A genre analysis of walkthroughs

This dissertation aims at identifying the elements and the characteristics of the videogaming walkthrough genre, analysing and defining its main aspects, distinguishing features and general purposes. At first, a quick overview of the existing literature and studies within the specialised domain of videogaming, especially on walkthrough genre texts is given, together with a short explanation on the meaning of the word “walkthrough”. A brief description of the materials analysed and a thorough explanation about the methods of creation, selection and composition of the corpus object of the research follows. Through the analysis of the corpus, the common characteristics of the walkthrough genre are then highlighted, focusing on its general communicative purposes, its authors, and its intended audience. Special attention is then devoted, first, to the assessment of the distinctive textual structure that characterises the genre, and then, to the specialised language with which walkthrough texts are generally designed and then written, considering its lexicogrammatical constituents. In addition, insights on some contingent topics about the walkthrough genre are given: the concept of agency in walkthrough texts is discussed together with their possible considerations as real games’ narratives or as mere “cheating sheets” to complete players’ favourite videogames. The analysis carried out shows that the final purpose of walkthrough genre texts is giving clear, precise and detailed instructions on how to complete a particular game quickly and successfully without being stuck at a certain point in it, targeting an audience of mostly gaming players. Moreover, apart from their main intent of being permanent and enduring “guiding bibles” for players, walkthrough genre texts seem to serve even as a tool for higher goals: establishing as the most comprehensive player-produced investigations of digital gameplay and a medium for the digital (and textual) preservation of gaming.