Authors:Samuel Poirier-Poulin, Sarah Stang, Erin Maclean, Lauren Watson, Andrew Bailey, Andrew Fleshman, Alexandra Catá-Ross, Ashley P. Jones, Avery Delany, Braden Timss, Charlotte Courtois, Christopher Barkman, Francis Butterworth-Parr, Hayley McCullough, Hibby Thach Abstract: Editorial for the June 2022 issue. PubDate: 2022-06-09 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 2 (2022)
Authors:Morgan Himes Pages: 1 - 20 Abstract: The present study aims to determine the relationship between visual novels and student engagement in English literature. The visual novel development program Ren’Py was used to create a visual novel based on S. E. Hinton’s classic novel The Outsiders (1967). The game was distributed to high school students, and data was collected using a pretest-post-test quasi-experimental design. A descriptive positive relationship was tentatively found; students who indicated having read the book as well as having played the visual novel reported having a refreshed or otherwise positive experience with the visual novel. Factors such as learning enjoyment; behaviour, effort, and persistence; and cognitive learning were identified as having been enhanced through interaction with the visual novel, which suggests an overall improvement in student engagement. The most valuable implication of devoting research to this topic is the advancement of teaching methods that can impact the way students read and think critically about texts. With greater evidence and a wider breadth of subject material covered in the future, it could be possible to transform how high school students interact with literature. PubDate: 2022-05-12 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 2 (2022)
Authors:Kas van der Molen Pages: 21 - 43 Abstract: By studying the early development stages of the free-to-play game Valorant (Riot Games, 2020), this research draws connections between game studies and recent platformization research. Traditionally, game scholars have treated the game industry as focused on selling premium-priced games. An alternative approach presents games as services that attempt to foster a long-term relationship with the player base. This paper zooms in on the latter, by studying the role of livestreaming in the service model of digital games. This sheds light on how service games can become intertwined with participatory modes of production, which benefits the longevity of service games. It points to a situation in which games, users, and platforms together make up one coherent system. The deployment of sociotechnical system scholarship identifies mechanisms that have been put in place to facilitate the interaction between users and platforms. With that in mind, this paper presents a qualitative content analysis of Twitch streams using a transcription method in which content creation is considered vital to the proliferation of the platform ecosystem. This work contributes to a growing body of literature bridging the fields of platform studies and game studies by taking into account the extended cultural practices and paratexts of both livestreaming and videogames. PubDate: 2022-05-18 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 2 (2022)
Authors:Xinge Tong Pages: 44 - 65 Abstract: The independent (“indie”) game is a common category of video games, referring generally to those that are developed by individuals or small teams. When creating new games, most developers recruit a testing team made up of users/gamers who are not in the immediate design team and generate feedback about the game. The main objective of this study is to explore a qualitative way for categorising and filtering online reviews through social media platforms to help indie developers process user feedback efficiently during the extended game testing phase. This research adopts a qualitative methodology to develop in-depth and high-quality results based on case studies of Manifold Garden (William Chyr Studio, 2019) and No Man’s Sky (Hello Games, 2016). It includes qualitative content analysis based on Grabarczyk and Aarseth’s (2018) ontological meta-model (2018). A comparative investigation is also used to evaluate two key media platforms: YouTube and Steam. The results indicate that Steam users’ reviews focused on fundamental aspects of the game operation and game mechanics. In contrast, reviews on YouTube were related to the visual performance of games. The researcher observed an understanding gap between reviewers and developers, which means not all reviewers’ advice had been accepted. In conclusion, indie developers could consider platform types when categorising and targeting user feedback. PubDate: 2022-05-15 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 2 (2022)
Authors:Michael John Saiger, Bobby Dewan Akram Khaleque Pages: 66 - 87 Abstract: Battle Royale (BR) games are well known for their ability to not only attract but also retain a large number of players. In this paper, we attempt to identify the common themes which BR players identify as methods of retention through a qualitative thematic analysis with 11 participants. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews and analysed through thematic analysis. Seven common themes were identified, where (1) draw of new content, (2) mechanics and action of BR games, and (3) reward systems were suggested to impact retention. Additionally, (4) social dynamics and (5) mastery were external factors outside the game that may impact retention in BR games. However, the other themes of (6) aesthetic preference and (7) unique selling points were not contributing factors in our sample. Further work is needed to understand the impact of these retention factors and how to design for these factors in game development. PubDate: 2022-06-10 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 2 (2022)
Authors:Danny Steur Pages: 88 - 105 Abstract: This paper adapts Vivian Sobchack’s (2004) concept of the cinesthetic subject, which addresses the corporeality of the cinematic experience, to the medium of videogaming. I thus develop the concept of cinesthetic play by translating the three components constitutive of Sobchack’s cinesthetic subject: cinema, kinesthesia, and synesthesia. The mediality of cinema is translated with recourse to another of Sobchack’s concepts, the film body, which has previously been translated into the game body (Crick, 2011). I then illustrate synesthetic sense-making of game-worlds and discuss how the notion of kinesthetic empathy figures in videogaming. These three components together mitigate some limitations of previous phenomenological models of gaming, which do not similarly integrate the human sensorium’s different modalities. I conceive of cinesthetic play as hybrid real-and-virtual embodiment, in which players corporeally understand a game through a perception that is informed by commutating senses and their tacit understanding of the movements of and within the game-world. Additionally, throughout the paper I contend that, although scholarship on videogame phenomenology generally focuses on three-dimensionally navigable games, this embodied experience holds for two-dimensional games as well. I illustrate this point with the game Celeste (Matt Makes Games, 2018), which I use to demonstrate the value of the notion of cinesthetic play for an analysis of the embodied playing and sense-making of videogames. PubDate: 2022-05-29 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 2 (2022)
Authors:David Peter Kocik Pages: 106 - 109 Abstract: Review: Bonnie Ruberg’s The Queer Games Avant-Garde: How LGBTQ Game Makers Are Reimagining the Medium of Video Games. 2020. Duke University Press. xii + 276 pp. PubDate: 2022-05-15 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 2 (2022)
Authors:Hibby Thach Pages: 110 - 114 Abstract: Review: Intersectional Tech: Black Users in Digital Gaming, by Kishonna L. Gray. 2020. Louisiana State University Press. xiii + 195 pp. PubDate: 2022-05-30 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 2 (2022)
Authors:Benjamin Hanussek Pages: 115 - 118 Abstract: Review: Alayna Cole and Jessica Zammit’s Cooperative Gaming: Diversity in the Games Industry and How to Cultivate Inclusion. 2020. CRC Press. xv + 95 pp. PubDate: 2022-05-29 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 2 (2022)
Authors:Joe Todd Pages: 119 - 122 Abstract: Review: How to Be a Games User Researcher, by Steve Bromley. 2021. Self-Published. 173 pp. PubDate: 2022-05-30 Issue No:Vol. 8, No. 2 (2022)
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