Negotiating textures of digital play : gameplay and the production of space

This paper analyzes the mechanisms of communication connecting different types of actant during the moment of digital gameplay. The process of communication inside the videogame object is inherently immersed in its digital space thanks to the phenomenon of gameplay, which is the main focus of this work. The phenomenon of gameplay will be interpreted in the light of the idea of the texture, a concept proposed by Henri Lefebvre and further developed in the field of media studies by André Jansson. Through this lens, the phenomenon of gameplay is a spatial and performative experience, in which the digital gamespace becomes a space of communication between various actants, including those that are external to the game environment. This perspective also exposes the processes of how meaningful space is woven and changed through the relational practices that connect those actants within it. Gameplay texture keeps actants connected, but, at the same time, acts as a conduit of change - in the game object and its elements, the player's actions and motivations, ways of playing the game and game genres - and, as such, is in constant flux. This makes gameplay texture both an individual and a global experience. The process will be explained using the example of an alternative way of playing - specifically, the practice of speedrunning.