Mike Mulvey
Dr. Liu
Interactive Fiction Response
March 31, 2010
The is little doubt that Interactive Fiction is one of the most unique types of literature available today. By allowing the user to actively participate and make decisions that affect the plot, IF pulls the reader into the world of the narrative in a way that other forms of literature cannot. In this regard, IF can, in many ways, be considered superior to simple electronic texts. Unfortunately, I have found that the interactive elements of electronic fiction can ultimately have a deleterious effect on the overall literary experience. The goal of this analysis is not to argue that Interactive Fiction is a good or bad form of creative expression, rather that some of the interactive elements are inherently flawed. For my purposes, I will use two different pieces of IF to demonstrate what elements detract from the narrative as a whole. The first piece of IF I would like to review is titled "All Roads", written by Jon Ingold.
The electronic work "All Roads", is a good example of unique blending of interaction and narration that can be found commonly in IF. "All Roads" is puzzle-based adventure that requires the user input to advance the story as many IF works do. The work itself is one giant puzzle in which the user must provide the right sequence of inputs to move the story forward. For example, after the prologue and the first several cycles, the user finds him or herself trapped in a cell. The user must then figure out how to escape the cell by using only the materials inside the room.
The image above describes what is inside the room and some of the potential inputs. In order to escape the room the user must pick up a wine bottle, smash it, and use the shards to cut the ropes binding the protagonists hands.

While this task may appear simple at first glance, I found the puzzle to be significantly challenging. I was unaware that the wine bottle was anything more than a part of background itself. I was only able to figure out the correct sequence of inputs through an extraordinarily frustrating process of trial and error. I did feel a certain sense of satisfaction when I solved the puzzle, but after nearly an hour of frantically typing every possible input I could imagine, I found myself completely discouraged with the work as a whole. As the piece continues, the protagonist escapes the cell and the user finds himself in an alleyway outside the jail.
The cycles in the screen-shot above are a perfect example of the main criticism I have for puzzle-based Interactive Fiction. The output at the top of the screen details several alleyways and a girl bathing in the fountain. After issuing several commands, I found that I was unable to make my character do anything. Even more frustrating was the parsers inability to interpret the word fountain. The output at the top mentions a fountain, yet when I attempted to walk to the "fountain" the parser was unable to understand what I was referring to.

Eventually, I found my way down one of the alleyways and made it to a church, where I was greeted by a priest. I then bribed the priest with my gold ring but, I was captured by the captain of the guard and then executed. I played through this sequence a total of three times, and each time no matter what I did I was unable to prevent my character from dying, over and over again. Despite multiple attempts I was never able to advance the game any further than that point, no matter what I did. For this reason, I feel that the notion that Interactive Fiction is very open-ended cannot be somewhat misleading. In my experience this is not a flaw that is exclusive to "All Roads", but can indeed be found in other IF works.
As mentioned above, I feel that one of the primary drawbacks to Interactive Fiction is the lack of influence the user actually has on the story. In many regards IF has been hailed as, narrative where the user shapes the story. I feel that this assumption is false, and is no more apparent than in a work such as "For Whom the Telling Changed" by Aaron A. Reed . The electronic work "Telling" puts the user in the role of a member of a tribe, which is on the brink of warfare with their rivals. This particular piece does allow for the user to manipulate elements in the story such as the main character's gender and occupation. "Telling" allows the user to make small decisions that have no relative impact whatsoever on the plot, such as deciding which character is the storyteller.

I choose to make the protagonist a female, and to make her uncle Nabu, the storyteller. Regardless of which character is choosen the story told by the fire is always the same. Which ever character you give the feather circlet to becomes the storyteller, and begins telling the tale of Gilgamesh. I played through this piece twice and ended up giving the circlet to Nabu both times because the parser was unable to interpret the name of the other character for reasons I cannot explain.

The plot of this work itself is simplistic and in order to advance the story I found myself repeatedly entering the same input over and over again.

Each time I attempted to make the character do anything other than "Listen" the parser responded with "Now is not the time for that".


