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Video Games and Fan Fiction
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02.17.04 :: 1610
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After a long run without posting in my blog I'm back to talk about some ish.
Firstly I have come up with what I think my academic plan for Collage and New Media is (concerning blogging, final projects, responses, and the CTI site). Basically it comes down to my final project being the Video Games section of the CTI site, keeping up with the CTI Weblog page, and my responses being in relation to the other things that interest me the most.
In response to Jim's question about Zork and the relationship between video games and literature, it is these types of questions get to the heart of what my academic interests are really about. It may not be that new media are "collapsing distinctions between genres" persay, but rather new media accomodates a fusion of all forms of media. Video Games are comprised of so many elements of other forms of media and areas of study: literature, mathematics, computer science, visual and graphical art, film, sociology, psychology, cognitive sciences, music, and history just to name a few. The best games combine a variety of elements in a compelling and effective way that is fun to interact with... a collage of sorts. Keep your eyes peeled to the Video Games as Collage portion of the CTI site as futher insights into this world are posted. Also, check out my Video Games as An Artform website which analyzes video games using Gilbert Seldes' The Seven Lively Arts model as proposed by Dr. Henry Jenkins of MIT.
The Wikipedia has been entertaining me for quite some while. It's amazing what you can find on there. For example there are entries on the video game I used in the project listed above entitled Chrono Trigger. I actually just discovered this while writing the blog so I haven't had a chance to make any additions to it as I have been doing to other Wikipedia entries such as the Nintendo Gameboy and Virtual Boy. It's a good feeling to be able to present some of my knowledge in a public resource.
I will admit that at one point in my life I participated in Fan Fiction (also called fanfic). Fanfic is basically "fiction written by people who enjoy a film, novel, television show or other dramatic or literary work, using the characters and situations developed in it and developing new plots in which to use these characters," to quote the Wikipedia.
FanFiction.net is a great place to look around to get an idea as to what fanfic authors are all about.
As I'm sure you have guessed when I was writing it I was writing about video games. It started with this 30-page story I wrote in fourth grade with a friend about Sonic the Hedgehog. When I got big into the Internet around 7th grade I found myself doing lots of research related to my video game interests. During 8th grade and my freshman year of high school i attempted to phase out my hardcore interest in order to seem cooler than I was. But by 10th grade I slipped back into my natural state and came upon a website (Starmen.net) about the game EarthBound where I participated in a large online forum.
One section of this forum was (and still is) called Interactive Fiction, whereby members of the community contibute paragraphs and chapters to a story one member began. Note that this use of the word Interactive Fiction varies considerably from the Wikipedia entry (which may or may not be the most commonly used definition). Actually, I'll go add this new definition right now... hang on a minute. Okay, done. Back to my story: The problem I had with this is that a lot of the writers sucked really badly and were immature, but other than that it's a cool concept. The Internet is a great creative outlet for anyone that can't land a publishing deal (which is most everyone). While often times my friends and I refer to it as the second worst form of writing (only to be trumped by high school goth poetry), its values go far beyond the actual work produced. The co-authors feel pride that they are able to complete a group project, there's a sense of exclusivity while being totally inclusive, authors can also include themselves in the content of the story as an "AC" (check out the definition I just posted).
Wow. That's gotta be the most links I've ever posted in one article. I'm trying to get my comment board up and running so hopefully you'll be able to use it soon.
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Playing Catch Up and Parting Words 04.27.2004 :: 1630