Context Matters!

nap
new academic press
Mitgutsch | Huber | Wagner | Wimmer | Rosenstingl (Eds.)
Context
Matters!
Exploring and Reframing Games in Context
Proceedings of the 7 th Vienna Games Conference
FROG 2013
Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der
Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten
sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.
Printed in Austria
Alle Rechte, insbesondere das Recht der Vervielfältigung und Verbreitung
sowie der Übersetzung, vorbehalten. Kein Teil des Werkes darf in irgendeiner
Form (durch Fotokopie, Mikrofilm oder ein anderes Verfahren) ohne
schriftliche Genehmigung des Verlages reproduziert oder unter Verwendung
elektronischer Systeme gespeichert, verarbeitet, vervielfältigt oder verbreitet
werden.
© 2013 by new academic press og
A-1160 Wien
http://www.newacademicpress.at
ISBN978-3-7003-1864-4
Covergestaltung: Alex Schepelmann
Covermotiv: matchstick / sxc
Satz: Peter Sachartschenko
Druck: CPI buch bücher.de
Konstantin Mitgutsch, Simon Huber, Jeffrey Wimmer,
Michael G. Wagner and Herbert Rosenstingl (Ed.) (2013):
Context Matters!
Proceedings of the Vienna
Games Conference 2013:
Exploring and Reframing Games
and Play in Context
5
Table of Content
Konstantin Mitgutsch, Simon Huber, Jeffrey Wimmer, Michael Wagner
and Herbert Rosenstingl
Context matters! Exploring and reframing games
and play in context – an introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
NARRATIVE AND IMMERSIVE CONTEXTS
Jonas Linderoth
Superheroes, Greek gods and sport stars: Ecological
empowerment as a ludo-narratological construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Diane Carr
Bodies, augmentation and disability in Dead Space and
Deus Ex: Human Revolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Danny Langhoff Nielsen, Henrik Schoenau-Fog
In the mood for horror. A game design approach on investigating absorbing
player experiences in horror games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Marta Fernández, Simon Niedenthal, Manuel Armenteros
The sense of lighting inside game worlds.
Myth and meaning in gameplay and game mechanics. . . . . . . . . . . . .57
CONTEXTUALIZING PLAYFUL CONTEXT
Simon Huber
Huizingas circles. How to put modern game culture
into historical context? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Mathias Fuchs
Foul play in context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
Tobias Scholz
Does context matter? Conceptualizing relational ­contextualization . . . . 89
Jonathan Church
Constructing a neoliberal archive: Spreadable media, video games, and a
culture of history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
USER-GENERATED CONTEXT
David Myers
Authorial intent and video games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Pilar Lacasa, María Ruth García-Pernía, Sara Cortés Gómez
From gamers to game designers: Looking for
new adolescent literacies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6
Héctor Puente Bienvenido, Marta Fernández Ruiz
User generated content: A situated production of video
walkthroughts on Youtube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Gerhild Bauer, Daniel Martinek, Simone Kriglstein,
Günter Wallner, Rebecca Wölfle
Digital game-based learning with “Internet Hero”
A game about the internet for children aged 9–12 years . . . . . . . . . . 148
PLAYFUL ENVIRONMENTS IN CONTEXT
Jeremiah Diephuis, Michael Lankes, Wolfgang Hochleitner
Another brick in the (fifth) wall: Reflections on creating a co-located
multiplayer game for a large display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Lizzy Bleumers
Capturing context: Mobile and pervasive game-play
in participatory sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Martin Knöll, Tim Dutz, Sandro Hardy, Stefan Göbel
Active design – how the built environment matters
to mobile games for health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Eszter Tóth, Alenka Poplin
Cooperative learning games – a successful tool for
promoting children’s participation in urban planning? . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Nina Grünberger, Clemens Fessler
Play between cable car and couch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Reflections on the importance of the environments of
gameplay through Böhme’s atmosphere concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
MEANINGFUL CONTEXT
Maresa Bertolo, Ilaria Mariani
Meaningful play: learning, best practices and reflections
through games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Maike Groen
Exclusion and inclusion of women in e-sport and
the example of StarCraft: Wings of liberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Sébastien Hock-Koon, Iris Rukshin
Princesses and princes in video games: A preliminary survey on
audience reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Table of Content
7
APPLIED PLAY IN CONTEXT
Judith Ackermann
Appropriating game rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Sébastien Hock-Koon
Learning with video games: Identifying sources
of uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Katharina Mittlböck
Mentalization and the reflective functioning of playing.
The psychological concept of mentalization and its potentialities for personality
development in the possibility space of drpgs or, what can we gain from babies’
playful interactions for our understanding of the act of playing? . . . . . . . . 270
Enrico Gandolfi
The playing diorama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
PLAY IN ARTISTIC CONTEXT
Fares Kayali, Naemi Luckner, Ruth Mateus-Berr, Peter Purgathofer
Game design and artistic expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Veli-Matti Karhulahti
Videogame as avant-garde: Secluded rhematic expression . . . . . . . . 301
Jens M. Stober, Steffen P. Walz, Jussi Holopainen
Hacking as a playful strategy for designing artistic games . . . . . . . . . 308
Ilaria De Lorenzo
Milan, Italy
The game of dancing a fairy tale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Abstracts of the Conference
Vienna games conference poster presentation:
Abstracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Vienna games conference game presentation:
Abstracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Author Information
Biographies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
9
Konstantin Mitgutsch, Vienna, Austria
Simon Huber, Vienna, Austria
Jeffrey Wimmer, Ilmenau, Germany
Michael Wagner, Philadelphia, USA
Herbert Rosenstingl, Vienna, Austria
Context matters! Exploring and reframing games
and play in context – an introduction
The activity of play is situated within different contextual constraints. Games
contextualize the way we play and, vice versa, our play recontextualizes the rules
and goals of games, our culture, society and history. The context of play matters
and influences the impact games have on players and player communities. The
study of context, that frames play, raises the following questions: How can we
understand the contextual characteristic of play? What forms of contexts and
frames matter and why? What are constructive or problematic contexts of play?
How can we study context and what methods appear appropriate to examine it?
What context does game design and development establish? What is the contextual impact of technology on games and play? What media forms contextualize
our play and how are they converging?
These were the question international scholars, designers and were tracing at
the 7th Vienna Games Conference, “Future and Reality of Gaming 2013”
(FROG13) in September 2013 in Vienna. Vienna’s annual Games Conference
FROG13, offers an open international platform for leading game studies researchers and scholars, game designers, researchers and scholars from various other
fields, education professionals, and gamers from around the world. The main objective of FROG13 was to explore how “Context Matters” in regard to questions
of player communities, challenging or problematic play settings, game theory
and development, impact of games, and cultural facets of play. The proceedings
collects 28 contributions from FROG presenters and abstracts of poster and
game presentations.
