I connected with Quinn’s reflection on Task 5, especially the final paragraph, because it resonated with my own experience as a grade school student reading Choose Your Own Adventure books. Like Quinn, I find comfort in reading a book from beginning to end, knowing the story will unfold in a predetermined way and that I won’t miss anything..
Reflecting on Choose Your Own Adventure books and exploring the Twine projects led me to think of other video games. After completing ETEC 544 Digital Game and Learning and exploring The Witcher 3 video game, I continued to play it beyond the course. The Witcher 3 is highly narrative-driven, with a complex storyline in which your decisions as Geralt influence the plot, character interactions, and available choices. This mirrors real-life decision-making, where choices shape our paths in ways we can’t always predict, however, I often wonder whether I am missing something in the game due to a path I have taken.
Reflecting further on hypertext and the web, I recognize how often I feel a similar sense of missing out. The sheer volume of available information can be overwhelming when researching a topic. Unless I focus my attention, I struggle to process gathered information, constantly wondering what I might be missing. This illustrates how technology has transformed information-seeking behaviour. As a middle school student, my research process was straightforward—I consulted the World Book Encyclopedia, followed references to related entries, or sought guidance from the school librarian, who would direct me via the Dewey Decimal System to a specific yet small section of books. Today, when my 15-year-old son conducts research, he enters a topic into Google and is confronted with thousands of results. This abundance of links and information presents both opportunities and challenges, making digital literacy an essential skill for today’s students.