Transformative gameplay practices : speedrunning through Hyrule

The term “transformative” gets used in both fan studies and video game studies and gestures toward a creative productivity that goes beyond simply consuming a text. However, despite this shared term, game studies and fan studies remain fairly separate in their respective examination of fans and gamers, in part due to media differences between video games and more traditional media, like television. Bridging the gap between these two fields not only helps to better explain transformative gameplay, but also offers additional insights in how fans consume texts, often looking for new ways to experience the source text. This report examines the transformative gameplay practices found within video game fan communities and provides an overview of their development and spread. It looks at three facets of transformative gameplay, performance, mastery, and education, using the transformative gameplay practices around The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) as a primary case study.