Why context matters
Games and gaming constitute an incredibly complex phenomenon of mediated communication that is based on a global, multilayer, and mostly only virtual
game culture. An observation of the contexts of game and play, especially in
terms of their different characteristics and dimensions, will allow us to better un-
10
derstand these complex processes, although we still know very little about the
highly diverse gaming genres and cultures.
In order to grasp the different contexts of game and play, we recommend considering the ideas of Mäyrä (2008). He claims that game studies should focus on
the interaction between game and gamer and on the context resulting from this
(similar to Juul 2005; Taylor 2006). According to Crawford and Rutter (2006,
149f.), we can almost speak of a “contextualist turn” in game studies: Digital
games are seen here as “cultural artifacts which are given value, meaning and position through their production and use”. The insight that digital games always relate to different forms of context is emphasized by King and Krzywinska (2006,
38): “Gameplay does not exist in a vacuum, any more then games do as a whole.
It is situated instead, within a matrix of potential meaning-creating frameworks.
These can operate both at a local level, in the specific associations generated by a
particular episode of gameplay and in the context of broader social, cultural and
ideological resonances.”
Supporting this insight of the complex connections between game reality and
societal reality, Hand and Moore (2006, 180) point out that game experience and
game context are inextricably linked: „Digital gaming may be seen as both embedded within existing sociocultural frameworks (as “cultural artifacts”), and as
enabling novel articulations of community and identity to emerge (as forms of
“culture”). Digital gaming represents a distinct cultural form which at once problematizes current understandings of community and identity, and allows us
to explore emerging patterns of community and identity formation.“
To understand the different dimensions of context it helps to imagine them as
mostly mediated processes of articulation of a specific media culture, which is
historically, temporally and spatially rooted and contextualised (see in general
Hepp 2008). Based on this Wimmer (2012) distinguishes five specifics contexts of
game and play, which are of course strong interrelated:
• The context of (Re)Production of and within digital games which describes the
structures, methods, and processes of creating games and play, especially
amongst others and not confined to the gaming industry and consequently the
field of game development and design.
• The context of Representation refers to the illustration of different topics in
media products. In digital games, this process usually depicts, for example,
violence or gender roles in games, their attributed meaning by gamers, and
also the portrayal of games and game cultures in public discourse and mass
media.
• The context of Regulation covers the influence of non-producing institutions
and formations (e.g., politics) on a media culture. In the case of digital games,
this involves the e.g. legal regulation of game content or the determination of
age limits for the protection of minors.
• The context of Appropriation describes the process of actively embracing me-
Introduction
11
dia in everyday life. A good example is the development of game-specific
norms and rules within certain gaming communities, such as clans.
• The context of Identification refers to the (continuous) process of constituting
identity based on communicated patterns and discourses. The level is observable, for example, when a gamer wears certain garments or use a special lingo
in order to show a specific scene membership or wants to distinguish him-/
herself from non-gamers.
Structure of the book
The following chapters of this volume cover a wide array of topics relating to
the questions of context described above. The contributing authors depict a diverse, well documented, but still under-researched image of how context matters. The book is organized along seven themes tackling the relations between
games, players and context:
Narrative context and immersion
First of all, we tackle those issues that appear to be related to the content of
games: stories, genres, symbols and other narrative elements that enrich play-experiences but are also turned to matters of context by arguing that game designers
are actually accessing cultural archives and meta-texts to create immersive, fictionalized experiences. Jonas Linderoth presents the concept of “Ecological Empowerment as a Ludo-narratological Construct”, that displays preferably the stories of superheroes, Greek gods and sport stars while empowering the gamer in
the game worlds and in the game mechanics. Diane Carr is focussing not only on
empowerment but on “Augmentation and Disability” mediated through Bodies in
Dead Space and Deus Ex: Human Revolutions. She responds to the need of developing an understanding of player embodiment beyond standardized physicality,
and therefore discusses links between interpretation, lived experiences, corporeality and representations with reference to disability literature. A designer’s perspective is taken up by Danny Langhoff Nielsen and Henrik Schoenau-Fog, who
are “In the Mood for Horror.” Their investigation of absorbing player experiences
is genre specific and primarily based on focus group interviews and questionnaires. It establishes a framework to explain three main causes of continuation desire: Narrative, freedom and victimizing. Marta Fernández, Simon Niedenthal,
Manuel Armenteros spotlight “The Sense of Lighting” itself inside game worlds as
a matter of visual culture’s history. They specifically assess the points of convergence and divergence between lighting in games and other media. Myth and
meaning are not an extra, but rather contribute to gameplay and game mechanics.
12
Contextualising playful contexts
Context can also be analyzed in regards to its own history and his own spaciality that are naturally wildly entangled and intersected. Especially while playing we
are creating frames, in which meanings are shifting. Computers changed the way,
these contexts are set up; they changed the way, we think about it and changed
our ways of playing, cheating, acting at all by virtualized all these experiences.
Therefore it is necessary to contextualize these playful contexts. Simon Huber
wants to know, how to put modern game culture into historical context? Therefore he looks at “Huizingas Circles”, which are themselves situated in a historical
context and are still influential until nowadays, although some misunderstandings
have to be dealt with to grasp the uniqueness of digital gaming. Mathias Fuchs sets
“Foul Play in Context”. Thus he explores practices, which are at first glance not
playful at all. But they may be still conceived as a way of creating a particular form
of the ludic experience. Spoilsports and cardsharps are switching constantly the
systems of reference in a playful manner. This seems to increase complexity and
variety, so Tobias Scholz questions the assumption, whether context matters at
all. With “Conceptualizing Relational Contextualization” he proposes an adjustment based on the “auteur theory”. In combination with the complexity theory,
he claims the possibility to derive a relational context that focus on the connections between the various context-factors rather than the context-factor itself.
Jonathan Church watches spreadable media and video games at work while “Constructing a Neoliberal Archive” that forms a certain culture of history. Games gain
a greater paratextual sense of temporal persistence by being turned into cultural
artefacts as a focus of user interest, reference, critique, and memory.
User-generated context
The third subsection presents articles that show how the line blurs between
producers and consumers in digital contexts. Users are not only producing in
preset ways, but they are as well establishing infrastructures and communities
and appropriating tools and platforms to exchange knowledge and content. David Myers is questioning the possibilities of transmitting certain messages
through interactive media in general. His paper “Authorial Intent and Video
Games” is looking for ways of conceding author and designer contexts to discuss
how authorial intent might affect video game meanings, with focused reference
to the interactive qualities of digital media. Pilar Lacasa, María Ruth García-Pernía and Sara Cortés Gómez are looking for new adolescent literacies and declare
it to be an educational program to switch “From Gamers to Game Designers”.