I didn't feel that I was in any way shaping the outcome or even the sequence of events, rather I was just repeatedly typing the same command to advance the story.
Although it may appear that my goal in this brief analysis was to attack Interactive Fiction, nothing could be further from the truth. I feel that IF is in many ways a unique, and valid form of literary expression. I freely admit that the criticisms mentioned above could be attributed to my somewhat simplistic understanding of Interactive Fiction. This particular type of electronic literature is predicated on user interaction, and is unique in that it allows the user to make choices that can effect the story. Yet, I find myself questioning just how much impact the user can have on the narrative's plot. Each time I begin a piece of IF, I do so with a certain level of excitement, as I feel that my actions can help shape the outcome of the story in some profound way. By the end I ultimately find myself disappointed as I never feel like I made any decisions that matter. Based on what I have seen so far IF seems to be little more than text fiction with multiple plot lines. In some cases, such as "For Whom the Telling Changed", I felt that the choices I made were relatively meaningless. While I was unable to advance the story of "All Roads", I am aware that the narrative does have more divergent story lines than I mentioned above, but I feel they are in many ways the same. My criticisms aside, I admit that IF does offer some interactive elements that are different from any other form of literature, but to the extent that the average user believes. In summation, I don't feel that the interactive elements are enough for IF to be classified as its own genre of literature.

My first E-Poem

Mike Mulvey
Dr. Liu
PowerPoint Software Writer Response
March 3, 2010
My electronic poem titled "Crash", tells my personal story of all the various car crashes I have been in throughout my life. As a power sports enthusiast I spent a great deal of time in my earlier life driving a variety of vehicles which I eventually crashed. The goal of my e-poem was to reveal how each successive crash was its own unique experience. I attempted to create a piece of literature that could accurately depict my experiences through the use of sound and animation. The options provided by Microsoft Powerpoint allowed for a perfect venue to express what a car crash is like. I will begin by detailing what visuals, sounds, and animations I chose for this electronic work, and why I chose them.
The electronic poem "Crash" begins simply with a blank blue screen. The word Crash then rockets onto the screen accompanied by the sound of a car screeching to a halt. The word Crash then halts at the center of the screen. The poem continues as the word Crash fades and text detailing my first crash appears on the screen. "The first time was the worst. The fear. The uncertainty. Even the PAIN!". This blurb details my feeling after the first time I crashed a car. Each successive phrase appears just after the phrase before disappeared from the screen. The word "Pain" appears in the color red and in bold letters. After the final statement has faded from the screen another blurb rockets onto the screen beginning with "The second time wasn't that bad. Just a bump on the head and a broken rib". Just as "and a broken rib" appears on the screen the reader hears a loud cracking sound. After the words fade again, another phrase appears; "The third time I don't recall. I only remember waking up in the hospital two hours later". When the second statement appears an ambulance siren rings out. The poem continues as the blurb on the screen disappears, and the sirens go quiet. The poem concludes as the phrase "The last time was the only real 'Accident'" spins onto the screen. The word "Accident" is also in bright red letters. I feel it is important to note at this point that this work is still a work in progress and I hope to make several additions and alterations.
I found the Powerpoint software to be very helpful in developing my electronic work. I must admit that until recently I had underestimated the capabilities of Powerpoint. The program was very accessible and easy to interact with. At the same time I did find some elements of the program difficult to use. For example, when I first began animating the text in my e-poem I found it very difficult to adjust the timing properly. I wanted to make sure that each phrase appeared on the screen only after the previous one had disappeared. It took me a great deal of time to understand how the timing of certain animations could be customized. The tutorials and help files did not really detail anything about how the user could customize the timing of the animations. Still, to Powerpoint's credit, I must admit that after roughly an hour of playing around with the software, I was able to determine how the user can adjust the timing of the entry/exit function of text on the screen. This limitation was actually due to my own negligence of the fact that each slide has a pane on the right side of the screen which has a timeline of the animations in the frame, that can be adjusted with the mouse. Apart from this small complaint, I had very little difficulty interacting with the software. In fact, I feel that the electronic elements of my poem allowed me to express myself more than I would have been able to with simple text. I feel that the motion of the words on the screen helped convey the feeling of what it is like to be in a crash. Also, by putting some text words in red I was able to effectively highlight which words and emotions I was trying to convey to the reader. The spinning motion of the words at the end of the poem were also critical to help give the reader the sense of dizziness that I experienced after each crash.
Overall, the limitations of the software were very few. I would like to continue adding more effects to this piece not in an effort to dazzle the reader, but to help them feel what it is like to be in a car crash. Ideally, I would like to make the poem more interactive, by including video as the background. Rather than simply watching the words rocket onto the screen, I feel I could evoke a stronger response from the reader by letting them watch a crash through the eyes of the driver. I also hope to make a change to the last slide, in which the words will first appear upside down and then right side up, to help the reader feel what it is like to have everything upside down as the car rolls over. I am pleased with what I have seen from the software thus far, and I am excited to see how the technological tools available will continue to improve my work.