KŸcklich
Julian KŸcklich
julian@kuecklich.de
The Readability of Games vs. the Playability of Texts:
Towards a Holistic Theory of Fictionality
Playful interaction occurs not only in games, but in literary texts as well. One cannot describe what takes place between author, text, and reader more accurately than by calling it a game, even if, in a literal or metaphorical sense, the author is dead. This granted, it is obvious that games cannot be reduced, as it were, to playthings, but that games must be considered as cultural objects that are being read - and, inevitably, interpreted.
One does not, however, read solely for the plot. This is why a purely narratological analysis of both digital and analog games is bound to fail. The goal, or one of the goals, of many games is the creation of a fictional world to be inhabited and explored by the players. In this respect, games are similar to literary texts, and a philological approach to games is therefore primarily justified because of their fictionality, rather than their narrative qualities.
Reader response theorists such as Wolfgang Iser have been among the first to point out the peculiar "gameness" of fictional texts, inviting the reader to engage in a game of make-believe. This is my starting point in an exploration of different models of "playability", and how they can be used to understand the "readability" of games. In this process, light is shed on why models from literary theory often seem inappropriate not only for the study of games, but for the study of their intended objects from the realm of literature as well. In effect, the concept of playability emerges as a theoretical concept with relevance not only to game studies, but to cultural studies in general.
Julian KŸcklich is a Ph.D. student of literature at Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich. His M.A. thesis, "Prolegomena zu einer literaturwissenschaftlich begrŸndeten Theorie narrativer Spiele in den elektronischen Medien" focuses on computer games as a culturally embedded phenomenon in relation to literature, games, and media.
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