2016
Roine, Hanna-Riikka
Yleinen kirjallisuustiede, Tampereen yliopisto, 2016, ISBN: 978-952-03-0195-8.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Avainsanat: englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, narratology, rhetoric, speculative fiction, transmediality, worldbuilding
@phdthesis{Roine2016,
title = {Imaginative, immersive and interactive engagements: The rhetoric of worldbuilding in contemporary speculative fiction},
author = {Hanna-Riikka Roine},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-0195-8},
isbn = {978-952-03-0195-8},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
urldate = {2016-01-01},
school = {Yleinen kirjallisuustiede, Tampereen yliopisto},
abstract = {The dissertation addresses the relevance and purpose of speculative fiction. How can we analytically examine the ways speculative fiction – fantasy and science fiction – can speak to us? Why is it possible to find relevance in works of fiction dealing with distant, strange and impossible worlds, events and characters? The main finding of the dissertation is that worldbuilding is among the most fundamental rhetorical and communicative practices of speculative fiction. Furthermore, the dissertation proves that as a practice that transcends medial boundaries, worldbuilding is one of the features that define speculative fiction genre.
The case studies of the dissertation present a wide variety of contemporary speculative fiction from novels to digital games, films, television shows and fanfiction stories. They have been chosen not only to illustrate the poetics of speculative fiction but also to guide theoretical debates into new territories in the spirit of descriptive poetics. The principal theoretical frameworks are rhetorical and transmedial narratology. Until now, they have largely drawn both their case studies and analytical concepts from literary fiction – and a very particular kind of literary fiction – while speculative fiction and other media have been overlooked. In this regard, the starting point of the dissertation is that the theoretical apparatus of narratology can effectively highlight features and questions relevant to speculative fiction, while material that is new to the apparatus can, in turn, refine and complement the theory.
The dialogue between the case studies and the theory, described above, is brought to the fore through the concept of worldbuilding. The dissertation challenges and complements the established ways of using the concept both in narratology and in speculative fiction research. Worldbuilding is defined as a rhetorical and communicative practice instead of focusing on the ontologically oriented analysis of “creating” a world or on the cognitively informed approach emphasising “making sense” of worlds. Instead, the practice of worldbuilding is suited for introducing ideas or thought experiments central to speculative fiction and for engaging the users – readers, players and viewers – to work out these ideas and experiments.
The main argument on worldbuilding has been divided into three sections that address different ways of engaging with works of fiction: imagination, immersion, and interaction. Worldbuilding is, thus, seen as a practice that guides both the creation of works of fiction and the ways the users approach the works. The first section (Chapters 1–3) outlines worldbuilding as a distinct practice of emphasising ideas and enabling different uses of imagination to come together. Speculative fiction combines the creative imagining of fictional characters, events and locations with the rational and systematic process of prospecting into what is to come. In addition to this, the double-layered quality of fiction – the simultaneous awareness of the artifice and the possibly existing dimensions of the work at hand – is seen as a fundamental quality of worldbuilding as a rhetorical and communicative practice. The second section (Chapters 4–6) addresses worldbuilding as a dynamic process between the work and the user. Immersion is, therefore, defined as a similarly dynamic activity, where the user both apprehends the framework and uses it. The rhetorical potential of worldbuilding is located into the simultaneous processes of engaging the users to imagine alternatives as well as possibilities by means of world models and handing them tools to reflect on the ways this is done. Finally, the third section (Chapters 7–8) suggests that such a twofold approach to worldbuilding can be used to explore the ways digital media has influenced our understanding and engagement with works of fiction. The analysis of interactivity focusses on the way the apprehension of worlds both as constructs and processes can be used in introducing new instalments to transmedial contexts. Thus, the ways “canonical” worlds differ from fan-created “fanonical” worlds in their rhetorical and communicative goals are brought to light for discussion.
