How does analyzing video games as hypertexts expand the landscape of research for video game rhetoricians and games studies scholars? This is the first book to focus on how hypertext rhetoric impacts the five canons of rhetoric, and to apply that hypertext rhetoric to the study of video games. It also explores how ludonarrative agency is seized by players seeking to express themselves in ways that game makers did not necessarily intend when making the games that players around the world enjoy.
This book takes inspiration from The Legend of Zelda, a series which players all over the world have spent decades deconstructing through online playthroughs, speedruns, and glitch hunts. Through these playthroughs, players demonstrate their ability to craft their own agency, independent of the objectives built by the makers of these games, creating new rhetorical situations worthy of analysis and consideration.

Andrew S. Latham is an associate professor of English at Midland College in Midland, Texas. He has presented at numerous conferences on video game rhetoric and hypertext rhetoric.

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments

Preface

1.¿A Guide to Hypertext Rhetoric

1-1: Cybertexts and Hypertexts

1-2: Landow and Hypertexts

1-3: Rhetoric and Hypertexts

1-4: Agency and Hypertexts

2.¿A Guide to The Legend of Zelda

2-1: Zelda no Densetsu

2-2: The Narratology of Zelda

2-3: The Ludology of Zelda

2-4: Aonuma, Fujibayashi, and Zelda Studies

3.¿A Delivery in Breath of the Wild

3-1: Introduction to Breath of the Wild

3-2: Delivery as the Acknowledgment of Player Agency

3-3: Ludoludo Interpretations of Breath of the Wild

3-4: Naronaro Interpretations of Breath of the Wild

3-5: Hypertext Delivery in Other Video Games

4.¿Randomized Memories of A Link to the Past

4-1: Introduction to A Link to the Past

4-2: Memory as the Transference of Player Agency

4-3: Ludoludo Interpretations of A Link to the Past

4-4: Naronaro Interpretations of A Link to the Past

4-5: Hypertext Memory in Other Video Games

5.¿Restyling Ocarina of Time Through Hyperlinks

5-1: Introduction to Ocarina of Time

5-2: Style as the Practice of Player Agency

5-3: Ludoludo Interpretations of Ocarina of Time

5-4: Naronaro Interpretations of Ocarina of Time 3D

5-5: Hypertext Style in Other Video Games

6.¿Arranging the Barrier Skip in Wind Waker HD

6-1: Introduction to Wind Waker HD

6-2: Arrangement as the Structuring of Player Agency

6-3: Ludoludo Interpretations of Wind Waker HD

6-4: Naronaro Interpretations of Wind Waker HD

6-5: Hypertext Arrangement in Other Video Games

7.¿The Cycle of Invention in Skyward Sword

7-1: Introduction to Skyward Sword

7-2: Invention as the Catalyst of Player Agency

7-3: Ludoludo Interpretations of Skyward Sword

7-4: Naronaro Interpretations of Skyward Sword

7-5: Hypertext Invention in Other Video Games

Conclusion

8-1: "Hey, Listen!"

8-2: Achieving Player Agency in Hypertext Video Games

8-3: A Parting Sure to Follow

Works Cited and Works Consulted

Index