The User as the Protagonist and a Rhetorical Creation, as exemplified by the paragraph game Bałwochwał [Idolater]

Abstract

This article examines a 2013 game designed by Mariusz Pisarski and Marcin Bylak, inspired by the short stories of Bruno Schulz. It analyzes how the game constructs and interrogates the player’s identity as they inhabit the role of the protagonist. The discussion focuses on the game’s overarching rhetorical strategy, its oscillation between immersion and emersion, and the ways these dynamics shape the player’s experience. Drawing on the model of the narratee, the author proposes the term rhetoree to describe the projected persona produced by the game’s rhetorical operations—a figure emerging from the interplay of narrative design, interface, stage directions, and musical cues.