Their main goal is to analyze the experiences of adolescents when designing video games in an innovative learning environment based on the concept of partici-
Introduction
13
patory culture. User generated content is not easily classified, neither as information, nor as expression as Héctor Puente Bienvenido together with Marta Fernández Ruiz can show in their analysis “Situated Production of Video Walkthroughs
on YouTube”. It addresses how these instrumental videos are becoming more
and more expressive media and subsequently cultural manifestations where different texts and media converge. But with chances come risks: Last but not least
Gerhild Bauer, Daniel Martinek, Simone Kriglstein, Günter Wallner and Rebecca Wölfle try to convey these new requirements that come with digital contexts
to minors. They designed “Internet Hero. A game about the Internet for children
aged 9-12 years”, that aims at increasing the digital literacy of children and preparing them to safely navigate the internet. It teaches in a child-friendly way to be
consciously aware of the potential dangers of hyperlinks, online forms and phishing-mails to protect them from exploitation. Playful environments in context
The fourth section assembles research that explores design-related, locationbased and environmental challenges of playing and creating games. Thereby
questions related to co-located, multiplayer, mobile and urban gaming are tackled. The first paper in the section “Playful Environments in Context” focuses on
the game Limelight that was developed for co-located play in an exhibition space
with a very large display. Under the title “Another Brick in the (Fifth) Wall: Reflections on Creating a Co-located Multiplayer Game for a Large Display” the authors Jeremiah Diephuis, Michael Lankes and Wolfgang Hochleitner utilize the
concept of the fifth wall to designate the game design dependencies that separate
the experience of individual players. In the following chapter Lizzy Bleumers explores the phenomena of participatory sensing, in which people participate in
data gathering and analysis of their surroundings through the use of mobile devices and web services. In her analysis “Capturing Context: Mobile and Pervasive
Game-Play in Participatory Sensing” she examines 10 games and considers their
mutual alignment and their relationship with participatory sensing. Martin
Knöll, Tim Dutz, Sandro Hardy and Stefan Göbel follow the question “How the
built environment matters to mobile games for health” in their chapter “Active
Design”. Their article points to the limited research that focuses on the complex
relationship between mobile games, a players’ health and wellbeing, and the (urban) environment in which many of these games are being played. In the fourth
paper of this subsection Eszter Tóth and Alenka Poplin introduce in the field of
urban design. Their chapter “Cooperative Learning Games – a Successful Tool
for Promoting Children’s Participation in Urban Planning?” highlights a case
study and explores the questions whether cooperative games are appropriate
tools to raise the interest and motivation of children and youth in participating in
14
urban planning. Nina Grünberger and Clemens Fessler close the section with
their chapter “Play Between Cable Car and Couch. Reflections on the Importance of the Environments of Gameplay Through Böhme‘s Atmosphere Concept.“ The authors examine on a theoretical level how the atmosphere surrounding the game impacts the gameplay experience.
Meaningful context
The subsection “Meaningful Context” connects chapters that explore meaningful play, gender and emancipation of players and designers. The first paper by
Maresa Bertolo and Ilaria Mariani focuses on question related to “Meaningful
Play” and how “Learning, Best Practices and Reflections Through Games” can be
facilitated in game design projects. Thereby five design projects dealing with social innovation, socio-cultural and cross-cultural issues are outlined. How crucial
an open discourse about gender stereotypes and new forms of meaningful play
can be, is highlighted by Maike Groen. In her paper she explores the phenomena
of “Exclusion and Inclusion of Women in E-Sport and the Example of StarCraft:
Wings of Liberty”. A similar gender-related aspect, but from a different perspective is outlined by Sébastien Hock-Koon and Iris Rukshin in their chapter on
“Princesses and Princes in Video Games”. The authors provide insight into a
“preliminary survey on audience reception” of the princes’ presentation in video
games.
Applied play in context
The sixth subsection “Applied Play in Context” focuses on how different theoretical concepts can be applied to play and how vice versa play and game theory
can be applied to educational, cultural and theoretical models. In the first chapter
Judith Ackermann investigates different spheres, in which “Appropriating Game
Rules” take place and how rules are being negotiated and performed depending
on the individual appropriation state. A different question in regards to “Learning with Video Games” is the topic of Sébastien Hock-Koon’s chapter. He identifies “Sources of Uncertainty” in the theoretical understanding of learning with
games and highlights the video games’ properties that are creating uncertainty.
The phenomena of “Mentalization and the Reflective Functioning of Playing” are
explored in Katharina Mittlböck’s contribution. Her aim is to outline why and in
which way Digital Role-Playing Games provide an advantageous possibility
space for Mentalization and in which way high level Mentalization abilities contribute to personality development. In the final paper of this section Enrico Gandolfi proposes his concept of “The playing diorama”. In his process-oriented
Introduction
15
framework he intends to connect the micro and the macro context of the ludic
experience on a theoretical, philosophical and empirical level.
Play in artistic context
The final subsection assembles four chapters that connect the context of art,
design, technology and play. The chapter “Game Design and Artistic Expression”
by Fares Kayali, Naemi Luckner, Ruth Mateus-Berr and Peter Purgathofer opens
the section “Play in Artistic Conext”. The authors follow the question what the
role of constraints and freedom in designing art games might be. In the following
chapter Veli-Matti Karhulahti “Videogame as Avant-garde” proposes that single
player videogames are in conflict with the institution of art. He argues that by the
players “Secluded Rhematic Expression” the players’ expressive activity cannot
avoid becoming art itself. In the third chapter Jens M Stober, Steffen P Walz and
Jussi Holopainen introduce “Hacking as a Playful Strategy for Designing Artistic
Games”. The authors trace the history of hacking as a design strategy for artistic
games and look for creative strategies contained within the act of hacking itself.
The final chapter by Ilaria De Lorenzo explores the artistic and playful language
of dance. In her paper “The Game of Dancing a Fairy Tale” the author examines
how the context of playing, with its language, rules and meanings, approaches
the context of dance.
Acknowledgement
The exploration of the context of gaming would not have been possible without the help of many passionate colleagues and friends that helped organizing the
Vienna Games Conference in FROG13. We want to thank the other members of
the FROG Program Comittee: Jason Begy (Concordia University); Jennifer
Berger (University of Vienna); Mia Consalvo (Concordia University); Clara
Fernández-Vara (The Trope Tank, Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Henrik Schønau Fog (Aalborg University Copenhagen); Fares Kayali (University of
Applied Arts Vienna); Christoph Klimmt (Hanover University of Music, Drama,
and Media); Nikolaus König; Jonas Linderoth (University of Gothenburg); Konstantin Mitgutsch (MIT Game Lab; Massachusetts Institute of Technology);
Scot Osterweil (Education Arcade); Alexander Pfeiffer (Danube University
Krems); Alenka Poplin (HafenCity University Hamburg); Doris Rush (DePaul
University); Steve Schirra (MIT Game Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Abe Stein (MIT Game Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Jaroslav Švelch (University in Prague). Furthermore we express thanks to Organisational Team of the FROG13 for their kind support. Finally, we want to thank all
16
our authors, the FROG presenters, the MIT Game Lab, the City of Vienna, Paul
Pitzer from wienXtra and Dr. Harald Knill from new academic press for exploring
the context of gaming with us. Our special thanks go to the Federal Ministry of
Economy, Family and Youth for the financial and professional support, which
made the FROG13 and this published proceedings possible.
