In reading the first chapter of Hayles' book titled "Electronic Literature: What is it?" you get some mixed signals about the validity of video games as a form of electronic literature. Hayles even says, "The demarcation between electronic literature and computer games is far from clear;" My question is, after reading the first two chapters of Hayles book, where do you stand on video games as electronic literature?
On one side of the argument we have people like Markku Eskelinen who were paraphrased to say "with games the user interprets in order to configure, whereas in works whose primary interest is narrative, the user configures in order to interpret." I on the other hand, believe that video games have just as much literary validity as any other form of electronic literature. Electronic literature is literature that is "digital born" and is made on and usually read on, a computer. Hayles goes on to describe interactive fiction by saying "The interactor controls a player character by issuing commands. Instructions to the program, for example asking it to quit, are called directives." I believe that video games are just an expansion of interactive fiction.
Let us go back to the Eskelinen quote for a minute. The order that he has for games are interpreting in order to configure the story. While this might be true about some of the old games like Super Mario, games in the 21st century have become more complex in the story and how it's presented. In modern role playing games, or RPGs, you guide your character from narrative to narrative by solving puzzles related to the theme of the story, or perhaps by fighting, but no matter what you do to progress to the next narrative section, it helps progress the story. It helps you configure the story so that you can interpret it.
While there might be video games that lack any story telling mechanisms, and believe me a lot of games today do, there are still a lot of games who's fundamental goal is to tell a story. In that aspect I believe that video games are indeed a good example of electronic literature.
Not the greatest question in the world, since it asks for feelings rather than logic and analysis. A better question would have been something like "Provide an argument for the dividing line between video games and eLit," which you could then go on to answer in a way that is based on your "feeling" but with the appropriate amount of ethos.
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