All in all, the dissertation attests to the benefits of creating a dialogue between speculative fiction and narratology: speculative fiction widens our understanding of what fiction is about and what its appeal is, whereas narratology helps to map the distinct rhetorical and communicative practices of speculative fiction genre. Furthermore, the dissertation suggests that worldbuilding is one of the contemporary cultural dominants, which has been gained a strong boost from the rise of digital media. Speculative fiction is fundamentally about ideas, and the dissertation argues that engaging ourselves in creating and working through such ideas can be an enjoyable and revolutionary practice.},
keywords = {englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, narratology, rhetoric, speculative fiction, transmediality, worldbuilding},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
The dissertation addresses the relevance and purpose of speculative fiction. How can we analytically examine the ways speculative fiction – fantasy and science fiction – can speak to us? Why is it possible to find relevance in works of fiction dealing with distant, strange and impossible worlds, events and characters? The main finding of the dissertation is that worldbuilding is among the most fundamental rhetorical and communicative practices of speculative fiction. Furthermore, the dissertation proves that as a practice that transcends medial boundaries, worldbuilding is one of the features that define speculative fiction genre.
The case studies of the dissertation present a wide variety of contemporary speculative fiction from novels to digital games, films, television shows and fanfiction stories. They have been chosen not only to illustrate the poetics of speculative fiction but also to guide theoretical debates into new territories in the spirit of descriptive poetics. The principal theoretical frameworks are rhetorical and transmedial narratology. Until now, they have largely drawn both their case studies and analytical concepts from literary fiction – and a very particular kind of literary fiction – while speculative fiction and other media have been overlooked. In this regard, the starting point of the dissertation is that the theoretical apparatus of narratology can effectively highlight features and questions relevant to speculative fiction, while material that is new to the apparatus can, in turn, refine and complement the theory.
The dialogue between the case studies and the theory, described above, is brought to the fore through the concept of worldbuilding. The dissertation challenges and complements the established ways of using the concept both in narratology and in speculative fiction research. Worldbuilding is defined as a rhetorical and communicative practice instead of focusing on the ontologically oriented analysis of “creating” a world or on the cognitively informed approach emphasising “making sense” of worlds. Instead, the practice of worldbuilding is suited for introducing ideas or thought experiments central to speculative fiction and for engaging the users – readers, players and viewers – to work out these ideas and experiments.
The main argument on worldbuilding has been divided into three sections that address different ways of engaging with works of fiction: imagination, immersion, and interaction. Worldbuilding is, thus, seen as a practice that guides both the creation of works of fiction and the ways the users approach the works. The first section (Chapters 1–3) outlines worldbuilding as a distinct practice of emphasising ideas and enabling different uses of imagination to come together. Speculative fiction combines the creative imagining of fictional characters, events and locations with the rational and systematic process of prospecting into what is to come. In addition to this, the double-layered quality of fiction – the simultaneous awareness of the artifice and the possibly existing dimensions of the work at hand – is seen as a fundamental quality of worldbuilding as a rhetorical and communicative practice. The second section (Chapters 4–6) addresses worldbuilding as a dynamic process between the work and the user. Immersion is, therefore, defined as a similarly dynamic activity, where the user both apprehends the framework and uses it. The rhetorical potential of worldbuilding is located into the simultaneous processes of engaging the users to imagine alternatives as well as possibilities by means of world models and handing them tools to reflect on the ways this is done. Finally, the third section (Chapters 7–8) suggests that such a twofold approach to worldbuilding can be used to explore the ways digital media has influenced our understanding and engagement with works of fiction. The analysis of interactivity focusses on the way the apprehension of worlds both as constructs and processes can be used in introducing new instalments to transmedial contexts. Thus, the ways “canonical” worlds differ from fan-created “fanonical” worlds in their rhetorical and communicative goals are brought to light for discussion.
All in all, the dissertation attests to the benefits of creating a dialogue between speculative fiction and narratology: speculative fiction widens our understanding of what fiction is about and what its appeal is, whereas narratology helps to map the distinct rhetorical and communicative practices of speculative fiction genre. Furthermore, the dissertation suggests that worldbuilding is one of the contemporary cultural dominants, which has been gained a strong boost from the rise of digital media. Speculative fiction is fundamentally about ideas, and the dissertation argues that engaging ourselves in creating and working through such ideas can be an enjoyable and revolutionary practice.
