of genius loci with the imagination of the reader. Still, to some scholars there may exist a wide gulf between a universally lauded master, such as Blake, and a video game that features text. This chasm may not be as it first appears, since alternative forms of writing that were once ostracized, such as comic books and graphic novels, have recently been embraced within English scholarship as valid literary works. Professor Rocco Versaci, a respected educator and researcher in this area, has pushed for the serious acceptance of comic books and graphic novels as legitimate forms of art, stating “As teachers of literature, we should not strive to get students to accept without question our own judgments of what constitutes literary merit, for such acceptance inevitably places students in the position of seeing literature as a ‘medicine’ that will somehow make them better people, if only they learn to appreciate it” (62). This attitude is not uncommon, but many proponents of this approach towards literary perception concede that the path towards acceptance is oftentimes fraught with hurdles, “using graphic novels in the classroom does present a challenge to teachers; a number of obstacles and concerns arise. First, anything new often faces resistance, especially if it is part of popular culture” (Schwarz 63). Indeed, the path from clay tablets to eBooks was one that took millennia, so it is not particularly shocking that video games, as a relatively new expression, have not been immediately assimilated into widespread formalized studies. That said, the ability of literature to present in different ways as a result of changing technology is a quality of the artform that is at least as old as human civilization; for this reason, scholars should remain open-minded to entertaining new forms of expression when they appear.

On Linearity

One key difference between novels and games is their apparent linearity. Games are ostensibly more participatory, as they require the user to interact with some sort of simulated environment through an input mechanism, while novels tend to be read from front to back, left to right, and require no additional interface. It must be stated, however, that these general features are not categorical, nor are they uniform in either medium. This seeming dichotomy between a novel being linear and an alternative text being non-linear can lead one astray, and even show itself to be a perfidious red herring when attempting to articulate their respective differences. Epsen Aarseth calls this perceived dualism “treacherous”, stating that hypertexts with

“unidirectional link[s] between text chunks [are] much more authoritarian and limiting than (say) a detective novel, in which the reader is free to read the ending at any time” (47). In the arena of games, there is a broad spectrum of linearity to be found, and Aarseth is correct to observe that alternative texts have the potential to be more restrictive than the so-called conventional ones. There are varying schools of thought and styles within game design, just as there are in any other artistic venture. There is, as of the time of writing, a rift between games that offer players a great degree of choice—usually consisting of branching pathways and a multitude of options to customize the experience—and those which offer less freedom in favor for a more controlled experience. The studio behind immensely popular horror series entitled Dead Space met their demise as a result of this consumer demand for increased player liberty, “EA's Chief Financial Officer, Blake Jorgensen, went into detail about the reasoning behind closing down Visceral Games, creators of the Dead Space franchise. The game was a ‘much more linear game, that people don't like as much today as they did five or ten years ago.’ For those who don't know, a linear game is a title where there's only one path to take to complete the game” (Lowry). Some games may not afford the player the freedom to start and stop as they please; if they begin a certain segment, then they may be forced to play it through to the end. In such games, prematurely ending the segment requires one to play it over again. Suffice to say, this places more demands on the audience than the conventional novel, which generally speaking has no requirements for length of engagement, nor are there required checkpoints.

The Meaning of Play

What does it mean to “play”? This is a germane question, as games are viewed as something you play in a frivolous way, whereas reading books is oftentimes seen as a serious act that denotes intelligence. Well, one of the main definitions of play reads thus: “[to] engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose” (OED Online). It is generally safe to say that individuals read the latest E.L. James book for enjoyment of recreation, rather than to further any pragmatic purpose. Conversely, some games are designed as didactic or therapeutic mechanisms, which may incidentally provide enjoyment to the audience. A popular game, known as Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was the subject of a case study regarding games within the sphere of mental health. The results found that “research- informed collaborative design with mental health practitioners, scientists, and individuals with

mental health problems can lead to a realistic depiction of mental illness in games. Furthermore, the use of frame analysis demonstrates how to harness narrative, mechanics, and technology to create embodied experiences of mental health, which has the potential to promote empathetic understanding” (Ball and Fordham 158). In other words, playing this game can serve a practical purpose, in that it can foster empathy and understanding for those who are afflicted with mental illness. Although the game is “played”, it is serving a serious purpose by facilitating an understanding of those who are often viewed as “other” within society.

Figure 2. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice offers a darkly psychedelic vision in conjunction with an experience redolent of mental illness according to experts consulted for the game (Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice).

Macabre as it may be, there is clearly artistic vision present in the Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice game. The moribund style may not fit everyone’s predilections, but it certainly strives to elicit an emotive response in the audience, an aim harbored by all works of aesthetic value. It is important to note that digital games comprise a robust spectrum of expression. Some games are completely thoughtless, mechanical, and devoid of narration, while others have lofty ambitions and complex narration that blurs the line between play, art, and didacticism. A game like Hellblade is meant simultaneously to teach, entertain, and evoke emotion. This is but one exemplar of a game that eschews easy categorization. How may we describe the work of a

Nobel Prize winning novelist such as Hermann Hesse? Surely his books were provided a great deal of entertainment, yet they served didactic purposes as well. Scholars have identified his works as having sophisticated spiritual undertones that feature characters that serve as an embodiment of Jungian archetypes (Neuer). This is important to consider in the domain of literature, because for every Fifty Shades of Grey there is a Glass Bead Game. Likewise, in the sphere of gaming, for every Pacman, there is a Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.

BLOODBORNE: A LITERARY CASE STUDY

Bloodborne is an action role-playing game that relies almost solely upon paratext, its visual landscape (an amalgam of Victorian England and H.P. Lovecraft’s most atramentous celestial visioning), NPC dialogue, and cryptic clues to forge a narrative. The game was released in 2015 by renowned Japanese development studio, From Software, as a spiritual successor to their Dark Souls video game series, which is infamous for its difficulty, Stygian atmosphere, and deep lore. Many similar motifs have been retained or expanded upon in Bloodborne, which proves itself to be a rich work of art worthy of literary study when examined in accordance with the stated axiological methods. Examining the text of this game through standard approaches to literature such as close reading and prose analysis, while also working to situate it within the framework of existing literary traditions, yields some compelling insights regarding its status as an object of literary import.

