In Medias Resolution

"Unfortunately, Narrative in modern video games at large has always been a rather contentious topic in Game Studies. On the one hand, some have argued that the narratives of games have sufficient depth to be explicated, or that games in and of themselves (and between their players) constitute a kind of meta-narrative. In response to this, others have equally argued that narrative is incidental to the game medium, and/or that a game narrative cannot be meaningfully understood

These are the three seminal texts for Game Studies: 1) Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature by Espen Aarseth 2) Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds by Jesper Juul 3) Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace by Janet Murray I hope that one day I can write a book that can count among these. #narratology #aarseth #janetmurray #juul #requiredreading #book #criticalquestions #gamestudiescurrently #gradschoollife #ludology #m

I nearly leapt out of my seat when I read this. Thankfully I can still control myself: "The actual concern of computer game philology lies in the development of a model of interaction between the player and the game. This approach is guided by the idea that literary theory is, at its core, a theory of interaction between the human mind and a meaningful array of signs, constituting a semiotic process in which the materiality of these signs is secondary." (Julian Kucklich, The

"Literary Theory and Computer Games" by Julian Kucklich (2001): This paper is just a fascinating collection of pertinent things. There are many times I felt the author was addressing me directly. Although the highlighted text in this photo is my main "haha" moment, I do find that I am encouraged to unpack and dispute the contents of the statement just below it, that basically claim that my current approach to research is inherently some sort of effort to colonize the media of

#ludology #gamestudiescurrently #gradschoollife #masters #musings #quote

This is completely out of context. Figure 2 from "Literary Theory and Computer Games" by Julian Kucklich (2001). It's the goddamn Triforce... #kucklich #ludology #masters #musings #quote #research

Espen Aarseth on Quest Games: "Successful productions of this type, whether we call them stories, games, or story-game hybrids, must find a balance between the landscape and the path forward. The landscape must disguise its unicursal nature, and the true path must appear as though it was one choice among many." It's the freaking Matrix! #aarseth #criticalquestions #gamedesign #ludology #masters #musings #quote

Alright, I'm not yet finished reading the entirety of the article entitled "A Narrative Theory of Games" by Games Studies fixture Espen Aarseth, but here's a fun tidbit (that I wholly admit may be out of context when just thrown on facebook for fun like this): "'I wish to challenge the recurrent practice of applying the theories of literary criticism to a new empirical field, seemingly without any critical reassessment of the terms and concepts involved. (Aarseth 1997)'/// Th