Abstract
What sets the video game apart from other media is its level of interactivity. I propose a model for understanding video games as two interacting areas, the genotype, or the unchanging computer code, and the phenotype, the expression of that code. In the interplay between the two, a game reveals itself as one of Espen Aarseth’s cybertexts, where the act of playing the game forms the narrative of the game. By this, playing the video game is a process of collapsing the potential coded into the genotype into a single, linear experience called a “playthrough.” In making this, the player serves as both an actor and observer, witnessing their actions through their avatar, from a removed perspective as the player. Video game narratives, then, are defined by how their interactivity enables each individual player to shape a personal, unique narrative formed by their gameplay experience. But the significance to this interactivity can be most clearly seen where it is absent. In various forms, such as competitive games casting or Let’s Play, where the interactivity is removed and the playthrough is presented as video to the viewer, the need for a supplement, usually through commentary, shows the significance this interactivity has, and how video games can be remediated in a unique way.