Literary Pedigree

Bloodborne’s narrative can be understood best within the context of established currents of literary expression; in fact, fully apprehending its narrative requires familiarity with specific literary movements and genres. This is helpful in illustrating a few key points—foremost among these is that games can occupy a vital space within the existing literary canon. In the case of Bloodborne, the conclusion that is drawn from the overall textual analysis, in conjunction with an assessment of the visual narratology, is that the movement with which it is most appropriately categorized would be “Lovecraftian” or “Weird” fiction—two closely related movements that also are inextricably tied to Cosmicism, the appellation for a literary philosophy pioneered by H.P. Lovecraft that essentially states the universe is largely indifferent to the existence of humanity, and that beneath the illusory veneer of prosaic existence are extramundane forces that are unknowable and maddening due to humanity’s inability to reconcile them within known ontological schemas (Joshi 11).

Figure 3. Madman’s Knowledge text description, a key item in Game lore (Bloodborne).

In figure 3 is a paratextual description of a common item in the game, which is a clear reference to several concepts and key terms that one versed in Lovecraftian lore will invariably diagnosticate. Among these are the concept of Great Ones, who are an integral component in a hierarchy or pantheon of alien, god-like celestial beings devised by Lovecraft. These “Great Old Ones”, as Lovecraft named them, once held dominion over earth in his mythos, but have since largely gone dormant; the most infamous of these beings is the eponymous Cthulu, of the famed story The Call of Cthulu (Harms viii). The next term of note is inclusion of the word eldritch, which is a word defined as meaning: “strange or unnatural especially in a way that inspires fear” (Darnell). It has particular significance within the Lovecraft mythology as a term used by Lovecraft himself to describe aberrant entities and situations associated with existential dread, and also features prominently in the works of other authors that have contributed to his mythology in the decades following his death (Laws). Finally, within the paratexual description there is described a direct correlation between wisdom and madness; this linkage is something which, at its core, is fundamentally Lovecraftian and relates back to the previously described philosophy of cosmicism.

The description is for an item known as “Madman’s Knowledge”, which is tied to a core gameplay mechanic. The player accrues an “insight” level throughout the game; partaking in the “Madman’s Knowledge” is the primary way in which this level is increased. As the level goes up, their ability to gain certain advantages is bolstered—players can use the insight as currency, they may use it to bring online or NPC cooperators into their game world, and more—however, there is also a dark side to increasing one’s insight level. As it goes up, entities become visible that previously were occluded from the player’s perception, and the difficulty level of the game is elevated in many respects. This set of ramifications for partaking in a sort of dark gnosis is a way of further elaborating on the Lovecraftian elements via mechanics in the player’s experience of the simulated environment. None of this can be fully understood without reading the item description and being familiar with the works of H.P. Lovecraft and other authors working within the literary tradition he was instrumental in popularizing. This is one modest example of a rich tapestry of such references that have been methodically peppered throughout the game in service of the story. Similar instances are subsequently illuminated when examining the way paratext is inextricably linked to the game’s narration as a linchpin of the storytelling strategy. As one explicates this work, it becomes clear that reading text is necessary to bring the story to light, which is interestingly enough, almost intentionally buried in the game. A player is able to get a general idea of their location based upon spoken words in the opening sequence, when the protagonist encounters a mysterious character who states “Oh, yes... Paleblood... Well, you've come to the right place. Yharnam is the home of blood ministration. You need only unravel its mystery. But, where's an outsider like yourself to begin? Easy, with a bit of Yharnam blood of your own...now let’s begin the transfusion. Whatever happens, you make think it all a mere bad dream” (Bloodborne). The strange ambiance, the foreboding and decidedly churlish character proffering cryptic warnings, this calls to mind H.P. Lovecraft’s famed story, The Shadow Over Innsmouth. As the protagonist of that story heads to an unfamiliar location, he is provided with strange words coming from an individual of unknown origin: “Innsmouth? Well, it’s a queer kind of a town...gone to pieces in the last hundred years or so. Some of the stories would make you laugh —about some kind of devil-worship and awful sacrifices” (Lovecraft 15)

While the paratext is perhaps the most critical facet to the game’s narration, and further authenticates it as a Lovecraftian work, there is at least one other key parallel that is so ensconced within this lineage that it must be addressed. In Lovecraft’s work, and the work of successors who have furthered his posthumous legacy, a particular university appears as a recurrent motif—The Miskatonic University. This institution has become known for its arcane endeavors, pursuits for hidden knowledge, and occult dimensions; In At the Mountains of Madness, one of Lovecraft’s better known tales, an expedition from Mistakonic University researchers travel to Antarctica and their preternatural findings are recounted: “ The full story, so far as deciphered, will eventually appear in an official bulletin of Miskatonic University. Here I shall sketch only the salient highlights in a formless, rambling way. Myth or otherwise, the sculptures told of the coming of those star-headed things to the nascent, lifeless earth out of cosmic space—their coming, and the coming of many other alien entities such as at certain times embark upon spatial pioneering. They seemed able to traverse the interstellar ether on their vast membranous wings—thus oddly confirming some curious hill folklore long ago told me by an antiquarian colleague. They had lived under the sea a good deal, building fantastic cities and fighting terrific battles with nameless adversaries by means of intricate devices employing unknown principles of energy. (Lovecraft 91). Within Bloodborne is a very strong analogue to this college, and even the expedition recounted in At the Mountain of Madness, in an institution of higher learning called Byrgenwerth. As one reads through the various notes and hints in the game, they discover that scholars from Byrgenwerth sent explorers to a labyrinth, and discovered within it a series of infernal secrets related to blood—the titular point of lore—that ultimately led to the fragmentation of the institution, madness among its scholars, and the formation of cults (another central theme in Lovecraftian lore). In game text the player eventually unearths, it explains: "The discovery of blood made their dream of evolution a reality. Metamorphosis, and the excesses and deviation that followed, was only the beginning. Disillusioned by the limits of human intellect, Master Willem looked to beings from higher planes for guidance to elevate his thoughts” (Bloodborne). Again, this is a clear and direct homage to Lovecraft, an emulation of his style through text that exists in a simulated environment.