The case studies of the dissertation present a wide variety of contemporary speculative fiction from novels to digital games, films, television shows and fanfiction stories. They have been chosen not only to illustrate the poetics of speculative fiction but also to guide theoretical debates into new territories in the spirit of descriptive poetics. The principal theoretical frameworks are rhetorical and transmedial narratology. Until now, they have largely drawn both their case studies and analytical concepts from literary fiction – and a very particular kind of literary fiction – while speculative fiction and other media have been overlooked. In this regard, the starting point of the dissertation is that the theoretical apparatus of narratology can effectively highlight features and questions relevant to speculative fiction, while material that is new to the apparatus can, in turn, refine and complement the theory.
The dialogue between the case studies and the theory, described above, is brought to the fore through the concept of worldbuilding. The dissertation challenges and complements the established ways of using the concept both in narratology and in speculative fiction research. Worldbuilding is defined as a rhetorical and communicative practice instead of focusing on the ontologically oriented analysis of “creating” a world or on the cognitively informed approach emphasising “making sense” of worlds. Instead, the practice of worldbuilding is suited for introducing ideas or thought experiments central to speculative fiction and for engaging the users – readers, players and viewers – to work out these ideas and experiments.
The main argument on worldbuilding has been divided into three sections that address different ways of engaging with works of fiction: imagination, immersion, and interaction. Worldbuilding is, thus, seen as a practice that guides both the creation of works of fiction and the ways the users approach the works. The first section (Chapters 1–3) outlines worldbuilding as a distinct practice of emphasising ideas and enabling different uses of imagination to come together. Speculative fiction combines the creative imagining of fictional characters, events and locations with the rational and systematic process of prospecting into what is to come. In addition to this, the double-layered quality of fiction – the simultaneous awareness of the artifice and the possibly existing dimensions of the work at hand – is seen as a fundamental quality of worldbuilding as a rhetorical and communicative practice. The second section (Chapters 4–6) addresses worldbuilding as a dynamic process between the work and the user. Immersion is, therefore, defined as a similarly dynamic activity, where the user both apprehends the framework and uses it. The rhetorical potential of worldbuilding is located into the simultaneous processes of engaging the users to imagine alternatives as well as possibilities by means of world models and handing them tools to reflect on the ways this is done. Finally, the third section (Chapters 7–8) suggests that such a twofold approach to worldbuilding can be used to explore the ways digital media has influenced our understanding and engagement with works of fiction. The analysis of interactivity focusses on the way the apprehension of worlds both as constructs and processes can be used in introducing new instalments to transmedial contexts. Thus, the ways “canonical” worlds differ from fan-created “fanonical” worlds in their rhetorical and communicative goals are brought to light for discussion.
All in all, the dissertation attests to the benefits of creating a dialogue between speculative fiction and narratology: speculative fiction widens our understanding of what fiction is about and what its appeal is, whereas narratology helps to map the distinct rhetorical and communicative practices of speculative fiction genre. Furthermore, the dissertation suggests that worldbuilding is one of the contemporary cultural dominants, which has been gained a strong boost from the rise of digital media. Speculative fiction is fundamentally about ideas, and the dissertation argues that engaging ourselves in creating and working through such ideas can be an enjoyable and revolutionary practice.
2015
Arjoranta, Jonne
Real-time hermeneutics: Meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games Väitöskirja
Digitaalinen kulttuuri, Jyväskylän yliopisto, 2015, ISBN: 978-951-39-6164-0.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Avainsanat: computer games, definition, digital games, englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, Gadamer, game studies, Hans-Georg, hermeneutics, language-games, ludonarrative, Ludwig, meaning, narratology, role-playing games, sociology of language and religion, videogames, Wittgenstein
@phdthesis{Arjoranta2015,
title = {Real-time hermeneutics: Meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games},
author = {Jonne Arjoranta},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-6164-0},
isbn = {978-951-39-6164-0},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-01-01},
school = {Digitaalinen kulttuuri, Jyväskylän yliopisto},
abstract = {Digital games are a relatively new medium. While they have been around for over half a century, they only became a major part of the culture relatively late. Like every other medium before, games also have struggled to find an expressive language of their own. Some of the expressive styles of other media are still relevant for games, but new ones have to be created specifically for videogames.
