If You Choose to Read Some Fine Work, Turn To . . .

The Choose Your Own Adventure assignments from my Computer and Text course turned out rather well this semester. Here’s one particularly accomplished project by one particularly accomplished student, Greg Lord. The map is first rate, and the analytical essay includes a number of subtle insights into the materiality of CYOA as a cybertext form—for example:

The unique scenario created by these juxtaposed outcomes creates from the text a kind of meta-narrative, wherein one is engaging the process of the cybertext more than the plot itself. Upon deciding whether to betray or follow the mind-controlled captain on page 12, for instance, one is rewarded with both outcomes on the adjacent pages 24 and 25. Their blithe obedience may have cost them their death in the story, but at the same time they need look no further than the other open page to have made the “correct” decision. This scenario openly reveals the manner of causality that fuels a cybertext, giving the reader at least the occasional “safe” vantage point. In effect, both decisions — including the “correct” one — are available to the reader, and the voyeuristic vantage point of the standard literary reader is temporarily restored.

Finally, Greg’s glossary of terms—”Decision: The basic instance of story progression, through branching paths, as per Marie-Laure Ryan’s tree model, wherein the reader/player decides between two or three given choices”—struck me as a particularly useful contribution, something that other researchers should be aware of.

I’m continually struck by the quality of work our undergraduates can be capable of producing. They’ll be more end of the semester projects to post here soon.