Gaming Literature

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

- series’ main creed = “nothing is true, everything is permitted”

- "If the world that we are forced to accept is false and nothing is true, then everything is possible."

- apply to everyday life

- franchise is historical science fiction

                  - historical figures appear in the games; Leonardo Da Vinci and Machiavelli

                  - historical side much more apparent in Assassin’s Creed 2 than the original

                  - historical events (eg. Pazzi Conspiracy, when the Pazzi family tried to replace the Medici family, 15^th century)

- Ubisoft literally captures theories and myths and make them parallel our reality

- Ubisoft wrote, published, and released novel (with the help of Penguin Group) based on the videogame characters and storyline

- Also based on the franchise; graphic novels, short films, and a movie in the works

- “We believe that these projects developed in tandem with the games themselves provide the player with a truly immersive experience into the Assassin’s Creed world.”

- gaming and literature are both about narrative storytelling

Dante’s Inferno

- Developed by EA

- Dante, author of The Divine Comedy

- not a slavish retelling

                  - avatar is a re-envisioned Dante all muscle and decked to the nines in armor

                  - have to battle your way through the Nine Circle of Hell to face off against Lucifer himself

                  - love-driven quest to free Beatrice

- if this videogame gets people to discover the original poem by Dante, then who cares if Dante is wielding Death’s scythe in service to this retelling?

**Storytelling is all about exploring the human condition, events, and their impact – interaction among individuals. Books for how to tell a story constantly try to pound in the point that “plot is a verb.” Well, verbs are action words, so why can’t an action-packed game deliver a kick-ass story?

                  - plot requires action

- not all games are an example of great literature, much like not every book has a great story

Can a video game offer the same depth of characters and insight into the human condition as a novel? Can a video game possess substantial literary merit?

- I suppose the first question we must ask is, "What gives a work literary merit?"

"Can a game be considered a work of literature?"
 

Writing methods from classics used in videogames

- Emily Bronte’s foreshadowing technique

- Tolstoy’s “zoom into action” strategy

- Dicken’s use of intersecting stories