Interactivity and Play

Abstract

At the core of this thesis is the question of agency as a specific form of media experience. As outlined at the outset, agency is considered as an alternative, more adequate approach that substitutes aspects of interactivity. That is not to say that interactivity is a dispensable factor, but as a concept it has been linked repeatedly to mediality, disregarding the user’s activities. Moreover, interactivity is a term charged with ideologies, and often regarded as the panacea of modern media. It promises a surplus value to ‘classic’, ‘linear’ media such as film and television and is considered to turn traditional structures of media production, distribution, and use upside down. Video games are widely considered as paradigmatic interactive media, distinguished from ‘traditional’ media by interactivity, thus providing the positive pleasure of agency for their players. More often than not, however, the nature of interactivity and agency is not further explicated.