One final, but imperative, point of comparison may be drawn between Bloodborne and the series of Lovecraft works known as the Dream Cycle. Lovecraft wrote of dreams in Behind the Wall of Sleep, “I have often wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong…there are [dreams] whose immundane and ethereal character permit of no ordinary interpretation, and whose vaguely exciting and disquieting effect suggests possible minute glimpses into a sphere of mental existence no less important than physical life. Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon” (Lovecraft 2). Lovecraft went on to write many stories in which the characters occupied a realm of dreams. This is important, since one of the most dominant thematic motifs in Bloodborne is dreams. Countless allusions are made to dreams, the importance of dreams, and the uncertainty of whether one occupies a dreaming or waking state. The main hub in the game world is named “the hunter’s dream” (Bloodborne). In-game dialogue consistently references this dream element; at one point, the protagonist meets a powerful enemy who was a former Bygenwerth scholar, dubbed “Micolash, Host of the Nightmare”. Micolash says these cryptic lines whilst fighting the player, “A hunter is a hunter, even in a dream… The nightmare swirls and churns unending" (Bloodborne). As the player defeats him, Micolash cries out in agony, "Now I'm waking up, I'll forget everything…Noooo” (Bloodborne). Micolash’s dread at waking up and losing his memory of the dream seems to echo the sentiment voiced by Lovecraft: “man, when lost to terrestrial consciousness, is indeed sojourning in another and uncorporeal life of far different nature from the life we know, and of which only the slightest and most indistinct memories linger after waking. From those blurred and fragmentary memories we may infer much, yet prove little” (2). These are but a few of many references in the game that seem to indicate that access to these preternatural planes is somehow linked to dreaming. The relevance of these literary references and story arcs could easily be missed by a player with little patience or an aversion to reading. Understanding the rich lore and storytelling is by no means mandatory, and one could run through the game without having any concept of what is actually going on. In some sense, the level of narration is as deep or shallow as the player/reader desires, which is something that clearly differentiates it from a novel in which there is no circumventing the reading.

Primary Narrative

The game’s primary narrative arc is, in fact, quite sparse in terms of overt exposition that is outright told to the player. What narration does occur happens in the form of soi-disant “cut scenes”, which are universally recognized by gamers as scenes with cinematic attributes that are intended to convey important story elements. In Bloodborne, it’s interesting to note that the story, without the very crucial and pervasive ancillary text, is rather nonsensical. This barebones approach to explicit storytelling has led to some fan accusations that the game is devoid of any story (Gamefaqs). One could, however, postulate that this is a primary example of a game that shows, and doesn’t tell. The idea of narration that shows, rather than telling, is a considered a key tenet of skillful writing, and thus could be seen as another example of literary quality associated with this work. Bloodborne begins with a character creation screen. This is a set of options that allows the player to customize their character’s physical attributes, select their gender, and also choose their background, which dictates some gameplay elements. This all occurs within a text-based interface, with the only pictorial element being a representation of the player avatar that changes based on your customizations. The descriptions associated with the background category provide some insight into the lore of the game:

Figure 4. The Character creation screen allows the user to customize their avatar (Bloodborne).

The text associated with these categories provides some level of context for the game world. For instance, if you choose to be a Noble Scion, then you learn you are a “Scion to a respectable line with faith in your pedigree” (Bloodborne). This text alone is quite abstruse and may provide more mystification than answers; however, when it is linked with other text and descriptions with which the game is suffused, it becomes clear that there are multiple lucid narratives to be uncovered. Paratext is inarguably the most important storytelling feature in Bloodborne. Without it, there would be no story. While seeking to apprehend the way paratext functions within a digitized environment, it is important to keep in mind that: For analysis of digitized texts, the fact that the concept of paratext was developed for the printed book is not only a challenge but also a benefit. This is because the digital phenomena we are concerned with are not entirely novel. They do not revolutionize reading and viewing habits in an instant but are part of a long process of development that is in close dialogue with the printed book as the longterm cultural paradigm. In this introduction to the cluster, we argue that paratext is not only a concept that elucidates the conditions of a “text’s presence in the world. (Birke and Christ 66)

The paratext within this game is presented through a series of written descriptions that appear in the character inventory and are also interspersed throughout the game world in various ways—either through notes, or through text dialogue.

Figure 5. A typical item description through menu paratext (Bloodborne).

Examination of Bloodborne evinces that paratext can function as an effective expository device, whose digital manifestation is not at all incompatible with understandings of it within an analog context. As the game is scrutinized more deeply, it becomes apparent that without this text, it becomes effectively impossible to discern any narrative arcs. It also becomes clear that there are multiple parallel story threads within this work, each necessary to gain a total understanding of the overall story of the world you inhabit as your chosen character. The player is given the onerous, albeit elective, task of discovering items, many of which are hidden away in obscure crevices within a vast simulated game environment, and piecing them together.

Figure 6. Labyrinthine levels reflects complex narrative (Bloodborne).

This requires a great deal of work, not only to locate the items, but to read their descriptions, and ultimately engineer a narrative from fragments of text in conjunction with cinematic-style cutscenes and on-screen text dialogue. Player participation is also an integral portion of the narrative, as their actions have dramatic influence over the game world.

Uncovering Narration through Paratext

One such example of the oft serpentine nature of narrative construction in the game is the storyline of the Vilebloods and the Executioners, two rival factions within the game. This

narrative is but one example of several completely optional “quests” and reading experiences that may not be needed to beat the game, but are mandatory in order to comprehend the story. Understanding that Vileblood and Executioner factions even exist requires a reading of the paratext, along with close interpretations of written character dialogue expressed through optional on-screen text. This method of storytelling interestingly enough places the resourceful player, desirous for an understanding of the story, in a position not dissimilar from a literary analyst hoping to glean deeper meaning from a conventional text. To begin unravelling this narrative in the game, one must first be certain to cross paths with the non-playable characters that are well-concealed in the virtual topography. Alfred is the first pertinent individual you will encounter:

Figure 7. Albert can be seen prostrating before an altar (Bloodborne).

