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Is This Loss?

The Dead Tower

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Loss Of Self
When the reader first opens the piece of electronic literature known as The Dead Tower they are immediately confronted with an image of a dark and ominous tower. When considering this image, which can be seen to the right, there are a few things that are both immediately noticeable as well as extremely effective. One of these things relates to the darkness that surrounds both the player and the tower within the image. This darkness is very telling as it creates a very ominous atmosphere and instantly puts the reader in a state of unease. In contrast to this darkness, the other extremely noticeable thing is the light illuminating the tower itself. This is not a white light but one made up of both blues and reds which creates an eerie dreamlike atmosphere. This in addition to the almost absolute darkness that surrounds everything else immediately helps to both highlight the importance of the tower as well as increasing the reader’s unease with the situation his avatar has found itself in. Another less obvious but still interesting aspect of the image is the floating and glowing lines of text that surround the player. These lines of text in conjunction with the specific lighting choices made by the author not only affect the mood of the player but also help the authors highlight specific aspects of the overall theme presented by the text. The text itself is very reliant on the concept of loss and this image helps to underline the idea of loss of self. This concept is portrayed simply by the reader’s initial position, they are placed in an unknown environment with no explanation to how they got there and they are surrounded by stanzas that convey little meaning but hold fragments of a story. These facts help to emphasize the concept of loss of self, the reader’s avatar is a no-one who is trying to understand a story told by the disjointed shards of their memory, and without those memories, there is no self. The image above is trying to highlight the fear and unease of being someone with no sense of self, therefore, underlying the concept of the loss of oneself. This underlying message would not have been conveyable if it weren't for the text formatting as an interactive piece of electronic literature. This fact is emphasized when considering the words of Flanagan and Nissenbaum, “Digital games offer players a dynamic engagement with content through cycles of effort, attention, and feedback. Unlike traditional forms of other media which do not respond to players’ journey or their readings and interpretations, digital games are particularly compelling environments in which players explore and act based on at least a partial understanding of a system’s relational dynamics.”(Flanagan and Nissenbaum PG. 4). This quote is used to emphasize the importance of the narratives interactivity.