Saturday 21 July 2012

Introduction: Why Gamebooks Are Superior To Books

Gamebooks, interactive fiction, solo RPGs, choose-your-own-adventures, whatever you call them; I love them all. I was introduced to the concept a while back and was immediately hooked; I began collecting any form of the genre possible. Slowly my bookshelf grew as I added more and more titles to my collection. Eventually I started writing my own titles so that I could add to not only my own collection but those of others.
In fact with the rate that my collection has been expanding I have a large number of unread gamebooks on my shelf, which I have been slowly making my way through. In fact these days my personal reading material is almost completely comprised of either gamebooks are physics books.
The reason I find gamebooks so superior to normal books is that they are kind of like the evolution of the book: In the same way that we were once simple one celled creatures but now we have become complex multi-cellular creatures, stories were once linear with one plot but now we have complex multiple plots and endings within the same book. Gamebooks come in many forms with different writers using different styles and technique which is shown through writing, the choices you are given, as well as game design and mechanics. The new complexity and levels on which stories are now providing entertainment is to me an advancement like that of the introduction of the computer; it shows how we as humans are developing. In fact the gamebook boom was in the 80s, which was around the same time the personal computer was starting to become popular. You can tell me if you think that was a coincidence.

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