And You're Walking, And You're Walking, And You're Walking...*

I had a crush on Legolas. It was my first real, massive, there-will-be-no-other-don't-laugh-at-me crush. So, when my mom finally let me create my own character for our family-and-friends Dungeons and Dragons campaign, I chose to be an elf. I think it was one of the happiest moments of my childhood to be able to say "I'm an elf" and have the adults in my life agree with me.

As an adult, I don't get to play D'n'D as much as I would like, but it still holds a special place in my heart. Reading Nick Montfort's article this week was exciting, and I think that Digitize Rhetoric's blog post does a great job of breaking down the possibilities for gaming as interactive fiction. He points out that Dungeons and Dragons may not come to mind as an example of interactive fiction at first glance, but, "...if a redactor were present, a text or work would inevitably arise, infused with basic elements of literature: setting, character, conflict, plot, ambiguity, etc" (Digitize Rhetoric).

I remember members of my own family-run D'n'D group had a redactor of sorts, and there are many funny quotes and memorable dialogue that were memorialized online during our numerous campaigns. However, it's debatable whether or not a redactor role is common in these games. Additionally, if we take into account games such as World of Warcraft and other MMORPG's (short for massively multiplayer online role-playing games),

Chris Davis' blog post talks about the short comings of modern technology because of the lack of preservation techniques for current electronic media. I would argue this is especially true for interactive fiction, because there is no story being electronically written while the player is creating their narrative.

I think it would open up a whole new world of fiction if there was a program created for MMORPG's that allowed for a characters gameplay to be saved in a narrative, electronically written form. Instead of writing off these games, whether they're online or D'n'D campaigns taking place in someone's living room, the literary community should try and figure out a way to foster this love for roleplaying in order to create an entirely new genre of fiction that represents some of the biggest communities in the digital age.

I know that I would love to have the transcripts from my elven character Salogel (yes, it's Legolas spelled backwards), because sometimes the funniest fiction comes from the mind of a child.

*The title comes from a well-known episode of "Dexter's Laboratory," and you can watch the video here. If you've got nine minutes (or 30 seconds and then skip to the last 30 seconds) it's a pretty funny video in light of what we've been talking about.

Works Cited:

davisc47 [Chris Davis]. "Reading Response Five: Invincible Hard Drives " Chris Davis Elite Blog. Web. 4 October 2014. 

digitizerhetoric [Gabriel Vega]. "Is It Literature?" Digitize Rhetoric. Web. 4 October 2014