SWOSU English Professor Publishes Research on Storytelling and Digital Media

Associate Professor of English Dr. Taylor Orgeron from Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) recently published a chapter in Emerging Genres: New Formations of Games, a Bloomsbury academic collection that analyzes evolving trends and structures in digital games. Orgeron's chapter, "Moral Combat: Metafictional Indie Games," examines how independent video game developers from the 2010s used metafiction to challenge common approaches to storytelling.

Metafiction refers to stories that intentionally draw attention to their own fictional nature. In video games, that can include breaking the fourth wall or directly addressing the player as part of the story. In her chapter, Orgeron argues that indie developers used these techniques to critique common tropes found in mainstream games while also commenting on broader issues within the gaming industry.

Emerging Genres: New Formations of Games is part of Bloomsbury's Approaches to Digital Game Studies series, which explores the role and impact of digital games through research from multiple academic fields. The book examines how game genres continue to evolve and how those changes shape player experiences and research in the field.

"Moral Combat: Metafictional Indie Games," a chapter by SWOSU Associate Professor of English Dr. Taylor Orgeron, was recently published in Emerging Genres: New Formations of Games.

"There's never been a better time to turn our critical attention towards video games as an important narrative artform," Orgeron said. "Publications on games are being widely read, not only by fellow researchers, but also by people who just love games and want to know more about this thing that they love."

The chapter was adapted from Orgeron's 2019 Louisiana State University dissertation, Intertwined Markings: Metafiction in the Digital Age. Her dissertation focused on the relationship between contemporary metafiction and video games through literary analysis and research on digital storytelling. One section focused specifically on independent games released during the 2010s, which later became the foundation for the published chapter.

During the revision process, Orgeron also worked with a tutor from the SWOSU Writing Center as she revised and condensed the original material to meet the collection's publication requirements.

In the SWOSU Department of Language & Literature, Orgeron teaches courses centered on writing, digital media, and multimedia storytelling. Much of her work focuses on how video games and online platforms have changed the ways stories are written and experienced.

For more information about the Department of Language & Literature, visit https://www.swosu.edu/undergraduate/language-literature/index.php. More information about Emerging Genres: New Formations of Games is available at https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/emerging-genres-9798765125618/.

About Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU) was founded in 1901 and offers over 100 undergraduate and graduate programs across three locations in Weatherford, Sayre, and Yukon. The university serves over 5,000 students and prides itself on affordability, small class sizes, and over 200 faculty and staff committed to helping students achieve their academic and personal goals.

For more information about Southwestern Oklahoma State University, visit https://www.swosu.edu.