Bibliography
Crawford, G., & Rutter, J. (2006) Digital games and cultural studies. In J. Bryce & J. Rutter (Eds.),
Understanding digital games (pp. 148–165). London: Sage.
Hand, M., & Moore, K. (2006) Community, identity and digital games. In J. Bryce & J. Rutter
(Eds.), Understanding digital games (pp. 241–266). London: Sage.
Hepp, A. (2008) Translocal media cultures: Networks of the media and globalisation. In A. Hepp,
F. Krotz, S. Moores, & C. Winter (Eds.), Connectivity, networks and flows. Conceptualizing contemporary communications (pp. 33–58). Cresskill: Hampton Press.
Juul, J. (2005) Half-real. Video games between real rules and fictional worlds. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
King, G., & Krzywinska, T. (2006) Tomb raiders and space invaders. Videogame forms and contexts.
London: Tauris.
Mäyrä, F. (2008) An introduction to game studies. Games in culture. London: Sage.
Taylor, T. L. (2006) Play between worlds. Exploring online game culture. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
Wimmer, J. (2012) Digital game culture(s) as prototype(s) of mediatization and commercialization
of society. In J. Fromme & A. Unger (Eds.), Computer games/players/game cultures: A handbook
on the state and perspectives of digital game studies (pp. 524–540). Berlin: Springer.
17
Jonas Linderoth
Gothenburg, Sweden
Superheroes, Greek gods and sport stars: Ecological
empowerment as a ludo-narratological construct
Abstract
This chapter presents an analysis of ecological empowerment as a theme in
digital game narratives. Since game mechanics often are designed so that players
gain more powerful ways of interacting with a game environment (improved
abilities) it is argued games are particularly good at telling stories about characters who can perceive and utilize spectacular affordances. Games do not only tell
the story of ecological empowerment, they do in fact empower the player in the
game world. This analysis thus shows that games can be seen as a specific context
for storytelling and thus explain why some themes and narrative elements seem
to be overrepresented in games.
Introduction
Digital games were in the late 1990s predicted to bring about new possibilities
for storytelling. Concepts like immersion and interactivity were floating in a discourse of what possibilities the future held. The contemporary games of that
time were not recognized as instances of the new storytelling medium; they were
merely signs about what was about to come. Here we are, almost 20-years later,
and no James Joyce of digital games has yet come around and the game industry
embraces pubertal fantasies and considers “bullet time,” i.e., the ability to kill enemies in slow motion, an innovation of the medium. If games in some rare cases
have developed new forms for storytelling, they certainly have not contributed
to developing new and previously unseen narratives. As players become older,
the demand for more profound game stories and player characters is increasing.
Some game journalists are criticizing games for being variants of the same simplified story and embracing stereotypical character portraits. Even though there are
attempts to create games that tell somewhat more complex and mature stories,
these are seldom perceived as being a part of game culture. As Kirkpatrick (2012)
states:
18
Jonas Linderoth
When game scholars and others speculate about games becoming art or being
an art-form, they express frustration at the way that games discourse falters here,
unable to produce truly autonomous discussion of games that clarifies their value
independent of considerations like their usefulness to educators.
In this paper I suggest that one explanation why games to such a large degree
lean upon specific settings and narrative elements is because specific game mechanics provides a context that is suitable for certain stories.
The game and the theme park ride – digital games as composite
How can we understand the experience of playing digital games? Should
games be seen as related to books and movies or are they better understood in relation to sports and non-digital games? In this paper I start with the assumption
that the artefacts that we label digital games are composites of many different formats. If we use another kind of designed experience as a metaphor for approaching games, the idea of composites might become clearer.
By asking what kind of experience a thematic ride, such as a ghost train or a
dinosaur roller coaster is, we might uncover structural elements that can tell us
something about digital games. The combination of visual artwork, narrated stories, sound effects, lighting, props, projected movies and animatronics seems to
suggest that the best concept would be to call it a multimedia experience. Yet the
concept of multimedia would fail to acknowledge that an important part of the
whole experience comes from the fast locomotion of traversing from point to
point during the attraction. A part that can be carefully designed to furnish the
whole experience, like having a mechanical motion activated monster appear directly after a sharp turn, have steep hills to raise the tension before a scare and increases the speed towards the end of the ride. While it of course would be possible to study the ride’s different media or the layout of the track in its own accord,
a full understanding of the theme park ride as a cultural format would have to acknowledge how these elements are designed together and how the deliberate sequencing of occurrences, which in nature can be rather different, facilitates the
specific experience of the theme park ride. Such an analysis would also uncover
some properties of thematic rides in amusement parks as a format, i.e., it is likely
that the structure of sitting in a cart that for some minutes moves along a rail has
characteristics that makes it specifically suitable for certain themes and genres.
The academic study of games has emerged into a field of its own that is sometimes referred to as game studies. To some degree this field was formulated out of
what later was to be called the ludology vs. narratology dispute (Eskelinen, 2001;
Frasca, 2003; Murray, 2005; Pearce, 2005). This dispute was a struggle about
which cultural form that was to be given priority when studying digital games. It
Superheroes, Greek gods and sport stars
19
boiled down to the question of whether fiction or rules/game mechanics was the
appropriate starting point and if digital games could be placed in the same family
of cultural objects as books and movies or if they were more related to non-digital play and game practices such as classic games, tabletop role-playing games,
war games, etc. ( Juul, 2003, 2005). To use the ghost train as a metaphor, one can
say that while some scholars wanted to focus on the artwork of the animatronics,
the visual genre of the props and the narrated story in the speakers (i.e., the
equivalent to fiction in a game), other scholars wanted to focus on the design and
layout of the track (i.e., the game mechanics).
The debate was also entangled in attempts to create appropriate game definitions ( Juul, 2003; Salen & Zimmerman, 2004). These definitions were based on
things-ontologies (Säljö, 2009), i.e., they were made to tease out the “true” characteristics of games. While this dispute had a function in shaping the game studies field, it also became a blinder that made it hard to see digital games as something multifaceted. Aarseth (2012) has argued that since digital software can contain many different forms of content, the artefacts we label digital games can be
seen as composites of many cultural forms such as graphic novels, movies, written stories and a multitude of different game designs. In the same ‘game’ title we
are encouraged to engage ourselves in different activities related to rather diverse
cultural practices. We can easily think of one ‘game’ containing strategic and perceptual challenges similar to board games and puzzles, senso-motorical challenges similar to dexterity games and sports, character design activities resembling
playing with dolls, construction activities resembling playing with building
blocks, reading texts with a story arc, watching movies, listening to narrators,
etc. Aarseth (2012) points out that the study of digital games lacks: “a detailed,
robust understanding of the various ways computer software have been used to
combine elements from narratives and games into a number of quite different ludo-narratological constructs” (p. 129).
