TAPS/English
I seek to undertake an analysis of complex emergent systems in digital literature, including interactive fiction, and networked narratives in the form of Alternate Reality Games (ARGs). From both technical and creative perspectives, how do these texts build relationships between reader/players and the text, as well as players in communities? Within networked and programmable media, how does emergence, characterized by small-scale interactions over long periods of time, come to serve not just as metaphor, but as mechanic? In turn, how can this mechanic be used to connect, educate, and lead people to more meaningful aesthetic experiences? My inquiries draw from work in the fields of feminist and queer theory, game studies, and performance studies.
I am interested in how text-based games (developed through TADS, Inform, or Twine) have facilitated an active feminist resistance in online culture. Works by Zoë Quinn, Anna Anthropy, and Porpentine have precipitated an emergent misogynist metagame, Gamergate. This online movement sought to physically and emotionally harm female, trans, and gender non-conforming game designers and media critics. This cultural backlash against queer and feminist games makes their study increasingly important. I hope to draw on the audience-centered methodology of Gaming at the Edge (Shaw), which presents a methodology for examining how and why players play. Additionally, I believe that structuralist (Barthes) and post-structuralist (Fish, Derrida) literary theory can inform a reading of these texts and their communities, shedding light on the unit operations (Bogost) that drive these radical play spaces within the white, cis, hetero-patriarchy.