Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Maxim Tvorun-Dunn Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This research seeks to add to recent critical reevaluations of Alexander Galloway’s seminal “Social Realism in Gaming” through a closer analysis of the texts by Andre Bazin and Gilles Deleuze which inform Galloway’s initial conceptions of social realism. The present work emphasizes social criticism in this esthetic movement and finds the medium specificity of games limits applicability of cinematic terms like neorealism. Procedural rhetoric and effective Brechtian alienation tactics emphasizing player-character subjectivity, can be used to effectively convey the philosophical and ideological tenants of neorealism and broader social realism. This is expanded upon using the World War Two (WWII) game Red Orchestra 2 as a case study. Ultimately this work argues against Galloway’s “congruence requirement” between players real-world contexts and game interactions, rather finding social realism in games as dependent on convergence between a game’s functional and visual rhetoric. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-06-25T12:47:37Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221109128
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Shayan S. Lallani Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This article argues that advancement in the MMORPG Runescape is connected to virtual performances of colonial exploitation. It places in geographic and temporal context various societies represented in Runescape by historicizing in-game cultural representations. Thereafter, it is asserted that players partake in virtual iterations of colonialism to advance their accounts. Analysis is grounded in four case studies exploring the themes of exploitative archaeology, colonial cartography, imperial diplomacy, and resource extraction. Each example represents opportunities for in-game progress. In connecting the virtual advancement of user accounts to performances of colonialism, it is argued that Runescape reproduces historic colonial projects in which European powers commodified other societies to advance their own economic and cultural agendas. Through this analysis, the article seeks to develop a guiding framework for the study of MMORPGs as replicating Eurocentric colonial encounters. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-06-16T10:30:45Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221109130
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Filip Jankowski Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This article demonstrates how digital games can confirm or subvert national historical discourses. The author analyzes selected 20th-century French historical adventure digital games about absolutist France and the subsequent French Revolution. Although most of them focused on reconstructing the era (e.g., the state-funded Versailles 1685), the emphasis is placed on two games by Patrick Beaujouan (Le Passager du temps and Conspiration de l’an III). Their subversive content undermined the sense of reconstructing historical events on the screen. However, as the author concludes, the subversive content of Beaujouan’s games had its prize because they lacked the technical and institutional support that restorative projects such as Versailles 1685 had. However, Beaujouan’s games show that every “historical” game tells us more about contemporary discourses than past events. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-06-14T02:30:22Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221109126
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Salvador Gómez-García, Teresa de la Hera Conde-Pumpido Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This study explores the way mass-media outlets make use of digital games to convey journalistic messages. Newsgames have been defined by several scholars in the intersection between digital journalism and game studies. However, because of the heterogeneity of this phenomenon, there is still a lack of clarity of what could be considered, or not, a newsgame. This study aims to shed light into this question by exploring how newsgames are used in practice by journalists. We therefore approach the understanding of this phenomenon from a bottom-up perspective to give an answer to the following research question: How are journalistic messages structured within newsgames published by online mass-media outlets' A grounded theory approach is used to analyze 75 games published in a total of 47 mass-media digital outlets from 17 countries. The results of this study have led to the proposal of a more systematic identification and analytical approach for newsgames. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-06-09T06:11:30Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221105461
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Gabriel Elvery Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. Interaction with non-player characters (NPCs) that simulates one-sided social interaction is a common feature of many role-playing video games (RPGs). This kind of interaction may be described as parasocial. Parasocial phenomena have been identified across media, but there are few studies which detail how they function within specific video games. This article marries close analysis of the video game Undertale with theories of parasocial phenomena to examine how effective parasocial relationships (PSRs) are created with its cast of quirky, loveable monsters. The article uses players’ reception of the game in the form of Steam reviews and Let’s play content to evidence players’ attachments to NPCs and uses the concept of parasociality coupled with close reading to explore why. The paper concludes by considering what insights analysis of PSRs in video games can provide regarding both our relationships with the technology that facilitates them, and our off-screen relationships. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-05-29T11:55:44Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221105464