As is clear in Figure 7, he could easily be missed, as he is engaged in an act of supplication at an altar of some kind and blends in well with the background; not much in this game is obvious, despite the very strong visual aesthetic of the world. The iconography of this altar is important as a later component to this storyline. When one engages Alfred in conversation, they are provided with the choice to cooperate with him, or not: “You're a hunter, aren't you? I knew it. That's precisely how I started out! Oh, beg pardon, you may call me Alfred. Protege of Master Logarius, hunter of Vilebloods. So, what say you? Our prey might differ, but we are hunters, the both of us. Why not cooperate, and discuss the things we've learned” (Bloodborne).

At this point, the player has heard several pieces of information for which they have no previous frame of reference. If they with to learn more and fully uncover this storyline, then they must select “yes”. There are then a number of conversational prompts, which provide greater lore context. When asked to elaborate on Master Logarius, he states that “In his time, Master Logarius led his executioners into Cainhurst Castle to cleanse it of the Vilebloods. But all did not go well and Master Logarius became a blessed anchor, guarding us from evil...Tragic, tragic times...that Master Logarius should be abandoned in the accursed domain of the Vilebloods… I must free him, so that he may be properly honored in martyrdom” (Bloodborne). From this, we have now learned that Master Logarius is regarded as a religious figure, by Alfred at least, and that the Vilebloods are viewed as antagonistic in some way. This information still is relatively vague, and requires much more effort on the player’s part to decipher. Uncovering the full scope of the narrative would likely be quite difficult to achieve without either playing the game several times, or consulting a guide of some sort. Just as some items are able to be missed, so are character encounters. The next item needed to further this storyline is found later in the game; after traversing several more areas, the player will encounter a secret cave, which leads to an area with an item called the “Cainhurst Summons”, the description of which reads: An old blood-stained summons, inviting an honored guest to the forsaken Castle Cainhurst. Rather bafflingly, it is addressed to you. Do not hesitate; the stagecoach leaves from Hemwick crossing” (Bloodborne). This does little to demystify what is going on, and the connection to Alfred is only obvious if one is able to recall the one easily forgettable reference made within Alfred’s dialogue to this location. As such, the player is then faced with a few choices: to continue forward to Cainhurst on the map, or to seek out Alfred to show him the summons. Whatever choice is made, the player retains the option to venture to the Cainhurst region. It is important to note that all of the sojourns in this virtual realm are occurring as an extension of reading pure text. When the player does ultimately reach Cainhurst, they will be forced to head through labyrinthine areas until they encounter Alfred’s most venerated Martyr Logarius, whose examinate visage seems to be the antithesis of anything holy.

Figure 8. Martyr Logarius (Bloodborne).

The player if forced to defeat him in what could be considered a rather grueling battle. This battle is optional, and victory is difficult, but not insuperable. If the player does win, then they are rewarded with an item known as the illusory crown, the description of which reads: “One of the precious secrets of Cainhurst. The old king's crown is said to reveal illusions, and expose a mirage that hides a secret. Logarius donned the crown of his own volition, determined to prevent a single soul from stumbling upon the vile secret. What visions did he see, sitting serenely upon his new throne” (Bloodborne). The player then has the ability to leave the area, after having felled the imposing Martyr; however, if they have read the description of the item they picked up, they may be compelled to don the crown themselves. Upon doing so, a secret area opens and then reveals the throne room of Queen Annalaise, whose dialogue text appeals to the player, saying “Well, well… An odd hunter thou art indeed… We’ve tired of these piteous nights… Share in Our plight, and take oath against the church” (Bloodborne). The player is given the choice then to join her or not. This will have consequences in the story. If the player is joined, then they are rewarded with a badge, the description of which says that “the royal guards of Cainhurst, [are] loyal guardians of the Vileblood Queen Annalise. The Vilebloods are hunters of blood, and hunt prey as they search for blood dregs. The hunter who joins them is faced with a decision: to merely borrow their strength, or to become one of them, heart and soul” (Bloodborne). Gaining the badge allows one access to

items, such as the armor of Cainhurst guards. The description of this armor reads: “Silver armor worn by the royal guards who protect Annalise, Queen of the Vilebloods at Cainhurst Castle. This paper-thin silver armor is said to deflect blood of ill-intent, and is what allows the royal guards to capture prey for their beloved Queen, so that one day, she may bear a Child of Blood” (Bloodborne). This reference to a “Child of Blood”, and her being in opposition to the church, harkens back to earlier descriptions and narratives describing the eldritch blood that was discovered by the Byrgenwerth explorers, and designs to elevate humanity by communing with discarnate intelligences somehow connected to this blood. These multiple disparate narratives suddenly seem to be conjoined in some meaningful way. At this point, it is important to reiterate the key role that reading has in this unfolding narrative, which is far more expansive than even recounted here. Item after item fleshes out picayune details of the lore, and impels the player forward, providing them with hints and allowing them to determine what narrative outcome they would like to achieve with this one sub- narrative that exists in the main game, and is intertwined with other narrative strata. An excellent example of this concept occurs at this juncture in the Vileblood narrative. Having slain Logarius, and located the Vileblood Queen’s seat, one may return to Alfred to have a discussion with him. Upon doing so, the player receives a choice, to share with him the location of the Vileblood Queen, or to withhold the information. If one desires to see all storylines play out to their terminus point, then they must inform Alfred. This is a choice, however, as the player may or may not prefer Alfred visit the Queen. What is also salient, is that each bit of text fleshes out the story more and more, until a robust and coherent narrative is uncovered in a way that may at first appear disjointed and convoluted. The player has agency to decide the fate of the denizens of this world, which can have profound and lasting impacts on the gameplay experience. Presuming one wishes to see the storyline through to its logical conclusion, they may tell Alfred about Cainhurst. An adroit reader, at this point, is likely aware that a conflict of some kind must necessarily ensue. Upon receiving the intel, the text on the screen indicates that Alfred has become ebullient, “Ah-hah! Is that... the sigil of Cainhurst?" I've heard tell of Cainhurst nobles, and their amusingly pompous invitations. Wonderful! I thank you profusely... I will depart immediately. But first, a token of my gratitude. Ahh, I feel my master's hand at work. Praise the good blood! And let us cleanse these tarnished streets” (Bloodborne). The token of gratitude the player receives is the Wheelhunter badge, which reads “Martyr Logarius led a band

