Where to go!?

I don’t know!!

I sat down and started playing the game again without having read the manual. I felt like in the first hour I had played, that I had covered a lot of territory in the game. Quickly I learned in this session that there is still even more. Though what I found had expanded, the chance of running into the same spot to only get stuck increased in chance as well.

Getting tired of the repetitive results I finally concluded that I should read the manual. I know that we discussed in class that the style for manuals when this game was created intended to tell a story for the game to take place in. By doing such, blurred the lines- for a split second for me- when defining this as either a game or as an interactive narrative. Still unprepared for this approach, I was blown away, and had a blast reading the short story. This helped me better understand the game in a few ways. Like what I could encounter, to imagining what the world is like that I am within.

I truly did struggle with the fact if this was a game or an interactive narrative. Though looking at the Simulation Versus Narrative reading by Gonzalo Frasca, helped eliminate any uncertainties. Fasca’s point in regards to what is the distinction between games vs  narrative came down to the concept of behavior. For games they have this, because in games it’s a series of inputs followed by a series of outputs. For narrative its a fixed thing that doesn’t change (it is what it is). After having to restart the game due to deaths, you start to see these little variations in the game. The best example is the troll. At times, the troll is calm at first sight, and doesn’t try to attack you immediately. While others he charges on first sight. Woo

Disclaimer: This post was written was written after the fact I read the manual, but from the time period I had not.

I sat down to read the manual to the great game ‘Zork I’ for the first time, but only made it a page in (if that) and thought what am I doing!? My impatience was apparent as I hastily zoomed to get my laptop from my backpack, and begun playing.

When watching the game be demoed in class I was honestly in aw, never have I ever sat down to play a “video game” of this style. The reason for the quotations is because, I hesitated from calling this a game (at first).  Going back to Wednesday’s class discussion when we differentiating the characteristics of representation vs simulation, this game falls into this. I say this, because I have two different outlooks on this game before and after reading the manual.

Before reading the manual, I would compare the game’s characteristics to that of a representation. Moving around in the imageless world, except for those created in the mind, felt like I was reading a “Choose Your Own Adventure Book”: narrative. Here I was trying, to some how beat this game, but simultaneously trying to explore, and find as many new places, and things. Actions of climbing trees, or down canyon walls was a rush, or trying to figure out when to use certain items to help further progress, the story I was trying to unfold. If items weren’t used, it could imply death in a second, like in the dark attic of the house. One better to remember to use their lantern!

All in all, sitting down for the first time to play the game was a blast. Who knows where I shall be taken to, if beating this game is possible, but never the less I have found a new game I enjoy playing!