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Neoformalist Game Analysis A methodological exploration of single-player game violence
No full textThis thesis positions itself within the scholarly debate around videogame violence. However, other than focussing on the effects of game violence which dominates much of this debate, this thesis focuses on the formal characteristics of the game and asks: how does violence in single-player videogames work? This means that this thesis explores the different rules, style elements, and narrative components that make up and surround violent encounters in games and that structure our in-game behaviours and our perceptions of these violent actions.
When seeking an approach to study these formal components, currently available ‘formalisms’ in game studies are found to be lacking. Ludology’s focus on rule systems in detriment of the game’s semantic layer does not allow for an adequate analysis of game violence since game violence is largely shaped by audiovisual cues. Furthermore, proceduralism’s focus on finding meaning becomes problematic since it does not account for the ludic function that components making up the game violence may (also) have. For a balanced analysis of rules, stylistic and narrative components, this thesis therefore borrows from, adapts, and expands on a neoformalist approach to films, and proposes a neoformalist approach to games as an alternative to both ludology and proceduralism. With a focus on the way that different devices function to structure a player’s response, this approach does not only prove helpful for an equal consideration of different formal game components but also helps to consider the player’s inherent role in actualising the perceptual, cognitive, emotional and behavioural effects. In fact, this approach functions as a poetics of game violence that takes player responses as departure points and asks which combination of devices are at work in cueing these responses.
In exploring a range of different single-player videogames with a neoformalist approach to games, this thesis first shows how different components surrounding game violence can be there for ludic reasons (facilitating configurative behaviour), compositional reasons (creating narrative), realistic reasons (appealing to notions of the real world), transtextual reasons (appealing to knowledge of other works), and artistic reasons (contributing to the game’s abstract shape). Furthermore this thesis explores how these different reasons suggest different play responses by elaborating on the role of the player as both agent and spectator. The player as spectator is then triggered to evaluate the aesthetic or realistic quality of the violence, its relationship to other works, or the way the violence affects the wellbeing of an in-game character. The player as agent, on the other hand, is cued to focus on those elements that are facilitating the progress towards the game’s goal thereby also cognitively evaluating and emotionally responding to the violence in the context of game progress. These very different perceptual, cognitive and emotional focus points can thus have a significant impact on the experience of game violence.
The neoformalist approach proposed in this thesis allows for some generalizable claims about the way players are cued to experience in-game violence by analysing the workings of the formal components that make up and contextualize that violence. This also means that asking how violence in videogames works is asking how violence works in relationship with the player. In response to the question of this thesis we can state that every violent encounter in single-player games works differently according to the different combinations of formal components that function together to cue certain play responses. Acknowledging this is important when one is trying to understand the experience of game violence and subsequently any potential after-effects. As this thesis suggests, such an analysis should start with a focus on the formal components of the violence to account for the many variations of that violence which will eventually help to specify any further player studies
Gamegeschiedenis van Nederland 1978–2018
No full textBook review of: 'Gamegeschiedenis van Nederland 1978–2018', Karel van Mander Academy, 2019, 106 pp., ISBN 978-90-9031716-
What is Videogame Formalism?: Exploring the Pillars of Russian Formalism for the Study of Videogames
Get PDFThis article provides a general overview of the theoretical foundations of formalism to assess their usefulness for the study of videogames and thereby establish grounds for a more robust approach. After determining that formalism has been used as a go-to term for a variety of ontological and methodological approaches in game studies, this article draws more specifically from Russian Formalism to use the label for a functionalist approach interested in how formal devices in videogames work to cue aesthetic responses. Through an exploration of three pillars of Russian Formalism, a videogame formalism emerges that focuses on the workings of the game as a machine while still taking the aesthetic player response as the methodological starting point and acknowledging the importance of synchronic and diachronic historical perspectives in establishing the functioning of game devices
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Faciliter la prise de perspective sociale en classe à travers la conception de jeux discursifs
No full textThis paper proposes and assesses a replicable game (co)design technique to encourage social perspective taking in the higher education classroom. Fully embracing the potential of research creation approaches, this discursive game design methodology approaches games as mediators of knowledge, emphasising the process of (re)creating, modifying, and comparing different game iterations. The paper reports on two classroom exercises that draw inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons and the Checkered Game of Life to foster perspective taking across different “learner personas” and different world views. Finally, this paper discusses how notating game modifications affords continuous game-based dialogue across student generations.Cet article propose et évalue une technique de co-conception de jeu reproductible pour encourager la prise de perspective sociale dans les salles de classe de l’enseignement supérieur. En embrassant pleinement le potentiel des approches de recherche-création, cette méthodologie de conception de jeux discursifs aborde les jeux comme des médiateurs du savoir, en mettant l’accent sur le processus de (re)création, de modification et de comparaison des différentes itérations du jeu. L’article rapporte deux exercices en classe inspirés de Dungeons & Dragons et du Checkered Game of Life, visant à favoriser la prise de perspective entre différentes “personas d\u27apprenants” et différentes visions du monde. Enfin, cet article examine comment la documentation des modifications du jeu facilite un dialogue continu, fondé sur le jeu, entre les différentes générations d\u27étudiants
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