In this paper I follow Aarseth’s (2012) straightforward idea that digital games
can be seen as composites. I thus use a methodology that focuses on how the
“track” of the game, its game mechanics, structures, experience of the props,
projected images and animatronics: its fiction. I will investigate a specific ludonarratological structure where a family of game mechanics called “improved
abilities” (Björk & Holopainen, 2004) fits the narrative theme of superpowers.
Taking departure from the theory of ecological psychology (Gibson, 1986; Gibson & Pick, 2000; Reed, 1996), I will claim that this specific structure is successful due to the fact that digital games are capable of representing the fundamental
human dream of becoming empowered at the same time as they present the player with a very concrete case of ecological empowerment. This is a design that offers gamers an enjoyable illusion of learning (Linderoth, 2012). In other words, in
the context of digital games, the game mechanics called improved abilities actually gives the player superpowers.
20
Jonas Linderoth
Improved abilities – a family of game mechanics
By improved abilities I here refer to a family of game mechanics that makes the
actions of the player become more likely to succeed or give the player access to
new ways of interacting with a game environment (cf. Björk & Holopainen,
2004, p. 174). Sometimes these mechanics are called character development in
order to stress the fact that it is the character and not the player that develops.
This concept can, however, easily be confused with the character arc and the
change of a character’s personality over the course of a story. I find improved
abilities a better concept here, since it makes it easier to see that these game mechanics can be present even without the representation of a person. If you gain a
faster car in a racing game or can create stronger battle units like tanks and artillery in a war game, these are instances of improved abilities. A typical case of improved abilities is when a game unit becomes harder to defeat by gaining more
so-called hit-points or when it gains a benefit by increasing how much damage it
can do on other units. Here we find game mechanics such as levelling, upgrading
gear and building up skill trees. Improved abilities are associated with the roleplaying genre where one of the core mechanics is about empowering the player’s
character. However, this design seems to be so successful that it can be found in
a number of other genres as well. When used in other game genres, players sometimes talk about games with “RPG-elements” (see, for example, TV Tropes,
2013). There is no doubt that these mechanics are important aspects of many successful games. Out of the 10 highest rated PC-games for 2012, eight have one or
more game mechanics that can be classified as improved abilities (see Table 1).
Placing on
metacritic
Game title
Contains IA
mechanics
Metacritic
score
Also on top
10 PS3
Also on top
10 Xbox
1
Dishonored
Yes
91
9th
-
2
Mark of the Ninja
Yes
91
-
5th
3
NBA 2K13
Yes
90
7th
-
4
Guild Wars 2
Yes
90
-
-
5
The walking dead*
No
89
1st
2nd
6
Borderlands 2
Yes
89
4th
8th
7
XCOM
Yes
89
8th
6th
8
Mass Effect 3
Yes
89
2nd
1st
9
Super Hexagon
No
88
-
-
10
Far Cry 3
Yes
88
5th
3rd
Table 1: Presence of improved abilities mechanics in the 10 highest rated PC-games on metacritic
2012.
* The walking dead was sold both as episodes and as a full game; the full game was placed 5th and
an episode was placed 6th. In this table, I only account for the full game.
Superheroes, Greek gods and sport stars
21
In the case of multiplayer games, improved abilities can create what is called
positional asymmetry (Elias, Garfield & Gutschera, 2012, p. 92) that is different
conditions for different players. One player can thus gain an edge over other players by having a more empowered avatar. When a game is designed so that the
player has to constantly increase her/his abilities in order to keep up with other
players, the game has a characteristic that Björk and Holopainen (2005) call the
red queen dilemma, i.e., just like the red queen in Alice in Wonderland (Carroll,
2008), the player must run in order to stand still (cf. Linderoth, 2009).
In the case of single-player games, these mechanics initiate another game
characteristic, a reversed learning curve where games are harder in the beginning, before the system of improved abilities has started to progress (cf. Alistair,
2013, April 21). Improved abilities are thus about making a task become easier by
other means than increasing the skill of the player. The structure is not by any
means unique to digital games. Any sport where the equipment is essential will
display a similar characteristic (for instance sports like Formula 1 where the properties of the car are essential to the performance of the driver, cf. Linderoth,
2013). In relation to the theory of ecological psychology, any game mechanics
that allow the player to perform better can be conceptualized as a “tool” that becomes an extension of our bodies and provides us with new action possibilities,
i.e., new affordances. As a set of game mechanics, improved abilities can thus be
argued to be an instance of a very basic condition of life, the use of tools in order
to overcome the challenges of our environment.
Ecological empowerment and improved abilities
Ecological psychology is mainly a theory of visual perception, but its way of
understanding how vision functions is so radical that it entails a full ontology.
The theory thus challenges the rationalistic view on learning, interaction and information. It rejects the ideas about mental schemata and an information-processing mind from cognitive psychology. Learning and perception are seen as
processes of differentiating and making distinctions and not like in traditional
cognitive psychology a process of enriching. Perception is not a process where
stimuli are added to a mental representation; it is about becoming attuned to our
environment (our surroundings) by making distinctions about what possibilities
and limitations we have for action, in this theory called affordances (Gibson &
Pick, 2000).
The concept of affordance was coined in James and Eleanor Gibson’s work
(Gibson, 1986; Gibson & Pick, 2000). The original meaning of the concept was
that an environment offers an animal (humans are considered one animal in this
theory) different ways of acting. These possibilities for actions are called affordances, and they are relative to the bodily constitution of the animal, i.e., it is rel-
22
Jonas Linderoth
ative to the actor and thus not an objective property but neither a subjective projection of meaning.
Learning, according to this theory, is to become attuned to perceive what the
environment affords and develops skills to efficiently utilize these affordances.
Learning to perceive specific affordances is called perceptual learning and is fundamental for our existence. While some affordances are easily acted upon if we
just are able to perceive them, others demand a great deal of training. As Gibson
and Pick (2000) point out:
Humans, at least, must learn to use affordances. Some affordances may be easily learned: others may require much exploration, practice, and time. […] Further
development of expertise may involve learning to realize affordances unavailable to
non-experts. A three-inch-wide beam affords performing back flips for a gymnast,
but the affordance is not realizable by others; rock climbers learn to use certain
terrains for support that do not appear to others to provide a surface of support.
