the things we read

In today's world, books are no longer the best medium for either narrative works or reference material. Sure, they get the job done, and for many purposes all you really need is a paper and ink. For all its usefulness, though, the codex is not as efficient or aesthetically satisfying as newer media. The digital realm alone (to say nothing of film, for example) has a lot to offer: you can follow hyperlinks on interesting tangents; you can search a document and find the passage you want in seconds; you can embed video, audio, images, etc; and the list goes on. What these conveniences have created is a readership that appreciates and expects immediacy, and is great at reading these new kinds of texts.

We have a lot to read in our world. Think of all the text and images you encounter in a given day through various media, and all the connections, allusions, and conventions that you are assumed to know and recognize. Perhaps it is so unconscious that it goes unnoticed. Just as we find these things in literature, we also find them everywhere else we look in our material and virtual worlds. The conventional term 'text' isn't a very apt way to describe all this readable stuff, which perhaps makes it difficult to see the readability.

In terms of sheer volume of readable stuff, WoW is a very rich text. People who play the game have to learn how to read it. This blog intends to explore the many ways in which World of Warcraft is a textual cultural artifact.