understandable.
i play computer games, mostly simple fps’ or tps’ and adventure/platform with the occasional point and click for relaxation (i have no shame in admitting i am a devconsole slut).
caught notgame syndrome pretty recently and since the whole function of fiction question has been plaguing me for a number of years, discovering a potentially new line of thought to explore about it was “a bit of” a revelation.
i suppose i should mention that practically no one i have (loosely) physical contact with has any interest in any of these domains, so this forum was a godsend, as I was genuinely (and possibly overenthusiastically) interested in exchanging points of view on the matter of games which are more than just games.
the huizinga, which i just finished, happens to have truly amazing notions on gaming, even if a little dated. i though i would share the reference.
also, the lingo is a happy mix of ocd and trying to brake down concepts to their fundamentals.
…
so i guess i am spurring. sorry. won’t happen again.

found answers in huizinga's homo ludens. recommending it.

'kay (thanks for the answer).
so, being a bit simple and very un-l33t, i need to ask:
what would be the means to explore concepts etc. specific and exclusive to video games?
i'm thinking their interactiveness? the way they can blend text, image and sound with a great margin of freedom for their creators? The competitive incentive for the user?
(the thing is other media have these too to a certain extent)
How about their limitations? (price of development, acquisition and rights, difficulty of access and use?) and can/will they be surpassed in any way?

also: when you think of it, fact can hardly be opposed to fiction. in fact (ah-hah!), most facts have and need a little (or a lot of) fiction to them, be it solely in their interpretation.
not to mention some seriously messed up facts that need to be put into fiction to be tolerated.
this would be where narration kicks in, as a sort of protocol to get author/emitter and reader/receiver in synch...
would games have a similar function?

help wanted.
not sure if i'm in on the right board.
used to think of fiction as central and fundamental to human culture.
having played "dear esther"-ish "games" recently, am starting to suspect "gaming" and fiction might be very closely related, or/and interlinked, without one being necessarily vital to the other(?). also, obscure french author chloe delaume doesn't stop referring in obscure ways to the power of narration, when ludic concepts hump language.
so
gaming protocols seem to exist in fiction in certain texts, be it in ludic interpretation or reading method (reader side), or poetic and language games (writer side).
a lot of games rely on a narrative, even most summary.
how similar are games and fiction?
how culturally significant are games and particularly (but not solely?) computer games?
what potential would they have for readers as opposed to gamers?
the very concrete point here is to "sell" the idea of adding computer games to our public library catalogue as literary documents rather than "just games" to management.
(there are specialised lending points for "just games" called ludotheques).
thanks to anyone who can help, provide insights or point me to an adequate information source.
bonjour et merci.

hello,
library assistant (public) in switzerland, read in french and english
mainly interested in the function of fiction and ergodic literature ("books" where one needs to do more than turn the page to go forward in the story)
interest sparked off 10 years ago by a paper written on the evolution of fairytales to fanfiction.
recently played dear esther, and went slightly batty for those kind of games.
can be found at l'hibouquineur (a collaborative literary criticism blog in french), as davide.
bonjour.