LITERATURE: BASS 2005 – Braiding

I believe that’s what it’s called–braiding–and it is applied in Cory Doctorow’s Anda’s Game, by the reality of Anda and the online game she plays which is your pretty typical slash ’em and fight your way to points and status video.  The writing of the gameplay is excellent–although here I do have the advantage of having been killed myself by some pretty ugly thingies out there in Silent Hill 2.  And, while I questioned how the excitement of playing (and this takes place in the future, where voice communication adds to the camaraderie of team playing) could possibly be presented by text, Doctorow does it well. 

There is then, the story of the game:  Anda partners with Lucy to overcome their foes, but then a player who breaks rules by telling them about the game being a manipulation of big business at the cost to little girls being exploited in third world countries, playing and losing their livelihood if they lose, there is a conflict of morality involved that Anda and Lucy must face up to.

In the real world, Anda and many like her are becoming fat and indolent from lack of exercise because of the time spent at the computer, and while the reality pushes sports and sugar-free zones, once Anda makes real money on her victories, she naturally heads for the sweets. 

It is a look at the present expanded just a bit further into the possibilities of the future.  It is the worry of all parents, and the answer to the misfit child’s dream of acknowledgement.  But the theme comes down to moral decisions.  It faces the question of online friends and avatar presences replacing in-the-flesh connections, as well as the pain of reality in cruelty to others versus the non-harmful killing of game personas. 

Very interesting to think about, while keeping the arc and tension of the story at a high.  Nicely done.