This book describes how video game manuals transformed from rudimentary instructions to multimodal tutorials, and finally to an entire industry of player-created instructional wikis and videos, using current theories of technical communication. It engages theories of tactical and strategic communication, design thinking, and co-creation to chart how video games progressed from simple paper manuals to an often lucrative player-created industry. Offering a historical overview, it investigates instructional content in video games of each decade, beginning in the 1960s, that are representative of the inexorable move toward co-creative practices in teaching players how to play video games.    

Daniel Reardon is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education at Missouri University of Science and Technology. His research focuses on technical communication, game studies, digital rhetoric, and participatory media. His publications have appeared in academic journals addressing writing studies, program administration, technical communication, and digital games. He is co-author, with David Wright, of The Digital Role-Playing Game and Technical Communication (2021). He teaches courses in science fiction, fantasy literature, game studies, and technical communication.