Ludology is a concept proposed by Gonzalo Frasca in the 1990s that helped establish the theoretical foundation of digital game studies. In the provided context, it is described as a position that takes Huizinga and Caillois as points of origin while emphasizing the specific properties of games themselves, rather than reducing games to fiction in general. In this sense, ludology approaches games through their rules, procedures, and play structures, asking what makes games distinct as a medium.
The context also places ludology in relation to later debates about game meaning and intervention. Ian Bogost’s procedural rhetoric argues that rules and processes can themselves communicate meaning: the operation of a game can function as a form of argument or persuasion. By contrast, Schleiner’s idea of ludic mutation stresses that players are not merely passive recipients of authorial intent; through modification, alternative uses, and interpretation, they can alter the meaning of the game itself. This perspective is linked to practices such as modding, spray actions, online interventions, and refusal of combat, all understood as forms of player-driven transformation.
Within media art and game criticism, ludology therefore serves both as a theory of game specificity and as a framework for understanding how games can be reworked from within.