My Little Pony

Gandalf on the Death Star: Levels of Seriality between Bricks, Bits, and Blockbusters

Nørgård and Toft-Nielsen's article argues that digital seriality in playful franchises should be understood not as a corporately controlled process of transmedia world-building but as a plural, processual, and participant-driven phenomenon.

• The article argues that digital seriality in playful franchises is plural, processual, and participant-driven rather than a corporately controlled process of transmedia world-building, using LEGO as its central case.
• The authors find Henry Jenkins's transmedia storytelling concept too narrow and propose an expanded framework of "serialities-in-use" that includes transformational and transgressive fan engagement alongside franchise-directed world-building.
• The model distinguishes intra-, inter-, and para-ludic levels of seriality, textual seriality (within immersive play worlds) from actional seriality (through embodied interaction design), and "drillable" vertical engagement from "spreadable" horizontal engagement.