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Jan Cao Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. To examine the aesthetics of video games, this paper proposes to consider games as a contemporary multi-media version of the so-called “Denkbild,” or “thought-image,” an experimental genre of philosophical writing employed by members of the Frankfurt School that takes literary snapshots of philosophical, political, and cultural insights that interrupt and challenge the enigmatic form of traditional philosophical thinking. While previous scholarship tends to examine the aesthetics of video game as a homogenous, self-contained genre that can be clearly defined and understood within the framework of a variety of dichotomies, thinking of video game through the lens of the Denkbild allows us to understand the diversity, conditionality, and incommensurability of game as a multimedia aesthetic object. By presenting two snapshots of video game players, the collector and the glitcher, this paper argues that the concept of Denkbild allows us to better understand the relationships between game, gamers, and the socio-political context in terms of unexpected bonds, accidental breakthroughs, and moments of absolute freedom. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-05-26T08:18:40Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221097411
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Martha Fernandez de Henestrosa, Joël Billieux, André Melzer Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. The highly popular video game genre of Battle Royale (BR) games is characterized by survival and exploration elements that feature a last-man-standing gameplay, thus, motivating players to be the final contestant in the game. Drawing on the Self-Determination Theory the present study investigated the role of personal values, psychological needs and well-being in a self-selected sample of 303 BR gamers recruited online. The association between players’ value orientation and well-being was found contingent on players’ BR gaming experience and their need for relatedness. Whereas frequent interaction with this game genre was associated with the basic psychological need satisfaction of autonomy and relatedness, player preference for BR games was related to their need of competence and autonomy. The present study supports the importance of exploring player motives and provides initial insights into the association between BR gaming and basic psychological needs. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-05-21T03:51:06Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221101312
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Evan Jules Maier-Zucchino Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. Violence in videogames has been a controversial topic since the medium’s inception, but how videogames depict violence has changed dramatically over time. During the seventh console generation, several development studios implemented similar design mechanisms that allowed players to engage in ethically challenging virtual violence through morally compromised characters, contexts, and systems. Fourteen AAA games released between the years of 2007 and 2013 encouraged critical reflection on the ethical qualities of that violence, resulting in a phenomenon I term “critical violence”. Following an overview of the ethics of videogames and a brief history of changes in the industry, this paper performs a comparative analysis of four games, two that engage in critical violence and two that do not, elucidating the techniques used to generate such criticality: defamiliarization, narrative character studies, systemic design, and aesthetic style. These approaches demonstrate that violence in videogames can be a useful element for communicating meaningful experiences. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-05-19T06:51:55Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221100817
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Ryan Banfi Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. Drawing on game theory and interviews that were personally conducted with pinball pioneers—from CEOs of independent and corporate pinball companies to notable designers and historians—this essay argues that pinball machines are not solely collector’s items but complex games that contain original narratives. The narratives in the pinball games are not direct adaptations from the urtext, but rather narratives that arise through gameplay—the player’s use of the pinball to hit the various lights, toys, and ramps that represent the game’s narrative. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-05-19T04:43:46Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120211058315
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Grégory Ben-Sadoun, Julian Alvarez Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This article investigated whether it is possible to establish correspondences between game mechanics and particular cognitive stimulations. There are many challenges to prevent and treat cognitive decline with aging or neurocognitive disease. Observing difficulties to establish such correspondences in the scientific literature, we proposed to move away from “classification by genre” or any other type of taxonomy that deviates from the framework of the “Rules/Formal schemas” and the “set of rules” component of the gameplay. Thus, we proposed the Gameplay Bricks model as a theoretical framework for Video Game (VG) and Serious Games (SG). We jointly relied on a framework on fractionated executive functions, memory, and attention. The Gameplay Bricks model currently identifies 14 major Metabricks (game mechanics) through seven Metabricks of obligations and seven of prohibitions. We have proposed first correspondences accompanied by examples from the VG-SGs. The limits and perspectives of these first matches were then discussed. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-05-16T10:43:31Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221080925
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Brian McKitrick, Melissa Rogerson, Martin Gibbs, Bjørn Nansen Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. Within the last decade, Let’s Plays, recordings of gameplay with commentary by the person playing, have grown in popularity and attention. The current research examining Let’s Plays has focused on the contemporary popularity of the phenomenon on YouTube. However, the origins of Let’s Plays as an influential media practice have not been fully investigated. In order to address this gap, we conducted a series of interviews with 34 creators from the Something Awful LP subforum—commonly identified to have originated the media form. Transcripts of these interviews were analyzed using concepts of serious leisure studies and cultural/subcultural capital. As a form of serious leisure culture, the members of the Something Awful LP community displayed motivations related to extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, such as increased sense of self-worth and recognition. The analysis of this Serious leisure culture highlights how this subculture was subsequently adopted by larger YouTube communities. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-05-16T06:16:26Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221101310
