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environment through skillful use of the tools and strategies offered by thegameplayenginethatcreatesandmaintainstheinteractivefictionalworld.Other, ever more sophisticated online multiplayer simulation and gameenvironments offer opportunities for player initiative and co‐constructionactivities, not only by way of finding personalised interpretational narrativepathways through the fictional environment, but also through redesigning,complementingandreformingitinvariousways.Thisalters,sometimesinquiteradicalways,thegeneralandmorespecificcontextsinwhichdifferentkindsofplayer‐gameplayandplayer‐playerinteractionoccur.This is clearly be a very different kind of media experience from that ofconsumersoftraditionalcinematicfiction,althoughcinema‐goers(asisthecase,as Iser, Eco and others have pointed out, also for consumers of “paper‐based”literature) certainly play an active co‐constructive role in interpreting, andattributing sense to, the narrative program of a film as it unfolds before theireyes.Inthecaseofcinematicfictionalnarratives,however,suchinterpretationprocesses largely take place without any significant degree of whole body, orevenbodypart,movementonthepartofviewers,andtodayitisofconsiderableinteresttospeculateabout,anddiscuss,justwhatthisquitespecificdifferenceintermsofwhatweshallrefertohereasembodiedimmersionprocessesmayhavetosayinexperientialandculturalvaluetermsforconsumersofoneortheothertypeofmediaartefact,andinthelongerterm,forthedifferentculturalcontextsand(notleast)marketplacestheseartefactsatpresent‘populate’.
+++INCOMPLETEDRAFTVERSION(PLEASEDONOTQUOTE)+++Level1:DefiningthefieldofplayI’dliketostartthistalkbyaskingyouwhetheryoubelieveFirstPersonShootervideogames could be said to constitute a particular kind of literary orcinematographicgenre?For those of you who may not know exactly what a First Person Shooter(hereafter FPS) game is, here is a screenshot from one quite well‐knownexample,anactionvideogamecalled“HalfLife” 1 (Fig.1).Figure1:ScreenShotfrom“HalfLife”Tokeepthingssimplefornow,I’lljustpointoutthatthephrase‘FirstPerson’refersheretothefactthatinthistypeofgameplayersareintendedtoenvisionthemselvessituatedbehindapowerfulautomaticrifle(orsomeotherweaponortool) that they operate by way of a proxy character or avatar in the gamepossibleworld.Theavatarisenvisionedascarrying,loadingorfiringtheweaponasavirtualprosthesisoftheplayerduringthegame.Thissymbolicprojectionof
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Page 5 and 6: narrative or other information mate
Page 7 and 8: In FPS games, one of the most signi
Page 9 and 10: Clearly,allinstancesofactualgame‐
Page 11 and 12: Figure6Figure7Touch screens have be
Page 13 and 14: WhenusingFPSgameconsolesplayersinth
Page 15 and 16: Figure12:Acoupleengagedplayingagame
Page 17 and 18: Looking is one thing, touching anot
Page 19: 2 SemioticadeiVideogiochi,2004,Unic

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