This dissertation is a study of how ludonarrative videogames, videogames that combine game elements with narrative elements, express and convey meaning. This is done as part of game studies, a multidisciplinary approach to studying games. The purpose is twofold: to build a foundation for better understanding of meaning-making in games, and to provide game designers with tools for analyzing issues related to meaning.
This study uses philosophical tools to analyze meaning in games. The philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer is used to compare the meaning-making in games to the interpretation of works of art. The theory of the interpretive process is based on the idea of the hermeneutic circle. Wittgenstein’s concept of language-games is used in examining how games should be defined and how their relations to each other should be understood. These philosophical methods are combined with the study of procedurality, narrativity and players.
This study shows that ludonarrative games are procedural systems that are interpreted both during gameplay and as a part of the surrounding cultural context. The result of this interpretation is neither predetermined by the game designer nor fixed during gameplay, but potentially open for endless reinterpretation as players interact with the game in new ways and as the cultural context changes. In order to convey meaning, ludonarrative games can borrow expressive tools from other media, for example by using perspective in the way it is used in cinema.
Additionally, this study provides guidelines for designing meaning. It is shown how meaning can be used as a game mechanic, and how games contain unique ways of expressing things that would be hard to convey in other media.},
keywords = {computer games, definition, digital games, englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, Gadamer, game studies, Hans-Georg, hermeneutics, language-games, ludonarrative, Ludwig, meaning, narratology, role-playing games, sociology of language and religion, videogames, Wittgenstein},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
Digital games are a relatively new medium. While they have been around for over half a century, they only became a major part of the culture relatively late. Like every other medium before, games also have struggled to find an expressive language of their own. Some of the expressive styles of other media are still relevant for games, but new ones have to be created specifically for videogames.
This dissertation is a study of how ludonarrative videogames, videogames that combine game elements with narrative elements, express and convey meaning. This is done as part of game studies, a multidisciplinary approach to studying games. The purpose is twofold: to build a foundation for better understanding of meaning-making in games, and to provide game designers with tools for analyzing issues related to meaning.
This study uses philosophical tools to analyze meaning in games. The philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer is used to compare the meaning-making in games to the interpretation of works of art. The theory of the interpretive process is based on the idea of the hermeneutic circle. Wittgenstein’s concept of language-games is used in examining how games should be defined and how their relations to each other should be understood. These philosophical methods are combined with the study of procedurality, narrativity and players.
This study shows that ludonarrative games are procedural systems that are interpreted both during gameplay and as a part of the surrounding cultural context. The result of this interpretation is neither predetermined by the game designer nor fixed during gameplay, but potentially open for endless reinterpretation as players interact with the game in new ways and as the cultural context changes. In order to convey meaning, ludonarrative games can borrow expressive tools from other media, for example by using perspective in the way it is used in cinema.
Additionally, this study provides guidelines for designing meaning. It is shown how meaning can be used as a game mechanic, and how games contain unique ways of expressing things that would be hard to convey in other media.
This dissertation is a study of how ludonarrative videogames, videogames that combine game elements with narrative elements, express and convey meaning. This is done as part of game studies, a multidisciplinary approach to studying games. The purpose is twofold: to build a foundation for better understanding of meaning-making in games, and to provide game designers with tools for analyzing issues related to meaning.
This study uses philosophical tools to analyze meaning in games. The philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer is used to compare the meaning-making in games to the interpretation of works of art. The theory of the interpretive process is based on the idea of the hermeneutic circle. Wittgenstein’s concept of language-games is used in examining how games should be defined and how their relations to each other should be understood. These philosophical methods are combined with the study of procedurality, narrativity and players.
