Addressing the Reader and/or Character in Gamebooks

Abstract

As a hybridized print and digital fiction, gamebooks benefit from the ambiguity of the second-person pronoun and a combination of techniques intrinsic to digital texts to place the readers in multiple positions as the protagonist and the reader. This multiple role is usually absent from second-person print fiction which addresses the readers as either characters (as in epistolary fiction), or themselves (as in metafictional fiction), since casting the readers in a double role may lead to an ontological confusion between the fictional and the real world which, in turn, constrains fiction in terms of plot development, characterization and cogency. Digital texts such as hypertextual and interactive fiction, on the other hand, engage the readers in multiple capacities as the co-author, the reader and the character effortlessly due to the interactive features of the medium which allow reader reciprocity, navigational freedom, multiple plot lines and numerous conclusions. Bridging between print and digital fiction, gamebooks exhibit a limited level of interactivity on paper which results in an ontologically uncertain fictional world in which the reader may also appear as the character. This essay shall examine the significance of gamebook you in the creation of the reader-character role in relation to its print and digital counterparts.