Reading a Videogame: The Books of Skyrim

"Diehard fans, the hardest of the diehard, may comb through the literature, but Bethesda holds no record of these illusive lore lovers. “We don’t have any way of tracking [who reads the in-game books],” Kuhlmann explains. “We do have a group of passionate fans who love that kind of thing, but I don’t know what percentage that might be.” The percentage, it seems, is unimportant next to the sense of fullness that the written accounts provide. Books like Oblivion’s Liminal Bridges are either too referential or too technical to offer probative value to the player. They suggest rather than tell, and for Kuhlmann that’s the appropriate dynamic."

Full article at Paste.