(pp. 16-17)
However, training is just one way to gain new possible ways of acting with our
surroundings. We can shortcut training by using tools. Tools are extensions of
our bodies that empower us to do things we could not do without them (Gibson,
1986). A snorkel opens up the affordance of breathing under water. Using a ladder
enables us to traverse horizontally and move to elevated spots without being
trained rock climbers.
Improved abilities = ecological empowerment
Any digital game (that is played on a screen) has a function that enables the
player to interact with it. This function is often an extension of the player’s agency
and creates an embodied link into the game realm, typically a controller that is
linked to an avatar in the game (cf. Wilhelmsson, 2001, 2006). From the perspective of ecological psychology, avatars are the tools that give us agency to interact
with a digital game. Thus our performance will partly be dependent upon the
quality of the tool. To use a rather crude metaphor, the difference in performance
between two World of Warcraft (Blizzard, 2004) players that have avatars of different levels can be like the difference in performance between two people cutting down a tree: one with an axe, the other one with a chainsaw. Many games
systematically provide the players with better tools over the course of the game.
There are numerous different ways of designing how the player gains new tools,
as a reward for skill, as compensation for being unskilled, by just waiting in real
time or even paying for it (cf. Linderoth, 2009). One typical design in the genre
of role-playing games is that the player can upgrade the abilities on the avatar as
Superheroes, Greek gods and sport stars
23
a reward for rather simple, chore-like tasks in the game that in itself seldom demands any skill of the gamer (like finding and collecting 10 herbs or killing 15
boars), a game characteristic sometimes referred to as “grinding.”
One specific kind of improved abilities is that which aids the player in discovering the affordances of the game environment. In order to make the differentiation of information easier, some digital games highlight the things that are important to perceive in order to overcome the game’s challenges (cf. Linderoth, 2012).
Examples of this design are games with a so-called vision mode, a function that
alters the game’s interface so that the important affordances for game progression is highlighted. This design thus shortcuts the differentiation process of visual perception. Instead of learning to make rather specific fine-tuned distinctions
from rich and complex information sources, the game flattens out the available
information so that the player only has to distinguish between the bright glowing
objects they can interact with from the background.
Games are thus capable of empowering the player in two ways. They can provide the player with superior tools for a task and thereby increase the player’s
performances. They can also alter the interface so that the player easily can perceive the information that is important in order to perform well. The success of
these designs is likely to come from the sensation of effortless progression. These
games let us gain the sensation of having developed skills and knowledge without
having to invest time and effort to actually learn anything.
The haunted house ride metaphor can now be used to pose a question. In
some theme park rides, the track’s layout facilitates a sensation of excitement.
This structure lends itself very well to some visual and narrative elements that enhance the feeling of excitement. It is hard to imagine a fast and action filled ride
based on Pride and Prejudice (Austen, 1966), other than as a deliberate attempt
to create a contrast effect. Themes such as space aliens, classical horror, dinosaurs, sunken underwater cities, and ancient tombs, on other hand, are suitable
themes if the goal of the design is to create the thrill that comes from an illusion
of danger and horror. The question then is what kind of themes, narrative elements, character portraits and settings lend themselves to the game mechanics
called improved abilities? Which stories enhance the sensation of ecological empowerment?
Stories of ecological empowerment
If we follow the theory of ecological psychology, becoming able to perceive
and use more and richer affordances is a fundamental living condition for all animals. Thus it is not so strange that characters with extraordinary powers seem to
be an almost universal and timeless theme in stories.
One of the main characteristics of mythology is that the characters are super-
24
Jonas Linderoth
natural beings with extensive powers to interact with the world. Many mythological characters have embodied powers, for example, the super strength of Hercules, Zeus and Odin’s shape-shifting ability and Achilles as well as Baldur’s invulnerability to physical damage (Cotterell, 2003).
Mythological stories are also filled with examples of powers that come from
items, typically enchanted weapons. Examples would be Thor’s hammer, Poseidon’s trident and Odin’s spear. The Greek hero Perseus who was able to defeat
the Gorgon Medusa, thanks to Hades’ helmet of invisibility and Hermes’ winged
sandals are clear examples of stories where empowerment is gained with artifacts. There are also examples of how companions to the heroes empower them:
Odin’s eight-legged horse Sleipnir and Pegasus, the winged stallion ridden by the
hero Bellerophon (Cotterell, 2003).
These are all themes that in different variants occur in numerous stories. One
example from the fantasy genre that manifests all these versions of ecological empowerment would be Gandalf (Tolkien, 1974). Gandalf has modest embodied
powers like creating light and telepathically talking to animals; he wields the
magical sword Glamdring and rides both the excellent mount Shadowfax and the
giant eagle Gwaihir the Windlord. In other genres such as agent stories and science fiction, technology can also be a source of ecological empowerment. The
powers that in mythology and fantasy come from the supernatural and magical
sources can just as well come from science and technology. James Bond’s gadgets
as well as vehicles are variants of the theme of ecological empowerment that
come from technology (see for example Fox Home Entertainment, 2013). Superior weapons are also important ingredients in the modern techno-thriller: for
example, novels by authors such as Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton.
It should be noted that stories about embodied powers do not necessarily encompass supernatural themes. The martial artist and the survival specialist are
examples of protagonists who are empowered due to extreme training. In some
cases embodied powers can come from science and the manipulation of the
body: for example, the performance enhancing drugs in Robert Ludlum’s books
and movies about Jason Bourne (see for example Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 2012).
All these variants of the theme of ecological empowerment have their most
obvious contemporary manifestation in the superhero genre. The character galleries of superhero universes are very close to the various pantheons found in different mythologies. In fact, both the DC-comic and the Marvel Universe have incorporated classical mythological gods as superheroes. Superheroes display a
wide range of powerful abilities: telepathic powers, shape-shifting, flying, extreme strength and agility, etc. We have embodied superpowers coming both
from supernatural sources as in the case of Superman, as well as from the extremely well-trained martial artist and acrobat in Batman (Snider, 2011). There
are also numerous superpowers tied to artifacts such as the Green Lantern’s ring
Superheroes, Greek gods and sport stars
25
(ibid.) or the Iron Man’s suit (Dougall, 2009). The mounts of mythological gods
are in the superhero version replaced with vehicles, for example, the Batmobile
(Snider, 2011), Wonder Woman’s (ibid.) invisible plane and the Silver Surfer’s
surfboard (Dougall, 2009). In terms of ecological psychology these abilities are
all variations of a single theme, that of having affordances that supersede human
limitations and our interaction possibilities. Other animals and the affordances
they can utilize is here a rich source for inventing variations of the ecologically
empowered character, Spiderman being the perhaps most obvious example
(ibid.).
