Dismissal of Interactivity
Be gone with you, interactivity! You are here banished from thy Kingdom of Narratology!
Aarseth dismisses interactivity, exiling it from his definition of games as simulation (52). Chris Crawford sees such a problem as well, noting that he still believes "that it remains the very essence of the entire computing experience" (bottom 45). Perhaps the problem lies in the definition of interactivity- in the 21st century, it is inevitably tied to gaming, interactive games a genre of its own. Perhaps this is why Aarseth needs to distinguish between simulation and interactive because of their predefined notion that they are one in the same.
But Crawford is also correct. If you dismiss interactivity as a component to games, then you cannot really argue about the distinguishable feature between game and narrative. It is like denying that characters exist with narrative. If you remove such a key component, how fair can your analysis be? Aarseth should not banish interactivity from his kingdom without discussing first its crimes (if interactivity is guilty of such accusations in the first place).
Interactivity is innocent until proven guilty!
-Liz L.
Aarseth dismisses interactivity, exiling it from his definition of games as simulation (52). Chris Crawford sees such a problem as well, noting that he still believes "that it remains the very essence of the entire computing experience" (bottom 45). Perhaps the problem lies in the definition of interactivity- in the 21st century, it is inevitably tied to gaming, interactive games a genre of its own. Perhaps this is why Aarseth needs to distinguish between simulation and interactive because of their predefined notion that they are one in the same.
But Crawford is also correct. If you dismiss interactivity as a component to games, then you cannot really argue about the distinguishable feature between game and narrative. It is like denying that characters exist with narrative. If you remove such a key component, how fair can your analysis be? Aarseth should not banish interactivity from his kingdom without discussing first its crimes (if interactivity is guilty of such accusations in the first place).
Interactivity is innocent until proven guilty!
-Liz L.