Comments on: Reading by the Rules

By: stokes

stokes — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:54:03 +0000

I wonder how the kindle version takes care of the “hidden” pages of UFO 54-40? … Ah. They just didn’t release that one for the kindle. Nice.

Inevitable march of capitalism and technology: 1.
Artistic innovation: 0.

By: stokes

stokes — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:46:17 +0000

@Tom – That’s VERY interesting! Thanks for the report. So, to me at least, the Kindle version kills the most interesting thing about these books, in that you have to actually obey the rules of the book all the way through, rather than alternating between “playing fair” and taking a more unfocused, hedonistic approach to the text. The comparison to text based rpgs is very apt – the essay on samizdat.cc that I linked to points out that the rise of gamebooks as a commercial phenomenon is pretty much contemporaneous with the rise of that kind of computer game. And like you say, the big difference is that you have to play the computer version by the rules: you can’t just skip to the end of Zork. (Well, with some of those old games you actually could open up the resource files as text documents and page around through the descriptions at your leisure. But it took a bit more initiative.)

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:59:13 +0000

Having gone through one of the books on the Kindle (The Abominable Snowman, Book #1), the experience is certainly different from what I recall. Instead of going to a page, you get a “click here” message. If you try to hit “Next Page” or “Previous Page,” you get an error message telling you to go back and make a choice, but if you keep going you can advance to another story. What you can’t do is go backwards on the decision tree, which is more than occasionally frustrating (especially because the instructions claim that you can, in fact, do so). The overall effect is to make it feel even more like an early text-based RPG than it did when it was in book form.

I did notice another symptom of the “Green Door/Red Door” syndrome, where peripheral characters are either good or bad depending on a previous, totally unrelated choice.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience, but I probably won’t buy any more of them. For less than six bucks, though, it’s a fairly enjoyable way to kill 30-60 minutes.

By: silly-na

silly-na — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 06:27:26 +0000

So, my experience with CYOA is from the library at the Catholic school I went to for first grade, where I was not allowed to check out books from the 4th grade shelf, even though they were the same level books which I was already reading at home. But the 1st grade shelf was chock full of CYOA. Maybe those nuns were promoting more advanced literary choices than I thought! I certainly had fun reading them. Also, my favorite Edward Gorey book is The Raging Tide/The Black Doll’s Imbroglio. If you choose turnips…

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:00:42 +0000

@lee: I’ll read one this weekend and report back. As for your second question, there’s already an iPhone/iPod Touch Kindle app – wouldn’t they naturally have one for the Apple tablet?

By: perich

perich — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:30:20 +0000

@Jeff: I believe the one you’re referring to is “You Are A Superstar.”

And yeah, a remarkable number of deaths for children’s literature, especially considering they were all notionally your death. I remember getting terrified to the point of nightmares at Space Vampire.

By: lee

lee — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:17:08 +0000

@Tom: that’s fascinating, and it also raises some interesting questions: did they implement hyperlinks to allow you to jump straight to the indicated page? And more importantly, how does not being able to hold your finger to mark your place change the experience?

Most importantly: will they be available for the Apple tablet? ;-)

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:37:06 +0000

After reading this article, I discovered that many of the CYOA books are, in fact, available for download on the Kindle. At $5.50 or so a piece, it’s a pretty cheap run down nostalgia lane. Arguably, it’s a much better medium for the books than physical books are:

http://www.amazon.com/Choose-Your-Adventure-Books-Kindle/lm/R1109XFERTWOQ4/ref=cm_lmt_srch_f_1_rsrsrs1

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:44:05 +0000

Short time reader, first time poster…

I just had to comment on this article, as I was also in the prime “80′s child” age group to really enjoy these books as a kid. I still remember my favorite story, although the title escapes me. Basically the premise was that you had this rare genetic anomoly that allowed you to be extremely talented at any one thing (for example, you could choose to be a brilliant scientist or a world-class tennis player).

Looking back, even though I don’t remember thinking this at the time, I am surprised that “you” as the character would die some horrible death so often. It seems that it would be a little traumatizing. Although it was neat how they usually wouldn’t come out and say “you’re dead”, but allude to some disaster or inescapable situation before ending (e.g. “the three-headed monster approaches you with mouths wide open showing rows of razor-sharp teeth, as the door behind you locks shut. THE END”

By: Sillyweasel

Sillyweasel — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:19:34 +0000

Great post, personally I always read through as myself, then found the “good” ending, then meticulously read every other ending like the neurotic child my psychiatrists somehow didn’t pick up on at the time.

DEFINATELY looking forward to the next Cowboy Bebop by the way, I’ve already rewatched the series twice because of your posts and the specific dvds in said posts both before and after reading them.
I am a Bebop junkie.