DIGITAL LITERACY IN NARRATIVE VIDEOGAMES

SPATIALITY AND PROCEDURALITY

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate properties of digital literacy related to narrative videogames, assuming the initial hypothesis that two specific properties, spatiality and procedurality, are essential to the development of an academic understanding of both digital narratives and the literacy practices created around them by those involved in their reception and production. The concept of “literacy” is here understood on the basis of the historical evolution provided by the contributions of Street (2001), Soares (2002), and Lemke (2010), whereas the concepts of “spatiality” and “procedurality,” as developed in the academic field of game studies, are based on the writings of authors such as Aarseth (2007), Jenkins (2004), Murray (2003), Bogost (2005, 2008) and Mateas (2005). In order to argue in favor of the central position occupied by the two concepts in literacy practices related to digital narratives, the narrative development of the game Unpacking (Witch Beam, 2021) is analyzed. It was possible to conclude that the concepts of spatiality and procedurality are capable of explaining some of the new ways of textually signifying narrative events, transformations, and character development in narrative videogames; and seem to be of central importance to the articulation of new digital literacies.