Fans as active participants in textual meaning

Fans’ Role in Textual Meaning

Players of modern video games aren’t merely passive recipients of the gaming experience; they often play a significant role in determining and shaping the textual meaning of a game.
User-generated content is a major component of many games. For example, in Minecraft, players build their own structures and worlds, effectively becoming co-creators of the game’s content.

Players also engage in various forms of interpretation. They develop theories about game lore, decode hidden messages, and speculate about the intentions of game developers.
These interpretations often form a large part of gaming fandom culture, with online communities dedicated to uncovering game secrets and lore. An example would be the Dark Souls series, which encourages player interpretation through its cryptic story presentation.
These fan interpretations may even influence the direction of development in sequels, as developers listen to player feedback and theories.

Video games foster a participatory culture, where fans are engaged directly and indirectly in the creative process. This can involve anything from designing character costumes, modding games, or creating fan-art and fan-fiction.
Games like The Sims series, for instance, have a thriving modding community that expands upon the base game, effectively altering the game’s narrative and visual experience.
Even some developers encourage and acknowledge these participant contributions, leading to a more intertwined relationship between developers and players.

Fan discourse can reframe the narrative of the game either through these participatory activities, or how fans choose to talk about a game’s events and characters online and offline.
Mass Effect’s moral decision-making, for instance, stirs ample discussions and debates among players about the influence and consequences of their choices. Such discussions create a community-driven narrative that adds depth to the game’s meaning.
Similarly, games with multiple endings like Detroit: Become Human allow each player to experience a unique version of the story - this storytelling approach lends itself to extensive player discourse and analysis.

Some players take engagement a step further by creating transformative works – reimagining, rewriting, or remixing game content in ways that can drastically alter its original meaning.
This can take many forms, including fan games, machinima videos, and narrative-centric mods. For example, the Pokémon fan-game community often reimagines the franchise in a variety of ways, from new regions and storylines to entirely new game mechanics. This not only expands on the Pokémon universe but also reinterprets it through the fans’ perspective.