S6 Ep. 31: Ready Player One: B.J. Best, Andrew Ervin, and Brittney Morris on Video Games, Storytelling, and the Importance of Play

Writers B.J. Best, Andrew Ervin, and Brittney Morris join co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell live from the Unbound Book Festival in Columbia, Missouri to discuss the narrative realms of video games and the evolving space they inhabit. The group reminisces about their first experiences playing and talks about nostalgia, reflects on ludology vs narratology in game design, and analyzes the way video games include players in the storytelling. Ranging from the text-based games of early days to the AAA and blockbuster franchises like Red Dead Redemption and World of Warcraft, this episode considers the necessity of play after childhood. All three authors read from their work. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This episode of the podcast was produced by Cheri Brisendine and Anne Kniggendorf. B. J. Best Birds of Wisconsin State Sonnets But Our Princess is in Another Castle Interactive Fiction Andrew Ervin Burning Down George Orwell’s House Extraordinary Renditions Bit by Bit: How Video Games Transformed Our World Electric Lit Lit Hub Brittney Morris SLAY The Cost of Knowing The Jump Spider-Man 2 for the Playstation 5 Subnautica: Below Zero The Lost Legends of Redwall Others: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Video Game History Timeline The Evolution of the Video Game Controller What is Ekphrastic Poetry? The Starry Night by Anne Sexton The Playstation 5 Shortage is Over Ludology vs Narratology Teleology Play Doesn’t End With Childhood Josh Hawley Hates “Manipulative” Video Games Games: Madden NFL (gameplay) Super Mario 64 (gameplay) Alpiner (gameplay) Munch Man (gameplay) Super Mario Bros Red Dead Redemption (gameplay) Simulacra The Watson-Scott Test Cicada 3301 (4chan puzzles) The Last of Us (gameplay) Passage Doki Doki Literature Club! Cuphead (gameplay) Gris (gameplay) World of Warcraft (gameplay) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices