World of Story-Craft

I grew up in a simpler time. A time when video games involved shooting a gun at small ducks flying across my television screen as a large, brown dog occasionally popped up to laugh at me. There was no detailed plot behind the game, nor were there complex characters

So much has changed in video games since my childhood of the late 1980’s even if I haven’t been feverishly playing them to experience their evolution. As we have talked and read about video games this semester, I have developed a greater appreciation of gamers’ love of games, and this week’s article “Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers” by Motoko Rich helped me see a greater benefit of the popular complex games as they can be a hybrid of multiple types of literacy.

But are these games really encouraging reading? Rich even mentions in his article that most of the 30 boys at a gaming tournament, “did not read much and rarely checked out books” (n.pag.) This isn’t stopping video game companies and libraries from connecting gamers to books as is evident by the new games such as “The Maze of Bones” and “Brisingr,” both of which are connected to published series. And of course there is always the fact that video games require some reading, whether it is instructions, plot summary, character dialog, or even extras to the game like blog posts and guides (n. pag.). The most appealing games seem to be the most complex ones, and writer and college professor James Parini predicts that “… in the next 10 or 20 years, video games are creating fictional universes which are every bit as complex as the world of fiction of Dickens or Dostoevsky” (n.pag.).

It is that complex gaming world that I think would be most beneficial to improving literacy in young gamers. My playing "Duck Hunt" helped my aim, but not much else. The games today build visual literacy as gamers play their way through their three-dimensional worlds, improve digital literacy as they learn the game play, and teach them graphic literacy through the stories they see. I’d always assumed the stories would have to have some sort of complexity in order to make them interesting and challenging, but never would have realized how much so without my former student, Cole. I taught Cole last year for freshmen English and always looked forward to his essays that were written with a sophistication and voice that greatly surpassed his peers. He is a quite, shy kid with a sharp wit, and although I don’t have him in class anymore, he stops by my room several times a week to talk about a story he is writing. After several weeks of brief discussions and a glance at his outline, Cole presented me with a five act story and asked if I could edit it and offer him any notes for improvement. The plot was incredibly intricate with a multitude of characters (some of which double-cross each other) and settings. Its climax was heart-breaking as the hero realized his arch-enemy’s minion, “The Man in the Mask,” was actually his own brother, who he would have to kill to save their world.

When I saw Cole the next day, I told him how much I enjoyed it and after offering a few suggestions, asked what his plans were for the story when he finished it. He looked at me as if I was clueless and responded, “It’s going to be a video game.”

Cole is the perfect product of his video game generation. He has the understanding of the necessary components of a successful video game, including a compelling story, and the ability to create such a story. As he shows me the maps and character mock-ups that he’s drawing, I am learning even more about games, and seeing first-hand Motoko Rich’s point that some of the new projects that pair books with video games “may push creative boundaries, helping to extend storytelling beyond the traditional covers of a book” (n.pag.). Even if games don’t ultimately push players to be readers, it’s pretty cool to watch a teenager combine his love of writing with his love of gaming with awesome results.

Rich, Motoko. “Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers.” The New York Times. 6 Oct. 2008. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.