2022
Blom, Joleen
Game Character other
2022.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Actor, Agent, Avatar, Character, Companion, Emotional attachment, Narrative, Player-character, Transmedia
@other{Blom2022e,
title = {Game Character},
author = {Joleen Blom},
editor = {Paweł Grabarczyk},
url = {https://researchportal.tuni.fi/files/63703413/GameCharacter_Blom_3_OAversionTuniCris.pdf
http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202206225775
https://eolt.org/articles/game-character},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-04-21},
urldate = {2022-04-21},
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Ludic Terms},
edition = {Spring 2022},
abstract = {This entry explains how game characters have been discussed in Game Studies and adjacent fields, evolving from agents and human-like beings to avatars, player-characters, transmedia characters and companions. Our understanding of game characters is based on our perception of charactersin other media. Although characters are understood as pieces of writing and human-like entities in Literary Studies, Game Studies has focused mainly on the playable figure, that is, the avatar and the player-character with little interest in other types of game characters. Currently, game characters are mainly discussed in two trends: as part of a global and transmedial network of characters over different texts, and as companion characters with which players can form a romantic emotional attachment.
},
keywords = {Actor, Agent, Avatar, Character, Companion, Emotional attachment, Narrative, Player-character, Transmedia},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {other}
}
This entry explains how game characters have been discussed in Game Studies and adjacent fields, evolving from agents and human-like beings to avatars, player-characters, transmedia characters and companions. Our understanding of game characters is based on our perception of charactersin other media. Although characters are understood as pieces of writing and human-like entities in Literary Studies, Game Studies has focused mainly on the playable figure, that is, the avatar and the player-character with little interest in other types of game characters. Currently, game characters are mainly discussed in two trends: as part of a global and transmedial network of characters over different texts, and as companion characters with which players can form a romantic emotional attachment.
Blom, Joleen
Challenging Linearity: Microstructures and Meaning Making in Trails of Cold Steel III Book Section
In: Hutchinson, Rachael; Pelletier-Gagnon, Jérémie (Ed.): Japanese Role-Playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG, Lexington Books, 2022, ISBN: 978-1-7936-4355-1.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Character, Japanese role-playing games, JRPG
@incollection{Blom2022d,
title = {Challenging Linearity: Microstructures and Meaning Making in Trails of Cold Steel III},
author = {Joleen Blom},
editor = {Rachael Hutchinson and Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon},
url = {https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793643551/Japanese-Role-Playing-Games-Genre-Representation-and-Liminality-in-the-JRPG},
isbn = {978-1-7936-4355-1},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-04-15},
urldate = {2022-04-15},
booktitle = {Japanese Role-Playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG},
publisher = {Lexington Books},
chapter = {4},
abstract = {Book abstract:
Japanese Role-playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG examines the origins, boundaries, and transnational effects of the genre, addressing significant formal elements as well as narrative themes, character construction, and player involvement. Contributors from Japan, Europe, North America, and Australia employ a variety of theoretical approaches to analyze popular game series and individual titles, introducing an English-speaking audience to Japanese video game scholarship while also extending postcolonial and philosophical readings to the Japanese game text. In a three-pronged approach, the collection uses these analyses to look at genre, representation, and liminality, engaging with a multitude of concepts including stereotypes, intersectionality, and the political and social effects of JRPGs on players and industry conventions. Broadly, this collection considers JRPGs as networked systems, including evolved iterations of MMORPGs and card collecting “social games” for mobile devices. Scholars of media studies, game studies, Asian studies, and Japanese culture will find this book particularly useful.},
keywords = {Character, Japanese role-playing games, JRPG},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
Book abstract:
Japanese Role-playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG examines the origins, boundaries, and transnational effects of the genre, addressing significant formal elements as well as narrative themes, character construction, and player involvement. Contributors from Japan, Europe, North America, and Australia employ a variety of theoretical approaches to analyze popular game series and individual titles, introducing an English-speaking audience to Japanese video game scholarship while also extending postcolonial and philosophical readings to the Japanese game text. In a three-pronged approach, the collection uses these analyses to look at genre, representation, and liminality, engaging with a multitude of concepts including stereotypes, intersectionality, and the political and social effects of JRPGs on players and industry conventions. Broadly, this collection considers JRPGs as networked systems, including evolved iterations of MMORPGs and card collecting “social games” for mobile devices. Scholars of media studies, game studies, Asian studies, and Japanese culture will find this book particularly useful.
Japanese Role-playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG examines the origins, boundaries, and transnational effects of the genre, addressing significant formal elements as well as narrative themes, character construction, and player involvement. Contributors from Japan, Europe, North America, and Australia employ a variety of theoretical approaches to analyze popular game series and individual titles, introducing an English-speaking audience to Japanese video game scholarship while also extending postcolonial and philosophical readings to the Japanese game text. In a three-pronged approach, the collection uses these analyses to look at genre, representation, and liminality, engaging with a multitude of concepts including stereotypes, intersectionality, and the political and social effects of JRPGs on players and industry conventions. Broadly, this collection considers JRPGs as networked systems, including evolved iterations of MMORPGs and card collecting “social games” for mobile devices. Scholars of media studies, game studies, Asian studies, and Japanese culture will find this book particularly useful.
2021
Mochocki, Michał; Koskimaa, Raine
Story Beats in Videogames as Value-Driven Choice-Based Unit Operations Journal Article
In: Images: The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication, vol. 29, no. 38, pp. 5-31, 2021, ISSN: 1731-450X.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Beat, Character, Game studies, Narrative, Narratology, Transmedia, Video games
@article{Mochocki2021,
title = {Story Beats in Videogames as Value-Driven Choice-Based Unit Operations},
author = {Michał Mochocki and Raine Koskimaa},
url = {https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/78603
https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/i/article/view/29815/26411},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.14746/i.2021.38.01},
issn = {1731-450X},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-06-15},
urldate = {2021-06-15},
journal = {Images: The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication},
volume = {29},
number = {38},
pages = {5-31},
publisher = {Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan},
abstract = {We present a framework of story beats, defined as microunits of dramatic action, as a tool for the ludonarrative analysis of videogames. First, we explain the Goal - Action - Reaction - Outcome model of the story beat. Then, we present six types of story beats, Action, Interaction, Inaction, Mental, Emotion, and Sensory, providing videogame examples for each category. In the second half of the paper, we contextualise this framework in the classic game studies theory of videogame narrative and player action: unit operations, gamic action, anatomy of choice, and game design patterns, wrapping it up in the most recent trends in cognitive narratology. Ultimately, we present the story beat as a ludonarrative unit, working simultaneously as a ‘unit operation’ in the study of games as systems, and as a microunit of character action in narrative analysis. The conclusion outlines prospective directions for using story beats in formal, experiential, and cultural game research.},
keywords = {Beat, Character, Game studies, Narrative, Narratology, Transmedia, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
We present a framework of story beats, defined as microunits of dramatic action, as a tool for the ludonarrative analysis of videogames. First, we explain the Goal - Action - Reaction - Outcome model of the story beat. Then, we present six types of story beats, Action, Interaction, Inaction, Mental, Emotion, and Sensory, providing videogame examples for each category. In the second half of the paper, we contextualise this framework in the classic game studies theory of videogame narrative and player action: unit operations, gamic action, anatomy of choice, and game design patterns, wrapping it up in the most recent trends in cognitive narratology. Ultimately, we present the story beat as a ludonarrative unit, working simultaneously as a ‘unit operation’ in the study of games as systems, and as a microunit of character action in narrative analysis. The conclusion outlines prospective directions for using story beats in formal, experiential, and cultural game research.