For those unaware of the term, ludology is a proposed new term for the science of (video) games. There's some scientific interest around video games, but much of it is either lacking in depth or focuses on the content of the medium rather than the medium itself.

In that regard, I decided to publicly post my master thesis on the future of text in video games for anyone to read, available here. It's nothing grand, but it might be something to pass the time. If you're interested, take a look! It's something I want to share, and if anyone starts thinking about some of the ideas in either the essay or its citations, then I did my job.

Any comments are very welcome and appreciated. Also, if you have any other literature to share, please do! Thanks for reading!

I've heard about ludology, its a study of games/gaming, didn't take much interest in it though.

Nice thesis, I'll bookmark it for later ! +1

Wouldn't ludology be the study of luddites?

That would be a nice read in the metro, I'll try to save them as HTMLs and read them on my smartphone. Do remind me to read them and tell you my opinion of it though.

I like that we share the same character in our avatars too!

It comes from latin 'ludus', meaning game. As for luddites, there's probably some branch of history that deals with them specifically! Medium has its own app and I think it might be able to save them for offline reading, but I'm not sure. Thanks for the interest!

(Black Mages are the best, you have patrician taste, sir.)

It's obviously just a ridiculous name for anthropology. "Lud" is the Polish word for (a) people.

Anyway, I'm intrigued. Bookmarked.

I can't tell if you're joking, but if you're not, and you meant the people who went around smashing machinery, then no, that would be history. As for ludology, it's the study of games, but it's neither new nor exclusive to video games - Huizinga's Homo Ludens came out in 1938, preceding ENIAC.

You should get a measure of the small and large instead of just the medium.

It seems Medium for Android doesn't support offline reading. Oh well, I can still save the thesis into HTML files and read them on my Android where they are offline and supported. No problem though! Indeed. Can't wait to fix my PS1 in order to play FFIX though, and get my hold on Vivi. Hope there is Ultima in that game too!

I don't want to sound overtly critical, and it's certainly nothing personal, just my disappointment speaking... but I do get a bit jaded from seeing how dominant the angle of ludological study focused on text and narrative is.

IMO that's the least interesting and IMO least important aspect of games / defining games.

Even from a purely sociological perspective there were broader perspectives already opened up back when by Huizinga or Cailloux, and yet here we go always focusing on narrative and text, instead of the normative or performative aspects of play and games.

Sometimes I wonder if it's a subset of people wanting games to be more ideological. Other times I think it's just that the folks working this angle are trained in critical literary theory and treat everything as text naturally plus videogames are fashionabe. I don't know...

Am I being unfair? I just glimpsed the start and kind of lost interest... :( Is it me? Care to try and sell me on it a bit more? Because I do admire such willingness to share and discuss and anything ludological does appeal to me.

Exactly, we totally agree there, and what you said next:

The first line - yes, there's definitely a subset of people pushing the ideological in video games. Just see the evolution of DIGRA and look into the Gates foundation involvement with Common Core. The content of games rather than the mechanics and actual performance of the game/player take precedence, and it's part of why I had a good deal of trouble finding useful (and accessible, i.e. free) literature.

The second line - even more true; since my advisors were all your expected university lit theorists (not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but...) I couldn't really go into too radical or unfamiliar notions. Believe me, what you see here was not what I originally intended to do. I would have loved to, for example, delve into the way Silent Hill uses its mechanics to terrify the player, but there's no way that would work where I studied. If I'd been lucky and lived somewhere civilised, maybe, but I work with what I get.

I won't try to sell you anything, you have every right to dismiss it. If I haven't caught your interest with the first few paragraphs, then I need to improve for the future. ;)

Ok mate. Respect.

Already bookmarked for reading latter, I happen to think that's what gaming needs, academia. Tiping hat for you sir/ma'am.

I recommend you watch (actually, I recommend everyone to watch) this interesting take on the topic you've mentioned.

Errant Signal - The debate that never took place

Bookmarked! I'll do as Pooka and save it on my smartyphone

Personally, I prefer White Mages; their spells are much more useful.
Well, there is this article, which analyzes gameplay from a mathematical standpoint:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.1895

It might not be what you are interested, but this article does analyze a few games from a non-literary perspective.