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Yu-Hao Lee, Mo Chen Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. Unemployment can have devastating effects on people’s psychological and social wellbeing. The effects of unemployment can be exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the lack of control over one’s life and the loss of social connectedness. Through a survey of 480 unemployed workers, this study examined how emotion-focused coping using video game can affect the workers’ wellbeing and reemployment. The findings showed that escapism was associated with decreased wellbeing, which reduced job-search efficacy and behaviors. However, when video game playing was viewed as a source of self-determination, it can support the unemployed workers’ intrinsic needs of autonomy and relatedness, which improved their wellbeing, their job-search efficacy, and job-search behaviors. Further comparison of effects between gender, age, race, and income found that unemployed workers who made lower to medium income were more likely to seek escapism through games compared to female unemployed workers. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-05-12T06:34:44Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221097413
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:David Christopher, Aidan Leuszler Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. With the ‘perfect marriage’ between horror and video games has come a concomitant cultural studies discourse surrounding these games. Previously, while Carol Clover insisted that identification through the perspectival screen is poorly understood, she seminally argued that slasher horror in particular allows for more progressive gender identifications. More broadly, and somewhat conversely, Carly Kocurek observes the most reactionary effects of the horror genre’s reduction of cultural ‘others’ to monsters and the problem with their prurient dispatch in video games. Lastly, Tammy Lin argues that the experience of virtual reality (VR) significantly heightens the experience of horror. In concert, these imply that VR should heighten the ideological effects and gender identifications identified by both Kocurek and Clover, for better or for worse. This paper examines the ways in which both ostensibly reactionary and progressive ideological elements have migrated into horror video games and the implications of VR on this phenomenon. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-05-11T11:42:20Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221097414
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Benjamin Fritz, Stefan Stöckl Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. The video games industry has been growing constantly for the past several decades, but there is no empirically validated industry standard for measuring motivation of play. Although there have been a number of player typologies, they display sizable deviations in the player types described, many of which are insufficiently supported by validation studies. The literature thus far lacks an attempt to test these deviations by bringing differences in the specifics on the same scale. A survey (n = 1090) across 440 different games using an 80-item questionnaire found eleven motivations of play: Social, Social Competition, Challenge, Escapism, Role-Playing, Power Fantasy, Creation, Exploration, Completion, Griefing, and Competitive Team-Play. These results map onto some established types, add some new ones that are not as embedded in the literature, and re-contextualize others such as immersion which, while highly present in the literature, were not found to be distinct motivations of play. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-05-05T05:17:50Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221094844
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Aiden J. Kosciesza Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. Before 2020, no big-budget, mainstream video games featured playable transgender characters, relegating them instead to the role of non-player characters (NPCs). Through a textual analysis of Bioware’s 2014 title Dragon Age: Inquisition, Ubisoft’s 2016 Watch Dogs 2, and Naughty Dog’s 2020 The Last of Us Part II—three role-playing games that feature explicitly transgender NPCs—and a discourse analysis of media surrounding the games’ release, this paper examines the narrative roles afforded to transgender characters. Drawing from the “magical Negro” trope in film studies, I propose the term “magical transness” to describe the unique role of transgender supporting characters whose victimization provides the opportunity for cisgender protagonists to act heroically. This paper interrogates transgender representation and its relationship to media discourses about diversity and inclusion and discusses the political implications of transgender NPCs’ placement in roles of moral service. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-28T08:32:42Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221088118
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:David Christopher, Aidan Leuszler Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. In Perron’s edited compendium of essays regarding horror video games subtitled Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play (2009), much of the argumentation orbits debate regarding the definition and creation of the experience of horror compared between an ostensibly passive cinema reception (from whence the games take most of their conventions) and the ostensibly more active reception of ludological horror. As the argument goes, ludic activity creates greater identification with diegetic characters and therefore heightens the player’s experience of horror. But is this true, or is it a specious contention that does not really account for the complex mechanics of identification with characters in the ostensibly “passive” experience of cinema viewing, nor for the fact that lacking realism and “active” gameplay may actually compromise the experience of “transportation”' Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-27T11:55:56Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221088115
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Amanda C. Cote, Onder Can, Maxwell Foxman, Brandon C. Harris, Jared Hansen, Md Waseq Ur Rahman, Tara Fickle Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. During the COVID-19 pandemic, universities were among the first institutions to shift to an online model. As they did so, nascent collegiate esports program lost access to campus spaces and in-person connections, potentially destabilizing this rising industry. Conversely, universities also worked to provide students remote access to resources, and many components of esports already occur online. Therefore, collegiate esports may have adjusted to distancing measures, potentially strengthening their footholds on US campuses. This paper draws on in-depth interviews with collegiate esports players, student employees, program directors, and administrators to address different programs’ reactions to the pandemic, specifically the challenges and opportunities they faced. Overall, interviews reveal how COVID-19 shifted the understandings of and practices around gaming and esports, highlighted the intermittent relationship of online and offline spheres, and presented various possibilities and challenges for different stakeholders during the global pandemic. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-26T07:58:08Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221088116
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Mary E. Ballard, Michael T. Spencer Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This study focused on the importance of social videogame play for remaining connected to others early in the COVID-19 pandemic. While social isolation and loneliness negatively affect well-being, social interaction is important for positive outcomes. During the pandemic, online videogame play has offered a safe outlet for socialization. Participants (n = 45) completed a survey rating the importance of gaming for feeling connected to family, friends, and co-workers, before, during, and after stay-at-home orders. As expected, the results indicate that social videogame play and its importance increased significantly during the stay-at-home period and decreased afterward. The importance of gaming with friends and co-workers increased significantly during the stay-at-home period but did not decrease significantly afterward. Social gaming was more important for remaining connected with friends and co-workers than family. Participants likely had more direct interaction with family members, while more effort was necessary to maintain contact with non-family members. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-26T01:22:57Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221090982
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Håvard Andreas Vibeto Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This article explores a commonly used feature of many different videogame genres, namely slow motion. It discusses the origins of slow motion, its ontological qualities and why it is important to analyze a game mechanic’s audiovisual elements when doing game studies research. Slow motion in videogames can be divided into two broad categories: cinematic slow motion and bullet time. The focus in this article is on bullet time, which allows the player interactive control and an advantage in overcoming enemies and obstacles found in the gameplay. This retooling of slow motion to suit interactive use has consequences for the aesthetic qualities of the effect. Bullet time takes advantage of slow motion’s intrinsic qualities to highlight player control, feedback, and audiovisual spectacle. Bullet time is a good example of how videogames’ gameplay mechanics have a strong focus on rules while also offering an audiovisual experience that creates aesthetic pleasure. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-24T09:21:11Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221090974
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Dragoş M. Obreja Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. The kill cams represent a common feature in many shooters, but little is said about their technological and bodily implications in game studies. By examining postphenomenologically the kill cams code, this article highlights the fact that these gamic cams provoke players to a bodily rethinking of death and failure. The way in which kill cams are embedded is an important topic in understanding their functionality, as it is the very code that determines the power that is attributed to these technologies. Conceiving these kill cams is also a matter of technological mediation, so that one’s own visualization after death produces a sort of objectivity-subjectivity inversion. While the gameplay itself encompasses multiple embodiment relationships, it is noticed that the kill cams’ code of some games completely restricts the player’s agency and rather favors a mere hermeneutic interpretation of its own death. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-24T07:31:26Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221090972
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Petri Lankoski, Thomas Apperley, J. Tuomas Harviainen Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This article examines the prominent role of Patreon in the rapidly growing sector of crowdfunded pornographic games. Recent research has indicated that, on average, more people (patrons) are funding pornographic digital games on Patreon than other (non-adult) digital games (Lankoski & Dymek, 2020). Graphtreon’s ‘Top Patreon Creators’ list from 9 June 2021 includes six NSFW game projects among the top 50 projects (ranked by number of Patrons). For example, Summertime Saga (Dark Cookie), the highest-ranked pornographic game, is third in terms of the number of funders, with 27,791 patrons funding $74,657 per month. While Wild Life – An Adult RPG (Adeptus Steve), which reportedly only had 9417 patrons as of 9 June 2021, receives a monthly income of $94,129 from those pledges. The current funding levels for both Patreon projects are considerably higher than when we began our sampling: since January 2020, the funding level for Summertime Saga has risen by 27.86%, while for Wild Life – An Adult RPG it has risen by 21.45%. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-21T07:42:06Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221084453
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Emma Witkowski Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. While million-dollar prize-pools and mega-events dominate esports news, the somewhat elusive entities of national esports associations continue to develop as a critical underbelly. Associations prop up player mobility across all scales of modernisation and play an integral advocacy role for regional esports, providing situated responses to esports governance in society. However, national associations provide sector representation that is often polemic and unwelcome by grassroots, commercial and even state-level representatives. With the continued growth in everyday esports participation and calls for better regulatory frameworks, this article explores the emerging forms and challenges within esports associationalism under the four modes of public, industry, substitute, and early adopter associations. Through qualitative, mixed methods research, these modes are outlined as distinct associational forms with local mobilities, stakeholder pressures and infrastructural challenges involved for associational development and locally tailored esports governance. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-21T07:39:47Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221084449
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:James Cartlidge Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. The developers of Red Hook Studios’ 2016 gothic horror “Darkest Dungeon” said that they wanted to “capture the human response to stress.” This paper analyzes how the game does this with its “stress,” “affliction,” and “virtue” mechanics. With reference to research literature on stress, I show how these mechanics, which could easily have been cheap gimmicks, approach the topic of stress with admirable detail, offering a complex reflection on the various aspects, positive and negative, of several possible human responses to stress. They show how different responses include similar symptoms, how stress impacts the people around the stressed person, and make the case that stress can break people, but also fuel heroism. It is a fantastic example of how video game mechanics can be used to educate people about complex subjects without explicitly saying this is what they are doing. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-16T01:10:23Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221084450
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:John McLoughlin Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. Jeremy Blaustein’s liberal translation of Metal Gear Solid (1998) was a critical creative intercession which helped facilitate the successful localization and positive reception – in the west – of a crucial early project in the development of 3d games. It can also be seen as an unacceptable liberty taken with a carefully produced script, one which too often puts the needs of a western ear ahead of faithfulness to the original. Walter Benjamin’s essay ‘The Task of the Translator’ and its inheritors in translation studies offer a definition of translation and its utility with which one can justify such a creative intervention as a necessary continuation in the life cycle of the original work and an honest interpretation of the game’s paratextual environment; in the localization of Metal Gear Solid Blaustein performed the task of the translator as Benjamin conceived it. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-15T09:04:54Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221080947
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:K.T. Wong Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This article aims to illuminate how game analytics have discursively shaped the mainstream perception of Southeast Asia as a regional games market through a qualitative analysis of the data and discourses in three market reports by Newzoo, an influential game analytics company that played a pivotal role in pioneering market research about the region. By reconceiving the futurity of Southeast Asia in terms of capitalist temporality, these reports envision the region as a games market of perpetual capitalist growth through data-led approaches. Despite its limitations, the compelling conception of Southeast Asia as “the world’s fastest growing games market” has become a powerful myth that exerts profound influence on how the public conceive the region as a gaming space. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-15T07:52:00Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221077731
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Yaeri Kim Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This article examines the experience of the sublime engendered by video games and the function of immersion and interactivity in producing this effect. A close inspection of the history of the sublime as an aesthetic principle and related cultural practices reveals that the elements of immersion, interactivity, and virtuality were already integral to Burke’s seminal conceptualization, as well as in architecture and visual media, before the emergence of digital media. The techniques and technologies of the immersive sublime deployed by preexisting spatial and visual art forms are inherited, revised, and enhanced in video games, as demonstrated by the analysis of the undersea exploration game ABZÛ. In this sense, the video game simultaneously marks the continuation of and new developments in the interlinked histories of the sublime and technology. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-04-01T12:21:28Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221084454
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Danielle Kelly, Brona Nic Giolla Easpaig, Paola Castillo Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. While there is an abundance of research concerning the gendered dimensions of video gaming and online communities, there is a limited focus on gameplay competence. This study examined the relationship between sexism and gendered perceptions of competence in gaming. Three hundred and 85 participants volunteered to take part. Participants were randomly allocated to one of three gendered conditions (female, male or neutral). Participants watched two video game clips within each condition (novice and expert playthroughs). Participants rated the competence and warmth of the players, estimated the number of errors made and completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. The findings indicated that female and neutral clips were perceived as less competent than male clips in both skill levels. This difference was more pronounced in the expert level. Warmth ratings varied significantly across conditions. Hostile sexism predicted lower perceptions of warmth. The study demonstrates the need for inclusive and safe online gaming environments. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-03-24T05:48:00Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221077730
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Amy M. Green Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. The article explores Far Cry 5’scommentary on the rise of the radical right, domestic terrorism, and extremism in America. The game's two primary modes for this narrative critique involve its use of Christian symbolism and its exploration of doomsday prepper culture. What emerges from this analysis is that Far Cry 5 provides a harrowing reckoning in the rise of extremist thought in this country and its ramifications, one that is a timely reflection of current American culture. In Far Cry 5, America becomes the next great empire poised to fall throughout the game and finally, in its tense final sequences, succumbs to nuclear annihilation. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-03-11T05:58:03Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120211073379
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Ehsan Jooyaeian, Masood Khoshsaligheh Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. Widely played all over the world, video games have led to a thriving industry whose global boom owes much to the significant contributions of audiovisual translation and game localization. The current study sheds some light on the translation solutions employed in tailoring video games into Persian to evaluate the growing field of game localization in Iran. Accordingly, four video games localized by Darinoos, the most prominent Iranian game localization company, were selected; their textual materials were extracted and compiled into a corpus of 3068 source–target pairs. The results showed Copying Structure is the most frequently used solution indicating the prominence of word-for-word translation. Cultural Correspondence, on the other hand, was revealed to have received the lowest proportion suggesting the lack of creativity and failure to transfer culture-specific language. The findings revealed several inadequacies in video game localization into Persian, which are explored within the cultural and industrial settings of Iran. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-03-08T10:58:25Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221077726
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Jessy Escande Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This paper considers J. L. Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings as a vector for the cultural transfer of folkloric, mythological, religious, and literary motifs from foreign cultures to Japanese video games and collectible card games. My analysis relies upon Michel Espagne’s cultural transfer theories and discusses not only the Book of Imaginary Beings but also other vectors of transfer, such as the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons. I focus on four specific motifs from different cultural spheres, whose introduction to Japanese video games can be retraced to Borges’ bestiary: The carbuncle, the catoblepas, the peryton, and Kujata. Thus, this paper presents a case study of the cross-cultural influence of literary works on games. Furthermore, it underscores the need for a deeper consideration of the cultural influences found in games and of games as agents of cultural transfers. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-03-04T09:40:48Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120211060258
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Orlando Woods Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This paper offers a counterpoint to existing research that explores the associations between gacha games and gambling. Whilst existing research tends to advance a view that playing these games is equivalent to gambling, I contend that such assertions rest on analyses that focus almost exclusively on investing money in the game. Moreover, they tend to view the game as separate from the structuring forces of everyday life. Arguing that players are embedded within a double structural frame that moderates the extent of seemingly ‘irrational’ playing behaviours, I reinterpret grinding as a form of temporal investment that is motivated by more ‘rationalised’ engagements with the gacha mechanic. Drawing on qualitative data derived from Singapore-based players of gacha games, I explore how discipline, desire and deferred value can lead to resource maximising behaviours that are rooted in a time-money trade-off. In turn, these agentic patterns of play can be seen to ‘game-the-game’. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-03-04T01:26:00Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221077728
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Kristine Jørgensen, Torill Elvira Mortensen Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. In debates concerning videogames and the freedom of expression, two lines of argumentation have traditionally been put forward: That games express ideas and for this reason are entitled to the same protection as other expressive media or that their interactive nature makes them different in how they reflect the world compared to other media. This paper adds nuance to this discussion through two arguments. First, we argue that videogames cannot be understood as mainly expressive or interactive, but that these characteristics must be understood in tandem if we are to understand the role of videogames in culture and society, connected by the player. Second, we argue that play and playfulness are ignored in debates about videogames and the freedom of expression, and that attention towards the playful aspects offers a better view of how videogames differ from other media and what this means for the status of expressions in videogames. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-03-01T02:56:43Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120221074423