of Executioners, and this badge was crafted at their dedicated workshop. The Wheel symbolizes righteous destiny. Their workshop was a secretive enclave of mystical beliefs and heady fanaticism which served as the backbone of the Executioners' unique brand of justice” (Bloodborne). Previously held suspicions a reader may have harbored about the Executioners are then seemingly verified, as one assesses the text and learns that order is described in fanatical terms. The audience may leave it at that, and continue forward in the game never again considering the matter, but one who wishes to be apprised of the story in its entirety must necessarily return to the chamber of Queen Annalaise, to whom the play may or may not have pledged their allegiance. A disturbing scene of madness unfolds upon returning to her chambers, Alfred has utterly pulverized her using a wagon wheel, “Master, look! I've done it, I've done it! I smashed and pounded and grounded this rotten siren into fleshy pink pulp! There, you filthy monstrosity! Try stirring up trouble in this sorry state! All mangled and twisted, with every inside on the outside, for all the world to see! He heh hah hah Hah! Oh, you, is it? Look at this! Thanks to you, I've done it! Well? Isn't it wonderful? Now Master can be canonized as a true martyr (Bloodborne).

Close Reading and Close Playing

This frightful outcome of the Vileblood story may seem to be the end of that arc, but there is yet more to uncover for the enterprising player. All of the practices the player must partake in to apprehend the story constitute a form of not only close reading, as alluded to earlier, but also “close playing”. There is a distinct lack of overt instruction in this game as to how to proceed in any regard; there is no holding of hands in the main story, nor in the multiple side stories or optional areas. The game map is sprawling and full of items meant to evade the prying eyes of players. It is never entirely certain where one should go next in the digital world, though clues do abound. These shrouded gameplay aspects are complementary to the story, which is fundamentally about secrets and unknowable elements that imperil those unfortunate enough to enter their malign sphere. It will not do to simply rush forward in this game haphazardly, eschewing the text. To do so would render any narrative structure non-existent, would eliminate player potential for choice and full engagement with the world, and would ultimately camouflage the game’s true depth (as well as some interesting storytelling and well composed prose).

The apparent conclusion to the Vileblood storyline helps to further elucidate this concept. One may approach the remains of Annalaise and find they are able to collect her corpse. Players will learn that they must be environmentally aware at all times, paying fastidious attention while playing—close playing and close reading is crucial to comprehending the narrative beats and experiencing the totality of the story. Having the corpse in one’s possession, it will not be clear what to immediately do, unless perhaps one has already entered another area of the game world that contained a Great One called Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos. It is interesting to point out that Ebrietas is a quintessentially Lovecraftian abomination, again underscoring how a familiarity with this literary tradition is necessary to enhance appreciation of the game:

Figure 9. Ebriatas, Daughter of the Cosmos, a quintessentially Lovecraftian abomination (Bloodborne).

Before delving into the significance of the Ebrietas area, it is worth mentioning that the order in which the game environments, and the resultant text and story, are traversed is largely optional. Ebrietas will have to be dispatched either way before a resolution to the Vileblood queen’s story may be had. We do know that individuals in the game use something known as the augur of Ebrietas, which is hence described in the description as a remnant of the eldritch Truth

encountered at Byrgenwerth. Use phantasms, the invertebrates known to be the augurs of the Great Ones, to partially summon abandoned Ebrietas. The initial encounter marked the start of an inquiry into the cosmos from within the old labyrinth, and led to the establishment of the Choir” (Bloodborne). At this point, the text has made multiple mentions of the choir, though additional material related to the legion other items and storylines would be required to comprehend what the Choir is. What is clear is that Ebrietas is a Great One, if we are to closely read this passage, and that she is linked to the Byrgenwerth discoveries. Through close playing, we then discern that the arena Ebrietas occupied prior to being eliminated by the player hosts something called the “Altar of Despair”. The player only learns this by thoroughly exploring the cavernous area, until they see an altar, approach it, and are met with a text description indicating that it is the “Altar of Despair”. If the player has Annalaise’s body in tow, they will be able to place it on the altar, at which point it will disappear. If one was truly curious, they could return to her chamber and find that she has been resurrected and behaves as though she never was killed by Alfred. The player is left to wonder why this has occurred, and attempt to reconcile it with their existing knowledge of the lore. But what of Alfred? If the player returns to where they first encountered him earlier in the game, they find that he has perished, seemingly of suicide. It is now noticed that the stature before which he was prostrated is of none other than Master Logarius. There is a hidden note by Alfred that not only voices his desire to be seen as a martyr like his master, but also includes a more protracted section of text in a hidden journal stating: “Byrgenwerth is an old place of learning. And the tomb of the gods, carved out below Yharnam, should be familiar to every hunter. Well, once a group of young Byrgenwerth scholars discovered a holy medium deep within the tomb. This led to the founding of the Healing Church, and the establishment of blood healing. In this sense, everything sacred in Yharnam can be traced back to Byrgenwerth. But today, the college lies deep within a tangled wood, abandoned and decrepit. And furthermore, the Healing Church has declared Byrgenwerth forbidden ground. It's unclear how many of its scholars remain alive...but only they know the password that allows passage through the gate." (Bloodborne)

This bit of narration could be easily missed, but it serves to crystallize much of what had been previously intimated via text snippets. This bit of paratext lays out some of what has happened in this game’s world, but also raises new points of confusion. The close reading and close playing elements are interrelated, since the reading must be done carefully to clean all

information being given; at the same time, environments which have been encountered during the player’s gameplay journey are clearly being referenced. The player must have kept a close accounting of their surroundings to make this connection, the college in a tangled wood. Many more questions are raised by this text. Who is the holy medium, for instance? Is this reader to take this seriously? Additionally, the player receives runes as a result of their participation in this storyline, which allow them to interact with players playing online concurrently if they choose to do so. One can assign the Vileblood rune, and then choose to “invade” the worlds of Executioners in order to grief them. Also, someone with the rune equipped receives sacred blood items that may be given to the queen and curry her favor—she will even become betrothed to a player who brings enough offerings and selects the proper text options. As with the rest of these game, none of these mechanics are explicitly explained, so careful reading and gameplay experimentation are absolutely critical to uncovering these secrets.

