Revisiting one of my first essays, I look at the topic of “canon” when it comes to reading a game’s story, and how the insistence on confirmation limits our ability to interpret.
Tag Archives: interpretation
On Interpretation: What is “Interpretation”?
Words: 2024 Approximate Reading Time: 15-20 minutes Returning to the topic of the art of interpretation and applying it to games, I want to step back for a moment to do some defining. We engage in this activity for a lot of reasons. Sometimes we find a thread in a game or book or filmContinue reading “On Interpretation: What is “Interpretation”?”
On Interpretation: What’s in a Word
Interpretation often requires looking into the usage of words to derive meaning. But a hyperfocus on specific wording can lead to errors. In this essay I explore how removing words, sentences, or lines from their context can result in mistaken understandings of the meanings of those same words/sentences/lines in context.
Talking about Games: Interpretation and Meaning
We can sometimes find ourselves locked in arguments about what a given game is about. But truly answering this question means understanding what we mean when we say a game is “about” something. In this essay I discuss the ways in which we derive meaning from works and how a given work can in fact have multiple meanings – can be about many things all at once.
Abstracting Games 