From the perspective of ecological psychology, one can identify a special kind
of empowerment that has to do with the perception of affordances. Some fictional characters have the power of an extremely fine-tuned perceptual system for
picking up information. In the superhero genre some examples would be: Daredevil, the blind superhero with so accurate other senses that he navigates perfectly even in the dark, Spiderman’s intuition (Dougall, 2009), i.e., the Spider’s sense
and the Superman’s X-ray vision (Snider, 2011). Here we also have the great detectives in fiction: Mrs Marple (2013), Hercule Poirot (2013) and of course Sherlock Holmes (2013), all of whom have extremely accurate senses for picking up
clues.
Ecological empowerment and improved abilities (EEIA)
as a ludo-narratological construct
While the theme of ecological empowerment can be found in many forms of
fiction, it is a theme that fits the format of digital games well. Digital games do not
only represent ecological empowerment through the story-arc of the protagonist, they also present the player with a very concrete case of ecological empowerment. This means that there is a game mechanical structure that “fits” the story
of the empowered protagonist.
The typical example of this ludo-narratological structure can be found in roleplaying games such as The elder scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda, 2011), where the
protagonist gains experience and has a character arc of ecological empowerment
through learning, often in combination with empowerment through artefacts,
typically gear. At the same time the game engine will increase the statistical probability of the player succeeding in overcoming the challenges in the game. The elder scrolls V: Skyrim starts off with a player-created character that is sentenced
to death. In the main plot of the game, the protagonist learns that s/he is a chosen
so-called Dragonborn, destined to defeat an ancient dragon. Over the course of
the game, the player character becomes more powerful and is recognized as a
hero.
Another, somewhat surprising genre that has this structure is sport games
26
Jonas Linderoth
where the player goes through a career and gains experience. For example, in
NBA 2K13 (Visual Concepts, 2012) points are allocated that increase how easy it
is to block, run or shoot with the basket-player. In F1 2011 (Codemasters, 2011),
the player-created character will be offered to drive for different stables. Starting
with one of the smaller stables, it is almost impossible to beat the drivers from
McLaren or Ferrari. After one or two seasons, one gets an opportunity to drive
for these stables and thus is able to drive a superior vehicle in the game. In action
games, increased abilities are typically tied to a structure of finding or unlocking
new and more powerful weapons and armour.
Action games have come to borrow a great deal from role-playing games.
These games used to only have improved abilities tied to the gear that the player
unlocked. However, the genre has started to use mechanics such as experience
point and skill trees. In the 2013 Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics, 2013), the protagonist Lara Croft goes from being a research assistant on an archaeological expedition that stumbles into an adventure to a full-fledged tomb raider that on her
own accord seeks out danger. The game uses a skill-point system for gaining new
abilities and a salvage-point system through which Lara’s gear can be upgraded.
Another example of an action game with the EEIA structure is the superhero
game inFamous (Sony Computer Entertainment, 2009). In this game the protagonist Cole MacGrath goes from being a bike messenger to an electricity-wielding
superhero or super villain depending on the player’s choice. The game has an unlocking system where main quests and side quests open up new abilities. These
abilities can be upgraded through an experience-point system.
Special cases of improved abilities are those that give the player better information, i.e., aids the player in perceiving the affordances for game progression.
As stated above, this is a special case of ecological empowerment typified by
Sherlock Holmes’ extreme ability to perceive details. One example of a digital
game with this kind of upgrade is Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Square Enix,
2011). The story is set in a cyberpunk world and evolves around moral questions
tied to augmentation technology and upgrades implemented in the human body.
In the game the protagonist uses these upgrades in order to become more powerful. While many upgrades follow classical conventions in digital games, making
the avatar stronger and faster, etc., it is also possible to upgrade the games’ radar
to show a larger area and display the enemy's cones of vision. Information that is
extremely helpful for the player utilizes stealth as a strategy in the game. Another
example of this kind of improved information abilities can be found in the game
Crysis 2 (Crytec, 2011).
It should be pointed out that the EEIA ludo-narratological structure seems to
come in stronger and weaker variants regarding how closely game mechanics
and story are intertwined. Some of the games based on Marvel’s superhero characters such as The Incredible Hulk (Edge of Reality, 2008), The Amazing Spiderman (Beenox, 2012) and Ultimate Alliance (Vicarious Visions, 2009) are all on
Superheroes, Greek gods and sport stars
27
the theme of ecologically empowered characters and utilize improved abilities.
Yet there is no diegetic explanation to why new abilities are unlocked; there is no
story of progression. In other games the main story is evolving around the ecological empowerment. The aforementioned Deus Ex: Human Revolution is such
an example. Another game with a strong EEIA structure is the open sandbox first
person shooter Far Cry 3 (Ubisoft, 2012). In this game the player gains new powers through experience points and unlocking more powerful weapons. The story
of the game is set on a fictional island somewhere in Southeast Asia where pirates
have kidnaped a handful of young American tourists. The protagonist, Jason Brody, has a character arc where he goes from a young irresponsible backpacker to a
fearsome warrior, capable of taking out full squads of enemies by himself. After
escaping from the pirates, he gains help of the Rakyat, the native people on the
island. Embracing the trope of the “magical negro”, Brody’s development is partly explained due to powerful tribal tattoos that the Rakyat gives him. Each new
tattoo is also a new ability that unlocks in the game. These new abilities make
gameplay easier, and it could be argued that the game has a reversed learning
curve. Increased hit points are an improved ability that especially aids the player
in progressing through the game. In the beginning Brody is driven to become
more powerful in order to save his friends and get off the island, but as he develops he also becomes more detached from his feelings. In the end, the player can
choose if Brody’s development was a means to an end or a goal in itself. Basically
this is a moral choice that affects the ending of the story, but the central theme of
ecological empowerment remains as the core of the story.
Conclusions
Why are some specific story elements so common in games? In this paper I
have done an analysis of a specific ludo-narratological combination where the
game mechanics called improved abilities are combined with stories about ecological empowerment. One reason why so many game narratives emphasize
themes such as the “hero’s quest” and utilize fantasy, sci-fi or similar genres that
allow magical, supernatural, metaphysical or technological powers is that because they fit the specific game mechanics in the category of improved abilities.
These game mechanics are carefully designed to actually empower the player and
give them a sensation of becoming more adapt to handle the tasks the game environments put in front of the player. I have argued elsewhere that this design obscures some of the fundamental conditions of ecological reality and thus shortcircuits the pleasurable experience of becoming better at something. It gives the
player an illusion of learning (see Linderoth, 2009, 2012). If this is correct, we
might here have a starting point for understanding why improved abilities is such
a popular feature in contemporary game design. This is the layout of the track, its
28
Jonas Linderoth
curves, speed and hills, and it sets some boundaries for what themes will smoothly enhance the ride.
