#gamestudies

[nicholasandriani]

(via Navigating Identity and Agency in Virtual Worlds: A Comparative Analysis of ‘Paralives’ and Simulators)

[kamil-a]

my top 3 podcasts sayer shriekcast and rangedtouch (just king things/hs made this world/gamestudies study buddies cinematic universe)

[surveycircle]

Tweeted

Participants needed for online survey! Topic: "Gamers' self-regulation study" https://t.co/HoFyjL1kUA via @SurveyCircle #games #gaming #GameStudies #GamingMotivation #GamingPsychology #survey #surveycircle https://t.co/eHqZunhggM

— Daily Research @SurveyCircle (@daily_research) Mar 16, 2023

[magikalgaming]

Squaresoft’s Chrono Trigger and Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander debate loudly and distractingly over the space-time continuum

Drink of Choice: Rhenish 

Fantasy and science fiction have long straddled each other's borders. The explanatory and theoretical aspect of science fiction has typically separated it from the magic of fantasy. Contemporary works (such as Frank Herbert's Dune) often mingle these qualities to create adventurous hybrids, providing rationale for fantastic events that lower the suspension of disbelief. An example of fantasy, perhaps even magical realism, is the popular Outlander (1991-present) series by Diana Gabaldon. An example of a narrative that works between the lines would be the occult classic video game Chrono Trigger (1995). Both, I should mention, hinge their plots on time travel.

Time travel in these narratives work to showcase the past as a truth never fully known and enemies as never fully understood beings. These mysteries and conflicts are replicated, repeated, and recycled to illuminate the cyclical nature of time. Though both genres are under fiction, the amount of realism and explanation does little to distract protagonists from their quests for justice reliant on the power of time travel. The last frontier is not outer space, but literal space and the (supposedly) linear stream of time.

Space (sans Outer) as a frontier - Worlds in different iterations

It follows, then, why Chrono Trigger literally bestows the party a spaceship-looking time travel vehicle mid-game. It gives the impression that players are not merely flowing from time to time in this fictional universe, but from world to world - vastly different iterations of the same thing. 

The main protagonist in Outlander, Claire, time travels through purely magical and ancient means. However, she knows many locations in the present that are brand new or yet-to-be in the past. These observations are often described in her monologues. The strangeness of knowing something similar yet distinctly different, such as a person or a place, is the premise for most of her existential thoughts throughout the novels. 

Chrono Trigger combines magic and technology to introduce portals and time travel. Crono, the main protagonist, does not feature monologues on locations he knows or people that seem familiar - he doesn’t have to. In the game, the player embodies the avatar (main character Crono). Like many RPGs of its time, the main character is often silent and pliable to the player’s interpretation. The player feels the full effect of a town they’d visited destroyed in the future, and even more distraught over witnessing the planet turn to ruins. 

There are seven distinct realms in Chrono Trigger, and the player becomes accustomed to tracing landmasses and border lines for any alterations as results of their actions. These silent changes between realms makes the player feel both powerful (for being able to travel through time at will) and powerless (for seeing pain and suffering of the world and being unable to stop it).

Power over Power

The mixture of technology and magic may be what gives the cast of Chrono Trigger more agency than Claire in Outlander. Because the magic is something in which she does not understand, Claire is at the mercy of outside powers and spinning variables. In desperation, she tries first to return to the circle of stones that teleported her from modern-day 1945 to Scotland 1743.

Destiny is a perpetually appearing theme in the series that is likewise highlighted in Chrono Trigger. Certain events are inevitable, and others alterable. In either case, Crono has greater autonomy and mastery over the power of time travel and rises to fulfill a heroic purpose. Claire, however, wishes to return home to the present day. Much later, when she falls in love with another man in 1743, she only wishes to protect the people she has come to love from a historic slaughter of the Scottish clans. While appearing heroic, this desire is personal and based on a bias. It is because she wishes to stay with those in 1743 and because she loves her new husband that she desires to change the course of history. Crono, however, arises to a higher purpose for the sake of all of humanity.

The Hunt for the Precarious

In the Present Era, a maid in Chrono Trigger says, “a peaceful world is a boring world.” This dissatisfaction is a noteworthy element of the game and illuminates the process of writing adventure-centric narratives. 

In Outlander, Claire ultimately makes her choice between her first husband in 1945 and her new one by weighing the breadth of her emotions attached to each. Her first husband evokes feelings such as comfort, peace, and safety. A post-WW2 era underscores these qualities for Claire, who was stationed as a battle nurse for years. When compared to her new life in 1740s Scotland, it seems like modern day is the most logical choice. 

However, Claire comes to enjoy the passion that comes with danger in Scotland. She begins to prefer the battle scars of her new husband over the soft hands of her old one. It’s a more precarious life, but also a great deal more exciting. We can agree that the book would not have been as popular if Claire had chosen the modern world and never looked back. The same could be said for Chrono Trigger and all action-adventure games. This genre comprises most of the video games on the market, and most players expect something exciting and important to play through. Most of the time, players aren’t looking to engage with a peaceful world.

Playing with Time

The hunt for chaos drives most adventure narrative plots. In this case, the integration of this hunt with time travel points to the main character Claire and the gamer in Chrono Trigger “playing” with time. 

Chrono Trigger has thirteen different endings available. Depending on what choices gamers make, they can reap an ending with a dead main character, or a wedding, or the destruction of the world, etc. Without a guide, it is massively difficult to know the outcome of your decisions before you make them. The reality is most gamers nowadays will use a guide to achieve the “ideal” ending. While readers have no control over the decisions Claire makes, we can imagine her as a player in her own game.

She relies on her knowledge of the future to find the best possible amalgamation of choices that could save Scotland from war while keeping herself and her new husband from death. Instead of playing through options like you would in a game, she uses research, books, and history to make informed decisions on her next move in the past.

Essentially, it's a strategic game. Though she does not have mastery or control over time travel, she has enough understanding of the unfolding events to properly prepare herself and others. Granted, some of these attempts are ineffective. But the lack of complete foresight for Claire mirrors the lack of complete foresight for the guide-less gamer in Chrono Trigger.

Both Claire and Crono engage in different iterations of their worlds through choices they could potentially make. Through her knowledge, Claire manipulates history to achieve her desired outcome. If we define history as a narrative, she directly engages with the story of her realm as an outside force. Characters in Outlander refer to her as a witch due to her abilities and foresight. It is as if she is operating on a gamer’s guide for history - or perhaps perused it enough before diving into the past. In the same way, players of Chrono Trigger act as the narrative “witches” and manipulate the world from a simultaneous internal view (as an avatar) and external view (as a player of a fictional universe).

In this way, we find that time travel in fantasy and science fiction can work as both internal and external indications of presence - being of that world but a different iteration of it - of that world yet beyond it. Likewise, it can grant characters power, render them powerless, and/or underscore the futility of events destined to transpire.

Credits and Sources

Gabaldon, Diana. Outlander: a Novel. Bantam Books, 2016.

Chrono Trigger. Squaresoft, 1995.

Pictures in order of appearance:

1. https://store.steampowered.com/app/613830/CHRONO_TRIGGER/

2. https://www.amazon.com/Outlander-Diana-Gabaldon/dp/0440212561

3. https://cgcposters.com/products/cgc-huge-poster-chrono-trigger-retro-art-super-nintendo-snes-ds-cho009

4. https://outlander-obsession.myshopify.com/blogs/news/the-lost-character-the-outlander-essence-of-time-travel-1

5. https://lparchive.org/Chrono-Trigger-(by-Leavemywife)/Update%2032/

6. https://the-night-wanderer.tumblr.com/post/165166802723

[claudias-game-blog]

Rapid Assimilation of Objects, Pain Perception, & the Body

“When a warrior picks up a sword for battle, do sword and soldier become one?”

Carlson, Alvarez, & Verstraten (2010) used an afterimage technique to study at what time, under what conditions a person holding or using an object, becomes one with the said object. In the study, they found that this connection between body and the object occurred within seconds, with not much or no training beforehand. This suggests that the brain alters a persons perception of their own body. Relating this back into the topic of gaming, because we the player are using a controller of sorts, this controller becomes apart of our body, potentially influencing our emotions as our connection with the controller becomes part of our body. I hypothesise this may happen with the player character in the game we are playing, causing us to feel pain and other emotions for that player character. 

