“It’s such a wonderful world to inhabit”: Spatiality, Worldness and the Fantasy Genre

Abstract | Abstract

The fantasy genre has proven to be extremely durable in creating blockbuster successes spanning mutable media platforms, such as books, film, television series, tabletop, and especially massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Currently 85% of all MMORPGs are situated in clearly defined fantasy universes (Van Geel, 2012). In other words: The fantasy genre seems to lend itself perfectly to the creation and distribution of vast, game-centric worlds in a way no other genres can. Why is that? This article explores the close connection between the fantasy genre and computer games, arguing that the fantasy genre’s specific ‘mode of function’ is the utilization of space and spatiality thus creating specific kinds of spatial experiences for its users, be that readers, viewers, or gamers. Based on empirical data from focus group interviews with World of Warcraft-gamers, the article develops the concept of worldness as a means for opening up for an experiential, phenomenological understanding of player experience. I discuss how this way of framing a core quality of the fantasy genre (of world-building) functions across single media platforms and aims to grasp a specific fantasy experience of being in the world.