The Well-Read Game: On Playing Thoughtfully (Playful Thinking)

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Synopsis
How players evoke personal and subjective meanings through a new theory of player response.In The Well-Read Game, Tracy Fullerton and Matthew Farber explore the experiences we have when we play games: not the outcomes of play or the aesthetics of formal game structures but the ephemeral and emotional experiences of being in play. These are the private stories we tell ourselves as we play, the questions we ask, and our reactions to the game&’s intent. These experiences are called &“readings&” because they involve so many of the aspects of engaging with literary, cinematic, and other expressive texts. A game that is experienced in such a way can be called &“well-read,&” rather than, or as well as, &“well-played,&” because of the personal, interpretive nature of that experience and the way in which it relates to our reading of texts of all kinds.The concept of the &“well-read game&” exists at the convergence of literary, media, and play theories—specifically, the works of Louise Rosenblatt&’s reader-response theory, Brian Upton&’s situational game theory, Tracy Fullerton&’s playcentric design theory, and Bernie DeKoven&’s well-played game philosophy. Each of these theories, from their own perspective, challenges notions of a separate, objective, or authorial meaning in a text and underscores the richness that arises from the varied responses of readers, who coauthor the meaning of each text through their active engagement with it. When taken together, these theories point to a richer understanding of what a game is and how we might better value our experiences with games to become more thoughtful readers of their essential meanings.
Copyright:
2025

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
244 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780262382915
Related ISBNs:
9780262552233
Publisher:
MIT Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Computers and Internet, Literature and Fiction, Language Arts, Communication
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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