Mancini, Longo, Kammers, & Haggard (2011) investigated how pain is affected by viewing the physical body. When a person perceives their body for the first time, this influences the difference between how we sense the components of experiencing pain, specifically how intense the pain we feel is. Viewing the body itself effects how we feel pain, this means we can feel pain without being physically inflicted with pain. This is something that we see happing in video games when a player sees their player character fall off their skateboard or get bitten by a hideous monster, they can't help but wince and say “ouch” as if the pain was physically felt by their own body.

But how do these ideas associate with Virtual Reality games, where our body is actually our body, and the controls are actually our hands and head. Does this change the intensity of our emotions of pain and fear, in comparison to the emotions we feel for the player character in regular video games? Further research is needed to test this theory.

Carlson, T. A., Alvarez, G., Wu, D. A., & Vertraten, F. A. (2010). Rapid assimilation of external objects into the body schema. Psychological Science, 21(7), 1000-1005. 

Mancini, F., Longo, M. R., Kammers, M. P., & Haggard, P. (2011). Visual distortion of body size modulates pain perception. Psychological science, 22(3), 325-330. 

[silnan]

The final of the #NCA21 #GameStudies Top Student Paper presentation is Yansheng Liu (@uofminnesota) on “Why Do People Conduct Toxic Behaviors in Online Games? A Theory-based Explanation.” #NCA2021 @nationalcommunicationassoc #NCAGSID (at Washington State Convention Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWdvIoJv6ld/?utm_medium=tumblr

[eyegiene]

Cool #gamestudies gig #ucriverside ➡️ #repost @richardtrodriguez

[overthegame]

Una dichiarazione d'amore verso la musica nei videogiochi.

[association-ars-ludendi]

Divagation donjonesque

Dans une volonté de dégenrification du langage et afin de conscientiser l’emploi du neutre, le féminin est utilisé à la place du masculin lorsque le genre n’a pas d’importance. Par exemple, indépendamment du genre des personnes présentes à la table, nous écrirons « les joueuses lancent les dés » à la place de « les joueurs lancent les dés ». Dans les formes au singulier, l’emploi du féminin est aussi préconisé si la précision du genre de la personne désignée n’est pas pertinente.

Divagation donjonesque

Le donjon du jeu de rôle (qui, en fait, devrait se traduire par cachot, mais bon !) est un classique bien connu. Les codes sont bien établis ; on y trouve des salles (ou des couloirs) où attendent monstres, énigmes ou morceaux d'intrigues. Les aventurières parcourent l'endroit à leur guise afin de trouver la gardienne du lieu, l'objet magique, la captive à sauver.

Bien entendu, ce n'est pas aussi simpliste, mais ces codes existent. Et je précise que cette conception du donjon peut donner lieu à des parties mémorables et de grandes qualités ! Il y a un art dans la construction de rencontres épiques ou dans un donjon qui livre ses secrets à mesure de l'avancée des joueuses.  Je ne vais donc pas radoter en affirmant qu'il est temps de passer à autre chose ou de faire évoluer notre conception du donjon puisque ce dernier, comme décrit plus haut, fonctionne et remplit pleinement les exigences ludiques qu’il propose. Néanmoins, est-il possible de questionner quelque peu le paradigme « donjonesque » et voir si ce genre peut se considérer autrement. Et puis, dans quelle mesure est-ce que le donjon reste un donjon si nous décidons de jouer avec sa structure ludique ? Le genre donjon dépend-il de sa mécanique ou de sa diégèse ?

Bon. Comme j'aime faire les choses à l'envers et que ce pseudo article n'est pas vraiment pensé à l'avance, mais suit plutôt le cours d’une pensée, je commence par répondre à ma dernière interrogation.

