“Fictional Time” Transcending the Boundaries of Rules

-Examining the “Fictionalization of Rules” in “GNOSIA”-

Abstract

In conventional game studies, video games are understood as overlaps of “rules” and “fiction,” and this framework continues to function as a valid theoretical lens. Within this binary, the “fictional time,” which refers to the ti me of events in the fictional world, has been argued to be necessarily ruptured by constraints imposed by rules. Building on this premise, this study examines how the metagame qualities of “GNOSIA” bring about an alignment of “rules” and “fiction” through Britta Neitzel’s framework of “fictionalization of the rules,” employing textual and structural analysis. Through this analysis, this study clarifies the possibility that the discontinuity of “fictional time” resulting from mismatches between “rules” and “fiction” can be fictitiously transcended by the “fictionalization of the rules,” and it suggests that this transcendence is enabled by the presence of interactivity as video games.