A theory of non-existent video games: Semiotic and video game theory

Abstract

In this chapter, I will suggest a renewed approach to video game analysis. I will use a seemingly paradoxical case of a video game that has never been released in order to critique some of the approaches used so far in game studies. I will then propose an approach grounded in semiotic theory. What I propose is a study of games not based on the attempt to analyze their occurrence or material existence. Rather, I suggest we consider how a video game ‘lives’ in a social context, how it is commented upon, talked or written about. This approach involves the external texts, paratexts and references evoked by a video game. I will also show how game analysis so far has often done something similar to what I am proposing, but pretending to go in a different direction in the attempt to establish a new epistemology. I suggest that a desire to differentiate game theory and video games from previous experiences is not a fruitful path. It is much more interesting to see to which extent video games and a study of gaming can be similar to other objects and theoretical approaches.