Literary Devices and Language

The notion of uncertainty links to another point, which reinforces the validity of the game as a literary artifact. Madness is a recurrent motif throughout the entirety of this game—in a sense, all narrators can be considered unreliable. The game sows doubt in multiple ways. For instance, in the beginning of the game you are killing humanoid beast creatures wearing tattered clothes; however, they speak intelligibly and refer to the player character as a “beast”, desperately trying to ward him off. Various other hallucinatory aspects of the game illustrate the literary concept of the unreliable narrator. This concept is paired with the clear Lovecraftian influence to create a narrative experience that is dynamic and engrossing to those willing to invest in the experience. There is an item in the game known as sedative, which must be taken to ward off a status effect known as frenzy; the description states that it is “a medicine concocted at Byrgenwerth. Calms the nerves. Those who delve into the arcane fall all-too-easily to madness, and thick human blood serves to calm the frayed nerves of these inquisitive minds. Naturally, this often leads to a reliance on blood ministration” (Bloodborne). Various narrative devices are clearly at play; interrelated narratives exist, which are all ultimately in service to the same overriding story. This story is one that is consistent, though it also affords the reader a fair degree of agency. It is based in text, as literature is typically conceived to be, but it also is rooted in a digital domain. This transposition of fictional text into

a digital substrate is seemingly one of the critical difficulty in allowing games to be conceived of as literature, or even art as was seen in the case of some critics. That said, there is also the concept of “literary language”, where narration is written in a grand or elevated style…where it tends to be used to create a dramatic effect (What is Literary Language). Given this characterization of “literary language”, it may be apposite to assess excerpts of prose from the game in order to see if it would qualify as being sufficiently literary. The following constitutes text lines from one particular character: "Oh, he's well and truly gone, now. A tragic figure. But he will shame himself no longer. He died with his ideals untarnished. He was a true hero, and earnt that much, at least. Here, this is Ludwig's guiding Light. The blinding thread, that lead, and mislead, that consummate hero. The poor brute." "Do you know why the Hunters are drawn to this Nightmare? Because it sprouted from their very misdeeds. Things that some would rather keep secret. A pitiful tale of petty arrogance, really. High time someone exposed the whole charade." "Now, now, go on ahead. You seek nightmares, and the secrets within, do you not?" In the preceding segment, a number of words that would be considered somewhat unconventional in the modern conversational vernacular can be found. One word in particular, “earnt”, is classified as archaic, while other words such as “misdeed”, “untarnished”, and “consummate” have seen decline in use over time (OED Online). This segment, as a randomly selected sample, seems to represent prose that is what could be considered stylized or intended to embellish, as was previously determined to be the qualifier for literary text. Since paratext in the form of item descriptions is so important in this game, it is also prudent to randomly select a passage to assess for literary merit: “Empty Shell: Empty invertebrate shell that is said to be a familiar of a Great One. The Healing Church has discovered a great variety of invertebrates, or phantasms, as they are called. Shells

with slime still harbour arcane power, and can be rubbed on weapons to imbue them with their strength.” Analyzing the above passage, it becomes apparent that stylized language is being implemented. The term familiar is being employed in a non-standard way, referring to an occult definition meaning a demonic or spiritual subordinate, while the spelling of harbour is non- standard for American English into which the game was translated; additionally, phantasm and arcane are both words that do not often appear in standard vernacular (OED Online). Taking this into consideration, it appears that there is literary text in the game, based upon accepted definition of what it means for text to be literary. Considering that literature is a textual artform that is crafted to convey a story, and given that the previous segment of the evaluation established Bloodborne has a narrative objective, the literary quality of this particular work seems difficult to repudiate.

Linearity in Bloodborne

After having uncovered all aspects of Bloodborne’s narrative, it becomes clear that the way it unfolds is contingent upon not only player choice, but player effort, and the fulfillment of some rather esoteric requirements that are never explicitly articulated. The existence of this sort of digital text vindicates the notions of linearity promulgated by Epsen Aarseth, who was often confronted with assertions that even hypertexts and cybertexts were teleologically linear, since narratives are universally cognized as “linear sequences during reading” regardless of the order of presentation (Aarseth 3). The narratives in Bloodborne, which are too daedal and numerous to attempt to cover in an analysis of any brevity, seem to legitimize his assertion that, “in cybertexts you are constantly reminded of strategies and paths not taken, voices not heard…[making] parts of the text more, and others less, accessible, and you may never know the exact results of your choices; that is, exactly what you missed. This is hugely different from the [semantic] ambiguities of a linear text” (Aarseth 3). Another important area to be explored is the way individuals within game worlds collaborate through text to alter the experience and narrative, which is something Bloodborne allows through a unique compositional interface that enables players to share messages visible throughout everyone’s respective game world. This adds another dimension to the game that is

completely non-linear in that it is totally unpredictable, largely unregulated, and inextricably alters user experience if they choose to read text left by other players

Figure 10. The note mechanic enables players to influence storytelling (Bloodborne).

This aspect of the game influences the narrative, and has no equivalent in the world of physical text. That is to say, perhaps the closest parallelism one could find would be in the arena of used books, wherein one can read the annotations of the previous owner. It is possible that these annotations could have some level of impact on the reading experience, but they are not a built-in function of books in the way that the note system in Bloodborne is.

