Half-Real: Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds

A video game is half-real: we play by real rules while imagining a fictional world. We win or lose the game in the real world, but we slay a dragon (for example) only in the world of the game. In this thought-provoking study, Jesper Juul examines the constantly evolving tension between rules and fiction in video games. Discussing games from "Pong" to "The Legend of Zelda," from chess to "Grand Theft Auto," he shows how video games are both a departure from and a development of traditional non-el...