Je pense qu'un donjon, en jeu de rôle, n'est pas limité à sa diégèse (autrement dit, au cadre dans lequel se tient le récit). Il n'est en effet pas nécessaire d’arpenter un sous-sol, dans un château ou des ruines, pour faire du donjon. Tout en gardant une structure similaire, l'action peut avoir lieu dans une forêt, une ville, voire même, pourquoi pas, un pays entier. Je me permets ici de citer l’excellent article d’Éric Nieudan dans Mener des parties de jeu de rôle[1] : « au lieu d’imaginer des salles, vous créerez des clairières, des bois, des fermes en ruine et des ponts de lianes ». Il suffit d'avoir des « salles », à savoir, structurellement parlant, de lieux où se passe l'action. Nous pouvons les opposer aux « couloirs » qui, encore une fois structurellement parlant (oui, j'aime me répéter, et puis « structurellement parlant » c’est une formule qui claque), servent de transition. À partir de là, notre donjon peut être tout et n'importe quoi : une station spatiale, un bateau pirate, une rue lors d’un carnaval, l’intérieur d’un corps humain, etc.

Du coup, peut-on faire sans la mécanique ? Un donjon peut-il être un huis-clos et ne se dérouler que dans une seule de ces « salle » ? Peut-on imaginer un donjon où l’ensemble du récit se base sur l’interaction entre les personnages-joueurs (PJ) et où les salles et les monstres qui la peuplent ne sont qu’un bruit de fond ?

J'avoue, bien subjectivement, que cela s'avère difficile. Si mon PJ doit explorer des catacombes et que l'aventure ne se résume qu’à un couloir suivi d'un boss, j'aurais l'impression que cela n'aurait pas rempli mes attentes (à dessein ou non). D’autant plus si la meneuse de jeu (MJ) m’avait promis un donjon. Je suis donc tentée d'admettre que le donjon tient plus de sa mécanique que de sa diégèse.

Et bien entendu, cette mécanique ne se résume pas uniquement à ce que j'ai décrit. Nul doute que cela soit bien plus complexe. En même temps, c'est ma manière d'imaginer le concept du donjon : sans ces enchaînements de salles qui ont chacune une saveur à découvrir, que cela soit un combat, une énigme ou un apport à l'histoire, je ne suis plus dans un donjon.

Bon... si la mécanique est essentielle pour moi, pourquoi ce préambule sur la possibilité d'en faire autre chose ? Tout simplement parce qu'on peut jouer de cette mécanique. Il y a du jeu (au sens de distance, comme le jeu qu'il y a entre deux pièces en bois) entre la mécanique et le donjon. Ma petite réflexion n’entend donc non pas changer la mécanique, mais, tout en la conservant, se demander comment faire autrement.

Faire autrement ? Mais comment donc !?

J'ai l'impression qu'il y a matière à explorer dans la manière dont, tout en conservant cette mécanique à laquelle je peine à trouver un synonyme, nous appliquons une série de lieux communs lors de la création d'un donjon. Et cela sans même y penser ! C'est précisément là qu'il y a du jeu (ou qu’il faut faire exister ce jeu) ; nous pouvons prendre de la distance pour questionner nos habitudes.

Par exemple (et l'enjeu n'est pas de donner tous les exemples possibles, bien entendu, on n'en finirait pas), nous avons l'habitude de considérer le donjon non pas comme autonome, mais comme dépendant de l'interaction des PJ. Ces derniers parcourent un lieu qui réagit à leurs actions et déplacements ; les monstres patientent sagement dans les salles (qui ont souvent une insonorisation des plus efficaces d'ailleurs), les énigmes ou pièges défient toute logique d'une habitation de l'endroit (les occupantes du donjon doivent-elles toujours désactiver et réactiver le piège pour franchir cette porte ?), et que fait ce trésor ici à part attendre d'être pris ? etc.

Malgré un discours quelque peu provocateur, je ne veux évidemment pas défendre que tout donjon a la nécessité d’être cohérent pour être un bon donjon. Si nous considérons le porte-monstre-trésor (PMT) comme un sous-genre du donjon (comme une sorte de donjon épuré, finalement, mettant la mécanique au centre), admettre qu’un donjon réussi doive avoir une justification cohérente pour tous ses éléments ludiques serait passer à côté de ce que le PMT a de beau et complexe à offrir, ludiquement parlant.

