crisevelaugh

The reason I'm asking is because as part of my thesis I also have to make a product. I'm in computer programming so I'm going to make a text-based interactive novel, if any of you have some ideas I'd love to hear them!

Wow! I didn't realize how many people would respond thanks for all the input! Also have any of you played Sorcery? It's an app by Inkle, and the company produces many text-based video games, the narrative type feel is what I'm going for. I'm including all text-based in my thesis, not just visual novels. So do you think things like Zork (if you're familiar with it), as well as other games where it's reading centered, could "engage" a reluctant reader? And I'm talking about students, possibly middle schoolers, as a populous to engage, because I know as adults or older students, reading comprehension isn't the real purpose someone would read a VN haha. Again thanks for all the feedback! This is really surprising and great! If you don't want to be included as part of my survey you can just comment and let me know.

Thanks so much to all of you! It's great to see both sides of this argument. I really needed it because sometimes I tend to lose perspective.

Some other responses that I've gotten are "anything that induces reading is helpful to literacy" all the way to "f--- no, I play 6 hours a day and I still don't think it's helpful" (that one being from my very helpful friend haha ) I really just need a different range of opinions. So thank you all so much again!

Thanks for the feedback guys! I'll be using both in my paper, just as a survey kind of thing. And the definition of literacy I'm going off of is the 21st century definition which includes a visual aspect (Harvard Pedagogy Database). Basically, nowadays literacy encompasses linguistics, as well as visual, audio, gestural, and spatial modes. Because of media, basically students should be able to recognize symbols as well as words. I'm not really trying to say that visual novels can improve reading literacy, but that they can "drive"--I suppose--reading in an environment outside of school. My topic is really just drawing conclusions from several sources to come up with a way to portray VN's and text-based video games as a "beneficial" learning tool. Thanks again so much! It's great to have feedback so quickly!! I''m also comparing them to an advanced version of "Choose Your Own Adventure Books" if any of you remember or know what those are, haha. My thesis states that VN's, text-based video games, and interactive novels (not necessarily all of the romantic ones), can engage a reluctant reader because of it's unique format. Those not willing or wanting to read, won't even realize they are when "playing".

Hi guys! I'm currently a student and I'm doing a research paper on visual novels. The topic that I'm trying to argue is that video games, specifically visual novels, can help improve literacy when people play them. I'm trying to prove that visual novels are basically like regular novels but more interactive and engaging. They also reach out to visual literacy as well as print literacy, because it involves pictures, facial expression, and learned social interaction. I just want some opinions on this topic, I've already done a lot of research, but it would be nice to have some other ideas. Thanks! Do you think visual novels can improve literacy? Why or why not.