From Hopscotch to Digital Games: The Pleasure and Dilemma of Interactivity

Abstract

In the transformation from a dominant immersive tradition to an interactive postmodern approach in literature, novelists explore new possibilities of interactivity, which brings a self-reflection on the binary relation between the author and the reader. This paper uses Cortázar's gamified fiction, Hopscotch, as the main case study. By providing an analysis of the infrastructure and game rules of Hopscotch, this paper examines the limitation of interactivity in Hopscotch, from a post-structuralistic perspective. Cortázar's concerns for the structuralist dilemma of interactivity also applies to digital games. The analysis of interactive digital narratives (IDN) suggests a progressive post-structuralistic turn. Although the dilemma of interactivity persists in various media, from traditional novels to digital games, the pleasure and possibility of interactivity has been continuously enriched in the designer's self-reflective practice and dynamic cooperation with the player.