Reading Ability and Playing Ability

Some literature is more inherently difficult to read due to factors like vocabulary, sentence structure, content, and so on. Likewise, some works of digital literature have a steep difficulty curve when it comes to navigating the simulated environment. One aspect of Bloodborne that differentiates it from conventional literature is that it is incumbent upon the audience to develop skills outside of the arena of reading comprehension in order to gain access to the full narrative scope of the game.

When asked to classify its difficulty based on a scale of one to five, with five being the most difficult game conceivably possible, over 5,000 players categorized it as being a 4.5 (Gamefaqs). Keep in mind, this difficulty rating was gleaned from a substantial sample size of active gamers, not critics of literature. While it remains important to avoid assumptions about the gaming prowess of literary academics, it is worth noting that even avid gamers find this game to be abnormally difficult. Indeed, the developer has become notorious for creating games in which players “die” time and time again. A comparable game from the same developer, Dark Souls II, saw players dying over 850 times on average, per playthrough. Bloodborne boasts a mechanic called New Game +, where the player is once again transported to the beginning after beating the game. The game difficulty is significantly elevated the second time around; the cycle begins anew each time the player beats the game. This is important to note, because the game offers multiple endings, which require multiple playthroughs to access. This is an area where traditional analysis becomes intertwined with the world of gaming, with the difficulty of the game itself serving as a type of barrier to analysis by all but the most dedicated.

DISCO ELYSIUM: CHALLENGES IN GAME EXPLICATION

While the case for Bloodborne as a literary object seems sound, there are other games that are perhaps even more obvious in their literary validity. One such game is Disco Elysium. This game features prodigious amounts of text, with in excess of a million on-screen words (Wright). In many ways, it is the ultimate playable novel, with multiple outcomes for every exchange and encounter in the game. It is nearly impossible to dissect because of this extreme degree of textual variability. Some sample dialogue is provided for reference, then further explicated: You: “No one’s really ever safe from failure.” She starts laughing, her fingers trying to rub away the exhaustion from her face. You: “What?” Novelty Dicemaker: “Do you know what this is?” She raises her hand to reveal a piece of metal shining on her index finger. You: “Your lucky charm? Some kind of a ward?” Novelty Dicemaker: “It’s a mourning ring,” she replies. “I made this when my first company failed. It was a small jewelry shop right here in the East Delta Commerce Center, built with the little I inherited from my parents…” “I drove it to the ground within a year. I didn’t have what you would call a *viable* business plan.” You: “Why are you telling me this?” Novelty Dicemaker: “It wasn’t just the jewelry shop either. I always thought that it was just the world, that you were supposed to try again and again until you finally succeed.” “And now you’re telling me, what,” she closes her eyes, “that it was all because I didn’t run my little shops and ventures from a dump inside an abandoned chimney?” You: “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. It’s entropy.” Novelty Dicemaker: “Yeah.” She stares out of the window, not really hearing your words. “Or maybe it’s the entire world that’s cursed? It’s such a precarious place. Nothing ever works out the way you wanted.” “That’s why people like role-playing games. You can be whoever you want to be. You can try again. Still, there’s something inherently violent even about dice rolls.”

“It’s like every time you cast a die, something disappears. Some alternate ending, or an entirely different world…” She picks up a pair of dice from the table and examines them under a light. “But anyway, thanks for sharing your theories, officer.” She gives you a tired smile. (Disco Elysium)

Figure 11. Dialogue features (Disco Elysium).

An interesting feature of the above passage is that it could conceivably be looked at using normative standards of dialogue assessment; however, this is complicated by the fact that it represents only one of myriad ways the conversation could play out (some conversational “instances” easily could be seen as critically or technically superior to others). In fact, everything about this conversation depends not only upon your dialog options—each section of protagonist dialogue from above represents only one of many potential replies that the player must choose—but also upon one’s character statistics, as well as chosen attire, dialogue choices and actions taken throughout the preceding portion of the game, and other miscellaneous variables. Conversations cause the player to develop personal, political, and philosophical tendencies. The sprawling, multifaceted narrative allows for it to be understood in the context of

Marxist theory, colonialism, critical race theory, and more—all areas associated with normal text analysis. Some characters experience racism, some areas are recovering from communist revolution, etc. The game allows the player to adopt different political perspectives, but in a very deep manner, to the point where the one may find themselves in alignment with more fringe schools of politics, such as Radical Traditionalism, Anarcho-communism, and many more. While the game enables the player to adopt any position, the way the text evolves based on player decisions allows for a discerning critic to detect a definite and nuanced message embedded in the game by the authors that is easily and comfortably viewed through the lens of social constructivist theories of literary analysis. Disco Elysium is clearly making a statement in many regards; the world-building here is truly immense. The narration occurs in the fictional country of Revachol, “The air is criss- crossed by radio stations spewing divisive, feverish political rhetoric. For the poor people of Revachol, ideology is a blood sport. Everyone must suffer” (Disco Elysium). There is a poetic timbre to these words. The aesthetic of the words, the overall dialogue composition, the text descriptions, along with the artwork, and sound design of the world itself make it a very aesthetically powerful work. How to comprehensively assess something like this becomes a compelling question. The text, of which only a small snippet is provided, is clearly literary, but it is only one miniscule segment of a multifarious offering that includes many different characters with distinct voices, each with their own variability in terms of conversational outcomes. Exposition outside dialogue is also conveyed via text, and similarly sprawling to dissect. The fact that one playthrough of this game is estimated to require a minimum of 40 hours also is somewhat challenging (Gamefaqs). It’s estimated that the average novel can be read, by an average reader, within 5 or so hours (Oppong). An academic who is really concerned with critically analyzing it would likely take longer than average if they were applying great ratiocinative attention to the piece, so the level of commitment involved is fairly great, and likely more laborious. One possible solution to this would be the adoption of a collaborative scholarly analysis, with each individual sharing their critical assessment of their personal experience with the game. This would still not obviate the time commitment, but could allow for multiple permutations of the game to be given appropriate attention. The same length issue can be cited as impacting Bloodborne as well, and in fact, a great many text-centric works seem encumbered

by this critical difficulty. In many games the player oftentimes is empowered with some level of agency over the duration in that they may be able to bypass or quickly skip through segments of the game, but then it seems as though they would risk missing out on potentially crucial points of narration, thereby compromising their ability to fully and fairly analyze the work in question. While there may not be an obvious or simple answer, it would be a shame for a work of art to go unappreciated; it has been noted that there is some built-in obsolescence with games caused by the fluid and exponentially advancing pace of digital media, but surely there must be a way to preserve these things for posterity (Hayles). Through platforms like Steam, games that would’ve been consigned to the dustbin of history have been preserved for posterity, and even have garnered new generational audiences (Steam). Therefore, the argument that these things are not worth viewing due to their ephemeral nature is somewhat spurious, since the same technologies that spur advancement in the technological arena also seem to be facilitating greater preservation of digital media.

