Infinite Limits

Hayles Network Art

          Hayles discusses the idea of “Playable Media” in her book, Electronic Literature. This is a term coined by Noah Wardrip-Fruin to denote computer games and other interactive works to accurately express the user’s engagement with the game-like aspects of the work. Wardrip-Fruin uses “playable media” to give speech to that which has no language, just as the memo of multiplicity tries to accomplish.

           This correlates with the e-lit example of Poundstone because both use game-like aspects to make their work more interesting and enjoyable. These interactive works express the user’s concentration needed on the work, or else the reader will not fully understand what they are looking at. Even the subliminal messages of Poundstone enable the viewer to look deeper into the work, using different intuitions to fully comprehend what is going on in the story. The “playable media” makes the reader more aware of what they are looking at, and more focus is needed for electronic literature than what is required when reading print text.