Textuality In Video Games - In-Depth Look

I came across this term 'Textuality In Horror' when researching online. I found it mentioned in this article by Ewan Kirkland:

http://irishgothichorrorjournal.homestead.com/Kirkland.html

The title of this article is drawn from Philip Brophy’s 1983 essay which coins the neologism ‘horrality’, a merging of horror, textuality, morality and hilarity...Textuality examines the aesthetic qualities of survival horror, including the games’ use of narrative, their visual design and structuring of virtual spaces.

I have yet too look at this article in depth but the term textuality did jump out at me and I went on to look at more articles using this term. That's when I discovered 'Textuality In Video Games'.

http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/05163.10260.pdf

This particular article is a summary of the investigation that took place. It address' questions relating to interactivity, narrative and role-play.

When discussing the narrative theory in 'Baldur's Gate' the article gives a nice meaning of narrative and the 'pleasures associated' with it:

it manages to offer pleasures associated with narrative, such as plotted twists and revelations, resolution and characterisation, even as it breaks with existing accounts of narrative structure. - (p147)

 They also looked into film narrative:

We found Seymour Chatman’s work on film narrative pertinent because of his insistence that in a visual medium the differentiation between story-space and discourse space, and the arrangement of object (existents) in that space, are just as important as the discursive arrangement of events in time. - (p147)

 Agency was mentioned in this article which my supervisor has mentioned to me before in the context of player agency. Here is a nice description of different types of agencies:

Personal agency was found in examples of how users pause and take full advantage of the interactive environment that has been created, rather than seeing it as a means to an end. Whilst proxy agency, refers to instances in which users actively defer responsibility and utilise cultural tools to obtain problem-solving solutions, enlightenment on aspects of the narrative background, or deeper understanding of the fan-created knowledge base of character orientation and history. Lastly, collective agency refers to the fans’ extension of Oddworld through art, literature and games. - (p150)

 As mentioned, this was a short summerized article. There final outcome will be a book entitled 'Computer Games; Text, Narrative and Play.

Personal Notes

This article spoke of some interesting terms which I will look into more closly - player agency etc