Half–Real - Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds (Broché)

A video game is half-real : we play by real rules while imagining a fictional world. We win or lose the game in the real world, but we slay a dragon (for example) only in the world of the game. In this thought-provoking study, Jesper Juul examines the constantly evolving tension between rules and fiction in video games. Discussing games from Pong to The Legend of Zelda, from chess to Grand Theft Auto, he shows how video games are both a departure from and a development of traditional non-electronic games.
The book combines perspectives from such fields as literary and film theory, computer science, psychology, economic game theory, and game studies to outline a theory of what video games are, how they work with the player, how they have developed historically, and why they are fun to play. Juul presents a classic game model, which describes the traditional construction of games and points to possible future developments.
He examines how rules provide challenges, learning, and enjoyment for players, and how a game cues the player into imagining its fictional world. Juul's lively style and eclectic deployment of sources will make Half-Real of interest to media, literature, and game scholars as well as to game professionals and gamers.