This study shows that ludonarrative games are procedural systems that are interpreted both during gameplay and as a part of the surrounding cultural context. The result of this interpretation is neither predetermined by the game designer nor fixed during gameplay, but potentially open for endless reinterpretation as players interact with the game in new ways and as the cultural context changes. In order to convey meaning, ludonarrative games can borrow expressive tools from other media, for example by using perspective in the way it is used in cinema.
Additionally, this study provides guidelines for designing meaning. It is shown how meaning can be used as a game mechanic, and how games contain unique ways of expressing things that would be hard to convey in other media.
2009
Eskelinen, Markku
Travels in cybertextuality: The challenge of ergodic literature and ludology to literary theory Väitöskirja
Jyväskylän yliopisto, digitaalinen kulttuuri, 2009, ISBN: 978-951-39-3653-2.
Abstract | BibTeX | Avainsanat: cybertext theory, englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, ergodic literature, game studies, literary theory, ludology, narratology, transmediality
@phdthesis{Eskelinen2009,
title = {Travels in cybertextuality: The challenge of ergodic literature and ludology to literary theory},
author = {Markku Eskelinen},
isbn = {978-951-39-3653-2},
year = {2009},
date = {2009-01-01},
school = {Jyväskylän yliopisto, digitaalinen kulttuuri},
abstract = {The dissertation’s main point of departure is the clash between explicit and implicit presuppositions, conceptualisations and generalisations in print-oriented literary theoretical paradigms and a plenitude of empirically verifiable anomalies and counter-examples to them found in digital and ergodic works of literature. The behaviour of these counter-examples is explained by cybertext theory that addresses the often neglected issue of the variety of literary media. Both the empirical counter-examples and the empirically verifiable differences in the behaviour of literary media allow us to expand and modify literary theories to suit not just one traditionally privileged media position but all of them. Therefore, in the first half of the dissertation, literary theory and narratology are viewed and modified from the perspective of slightly revised cybertext theory. In this process theories of ergodic and non-ergodic literature are integrated more closely and several so far non-theorized ways of manipulating narrative time, regulating narrative information, and generating narrative instances are located and theorized. In the second half of the dissertation, the role of cybertext theory and the position of ergodic literature are reversed as they are viewed from the perspectives provided by ludology and game ontology. This is necessary to better situate ergodic literature in the continuum of other ergodic phenomena and between interpretative and dominantly configurative practices. To this end a provisional and formal paradigm of ludology is first constructed and synthesized from previous ludological research and then applied to newer forms and genres of ergodic literature such as textual instruments.},
keywords = {cybertext theory, englanninkieliset väitöskirjat, ergodic literature, game studies, literary theory, ludology, narratology, transmediality},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
The dissertation’s main point of departure is the clash between explicit and implicit presuppositions, conceptualisations and generalisations in print-oriented literary theoretical paradigms and a plenitude of empirically verifiable anomalies and counter-examples to them found in digital and ergodic works of literature. The behaviour of these counter-examples is explained by cybertext theory that addresses the often neglected issue of the variety of literary media. Both the empirical counter-examples and the empirically verifiable differences in the behaviour of literary media allow us to expand and modify literary theories to suit not just one traditionally privileged media position but all of them. Therefore, in the first half of the dissertation, literary theory and narratology are viewed and modified from the perspective of slightly revised cybertext theory. In this process theories of ergodic and non-ergodic literature are integrated more closely and several so far non-theorized ways of manipulating narrative time, regulating narrative information, and generating narrative instances are located and theorized. In the second half of the dissertation, the role of cybertext theory and the position of ergodic literature are reversed as they are viewed from the perspectives provided by ludology and game ontology. This is necessary to better situate ergodic literature in the continuum of other ergodic phenomena and between interpretative and dominantly configurative practices. To this end a provisional and formal paradigm of ludology is first constructed and synthesized from previous ludological research and then applied to newer forms and genres of ergodic literature such as textual instruments.