When Has Theory Ever Failed Us? - Identifying Issues with the Application of Theory in Interactive Digital Narrative Analysis and Design
Pages 21 - 37
Abstract
In this paper, we discuss how theories can fail us in analysis and design of interactive digital narrative (IDN) works. We demonstrate a range of theoretical failures using the milestone IDN work Façade. To this end, we demonstrate the effect of different theoretical lenses, treating Façade as an interactive drama, as a game, as a work of hypertext fiction, and as general IDN work. We identify different types of theory failures with regards to analysis, creation and audience reception: miscatogorization, blind transfer, bogus theory, semantic creep, analytical blur, out of date, lack of problematization, fallacy of universality, analysis-productive mistakes, inappropriate conventions, out of context, over-pragmatization, and setting the wrong expectations for audiences. Finally we propose a way to prevent theoretical failures and call for more work in this respective area.
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Nov 2023
545 pages
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.
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Published: 11 November 2023
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