Language is not limited to literary texts (Bosman 2016; 2019, 31).

In its classical definition, a text is “any discourse fixed by writing” (Ricoeur 1981, 145). However, in so-called “postmodern” perspectives, a “text” consists of more than written words and sentences and may also include films, paintings, clothes, architecture, video games (Bosman 2016, 31), broadcasts, and sports events (Fernández-Vara 2019, 5-6). 

See: What is a Video Game? (Video Game Studies)
________________________________________________________________________

Many argue that video games can be studied as “texts” (Lizardi 2008; Bosman 2016; Turley 2018; Fernández-Vara 2019) or as a “thick text” (Kaveney 2005; Krzywinska 2008) and therefore deserve inclusion in educational courses and/or university programs alongside other traditional textual forms like novels, poetry, and drama (Beavis et al. 2009; Apperley and Beavis 2013; Beavis 2014; Mummart 2014; see Cox’s [2014] four-part series). According to Beavis,

As emergent cultural forms, games embodied new ways of telling and making stories that merged images and words with many other elements and repositioned players as readers and writers, interpreters, and creators (2014, 435).

Video games are “read” when the player interprets various symbol systems (words, pictures, sounds, concepts, symbols, color) simultaneously, singularly, or in combination. Reading these symbols is a discursive instance taking the form of a communicative exchange between the video game and player (Bosman 2016, 31). The game communicates information that is given meaning by a player or audience. In terms of their educational potential, like other textual forms, video games as texts “get students to think critically about the ideologies and rhetorical situations that they encounter daily” (Cox 2014a).

Playability underscores the ludological aspect, which identifies gameplay as essential for a player’s experience (Ryan 2006, 203). This aspect exists in features such as rules, goals, chance, and winning or losing outcomes. Video games are therefore “playable texts” (Lauteren 2002, 218; Vallikat 2014, 22), which means “the content of the text is constantly being constructed by the player in the choices and responses they make in playing the game” (Vallikat 2014, 61). 

References

Apperley, Thomas., and Beavis, Catherine. 2013. “A model for critical games literacy.” E-Learning and Digital Media 10(1):1-12.

Beavis, Catherine., Apperley, Thomas., Bradford, Clare., O’Mara, Joanne., and Walsh, Christopher. 2009. “Literacy in the digital age: Learning from computer games.” English in Education 43(2):162-175.

Beavis, Catherine. 2014. “Games as Text, Games as Action: Video Games in the English Classroom.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 57(6):433-439.

Bosman, Frank G. 2016. “The Word Has Become Game: Researching Religion in Digital Games.” Online – Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet 11:28-45.

Bosman, Frank G. 2019. Gaming and the Divine: A new systematic theology of video games. Oxfordshire, England: Routledge.

Cox, Angela R. 2014a. “Teaching Games as Text: Introduction (Part I).” Play the Past. Available.

Cox, Angela R. 2014. “Teaching Games as Text: Introduction (Part I).” Play the Past. Available.

Cox, Angela R. 2014. “Teaching Games as Text: The Advantage (Part 2 of 4).” Play the Past. Available.

Cox, Angela R. 2014. |Teaching Games as Text: The Problem (Part 3 of 4).” Play the Past. Available.

Cox, Angela R. 2014. “Teaching Games as Text Part 4: The Conclusion.” Play the Past. Available. https://www.playthepast.org/?p=4701

Fernández-Vara, Clara. 2019. Introduction to Game Analysis (2nd ed.). New York and London: Routledge. 

Krzywinska, Tanya. 2008. “World Creation and Lore: World of Warcraft as a Rich Text.” In Digital Culture, Play, and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader, edited by Hilde G. Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg, 123–142. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 

Lauteren, G. 2002. “The Pleasure of the Playable Text. Towards an Aesthetic Theory of Computer Games.” In Proceedings of Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference, edited by Frans Mäyrä, 217-225. Tampere, Finland: Tampere University Press.

Lizardi, Ryan. 2008. “Repelling the Invasion of the “Other”: Post-Apocalyptic Alien Shooter Videogames Addressing Contemporary Cultural Attitudes.” Eludamos 3(2):295-308.

Mummart, Jeff. 2014. “A Survival Sandbox.” Play the Past. Available.

Ricoeur, Paul. 1981, Hermeneutics and the human sciences. Essays on language, action and interpretation. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Ryan, M. 2006, Avatars of story. Minneapolis, United States: University of Minnesota Press.

Turley, Andrew C. 2018. “Reading the Game: Exploring Narratives Video Games as Literary Texts.” Masters dissertation, Indiana University.

Vallikatt, Jose. 2014. “Virtually Religious: Myth, Ritual and Community in World of Warcraft.” PhD dissertation, RMIT University.