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Traversal of Thomas M. Disch's "AMNESIA," Introduction
ELL Lab director Dr. Dene Grigar introduced the live traversal of Thomas M. Disch’s adventure game Amnesia. She thanks our sponsors: WSU Vancouver, and WSU’s Louis G. and Stella E. Buchanon Distinguished Professorship, and the Electronic Literature Organization. Grigar goes on to define the Traversal methodology and to give the historical and technological contexts for Amnesia. She also explains some of the steps the ELL production staff have taken to capture video from  the screen of the Apple IIe computer used for the traversal. The Rebooting Electronic Literature book project is explained along with our method of capturing the traversal video, social media, photographs, and conversations. ELL staff are acknowledged, these staff are: Nicholas Schiller, associate director of ELL; Greg Philbrook, instructional and technology support specialist; Vanessa Rhodes, elit research assistant; Veronica Whitney, elit catalog content specialist; Mariah Gwin, games research assistant; Katie Bowen, document specialist. Author Sarah Smith, who provided the copy of Amnesia used in the traversal (and the recommendation to traverse Amnesia for this series) is thanked as well as today’s performer, Professor Trevor Dodge.
 
Trevor Dodge now begins his traversal. He begins by booting the game up and also by displaying the software packaging to the camera. In addition to maps and materials to guide the player through the fictional city of the game, the packaging also includes a list of verbs the player can use to interact with the text of the story. The Apple II version of the game comes on two five and quarter inch floppy disks, both of which have data on both sides. The production credits for the creators of the software are included in a statement from Electronic Arts, which Dodge reads. Continuing his examination of the packaging, Dodge points out that images of males dominate the coverage and notes that Disch’s perspective as a gay man is reflected in the text.
 
“You wake up feeling wonderful.” The opening words of the text start the traversal. Several screens of text provide background context to the player.
Traversal of Thomas M. Disch's AMNESIA, Part 1
Dodge begins this section of the traversal explaining his standard method for navigating text-based adventure games. He looks around his environment, checks his inventory, and explores the interface options. Dodge notes that the game’s text descriptions serve to answer the question of who are you? He then goes through the process of giving the game a physical description of his male (the only option) body. The game offers him back a different image of the character in the mirror than the description provided by Dodge. Dodge notes that the language in the descriptions, especially the adverbs, is rich.
 
The traversal continues with a exploration of the hotel room and its contents, which includes a computer, which raises the question: “have computers become standard equipment for hotel rooms in the same way that TVs are?” Dodge comments that the presence of the computer in the game (the same model of computer the player in the world is using to experience the game) introduces a metafictional element.
 
The narrative of the game presents Dodge with a first puzzle: there is a knock at the door, but the character in the game is not dressed. Dodge explores his environment and his inventory to solve this problem. Thus the narrative of the game is commenced. Dodge notes that he will use a pen and paper to take notes as he plays the game. In these early stages the character’s name, or a least a name is learned and Dodge interacts with several members of the hotel’s staff.


Traversal of Thomas M. Disch's AMNESIA, Part 2
The narrative continues as Dodge directs his character out of the hotel room (after tipping the bellhop) and explores the surrounding environment. In his attempts to explore the hotel and add items to his inventory, the game gives Dodge a series of failure messages. He cannot conceive of the use for the items he attempts to pick up. He cannot possibly take the maid’s trolley. Other attempts to interact with the game world prompt him to reword his requests, so Dodge refers to the list of acceptable verbs that came packaged with the game. The list gives several intriguing possibilities, which Dodge explores. Next he spends several minutes pursuing several iterations of navigational techniques. In the process the learns more about the lexicon and navigational system of the game. In the process his character finds his way to the hotel’s health club. Dodge finds parallels between Disch’s descriptions of the run-down hotel pool and health club to a short story by David Foster Wallace, Forever Overhead. Both describe signs or lettering where letters have fallen off, leaving partial remnants of words.
 
As Dodge explores the environment, he repeats many of the techniques used earlier. He looks around, he takes items, he checks his inventory. He is able to open a door and enter the health club, at which point he is prompted to flip the disk over. Dodge notes that physically interacting with the disk is a satisfying experience. The other side of the disk continues Amnesia’s narrative and soon Dodge’s character has a moment of DEJA-VU, where the lost memories of his past supplant the game-world’s present. Dodge comments on Disch’s text’s descriptions and laments that contemporary game text-objects are often not written to this same standard.


Traversal of Thomas M. Disch's AMNESIA, Part 3
This section of the traversal video takes us away from the earlier New York hotel environment and the player is caught up in a memory of time in a prison cell. In this memory, the player is addressed by a different name and the person addressing him, a prison guard, speaks with a Texas twang. Dodge notes the new setting and again sets about to explore and learn about this new environment. In this memory, the player is not able explore using the commands that worked previously. Dodge has his player go to sleep and the game takes him back to the previous setting. He is left wondering if the prison sequence was a memory or a waking nightmare.
 
