ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the book. The book is about discourse analysis, language, meaning, video games, the real world, imaginary worlds, human development, and life. Discourse analysis is a rather sleepy field in linguistics that analyzes language as it is used in specific contexts. It explores whether there can be a unified theory and method of discourse analysis that studies language, games, science, and human action and interaction in the real world and in imaginary worlds. This theory and method will treat human language as foundationally connected to conversation. It will treat conversation as a turn-taking form of interaction that humans can have with each other, with the real world, with other worlds, and with video games. And it will treat humans as themselves complex worlds. It can illuminate the nature of conversation itself and allow us to bridge between language and the real world as scientists study it and as we all live in it.