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Siyu Yao, Yumin Chen Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. Honor of Kings (HOK) is currently the most popular yet controversial mobile game in China. It is deeply inspired by Chinese history and culture, while its heroic backstories have been criticized for potential distortion of historical views. Drawing upon Systemic Functional Linguistics, this study explores the reconstruction in ideational and interpersonal meanings through comparing heroic stories with historical accounts. It reveals that HOK game stories have (1) significantly reconstructed activity processes while largely preserved spatial circumstances; (2) partly fabricated social relationships among characters, which result in the distortion of historical timeline; (3) retained core judgements on characters. It further explains how the reconstruction of heroic stories is embedded in the social context of game discourse, as far as entertainment, sociality, and cultural identity are concerned. The findings may shed light on discourse semantic interpretation in game studies and provide pertinent suggestions for future in-game story writing. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-02-24T01:44:33Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120211070890
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Elizabeth “Biz” Nijdam Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This article examines Rievssat (2018), one of the six games developed during the 2018 Sami Game Jam, as a case study to demonstrate how digital games on Indigenous issues afford opportunities to embed Indigenous ways of knowing into the core of game design. In particular, by exploring Rievssat’s themes and game mechanics, this article identifies the way its procedural rhetoric models an understanding of and relationship to the game environment that reflects the dialogic connection with nature and animistic worldview unique to the Sámi people. This article thereby demonstrates the value of new media in recentering Indigenous systems of knowledge and cultural practices by engaging with and incorporating Indigenous epistemologies into the foundation of game design, revealing how Sámi digital games can offer insight into Sámi ways of knowing and experiencing the world to Indigenous and non-Indigenous players alike. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-01-27T06:12:59Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120211068086
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Holin Lin, Chuen-Tsai Sun Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. This paper describes the appropriation of video game culture for discursive use during the 2019–20 Hong Kong anti-extradition movement, with participants relying on game argot for mass protest communication and mobilization purposes, and employing game frameworks (especially from MMORPGs) for organizing protest actions. Data from online forums are used to present examples of video game rhetoric and narratives in protest-related online discourses, to speculate on their symbolic meanings, and to examine ways that borrowed aspects of game culture influenced movement activities. After describing ways that game culture spilled over into social movements, we highlight examples of gaming literacy during dynamic protest situations. Our evidence indicates that the combination of game culture and online gaming literacy strengthened activist toolkits and intensified the “be water” nature of a social movement that many describe as leaderless. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-01-03T08:36:11Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120211061852
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Dongliang Chen, Antonio Bucchiarone, Zhihan Lv First page: 679 Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. The COVID-19 problem has not gone away with the passing of the seasons. Although most countries have achieved remarkable results in fighting against epidemic diseases and controlling viruses, the general public is still far from understanding the new crown virus and lack imagination on its transmission law. Location-based games (LBGs) have been challenged during the on-going pandemic. No research has shown that LBGs can be used to help prevent COVID-19 infection. Therefore, we designed the game MeetDurian, which integrates entertainment, sports, and education. For investigating factors influencing intention to play the MeetDurian, we proposed some comparative evaluation. Data were gathered from participants who participated in capturing virtual durians and completed questionnaires about immersion into the game, workload assessment, user’s emotions, learning outcomes, and personal hygiene. These results proved the acceptability and usability of the mobile game-based MeetDurian for preventing the infection and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-01-11T10:28:35Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120211049578
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Eugene Lee, Maral Abdollahi, Colin Agur First page: 703 Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. While previous studies showed that persuasive games can have positive effects on attitudes and behavioral intentions, little is known about the underlying processes that cause these effects. This study investigates immersion and involvement in order to provide a better understanding of the effects of persuasive games. We conducted an experiment with 152 college students in which participants either played a persuasive game or watched the playback of the game. Our results showed that affective and ludic involvement and immersion mediated the relationship between interactivity (gameplay vs. playback) and persuasive outcomes (attitude and behavioral intention). Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-03-30T12:34:08Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120211049576
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Authors:Daniel Sumner Magruder First page: 721 Abstract: Games and Culture, Ahead of Print. Collectible card games are taking up more space in popular culture with traditional paper card games even embracing e-sports. However, longevity in such games is not as common, with some suspecting power creep as a culprit behind why some of these games fail. Yet, Magic: the Gathering has not just survived but thrived for over 25 years with the game’s designers publicly stating their aim to keep curbing power creep. Therefore, it is of interest to determine the rate of power creep in the game. Herein, we formally define a conservative metric power creep and calculate its occurrence in the game of Magic: the Gathering. Although having an increasing rate, power creep appears low with an average of 1.56 strictly better card faces released per year. Citation: Games and Culture PubDate: 2022-01-06T08:04:02Z DOI: 10.1177/15554120211050812
Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