Maybe this is one reason why it is so difficult to even think of hypothetical
games about disempowerment. As an example, imagine a game version based on
Jack London’s White Fang (1963), a game where you control a powerful half-wolf
at the start that is capable of surviving in the wild. Over the course of time, the
wolf loses its abilities and becomes domesticated. Or imagine a sport game based
on the movie The Wrestler (Fox Home Entertainment, 2009), which tells the story of a faded professional athlete who has seen his best days. Or an expansion to
the strategy game Civilization (see for example Firaxis Games, 2010) called the
Fall of Rome where you start with a flourishing empire that as the game progresses falls into despair. If these games ever would be made, they would have to utilize other “tracks” that supported the experience they wanted to facilitate. As a
family of game mechanics, improved abilities are limited in what they can express, just as there are only so many variations to a basic twelve-bar blues chord.
One thing that improved abilities in games is that they are exceptionally good at
telling the stories of ecological empowerment and individuals with superior
powers. Many digital games thus give us variations on the theme of Nietzsche’s
Übermensch, sometimes, like in inFamous or Far Cry 3, putting the player in a
position beyond good and evil to carve out her or his own moral code.
References
Aarseth, E. (2012) A narrative theory of games. In FDG ’12: Proceedings of the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (pp. 129-133). Raleigh, NC, USA.
Alistair (2013, April 21) The strange phenomenon of reverse difficulty curves: Reader’s feature. Metro.
Retrieved 2013, June 17, from http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/21/the-strange-phenomenon-ofreverse-difficulty-curves-readers-feature-3658584/
Austen, J. (1966) Pride and Prejudice. London.
Beenox (2012) The Amazing Spider-Man [PS3]. Santa Monica, CA: Activision.
Bethesda (2011) The elder scrolls V: Skyrim [PC]. Rockville, MD: Bethesda Softworks.
Björk, S., & Holopainen, J. (2004) Patterns in game design. Boston, Mass: Charles River Media.
Blizzard (2004) World of Warcraft [PC]. Irvine, CA: Blizzard.
Carroll, L. (2008) Alice in Wonderland. Dorking: Templar.
Codemasters (2011) F1 2011 [PS3]. Burbank, CA: Codemasters.
Cotterell, A. (2003) A dictionary of world mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crystal Dynamics (2013) Tomb Raider [PS3]. El Segundo, CA: Square Enix.
Crytek (2011) Crysis 2 [PS3]. Redwood City, CA: Electronic Arts.
Dougall, A. (2009) The Marvel Comics encyclopedia: A complete guide to the characters of the Marvel
universe. London: Dorling Kindersley.
Edge of Reality (2008) The Incredible Hulk [PS3]. San Francisco, CA: SEGA.
Elias, G. S., Garfield, R. & Gutschera, K. R. (2012) Characteristics of games. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
Eskelinen, M. (2001) Towards computer game studies. Digital Creativity, 12(3), 175–183.
Superheroes, Greek gods and sport stars
29
Firaxis Games (2010) Civilization V [PC]. Navato, CA: 2K Games.
Fox Home Entertainment (2009) The Wrestler [Movie]. Los Angeles, CA: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Fox Home Entertainment (2013) The spy who loved me [Movie]. S.l.: Fox Home Entertainment.
Frasca, G. (2003) Ludologists love stories, too: Notes from a debate that never took place. In M.
Copier and J. Raessens (Eds.), Level Up: Digital Games Research Conference Proceedings (pp.
92–97). Utrecht: Utrecht University.
Gibson, J. J. (1986) The ecological approach to visual perception. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Gibson, E. J. & Pick, A. D. (2000) An ecological approach to perceptual learning and development.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hercule Poirot (2013, 6 November) In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2013-11-07 from (http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Poirot
Juul, J. (2003) Half-real: Video games between real rules and fictional worlds. Diss. IT University of
Copenhagen.
Juul, J. (2005) Half-real: Video games between real rules and fictional worlds. Cambridge, Mass: MIT
Press.
Kirkpatrick, G. (2012) Constitutive tensions of gaming's field: UK gaming magazines and the formation of gaming culture 1981-1995. Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game
Research, 12(1).
Linderoth, J. (2009) “It’s not hard, just requires that you have no life”. Computer games and the illusion of learning. Digital Kompetanse: Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 4(1), 4-19.
Linderoth, J. (2012) Why gamers don’t learn more. An ecological approach to games as learning
environemnts. Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds, 4(1), 45-61.
Linderoth, J. (2013) Beyond the digital divide: An ecological approach to gameplay. Transactions
of DiGRA, 1(1).
Linderoth, J. (2013) Games, sports and sport games: Designed challenges in racing games. In M.
Consalvo, A. Stein & K. Mitgutsch (Eds.), Sports Videogames. London: Routledge.
London, J. (1963) White Fang: And other stories. New York: Dodd, Mead.
Miss Marple (2013, 3 November) In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2013-11-07 from http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Miss_Marple
Murray, J. H. (2005) The last word on ludology v. narratology in game studies, presented at Changing Views: World in Play. The International DiGRA Conference. Vancouver, Canada.
Pearce, C. (2005) Theory wars: An argument against arguments in the so-called ludology/narratology debate. In Changing Views: Worlds in Play. Proceedings of the International DiGRA Conference. Vancouver, Canada.
Reed, E. S. (1996) Encountering the world: Toward an ecological psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004) Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Cambridge, Mass:
MIT Press.
Sherlock Holmes (2013, 28 October) In Wikipedia. Retrieved 2013-11-07 from http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes
Snider, B. T. (2011) DC Comics: The ultimate character guide. New York: Dorling Kindersley.
Sony Computer Entertainment (2009) InFamous [PS3]. Foster City, CA: Sony Computer Entertainment.
Square Enix (2011) Deus Ex: Human revolution [PS3]. El Segundo, CA: Square Enix.
Säljö, R. (2009) Learning, theories of learning and units of analysis in research. Educational Psychologist, 44(3), 202–208.
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1974) The lord of the rings. Part 1, The fellowship of the ring. London: Unwin
Books.
TV Tropes (2013) RPG elements. Available 2013, May 30, from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RPGElements
30
Jonas Linderoth
Ubisoft (2012) Far Cry 3 [PS3]. Montreuil Sous Bois: Ubisoft.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment. (2012) The Bourne legacy [Movie]. Universal City, CA:
Universal.
Vicarious Visions (2009) Marvel: Ultimate Alliance [PS3]. Santa Monica, CA: Activision.
Visual Consepts (2012) NBA 2K13 [PS3]. Novato, CA: 2K Sports.
Wilhelmsson, U. (2001) Enacting the point of being - computer games, interaction and film theory: affordances and constraints, metaphorical concepts and experientialist cognition observed through
the environment in computer games. Diss. Copenhagen: Copenhagen University.
Wilhelmsson, U. (2006) What is a Game Ego: or How the embodied mind plays a role in computer
game environments. In M. Pivec (Ed.), Affective and emotional aspects of human-computer interaction: Game-based and innovative learning approaches (pp. 45-58). Amsterdam: IOS Press.