Reconstructing the Gothic in games and gaming : Gothic monsters and ideology in the story world and player experiences of Fallout 3
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JYU dissertationsAuthors
Date
2018Discipline
Englannin kieliCopyright
© The Author & University of Jyväskylä
This dissertation research investigates the deployment of Gothic elements in
digital games and player experiences of Gothic monsters. The Gothic is a rich
and popular resource for games that, through representations of monstrosities
and injustice, aims to induce in players a pleasurable feeling of discomfort, yet
also reflects contemporary anxieties. The dissertation comprises three case
studies of which the first two are close readings of the action role-playing game
Fallout 3 and the third discourse analysis of transcribed player narration from
Let’s Play (LP) gameplay videos. More specifically, the case studies discuss the
dual role of Gothic monstrosities as a cause and consequence of the dystopia
represented in the game world, Gothic ideology conveyed through multimodal
means in the game and the players’ moral evaluations of its quasi-human
Gothic monsters. The data for the first two case studies consisted of notes and
screenshots systematically collected from the game, while the third case study
examined transcribed narration from 20 different LP series of the game
uploaded on YouTube. The findings show that, as well as monstrosities that are
to be defeated and feared, games can also feature complex Gothic villain-heroes
and sympathetic monsters whose actions and characterization are actively
evaluated by players, as demonstrated in gameplay videos. These evaluations
are influenced by whether the monsters are perceived as victims of injustice,
making certain actions forgivable, or treacherous and therefore abhorrent. Their
existence must make sense socially and biologically and be contextualized by
the game world so that they can potentially enlist player sympathy. Spatial
storytelling – such as items and notes left in the game space – can be used to
convey narratives of past ideological horrors. Games can also reproduce
traditional Gothic ideology such as othering, which takes on a dual role: players
distance themselves from characters perceived as tyrannical, whereas characters
ostracized by society evoke their sympathy. Players are morally autonomous
and negotiate morality via humour, gossip and swearing in LP discourse. The
Gothic continues to be complex, ambivalent, even contradictory in digital
games, producing a sense of uncertainty during play.
...
Publisher
Jyväskylän yliopistoISBN
978-951-39-7607-1ISSN Search the Publication Forum
2489-9003Contains publications
- Artikkeli I: Piittinen, Sari Constructing a dystopian game world: Gothic mon-strosities in the digital role-playing game Fallout 3. In Korpua, Jyrki & Isomaa, Saija (Eds.) On Troubled Futures: New Perspectives to Dystopian Fiction In Literature and Other Media.
- Artikkeli II: Piittinen, S. Injustice in the ruins and a disordered post-apocalypse: Gothic ideology in the digital game world of Fallout 3. Accepted for publication in Studies in Gothic Fiction. DOI: 10.18573/sgf.34
- Artikkeli III: Piittinen, S. (2018). Morality in Let’s Play narrations : Moral evaluations of Gothic monsters in gameplay videos of Fallout 3. New Media and Society, 20 (12), 4671-4688. DOI: 10.1177/1461444818779754
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