This section of the game is full of exposition. Dodge notices the word choice and vocabulary used to describe the environment. In the story, the player wakes to learn that he has passed out in the health-club’s sauna and has been rescued by hotel employees. He is recognized and his clothing is returned to him. Dodge uses his repertoire of adventure game techniques to explore this area, but the narrative restricts his choice at this point and the story returns him to the hotel room. At this point the traversal ends and we move on to the question and answer portion of the traversal event.


Traversal of Thomas M. Disch's AMNESIA, Part 4
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur ac ultricies nulla. Curabitur vel aliquet sem. Aenean felis dui, egestas nec odio eget, porta porttitor dui. Quisque vel varius velit. Donec lacus leo, blandit vel bibendum quis, ullamcorper et ligula. Aliquam iaculis auctor viverra. Aenean lacinia magna et mi viverra, sed pellentesque odio scelerisque. Integer sem leo, fermentum nec odio non, tempor varius ligula. Cras blandit tellus massa, vestibulum convallis lacus tincidunt et. Proin congue volutpat nunc id condimentum. Etiam venenatis ante vitae lorem eleifend, eu efficitur massa maximus. Nunc egestas semper risus, semper pulvinar urna suscipit ut. Aliquam maximus imperdiet risus eu molestie. Cras sed est fermentum, scelerisque dui ac, aliquam quam. In non venenatis neque. Nam eu dolor semper, luctus sem quis, iaculis massa. Vivamus gravida non orci sit amet dignissim. Nulla elementum mauris non nisi ornare suscipit. Ut in rhoncus libero.

Traversal of Thomas M. Disch's AMNESIA, Q&A, Part 1
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur ac ultricies nulla. Curabitur vel aliquet sem. Aenean felis dui, egestas nec odio eget, porta porttitor dui. Quisque vel varius velit. Donec lacus leo, blandit vel bibendum quis, ullamcorper et ligula. Aliquam iaculis auctor viverra. Aenean lacinia magna et mi viverra, sed pellentesque odio scelerisque. Integer sem leo, fermentum nec odio non, tempor varius ligula. Cras blandit tellus massa, vestibulum convallis lacus tincidunt et. Proin congue volutpat nunc id condimentum. Etiam venenatis ante vitae lorem eleifend, eu efficitur massa maximus. Nunc egestas semper risus, semper pulvinar urna suscipit ut. Aliquam maximus imperdiet risus eu molestie. Cras sed est fermentum, scelerisque dui ac, aliquam quam. In non venenatis neque. Nam eu dolor semper, luctus sem quis, iaculis massa. Vivamus gravida non orci sit amet dignissim. Nulla elementum mauris non nisi ornare suscipit. Ut in rhoncus libero.

Traversal of Thomas M. Disch's AMNESIA, Q&A, Part 2
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur ac ultricies nulla. Curabitur vel aliquet sem. Aenean felis dui, egestas nec odio eget, porta porttitor dui. Quisque vel varius velit. Donec lacus leo, blandit vel bibendum quis, ullamcorper et ligula. Aliquam iaculis auctor viverra. Aenean lacinia magna et mi viverra, sed pellentesque odio scelerisque. Integer sem leo, fermentum nec odio non, tempor varius ligula. Cras blandit tellus massa, vestibulum convallis lacus tincidunt et. Proin congue volutpat nunc id condimentum. Etiam venenatis ante vitae lorem eleifend, eu efficitur massa maximus. Nunc egestas semper risus, semper pulvinar urna suscipit ut. Aliquam maximus imperdiet risus eu molestie. Cras sed est fermentum, scelerisque dui ac, aliquam quam. In non venenatis neque. Nam eu dolor semper, luctus sem quis, iaculis massa. Vivamus gravida non orci sit amet dignissim. Nulla elementum mauris non nisi ornare suscipit. Ut in rhoncus libero.

Traversal of Thomas M. Disch's AMNESIA, Q&A, Part 3
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur ac ultricies nulla. Curabitur vel aliquet sem. Aenean felis dui, egestas nec odio eget, porta porttitor dui. Quisque vel varius velit. Donec lacus leo, blandit vel bibendum quis, ullamcorper et ligula. Aliquam iaculis auctor viverra. Aenean lacinia magna et mi viverra, sed pellentesque odio scelerisque. Integer sem leo, fermentum nec odio non, tempor varius ligula. Cras blandit tellus massa, vestibulum convallis lacus tincidunt et. Proin congue volutpat nunc id condimentum. Etiam venenatis ante vitae lorem eleifend, eu efficitur massa maximus. Nunc egestas semper risus, semper pulvinar urna suscipit ut. Aliquam maximus imperdiet risus eu molestie. Cras sed est fermentum, scelerisque dui ac, aliquam quam. In non venenatis neque. Nam eu dolor semper, luctus sem quis, iaculis massa. Vivamus gravida non orci sit amet dignissim. Nulla elementum mauris non nisi ornare suscipit. Ut in rhoncus libero.