“Footage Not Representative”: Redefining Paratextuality for the Analysis of Official Communication in the Video Game Industry

Abstract

This chapter provides a revised framework of paratextuality which deals with some of the limitations of Gérard Genette's (1997b) concept while keeping its focus on the relationship between a text and socio-historical reality. The updated notion of paratextuality draws upon Alexander R. Galloway's (2012) work on the interface effect. The proposed revision is explained in a broader context of intertextuality and textual transcendence. Regarding Genette's terminology, this chapter rejects the constrictive notion of a paratext and stresses that paratextuality is first and foremost a relationship, not a textual category. The new framework is then put to the test using four sample genres of official video game communication – trailers, infographics, official websites of video games and patch notes.