In Defence of the N00b: Game Analysis, Ludic Literacy and the Novice Player

This paper by René Glas and Jasper van Vught, drawn from their experience teaching game textual analysis at Utrecht University's Department of Media and Culture Studies, argues that novice players should be treated as a valuable analytical perspective rather than an obstacle to be overcome. The authors contend that game studies has often assumed a level of expertise, or "ludoliteracy," that is difficult to attain in educational programs not dedicated primarily to games, and that this assumption narrows who can participate in the field. Their central claim is that embracing novice play in the classroom is an essential part of understanding games and play.

The authors frame novice play as a form of explorative, experimental engagement in which confusion and frustration are productive elements of interpretation. Drawing on Kücklich's work on transgressive play and McKee's observation that close reading can be remote from everyday sense-making, they suggest that non-expert readings may sometimes correspond more closely to how games are actually experienced. In their classroom, novice perspectives are discussed alongside surface reading, paratextual analysis, and metagaming analysis, which are treated as complements to in-depth close reading rather than substitutes for it.

The paper also makes an argument about inclusivity and classroom rhetoric. Drawing on Burke's theory of identification and Hung's work on situated meaning-making, the authors argue that welcoming novice perspectives shifts classroom discussion away from an adversarial effort to persuade students of the "right" way to play and toward mutual understanding, which helps keep learners of differing skill levels engaged. They connect this to Vossen's critique of gendered gaming capital in game studies and propose that removing the normativity of the expert/novice distinction can lower barriers for scholars who lack opportunity or interest in acquiring high levels of game mastery.

The paper is primarily a reflective and conceptual contribution, grounded in the authors' teaching experience and a review of existing literature rather than in systematic empirical data, surveys, or sample-based findings. Its scope is the undergraduate media studies classroom and the broader disciplinary culture of game studies, with the authors ultimately advocating a move from literacies centered on mastery and game design toward broader approaches to meaning-making that prepare students to understand ludification in culture and society, regardless of their career ambitions.