Il faut néanmoins se rendre compte que cette manière de créer un donjon met l'accent sur l'expérience des joueuses ; il n'existe que parce que les joueuses l'arpentent. Ce n’est bien entendu pas une erreur, mais simplement un lieu commun qui, si nous prenons le risque d’en jouer, n’influence pas la mécanique donjonesque. Ne pouvons-nous pas imaginer un autre paradigme ? Et si nous faisions préexister le donjon aux joueuses ? Un donjon, donc, qui vit, a vécu et vivra, indépendamment du passage des PJ. Un donjon qui, si les aventurières choisissent de rester sur le pas de la porte, aura son dynamisme propre et ne restera pas figé dans l'attente "d'être joué". Un donjon à surprises aussi, car ni la MJ ni les joueuses ne pourront prévoir exactement comment se déroulera l'aventure ni quelles rencontres auront lieu.

Ma réflexion n'est sans doute pas révolutionnaire : certaines l’appliquent sans doute à chaque fois qu'elles créent un donjon (et encore une fois, l’article de Nieudan donne d’excellentes pistes pour cela). Mon propos est simplement de souligner qu’il est sain de jouer avec les acquis de nos constructions ludiques afin de pleinement nous rendre compte de leurs potentiels. Et puis... peut-être que cela ne marchera pas, ou pas à chaque partie. Néanmoins, ce questionnement du rapport joueuses-donjon ouvre la voie à d'autres questionnements. Et si on inversait le paradigme PMT et que les joueuses devenaient de plus en plus faibles (qui a dit Darkest Dungeon ?) ? Et si les joueuses interprétaient les gardiennes du donjon (Quoi ? Dungeon Keeper ?) ? Et si les salles du donjon se transformaient selon la santé mentale du PJ ? Bref, ne cessons pas de nous réinventer : cela fait partie du jeu.

G. Thonney

Image d’illustration par Benny Mazur

[1] Nieudan E., « Construire un donjon. Une Méthode aléatoire », in : dir. David C. et Larré J., Mener des parties de de jeu de rôle, Saint-Orens-de-Gameville, Sortie de l’auberge, Lapin Marteau, 2016.

[monriatitans]

#KatieSalen #KatieSalenTekimbas #EricZimmerman #RulesofPlay #GameDesignFundamentals #gamedesignschemas #gamedesign #videogamedesign #gamestudies #gamedevelopment #gameproduction

[lemplim]

Depois de meses de descanso, voltei com um projeto de minijogo para estudar, baseado no free way de 1981, espero poder produzir uma versão em breve, estudarei mecânicas simples com diferentes designs e temas, aprenderei game design, level projetar e mergulhar uma vez no código.🇧🇷 After months of rest, I came back with a minigame project to study, based on the 1981 free way, I hope to be able to produce a version soon, I will study simple mechanics with different designs and themes, I will learn game design, level design and dive once into code.🇺🇸 #lemplim #design #designer #designinspiration #designart #designgrafico #blender #arte #artedigital #game #games #gamedev #gameart #gamedesign #indiegamedev #indiegameart #gamedesign #gamestudy #indiegameprograming #indiegamedevelopment #indiegamedeveloper #indiegamedevs #indiegamedevelopers #minigame #3d #3dart #3dmodel #3dartist #3dmodelling #3dmodels #3Dcharacter https://www.instagram.com/p/CTBZaFsjO6X/?utm_medium=tumblr

[game-development-austin-blog]

Is Game Development Still a Good Career Choice?

You adore games. You are in fact slanted or potentially have rather good illustration aptitudes. You as of now spend a huge amount of cash on new amusement titles. So wouldn't it be wonderful to move toward becoming create games professionally?

Assume that is a typical point of view a great deal of ardent gamers involvement with least once in their lives. As kind of a friendly myself, I thought about transforming my side interest into a vocation back in school.

Game improvement looks like an "astounding, hero sort of an occupation" for the quirky kinds. However, really finding a new line of work and working inside this industry accompanies an absence of impressive flair.

On the off chance that you are at present thinking about your alternatives, consider the accompanying information.

