At the threshold into new worlds: Virtual reality game worlds beyond narratives

• Main Authors: Kai Matuszkiewicz, Franziska Weidle
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam University Press 2019-01-01
• Series: NECSUS : European journal of media studies
• Online Access: https://necsus-ejms.org/at-the-threshold-into-new-worlds-virtual-reality-game-worlds-beyond-narratives/

Virtual and Augmented Reality systems are becoming increasingly popular in our everyday lives. Although these systems are extraordinary examples of the new role played by the human body in digital media ecologies much of the academic scholarship conducted in this area tends to interpret such phenomena from a narrativist standpoint. Such approaches often overlook the essential characteristics of non-narrative media. As a counter-strategy, we propose virtual fictionality – a concept emphasising central aspects of worldliness in VR-based works that lie beyond the narrative paradigm. The aim of the paper is to outline virtual fictionality as a particular world-making strategy of digital games that turns players into configurators.