# The Spectrum of Interactivity and Gamification in Digital Theatre
[Game design studies has two significant methods of analysis](#user-content-fn-1)[^1]: *ludology,* or the ‘focus attention on the mechanics of the functions of computer games and reject an analysis of computer games as narratives’; and *narratology,* or ‘researching aspects of visual representation, the notion of movement, narrative space and time, character narrativity, animation techniques, etc.’ within game-worlds because ‘the most popular ones \[games] … have a strong narrative element or share common characteristics with Hollywood blockbusters’. Numerous games, both analogue and digital, combine narrative and ludic elements to tell stories; for gaming, the narrative element is unique, but for theatre productions, adding ludic (or game-like) elements is relatively new.
Digital tools offer more interactive options for theatre makers, which might mean fully gamifying a show, but for many theatre markers during the pandemic and now post-pandemic periods, there were a wider range of interactive options. I have observed in case studies that there is a developing spectrum of interactivity combining ludic or gamified elements; here I have developed four proposed categories (in the following subsections) that are points on this interactivity spectrum, though there may be more.
Figure 14: An illustration of the gamified theatre spectrum I created in Canva.
[^1]: Kokonis, M. (2014). “Intermediality between games and fiction: The “Ludology vs. Narratology” debate in computer game studies: A response to gonzalo Frasca.” Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, *Film and Media Studies*, 9(1), 171-188. .
