Abstract
The classic adventure games—part of the earliest traditions of interactive narrative—have not disappeared, although they no longer occupy space on the shelves at the local computer store. Even as changing hardware and operating systems render these games of the 1980s and 1990s literally unplayable without emulating the computer systems of the past, fans are keeping these stories alive. Authorship of these games has changed hands: it is now under the control of the fans, the former and current players. Through the online sharing of fan-created game design tool sets and of the fan-created games themselves, these new coauthors create a haven to revisit these decades-old games using fresh eyes and fresh systems. The products of these folk art–reminiscent efforts also offer a venue to reconsider video game fandom in light of genres. They also allow us to understand these "personal games," productions of one or more people that are not intended for commercial sale, as carrying the heritage of the classic era forward into the next generation of gaming.
Highlights
University of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States [0.1] Abstract—The classic adventure games—part of the earliest traditions of interactive narrative—have not disappeared, they no longer occupy space on the shelves at the local computer store
[1.1] In 1997, Espen Aarseth argued for the expanded study of adventure games—a computer game genre devoted to narrative experience—not as a bastardization of a literary form but as a literary form in itself: "The adventure game is an artistic genre of its own, a unique aesthetic field of possibilities, which must be judged on its own terms" (Aarseth 1997:107)
Today the commercial form of the adventure game little resembles the classic games of the era when Lucas Arts and Sierra were dominant, but the folk art tradition of the earlier form is evolving separately in the hands of the fans
Summary
University of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States [0.1] Abstract—The classic adventure games—part of the earliest traditions of interactive narrative—have not disappeared, they no longer occupy space on the shelves at the local computer store. Even as changing hardware and operating systems render these games of the 1980s and 1990s literally unplayable without emulating the computer systems of the past, fans are keeping these stories alive. Through the online sharing of fancreated game design tool sets and of the fancreated games themselves, these new coauthors create a haven to revisit these decadesold games using fresh eyes and fresh systems. The products of these folk art–reminiscent efforts offer a venue to reconsider video game fandom in light of genres.
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