+++ INCOMPLETE DRAFT VERSION (PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE) ++ ...

Clearly,allinstancesofactualgame‐playareinsomesensebuiltupintermsofageneralnarrativeschema:theyhaveprotagonists,interactionsandrelationshipsbetweenthese;thereisabeginning,amiddleandanend;andchangesofstatetakeplacealongtheway,asisthecaseinliteraryandcinematographicworks.Indeed,speedruns,oranyotherterminaltextrecordedduringgame‐playcanbedescribedinpreciselythesetermsasakindof“shortstory”or“film”.But games also offer players spaces for ludic interactions: a ‘magic circle’(Huizinga, Salen & Zimmerman) that privileges certain types of play activitiesover others. All games have explicit or implicit, formal or informal, rules thatguide players in how they should play there, as do board games, sports fields,schoolyards,theme‐parksandotherpublicplayspaces.Anotherapproachtodefininggamegenres(EgenfeldtNielsen,HeideSmithandPajares Tosca 2008) suggests a framework based on the success criteria ofgames.Whatdoesittaketoactuallysucceedinplayingthegame?Theirsystemissplitintofourprinciplegenres:actiongames(requiringfastreflexes),adventuregames (requiring abilities in logic), strategy games (requiring analysis ofindependent variables) and process­oriented games (requiring the desire toexploreandmasternewthings).EspenAarseth,apioneerincontemporarygamestudies,delineatedthenotionofgenre by combining theories of information, communication, literature andrhetoric.Hissuggestionwastotreatgenreasacomplexsystemconsistingofalarge number of independent variables, and to rate games according to whichclustersofthesevariablestheymostprominentlydisplay.InabookonCybertextin the early 90’s, he coined the term “ergodic literature” in an attempt tocharacteriseandclassifyanumberofearlyhypertextandother“virtualreality”projects.Subsequently,hehasgoneontoapplythissamenotiontointeractivemediaingeneral,andcomputergamesinparticular.Indoingso,heisseekingtodirect our attention to the fact that hypertexts, virtual reality environments,computergames,oranyotherkindofinteractivedigitalartmediaform,alwaysrequire quite specific, often distinctive, forms of emotional, physical and