Quest, inventory, map The economy of the adventure game in the gamer novel

This article studies the gamer novel through the lens of the Extraleben series (2008–2015, Constantin Gillies), centered on obsolete computers. These pop novels archive video game culture, recording knowledge related to games of the past. The archiving is coupled with a novelistic arc in which an adventure video game structure unfolds. Organized around a quest, it consists of moving through space, conceived as a video game map, in search of objects to solve puzzles.