Study Price

To break into amusement advancement, you'll have to either acquire an Arts/Design degree with a specialization in realistic or potentially website architecture or a Programming degree.

A few colleges are presently offering specific "amusement improvement" degrees even on the web, yet the nature of got instruction still stays sketchy. Regardless, you ought to be prepared to pay between $18.000-$35.000 for a student program.

What's more, obviously, only acquiring a degree doesn't imply that contextual sellers like EA will be quickly line up to contact you. The activity showcase is mercilessly focused (more on that in the blink of an eye). Subsequently, you may need to get extra certification before applying for a vocation. That incorporates everything without exception from participating in gaming rivalries and going to various out-of-school classes, for example, Vision Tech Camp to use your abilities while still in secondary school, to applying for temporary jobs and vigorously putting resources into extra self-instruction while in school.

As a rule, you have to gather certain aptitudes and encounters on the off chance that you need to make it into a major organization directly after graduation.

The State of The Job Market Now

While the game advancement industry continues developing and is relied upon to hit $19.6 billion by 2019, the quantity of employment opportunities has diminished essentially since 2014. To be careful Indeed has assessed an astounding 65% drop in open positions in gaming organizations.

For sure group says that the activity showcase has turned into a bit excessively immersed – with more individuals endeavoring to break into the business, but deficient with regards to the required aptitudes. Most sellers are presently hoping to fill in quite certain opening that expect managing the rising innovations, for example, AR recreations for cell phones or VR.

Henceforth, on the off chance that you need to expand your odds of getting enlisted, you ought to be deliberately investigating those areas rather than "customary" amusement improvement for PCs.

Does this job suit you?

Most experts concur that you should be incredibly energetic about this industry on the off chance that you need to get by inside it. Without having the unfathomable commitment, the day-to-day can rapidly progress toward becoming soul squashing.

While working for a bigger merchant unquestionably gives you more professional stability, the weight from the administration can turn out to be hard now and again and there's less room left for innovativeness.

Cooperating with the box studio, or beginning your very own once you get the aptitude, implies that your game (and pay) isn't safely supported. Indeed, it could be especially horrendous when the amusement you've been producing for quite a long time doesn't get any footing post discharge.

The primary concern is – amusement improvement is most likely an energizing and compensating vocation, yet an incredibly aggressive one as well. You should come arranged for a test and give yourself a decent rude awakening before entering it!

[kamil-a]

what i do lately when i feel just awful is i put on gamestudies study buddies and vividly imagine that i walk into a college lecture and set up a blanket fort in the back and do all my writhing and groaning in misery while the class is going on around me and theyre all like vaguely concerned but i was like no its ok you keep going

[daddyfatstacks-blog]

Hello all as a part of my semester-long intro to game design and programming I have produced a small, top-down, 2D brawler called 'Death by Metal'. As a part of my marketing paper I am doing a shameless plug on social media!

Download it for free from Gamejolt or Itch.io and feel free to leave a comment.

Available on: Windows GameJolt: http://gamejolt.com/games/DeathbyMetal/264328 Itch.io: https://rookster.itch.io/death-by-metal

Cheers!

[magikalgaming]

Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge and Nintendo’s Animal Crossing show up at the door after an “extended leave of absence.” You make them lead the toast. They don’t know what the party’s for.

Drink of choice: Vacation Juice

You (player) may have more in common with Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge’s (TMoC) Micheal Henchard than you think. Have you recently gotten drunk on rum soaked oatmeal and sold your wife and child to a passing sailor for five guineas? No? Have you decided to run from your problems and into the warm embrace of leadership and success that is being the mayor of a town? Great! You and Micheal Henchard have an understanding. 

One of the best things video games have going for them is the ability to temporarily embody a character in a virtual story. Nintendo’s Animal Crossing series is famous for its unstructured and vague protagonists (human despite the town’s villagers being sentient animals in houses), as well as its domestic, pastoral aesthetics. Though most of the games in this series do not have a set of end goals, the overarching push is to pay off your house loans, better the town, and welcome new residents. Collectible mini-games like catching fish and bugs, as well as buying clothes and furniture, aim to keep the player busy while they raise enough money for projects. For the sake of simplicity, this analysis will focus on Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Animal Crossing: New Horizons (AC: NL / NH). 

