So it’s getting to (well, really, it’s past) the point in the semester where I need a working thesis, so I would like to condense some points we’ve already discussed and maybe bring up a few more.

Magic as a metaphor for creativity/the creative act in literature, and how that translates into the visual/operational medium of a video game. (A subpoint of this might be the way characters are presented.)

The quest, like magic, is prominent in both fantasy literature and video games. What changes between the two mediums? What is valued, what is the grail in the books, and what is the grail in the games? What does that say about the difference between the two?

Similarities between game and fantasy literature–games have rules, magic has rules, quests have rules. The hero on a quest is playing a game–I think it’s interesting how the two seem to loop back in on each other.

If I take the literature as the core material of the game, what happens in translation? Could magic and the quest be two examples here?

Magic as literacy/knowledge v.s. magic as creativity–when do the two coexist, when do the two separate?

Can magic in games include agency of any kind–the ability to act on a world? Is any kind of special ability in a game world magic?

I am leaning towards the quest narrative at the moment. If I choose this, I need to narrow these rather disconnected thoughts into a single thesis sentence–and probably shift gears in my study from magic alone to the entire quest narrative, with all its trappings. Sort of a broader version of my Zelda presentation from Electronic Literature. Hoping to have this done on Friday. Wish me luck.