LFU:online

The students are familiar with basic approaches from the fields of ludology, narratology and cultural game studies. They can test and critically question these concepts on hybrid text formats. Furthermore, they know the range of diverse game text formats and can discuss them in the context of genre.

In Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997), Janet H. Murray describes 20th century media as "steadily pushing against the boundaries of linear storytelling". She is unexpectedly not talking about computer games, but literature, film and theatre. Play texts, in which readers (or players) can choose from different storylines, require tactile participation in and spatial navigation through the text. Similar to computer or pen-and-paper role-playing games, it is only their reception that creates coherence and meaning in their individual selection and arrangement of elements of the diegesis from "an accumulation of potentials to be saturated" (Unterhuber: 2011).

With the help of influential concepts from the field of cultural game studies, such as Janet H. Murray's concept of agency (1997), the interweavings and combinations of game and text inherent in the novels dealt with in the course will be examined. In addition, the potential and limits of 'ergodic literature' (Aarseth 1997) will be re-examined, focusing on the interactions between the production and reception of the works. These interactions will be identified and contextualised in their historical genesis so that the playful intention behind them can be understood as continuity.  

In the course of the semester, we will devote ourselves to hybrid textual examples from different linguistic and cultural areas (Anglophone, German-language, Slavic as well as examples from the Romance languages are represented in the selection) and attempt to correspond to the interdisciplinary character of the works dealt with on the level of academic and creative access.

The course is based on an ongoing research project between the two lecturers, which on the one hand is intended to provide students with an insight into current research questions, and on the other hand offers the lecturers a platform for further thinking and discussion of previous considerations and research results. 

Reading and reception of all texts, discussions, short presentations, sharing  the responsibility for a session;  Close integration of research and teaching through the discussion of ongoing publication projects and the testing of new teaching models

Regular attendance and active participation in the sessions; knowledge of the text and active participation in the discussions; willingness to take co-responsibility for a session; written essay at the end of the semester.

Recommended introductory literature:

• Aarseth, Espen. 1997. Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. 

• Laurel, Brenda. 1991. Computers as Theatre.

• Murray, Janet Horowitz. 1997. Hamlet on the Holodeck.

1. BA-students: successful completion of compulsory module 11

2. LA-students (Curriculum 2015): successful completion of compulsory module 3