J-Lalite: Journal of English Studies
Vol 3 No 2 (2022): December

Beyond the Reader, Towards the Player: Reconceptualizing the Reader-Response Theory through Video-Games

Rachid Benharrousse (Mohammed V University in Rabat)



Article Info

Publish Date
31 Dec 2022

Abstract

The reader-response theory valorized the reader; without the latter, the text did not exist and had no meaning. The reader is deemed as an interpreter of an already rigid text. This theoretical limitation is evidenced in the understanding of the player in video-games. The scholarship equates the player to the reader in their passivity. The players, through playing, are not the object of the process of signification. They constitute their narratives across video-game categories. Role-playing reinforces the player’s identification within the game world beyond mere interpretation. The player’s lived experience is no longer separated from role-playing. Lived experience is intertwined with the gaming experience, which establishes double-faceted contextualization; the player’s lived experience shapes their gaming choices and vice versa. Hence, the players are not confined to being passive interpreters of an already assigned narrative; instead, they constitute their narratives, live within the game, and experience their video-games.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

jes

Publisher

Subject

Arts Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

Description

J-Lalite which is published twice a year (every June and December) is a double blind peer-reviewed publication consists of research-based and review articles, fresh ideas about language, literature, cultural studies which have never been published before. The journal covers all aspect relating to ...