cybertext

What binds literature, electronic literature and games is "the shaping and networking of the imagination." Drawing on the ideas of Damasio, Walton and Sartre, Gordon Calleja looks at the synthesizing role of the imagination in narrative indie games.

First Person, second section: What is Ludology? Editors Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin see a disciplinary shift away from ill-advised analogies toward analyses of the gaming situation itself.

The parallels (and oppositions) between hypertext and AI are brought out in section five.

Nick Montfort reviews Espen J. Aarseth's Cybertext, which stakes out a post-hypertextual terrain for literary criticism and practice. Interactive excerpts from some of the cybertexts that Aarseth discusses are included.

J. Yellowlees Douglas and Andrew Hargadon on the affective side of hypertexts via "schemas, scripts, and the fifth business."

John Cayley reviews the Hypertext '97 Conference, which brought together representatives from corporate and academic sectors.

Which alias best fits interactive fiction?
The nominees are:
"Story," "Game," "Storygame," "Novel," "World,"
"Literature," "Puzzle," "Problem," "Riddle," and "Machine."
Read, and decide.

In response to Nick Montfort's review of Cybertext, N. Katherine Hayles coins an alternative term, Cyber|literature.