A MITH Digital Dialogue
Tuesday, November 14, 12:30-1:45
MITH Conference Room, McKeldin Library B0135

Narrative, Fiction, and the Cultural Reception of Videogames”
by STUART MOULTHROP (University of Baltimore, School of Information
Arts and Technologies)

When even the most perceptive scholars based in traditional,
typographic forms of literacy turn their attention to videogames, the
results can be disconcerting. Two of the best in this line, Janet
Murray and James P. Gee, both falter notably when they ask when, if,
or how videogames can have cultural effects equivalent to literature.
These moments do not represent failure so much as catastrophe, a
collapse of interpretive method that may provide indications for more
viable approaches. I suggest the key to a new agenda lies in the
distinction of narrative, a main concern for my generation and our
elders, from the sort of fiction Jesper Juul embraces in his theory of
games: a form whose clearest illustration is not story or novel, but
rather tableau. As Murray herself says: “The more we see life in
terms of systems, the more we need a system-modeling medium to
represent it.” But systematic or procedural systems cannot simply be
interpreted or read as if they were conventionally inscribed texts.
As Espen Aarseth argues, they must be played; and I would argue
further that critics must also engage in the kind of fictive play from
which games emerge. I suggest it is no accident that many of the most
interesting new critics of the videogame, figures like Ian Bogost and
Mary Flanagan, are active game developers, and argue more generally
that videogames and other forms of cybertext require a more engaged,
creative commitment from their critics.

Internationally renowned as a media theorist and hypertext writer,
STUART MOULTHROP currently works on the design and application of
interactive software, including video games and simulations. He is the
author of numerous works of electronic literature, including such
landmark works as Victory Garden, Hegirascope, Reagan Library, and
Pax. He is Professor in the School of Information Arts and
Technologies at the University of Baltimore. Visit his homepage for
more information: http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/

Coming up @MITH Nov. 21: Brandon Morse (Department of Art). View the
complete Fall 2006 schedule for Digital Dialogues here:
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/programs/mith_speakers_fall_2006.pdf

Free and open to the public.

Contact: Neil Fraistat, Director, MITH (www.mith.umd.edu, mith@umd.edu, 5-5896).