Is MUSH'ing literature - 2
Thank to everyone who participated in part one of this conversation.
This issue is, as I suspected, rather nuanced. And I got our discussion off to a bad start by being vague. So let's consider this rather lengthy definition from the Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory © 1998 Penguin Books, London.
--- begin definition ---
Literature A vague term which usually denotes works which belong to the major genres: epic, drama, lyric, novel, short-story, ode. If we describe something as 'literature', as opposed to anything else, the term carries qualitative connotations which imply that the work in question has superior qualities; that it is well above the ordinary run of written works. For example: 'George Eliot's novels are literature whereas Fleming's Bond books are unquestionably not'.
However, there are many works which cannot be classified in the main literary genres which nevertheless may be regarded as literature by virtue of the excellence of their writing, their originality and their general aesthetic and artistic merits. A handful of examples at random suggests how comprehensive the term can be....
--- end definition ---
Here's my opinion on the affair: text-based gaming /can/ be literature...just as any book could rise to meet the definition.
The hardest issue is one of "temporal-ity", that is, much of our writing in games disappears after it is written (yes, players log, but this isn't often widely shared or distributed). But as my wife pointed out, performance art can be classified as literature, and it also exists for a distinct, finite period of time.
The other issue is, of course, the quality of the prose (or pose). Do we have any shakespeares among us? Should we elevate our great writers? How would we know if we had a great writer?
What do you think about this?
I'll be interviewing some professorial-type people about this in the next installment. If anyone here knows someone with a long string of letters after their name (like Ph.D. or Ed.D etc..) please let me know. I can be reached on M*U*S*H or at boris (a$t) moderncommand.com
- boris's blog
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Definition of terms
One of the greater difficulties in a discourse such as this is agreement upon the definition of terms.
I found this somewhat briefer definition which seems to get directly to the point. (Thanks Webster@M*U*S*H)
Definition from WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003)
literature
n 1: creative writing of recognized artistic value
It appears that we are attempting to ascertain whether MUSH qualifies as having 'recognized artistic value'.
... bringing us back to 'maybe' and/or 'sometimes'.
I'll go with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on art...
I'm never quite sure *what it is*, but I know it when I see it.
I definitely think that MUSHes are a "literate" endeavor. That alone, by my definition, makes them literature. Are they classical literature? Of course not. Are they *conventional* literature? No way. But are they a niche form of electronic experimental literature? Absolutely. Put whatever qualifiers you want in front of it, it's still literature :D
Is MUSH'ing obscene?
Heh. That SCOTUS ruling was on "obscenity", IIRC, not "art". :)
A fair point...
...but mine stands! :) Can't have the question of "obscenity" if you don't also address the question of art or artistic merit.
Off topic for this conversation, though. Thanks for the correction!
The temporal issue is
The temporal issue is probably the weakest link. Certainly, there are times when a collective group of players forms a cohesive and amazing scene. If an outsider were to read through a log of it, it might be considered amazing but mostly likely they'd act as if they just read a chapter out of the middle of book of fiction.
The expectations of the reader are not met in areas of character and plot development. Not to mention the overall world theme, possibly the context of the current environment, and general plot line. Logs can be difficult to follow even when you know the players and game involved. Imagine someone reading it without any knowledge.
Perhaps it approaches a series of intertwined short stories better than my example of a novel. Even then, I think it often falls short without some editorial action to suave the player interaction.
Discarding my notion looking at it after the fact, even if the person is intricately involved in the game from start to finish through the events, minor turbulence from unknown individuals taking part and not quite meshing can cause disruptions. If that doesn't occur, it is possible from that person's perspective to consider a scene (or series of them) to produce something amazing.
I wouldn't call it literature since it cannot be captured in a form that is distributable without editing. MUSH is entirely too chaotic as a collective whole to be literature. Often, all of the critical elements are within the game but the disjoints caused by time gaps assure a lack of cohesion.
Well...
The same could be said of theatrical performances, particularly improvisational ones.
The fact that you really couldn't distribute it without some editing and extra material to add context doesn't reduce its potential as a type of literature - it just makes it all the more exotic and ephemeral as a form of literature.
Bottom line: I don't think there's an easy "yes, it's literature" or "no, it's not literature" answer to this, because the concept of literature as embraced by most people is dated and just as subjective as the concept of entertainment.
What can it be?
Is MUSH Literature?
As an absolute, no.
MUSH is, if we want to begin at its most rudamentary, a multi-user interface for text-based self-expression -- similar to how one might view:
* the chisel on the cave wall of a neanderthal dwelling.
* the pen.
* the typewriter.
* the personal computer.
Did every chisel, every pen, every typewriter -- in the history of the world -- generate literature? Of course not. Even the ones which did generate literature didn't do it exclusively (at least not by design).
Some MUSHes are literary in focus (OtherSpace - defined and designed as a 'saga'), some are social or informational in focus (M*U*S*H, OGR).
A small, but existent, percentage are educational/technical in emphasis (LambdaMOO is an echo of this, and there is an interesting endeavor in this log).
Some cross boundaries (M*U*S*H, although primarily social, has significant educational, informational, and artistic facets; pretty much any RolePlaying game will have both 'purely recreational' as well as 'partially artistic' facets).
MUSH (as well as MMORPG) is fertile 'virtual soil' for the exploration and cultivation of the human mind, most obviously the imagination.
A virtual "Neverending Story", flowing in streams and rivlets of text.
Perhaps, rather than "is MUSH <this or that>?", we should be realizing that MUSH can be many things to many people...
... and asking ourselves "what is possible with MUSH?"
"We're all carried along, by the river of dreams." - Billy Joel
Well said
I was going to push forward on the "MUSH as theater" analogy that Boris brought up, and then Trispis wrote:
Perhaps, rather than "is MUSH ?", we should be realizing that MUSH can be many things to many people...
... and asking ourselves "what is possible with MUSH?"
and that seems so right to me I wasn't going to.
It still seems right to me, but writing the above I realized that while thinking "MUSH is literature" may be too limiting, thking about "MUSH as literature" (or theater, or church, or cafe, or coffee table, etc.) can be a valuable way of identifying and explicating those "many tihngs" that MUSH can be.
Can't help but agree...
I think Trispis nailed that pretty solidly.
And that's really the beauty of a MUSH - it can be *many* things at the same time.
But...
The same could be said of theatrical performances, particularly improvisational ones.
They aren't literature by any definition. They are art. I won't disagree with that. I think MUSH is artistic but I don't agree that you can define it as literature.
I'd love to concede this point, but...
Shakespeare still counts as literature if you read the scripts of his plays.
An individual scene or performance on a MUSH might be artistic, but if you were to log a continuum of scenes on a MUSH over time *and* give them context, it could certainly qualify as a kind of experimental literature.
What is it?
Prior to BBSes and the internet, interactivity in text was slow, at best. As such, there are no formalized categories of what 'realtime interactive text' is. Although, as I mentioned previously in this thread, it is apparent that MU can be many things.
To reiterate my point with reference to MU and literature, I do not believe that MU is literature as an absolute. However, I do believe that a MUSH can be a work of literature (ala OtherSpace - if any can be defined as literary works, this one surely could).
I also believe a MUSH can be a conduit for literary growth - a work of 'meta-literature'? (such as STC).
Again, MU can be literature, or literary in focus; but, it can be so much more as well.
Is MU literary? Not always, but it can be.
Is MU scientific? Not always, but it can be.
Is MU this, that, or the other? (do you see a trend here?)
I'm reminded of the anecdote of the three blindfolded philosophers tasting vinegar.