Types and Bytes. Ludic Seriality and Digital Typography

Abstract

Ever since the invention of movable letters and the introduction of the typewriter, technical writing tools have been considered as a means of serialization and standardization, characterized by a linear way of ordering things and thoughts. More importantly, as a cultural technique they fostered and furthered a sharp distinction between print and image. While the advent of the comic book in the industrial age was already instrumental in blurring the line between textual and visual practices, digital games now restructure this terrain to expand it through their own specific potential.

This essay concentrates on the interrelation of text and icon in videogames. The first section focuses on the medial quality of writing and textuality as a formal system, the second discusses the dimension of the image as an iconic extension of the textual format, and the third brings together both lines of thought to debate the operational efficiency of digital games as a way of constituting new forms of ludic literacy.