Dialogue in video games

Dialogue is hardwired into the very matrix of video games, not only because they are an interactive medium, but because they are an active one: they react to input by players and can offer their own input. From the beginning, rule structures in video games were communicated through language. The more emphasis a game put on narrative, the more this turned into a dialogue with the player. Video games are usually at least implicitly cast as second-person narratives, hinting at or enacting a dialogue between the narrator/game master and the player. The player’s avatar also communicates within the game. This chapter looks systematically at the relationship between ludic and dialogic structures and at the various forms that dialogue has taken in video games.