Videogame Formalism

Alex Mitchell teaches in the Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore. His research investigates defamiliarization in gameplay, motivations for replaying story-focused games, authoring tools, and collaborative storytelling. He is a founding member of the executive board of the Association for Research in Interactive Digital Narratives (ARDIN). Jasper van Vught is assistant professor in the department of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University (Netherlands). His research includes methodological challenges to studying games as texts and pedagogical challenges to teaching about them. He’s a core member of the Centre for the Study of Digital Games and Play.

• Preface, 1. Introduction, 2. On Videogame Form, 3. On Aesthetic Experience, 4. On Methodology, 5. Applying Formalism, 6. Conclusion, About the Authors, Index.

"...Mitchell and van Vught’s book provides an important demonstration of the relevance of formalist analysis in contemporary games research.'' - Hans-Joachim Backe, Eludamos, Vol. 15, No.1, 2024