Algorithms and Action

Galloway places the operator-machine and diegetic-nondiegetic categories onto two axes, forming a schema onto which it is possible to map a number of activities:

Galloway places the operator-machine and diegetic-nondiegetic categories onto two axes, forming a schema onto which it is possible to map a number of activities:

Galloway explains each of the four quadrants, and while his detours into Derrida and deconstructionism are not necessarily useful for understanding 10 Print, his larger argument is instructive. Beginning in the top left corner, Galloway calls diegetic operator acts the "dromenon," a word that comes from the Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga's foundational 1938 book ''Homo Ludens''. Literally meaning "something acted," the dromenon describes what "playing a videogame" usually means: in-game movement, in-game puzzle-solving, in-game expression, actually doing something in the imaginary world on the screen.

Galloway explains each of the four quadrants, and while his detours into Derrida and deconstructionism are not necessarily useful for understanding 10 Print, his larger argument is instructive. Beginning in the top left corner, Galloway calls diegetic operator acts the "dromenon," a word that comes from the Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga's foundational 1938 book ''Homo Ludens''. Literally meaning "something acted," the dromenon describes what "playing a videogame" usually means: in-game movement, in-game puzzle-solving, in-game expression, actually doing something in the imaginary world on the screen.