Description

Digital Games are a significant medium which offers a wide array of narrative similarities and differences from other, more traditional narrative mediums.  The interactive nature of games renders them unique; they are the only narrative medium with this feature.  As such, digital game narratives change dynamics between the writer and reader.  Additionally, this dynamic affects game players in unique ways that are explored in many disciplines, including computer science, psychology, technical communication, film, and literature.  As a new art form, games also resist traditional literary analytical theory. While adhering to many elements of traditional narrative structures, game narratives contain their own complex series of narrative elements, requiring new theoretical understanding and rhetorical analysis procedures.  Digital Games are also enormously popular, second only to film in terms of gross annual sales of narrative media content.  And according to research by the Entertainment Software Association and a 2016 Pew Study, nearly all young people 12 years and older play games, from Candy Crush and Angry Birds on their phones to highly sophisticated digital role-playing games or action adventures.