games

WHAT IF WE WERE ALL NOVICES? MAKING ROOM FOR INEXPERIENCE IN A GAME STUDIES CLASSROOM

WHAT IF WE WERE ALL NOVICES? MAKING ROOM FOR INEXPERIENCE IN A GAME STUDIES CLASSROOM

Written by: Kelly Bergstrom, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Abstract: Night in the Woods (NITW) was released in 2017 and has met with commercial and critical success. The low technical requirements and compelling narrative that speaks to issues directly impacting young adults makes it a compelling text to use in a university classroom. Theoretically informed by feminist game studies, in this article I report on the successes, failures, and lessons learned from using NITW as a required text across three Communication Studies courses. I argue that while the cultural baggage that surrounds games does not disappear just because we step into a classroom, the unique perspectives offered by novice players who are not yet fully enmeshed in gaming’s norms and expectations offer the potential for unique insights and teachable moments. Ultimately, in this article I put forward the following provocation: how would we reimagine a university-level game studies seminar if we designed our curriculum as if all our students were first time players?

Keywords: Night in the Woods; non-players; inclusion; curriculum; games in the classroom; novices

PLAYING WITH MENTAL ISSUES – ENTERTAINING VIDEO GAMES AS A MEANS FOR MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION?

PLAYING WITH MENTAL ISSUES – ENTERTAINING VIDEO GAMES AS A MEANS FOR MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION?

Written by: Elke Schlote & Andrin Major, University of Basel

Abstract: Our qualitative analysis focuses on prosocial depictions of mental health issues in entertaining video games, with the theoretical lens of Critical Disability Studies. The inquiry of four video games in our sample focuses on a. how the depictions of the mental health issues were constructed in the games’ production process and b. how these issues are represented in the products’ structures. The method of document analysis allowed us to reconstruct how and to which end game designers and mental health experts collaborated during the production process towards implementing the mental health issues. Employing methods of game studies, we analyzed the depiction of the main playable character, the interaction design and the gameplay. In conclusion, the four indie video games can be played with or without a deeper insight into the mental health issue. The way the mental health issues are constructed in the video games shows that they are mainly illustrative for an individualized, medical model of mental health. Gameplay was mostly linear, and there was little room for interactivity in terms of choices or self-guided exploration. This can be traced back to the production process, as the game designers mainly relied on the advice of medical professionals and/or the introspection of individuals with a lived experience of the mental health issue. Although the analyzed video games are commendable for their efforts to engage with mental health issues in a prosocial and playful way, their usefulness for fostering a comprehensive mental health education is limited.

Keywords: video games; mental health education; game studies; production analysis; product analysis

KOREAN SOAP OPERAS, TELENOVELAS AND SCI-FI CONSPIRACIES: A GAME-MAKING EXPERIENCE WITH LATIN AMERICAN YOUTH IN LONDON

KOREAN SOAP OPERAS, TELENOVELAS AND SCI-FI CONSPIRACIES: A GAME-MAKING EXPERIENCE WITH LATIN AMERICAN YOUTH IN LONDON

Written by: Bruno de Paula, University College London

Abstract: This paper explores a game-making programme for 14 Latin American migrants aged 13-18 in London/UK, carried out between October/2017-January/2018, where I investigated the relationships between game conventions, platforms and personal preferences in the curation of fluid identities through game production. Participants presented varying levels of affinity with games linked both to access issues and to other specific elements (e.g. perception of games in contemporary culture, gender). Questionnaires, observations, unstructured/semistructured interviews and gaming archives were employed to explore this participatory initiative and data was analysed through Multimodal Sociosemiotics. Findings remarked how shared understandings about digital games can find their way into platforms and act as “cultural-technical gatekeepers”, supporting or hindering the engagement with game-making of those often perceived as outsiders to gaming culture. This gatekeeping happens when there are “creative dissonances” between, for example, personal preferences and platforms aligned to normative/mainstream genres. These dissonances, however, can end up fostering subversive designs, contravening gaming conventions and potentially challenging traditional gaming boundaries. This insight is relevant for understanding “cultural-technical constraints” and subversive/non-mainstream game-making, especially in relation to innovation and appropriation of game-making resources/strategies by non-mainstream groups.

Keywords: game-making; Latin America; inclusivity; conventions; identities