A New Approach to Reading Videogames as Story

Virtual Cathedrals in an Age of Decadence
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-30258-4
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 238 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature

This book introduces a new methodology for understanding videogames, with particular attention to three types of videogames: toy-games, storybook games, and ludonarratives. This methodology pulls from phenomenological and deconstructionist roots, informed by medieval studies and the history of reading, to emphasize how important playing stories can be as a form of narrative. This book explores the idea of storyplaying in connection with new ideas on intromersive movement, game mechanics, and sacred play to develop a typology of videogames that will enable critics, educators, and theorists to situate videogames within a broad continuum of literary history.

Building on this foundation, this book continues by exploring additional facets of this methodology by exploring the relationship between videogames and film criticism, the emerging art world of game-mediated photography, the various economies constructed around videogames, the potential of games to serve as third places, and some suggestions for videogames in the classroom. These ideas are contextualized by the author’s argument that videogames serve a purpose akin to the original function of medieval cathedrals, as intentional virtual spaces with dedicated (and important) meditation, which, given today’s decadent cultural and political climate, underscores the urgency of recognizing videogames as being vital to our scholarly and educational enterprises.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rowland, Thomas

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Strömungen & Epochen
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Programmierung | Softwareentwicklung Spiele-Programmierung, Rendering, Animation
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Lehrerausbildung, Unterricht & Didaktik Allgemeine Didaktik Literatur, Deutsch, Fremdsprachen (Unterricht & Didaktik)
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Gattungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction, Chapter 1 - Videogames and Pachyderms, Chapter 2 - Sacred Play, Chapter 3: Bring Me That Horizon, Chapter 4: The Rules of the Game, Chapter 5: The Death of Multiplayer Stories, Chapter 6: Digital Literacy and Learning, Chapter 7: Case Studies / Typology, Chapter 8: Functional Spaces Chapter 9: Film, Videogames, and Culture, Chapter 10: Modern Classrooms and Modern Cathedrals, Appendix 1: Game Suggestions, Games Cited, Bibliography, Index

Über Autor(innen)

Thomas Rowland is an independent scholar working on videogames and the history of reading.