What is the Form of Play? Ludic Form and the Development of Movement in Virtual Space
In this paper, I explore the form of play through a comparison with the form of music. Drawing on Eduard Hanslick’s concept of ‘sonically moved form,’ I argue that the structure of action games functions similarly to musical form, in that it requires performance to come to life and involves the unfolding of affective ideas. More specifically, I define the form of action gameplay as the development of movement within virtual space. Through a case study of the platformer OlliOlli World, I demonstrate how insights from musical form analysis can enrich our understanding of ludic form. This study aims to present an alternative approach to game analysis, one that challenges the dominant literary mode, which often focuses on semantic meanings, narrative interpretation, and cultural contextualization.