Literary Choice in Interactive Fiction
April 2008
Cambridge English dissertation
A dissertation proposing literary criticism of choice in Interactive Fiction. This project has also resulted in:
- A talk on "Moral Choice in Interactive Fiction" at Web Art Science Camp 2011
- A new project to develop a web-based microwork narrative psychology research framework. Literary scholars and psychologists could use this framework to gather metrics on their readers' choices
- A formal technique for citing and accessing cited "interactions" in interactive fiction
In the big picture, my dissertation established an approach to literary criticism of interactive fiction which is compatible with criticism of plays and other non-interactive forms. The dissertation
- provided an overview of choice in interactive fiction
- explained the value to criticism of literary choice
- outlined the value to psychology and philosophy of an experimentally-valid approach to literary choice
- proposed a definition for "Literary Choice" in iteractive fiction
- provided sample criticism to demonstrate the explanatory power of literary choice
Since the time of my dissertation, three major developments have had a significant impact in its area.