The narrativization of ludic elements in videogame fanfiction

Yuhua Hanna Wu, Paul Martin

    Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Existing scholarship on videogame fanfiction focuses on how these fictions transform game characters and narrative settings. However, this misses out on an important trope in videogame fanfictions, where authors transplant game procedures, systems, mechanics, and play styles into their stories. We term this trope the narrativization of ludic elements. This article examines how three popular fanfictions based on the Chinese MMO Jian 3 narrativize ludic elements in a way that reinforces hegemonic masculinity. The article contributes to a fuller understanding of the rhetorical strategies of fanfiction writers and explores the ideological implications of the intermedial relation between fanfictions and their source texts.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)823-840
    Number of pages18
    JournalConvergence
    Volume30
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished Online - 2023

    Keywords

    • Adaptation
    • Chinese MMO
    • fanfiction
    • game mechanics
    • game procedures
    • gender
    • hegemonic masculinity
    • intermediality

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Communication
    • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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