When I first posed the question—are video games a form of digital storytelling?—I underestimated the vastness and complexity of what I was asking. What seemed like a straightforward inquiry led me into a debate that has endured for decades in game studies: narratology vs ludology. Engaging with this debate challenged me to think about what constitutes literature, and the evolution of storytelling.
In fact, the debate is dismissed even by a pivotal player in its origin, Espen Aarseth, who tells readers not to mention ‘the war’ (2019). Nevertheless, here I am mentioning it, and for a distinct reason, which I will discuss soon. Firstly, however, let me indulge in the trope with a recap:
- Narratologists argued that games are rich narrative forms, offering characters, plots, and worlds that rival those of literature and film. Titles such as Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda are celebrated for their capacity to immerse players in story-driven experiences (Domsch, 2013; Herman, 2002).
- Ludologists represented an opposing view, defining games as fundamentally rule-based systems, and it is the interplay between systems and stories that makes games distinctive, not their resemblance to novels or films (Juul, 2004).
In my reading, I examined perspectives spanning from Aarseth in 1997 (and later in 2019) to Sanders in 2023, which revealed that many experts now consider the debate a “trope” (Aarseth, 2019) and a theoretical non-event. For me, however, exploring the narratology–ludology clash has highlighted how our definitions of “digital literature” have evolved. While scholars have largely moved beyond the question of whether video games qualify as digital storytelling, the debate continues to resurface in classrooms as a valuable learning tool. For students like me, tracing these discussions offers powerful insights into how storytelling has developed and how we understand, create, and teach digital narratives today.
The discussion has evolved to a space where video games exist on a spectrum between story-driven and play-driven experiences (Kokonis, 2014). Domsch (2013) argues that narrative and gameplay create something new: storyplaying, since games can be both stories and systems simultaneously. This reframed my thinking: the question is not whether some video games are digital literature in a black-and-white term, but how different degrees of storytelling and gameplay integrate, and what purpose each element serves.
In my research on this, I too have moved beyond determining whether games are primarily stories or systems, but have instead evaluated digital stories and where they sit on a spectrum of quality digital literature. As a TL, I can guide students in exploring how these two dimensions interact. Instead of asking whether Zelda is a game or an interactive digital story, I can lead discussions on how gameplay and narrative converge, and how multimodal affordances can be critically evaluated.
This is why I am mentioning this long-dismissed debate, and explaining why I think it still matters. Engaging with this debate has deepened my understanding of digital storytelling, sharpened my critical lens, and expanded my professional capacity to enter into discussions about the evolution of storytelling and our understanding of how we define, create, experience, use, teach and enjoy stories.
References
Aarseth, E. (1997). Cybertext: Perspectives on ergodic literature. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Aarseth, E. (2019). Game Studies: How to play — Ten play-tips for the aspiring game-studies scholar. Game Studies. https://gamestudies.org/1902/articles/howtoplay
Domsch, S. (2013). Storyplaying: Agency and narrative in video games. De Gruyter.
Herman, D. (2002). Story logic: Problems and possibilities of narrative. University of Nebraska Press.
Juul, J. (2005). Half-real: Video games between real rules and fictional worlds. MIT Press.
Kokonis, M. (2014). The spectrum of ludicity in narrative media. Narrative, 22(3), 248–264. https://doi.org/10.1353/nar.2014.0016
Nintendo. (2017). The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [Video game]. Nintendo Switch.
Sanders, J. (2023). Playing the classics: Constructing a digital game adaptation database. Adaptation, 16(2), 231–239. https://doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apac019
Article image: Nintendo. (2017). The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [Video game]. Nintendo Switch.
