“We can no longer afford to see literature as an entirely distinct mode and culture”(Burn, A, 2005. 'Potter-literacy - From Book to Game and Back Again; Literature, Film, Game and Cross-media Literacy', in 'Papers: Explorations into Children's Literature Vol. 14, No. 3.'); it has grown into a cross-media craze involving comic books, board and media games, internet etc. However, “cross-media cultures are not by any means a new phenomenon” (Burn, A, 2005. 'Potter-literacy - From Book to Game and Back Again; Literature, Film, Game and Cross-media Literacy', in 'Papers: Explorations into Children's Literature Vol. 14, No. 3.') and this process was used even 100 years with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). In those days, the media available were limited only to plays, fanfiction, comic strips, trading cards and related merchandise. This piece of literature inspired other media that was available at that time. I believe that it was particularly attractive for use in cross-media of that period because it belonged to the fantasy genre.
However, in the current context there is a wide range of possibilities including facebook, twitter, blogging websites etc. The beauty of the fantasy genre is that the characters and situations are so complex and “out of the world” that they are easily replicated in video games and it is possible to bring them to life by modern technology. In fact this genre is most ideal for being reproduced in media games. For example in the media games of Alice In Wonderland, based on the story by Lewis Carroll, an ordinary person is whisked away to a fantasy world where she encounters strange and marvellous beings and Animals and actually interacts with them while finding a way to return home in the end.
The nature of fantasy genre is such that it has a special place in video games. These days, most media games are based on adventure stories and in turn they are based on our childhood fantasies and aspirations. For example most of us as children have always wanted to be brave and strong heroes and most of what is featured in stories and media games are basically a reflection of our aspirations in life. Characters are modelled after certain people who we are familiar with, (like we tend to see bullies as villains) in life and the events in games are based on events we may have gone through at some point in time. The 1996 PC game ‘Darby the Dragon’ is a collection of mysteries and puzzles that the player encounters and is challenged to solve with the help of clues provided in the game. While doing that, the player needs to make difficult choices in order to be victorious
I believe that the reason why the fantasy genre is so easily related to video games is because inside all of us when it comes to both reading and playing the fantasy genre, there is a hero who is always shrouded and reading a story or playing a media game is actually awakening the hero inside us, and our excitement out of living out that certain adventure is thus created, almost as if we are playing out that particular role. In the end we are living out the journey of the hero inside all of us. This is clearly revealed in Disney’s version of the Greek Hero Hercules’ media game where the player takes him through all his ordeals towards achieving his desire and ultimate goal
When it comes to a media game, the purpose is to give the player a variety of options in playing out different scenarios and almost allowing the player to write their own story. As suggested by Burns. A (2005) “In ideal terms, it might seem that the player has the power to ‘write’ the story – but of course, there are limits and a series of tradeoffs between the need to maintain a relatively fixed narrative structure......and the need to offer the player some control over the sequence of events”. The player may already know what to expect at certain points in the game if they are familiar with an original work which the game is based on or if we draw parallels with what we already are familiar with. However, it may come out as an element of surprise when a new step is created instead of the expected point, in order to provide us with the thrill of adventure and further develop our thinking skills
In my opinion, the fantasy genre is endowed with all the elements that can be manipulated to come up with the most wide-ranging and extensive possibilities in creating media games
References
Burn, A, 2005. 'Potter-literacy - From Book to Game and Back Again; Literature, Film, Game and Cross-media Literacy', in 'Papers: Explorations into Children's Literature Vol. 14, No. 3.
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