China Social Science Review

No.2, 2024

Interactive Narratives: A Philosophical Reflection on Cross Media Between Literature and Electronic Games

(Abstract)

Jiang Yuhui

Interactivity is an effective pathway for examining human-machine relationships. It can not only concretize abstract content, but also display various complex patterns between humans and machines. However, a misconception has permeated academic research on interactivity, primarily focusing on digital media, particularly video games, while neglecting the historical evolution of this concept. In response, interactive narrative is selected to explore the philosophical implications and the transition from literary narratives to interactive digital narratives (IDN). Traditional literary narrative theory has been deeply entrenched in structuralism, and although IDN appears to have shaken off this constraint, its nearly one-dimensional dependence on digital systems still carries a strong structuralist gene. Revisiting the three theoretical classics of IDN during its inception phase reveals a critical trajectory from immersion to interaction and then to metalepsis, leading to various possibilities for reconstructing subjectivity in the digital age.