Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers a deeper, interdisciplinary engagement with the concept of hybridity by considering how it creates differential experiences of play and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of mobile, casual, and locative gaming practices. It explores how Twine and autoethnography can be paired together to build a playable experience that is a hybrid of rigorous research and immersive storytelling. The book investigates the hybrid roles of software, environment, and social norms when students in an upper-level game studies university course are asked to design a Twine game for the first time. It deals with the idea of hybrid bodies as casual game players. The book argues that “casual game” is an industry term often used derisively or dismissively as a catch-all word meant to indicate a style of play, albeit often deployed as a genre.