Week 8 Blog Post Dan Spargo

 Divergent Streams, the 7th chapter of Scott Rettberg's book on electronic literature, dives into a plethora of different ways to create E-lit that have not previously been covered within the writing. These are genres that are not often considered as traditional forms of electronic literature, however they are emerging more and more in the space, mandating that they be talked about due to the growing impact they have and will continue to have going forward. I love his discussion of virtual reality, as I see that to be the most advanced and newest form of electronic literature through mediums such as video games. Virtual reality is at the cutting edge of storytelling in the modern age. It allows for a whole new world of interactivity by actually enveloping the player/audience into the world of the story. It makes you the character, and makes you a real part of the story in a more compelling way than anything before. 

I chose to explore the route of virtual reality in my bring it phase, landing on a video game, as that is what I covered in my ELD entry last week. This game is part of a major franchise with a very convoluted and confusing story with many plot holes, but the singular experience is amazingly good. Resident Evil 7 is a horror game made in 2017, and as a normal console experience it is already very scary. However, the VR edition of the game takes things to a whole different level. You become completely immersed in the world of the game, experiencing the tense and anxiety-inducing atmosphere for yourself. It is a perfect demonstration of how virtual reality creates new possibilities in immersive storytelling and experiences. While Rettberg discussed many genres in this chapter, VR was the one that I felt most passionate about, and I thought it would be fun to explore.