CONCLUSIONS

It is clear that games possess lineaments of classic literature. This observation is supported by the ability to view games through a critical lens. New or modified interpretative strategies are not necessarily needed to understand all games, though a delineation between the straightforwardness of a standard novel, and a more circuitous and elective text-narrative like Bloodborne should be articulated and acknowledged in a formal academic way. The way item descriptions are leveraged as a storytelling fulcrum is quite unique, and has many implications for the way text can function within digital environments in general settings. The pairing of the text with strong environmental incentives and other action-oriented gameplay elements creates a situation that is totally unique, while also being amenable to analysis through more traditional critical means. The games analyzed possessed text that was unambiguously literary, based upon normally accepted definitions. Furthermore, the presence of a large amount of fictional text in these environments begs for the attentions of one well versed in literature. The quality of prose, the allusions to other literary movements, and the overall narration through text all are congruous with typical literary approaches. At some point during many games, an interdisciplinary approach becomes necessary. The existence of cutscenes and similar devices—as were seen in Blooborne—that are beyond the scope of traditional literary analysis would require critics to expand currently existent approaches to account for the elements of game design that aren’t as easily reconcilable with normative analytical protocols. Games, as multimodal artifacts, oftentimes offer literary text, but this text is paired with other visual, kinesthetic, and auditory components for which there must be a proper accounting in a comprehensive analysis. While games like Bloodborne, Disco Elysium, and others quite obviously are of interest to those whose job it is to analysis text, they also present a number of challenges. In the case of Bloodborne, it becomes necessary to devote a fair amount of time to becoming proficient at playing the game. This high level of difficulty is certainly a barrier of entry for someone who is a casual gamer. It would not suffice to simply read the game script, since the text is dependent upon environmental factors in the simulated realm in order to fully appreciate.

These text-based games that push so-called “non-linearity” to its breaking point help to exemplify the need for some new hermeneutical approaches to digital text in the case of games like Disco Elysium, since the normal conventions of analysis tend to deteriorate under the immense weight imposed by the challenge of incredibly complex text and its various permutations within the context of digital environments. Investigating interactive digital texts demonstrates the need for a philosophy that fully accounts for the affordances of emergent technologies, while also providing an empirically driven map of potential future manifestations of text and writing within a society undergoing rapid technological development could be immensely helpful. A forward-looking mindset will help mitigate stagnation in the literary field, and prevent academics and students from missing out on some high caliber works of art. As accelerated technological evolution continues, so too must our understanding of text, literature and narration similarly evolve. The view of reading as a solitary and static experience will likewise continue to be challenged in new ways as new technologies emerge. Overall, games constitute an entire medium of art that is often, by its very essence, quite literary in terms of its employment of text. The main point here is that scholars should not ignore something that certainly is deserving of their attention. While many games are not text dense, or may be considered poorly written, the same proves true for many novels and other forms of written expression. The ultimate point being that video games comprise a very robust genre of text that continues to grow, a development that those concerned with studying literature and the way text functions should not ignore. This leads to other concerns deserving of further study regarding the potential for games in the classroom and beyond.

AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

The role of games in the classroom seems to be a fertile ground for study. If these things are, indeed, literary objects as has been postulated, then it would logically follow to have them be given some degree of attention within a classroom associated with reading, literature, and language arts. Furthermore, research supporting the ability of video games to improve student literacy helps to buttress the argument for formal literary examination of games. Studies, such as those conducted by the National Literacy Trust, seem to intimate a direct relationship between the playing of games, and student reading ability, “35% of the respondents also said that playing games made them better readers. This link between gaming and improved literacy was particularly strong for boys and ‘reluctant readers,’ the study added (Dealessandri). Results such as this illustrate ways that the literary properties of video games may be leveraged to enhance pedagogical models. Additionally, some games are intended to function as didactic mechanisms, in the same way that many novels do. These features of games make them potentially fecund tools for educators, and also illustrate some more “practical” classroom applications worthy of consideration. If one is to extrapolate upon this premise, then it may indeed seem entirely reasonable to add games to the reading list of some classrooms. Students may more easily identify with text that is situated within a digital environment, rather than a book. This concept of relatability doesn’t render normal literature obsolete, but rather serves to expand its reach. Another promising area to investigate is if further “gamifying” classic works would help them find new audiences by combining elements of the classic text with dynamic and interactive multimodal elements that provide the context that often can be lacking when reading a book from a bygone era. This has been done quite well with Thoreau’s Walden, “The world’s most improbable video game plunges you into a virtual Walden Woods, where you can ‘live deliberately,’ as Thoreau famously put it, replacing drudgery in the pursuit of material comfort with a quest for spiritual fulfillment in harmony with nature” (Peterson). Additionally, famed books such as Roadside Picnic, Atlas Shrugged, The Lord of the Rings, among many others, have either strongly inspired or been directly translated into games (McCormack). It may be that transferring books into this medium, when possible, could be an effective way to ensure that they are enjoyed by future generations.

Finally, the rapid speed of technological advancement seems to mandate those in the field of literature to consider burgeoning manifestations of the art within nascent technologies. Virtual reality is a growing area in the realm of entertainment and educational technology, and studies are already being conducted that pertaining to the act of reading in an immersive virtual environment (Ali et al.). While it may be difficult to predict the trajectory of future technological growth and its attendant impact on culture, one would be wise to remain apprised of such matters and its potential implications for the discipline.

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