Both TMoC and AC: NL / NH feature protagonists whose pasts are unknown to the new communities they join. Though Henchard works his way up to become mayor, AC’s protagonists are handed the responsibility of revitalizing and gentrifying the land with little to no qualifications (aside from enthusiasm). Both games likewise touch on the relationship between capitalism and personal identity. Henchard’s debts cause him to sell his wife, an action that haunts him into his wealthy new life. AC’s debts exist with the start of the game, as it is impossible to avoid taking out a loan from the business tycoon, Tom Nook, in order to build a home. Once this loan is paid in full, Nook offers an expansion, and then another expansion, and another, until paying it becomes normalized. 

Though AC is a stylistically charming and child-friendly game, certain qualities can spark anxiety, stress, and even horror. Ashley Brown’s “Animal Crossing: New Leaf and the Diversity of Horror in Video Games” posits: 

[t]he NPCs’ desire and admiration for space and symbolic wealth, combined with the loans involved in house expansions since they cannot be made in cash beforehand and only in credit afterwards, evokes anxiety and create a sense of ineffectualness simultaneously. The goals successful adults are meant to achieve, such as being debt-free homeowners, are always just out of reach. (12)

Torn between funding a new bridge and paying off their never-ending mortgage, the loan becomes an addictive, haunting feature of this series. The capitalist desire for what is bigger and better lures players the same way gambling and drinking lures Henchard into debt. (In fact, a feature new to the AC series allows players to play a stock market of turnips. The prices fluctuate according to day and island, encouraging players to buy turnips up at low prices and wait to sell when the exchange rate is high.)

In a sort of manifest destiny or John Lockean philosophy, AC relies on the idea that the natural word and its creatures are available for anyone to catch, kill, or take. Ian Bogost’s “The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing” asserts “pastoralism and capitalism coexist perfectly” within the gameplay and game narrative. Unlike past games, AC: NH features the colonization of an uninhabited island. Aside from manicuring, decorating, and even terraforming your island, players are able to visit other uninhabited islands with a Nook Miles Ticket. The Nook Miles Ticket can be purchased only with Tom Nooks reward points. You can earn these points by doing anything from changing your clothes to catching a ton of bugs. The Nook Miles Ticket is intended to provide players an opportunity to pillage a new island of its resources and return home. In this way, the rewards system for gentrifying your island leads to the decimation of another. 

Do you see where I’m going with this? While Henchard certainly doesn’t discover Casterbridge nor pillage a neighboring village for resources, Casterbridge serves as a rural, agricultural hub on the verge of being manufactured. Henchard’s interest and business growth brings wealth to the town, and although that wealth does not last, it and his reputation are enough to attempt to repair his past mistakes. As a “man of character” would do, he asks his ex-wife (who has found him) to remarry. At the same time, a Scotsman on the way to England with great knowledge of his business offers game-changing advice, for which Henchard begs him to come work alongside him. Farfrae (the Scotsman) and Henchard enter a relationship not dissimilar to Tom Nook and the player. Both are entirely tied to the growth of their towns and businesses. 

In this way, the development of the town/island in AC and the business in TMoC is more important than character development. The towns, as systems, operate within a structure of authority that place the protagonists at the top. The characters interact with the town capitalistically and with a Lockean philosophy in order to alter it and themselves. For Henchard, this is to become a “man of character.” For AC players, it’s for virtual creation and control. Are not both attempts to have power over a community and reify self-worth? Are we not always trying to recreate ourselves?

Credits and Sources

Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Nintendo 3DS, 2012.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nintendo Switch, 2020.

Bogost, Ian. “The Quiet Revolution of Animal Crossing.” The Atlantic, 2020.

Brown, Ashley. “Animal Crossing: New Leaf and the Diversity of

      Horror in Video Games.” DiGRA, 2015. 

Hardy, Thomas. The Mayor of Casterbridge. Penguin Classics, 2003. 

Pictures in order of appearance:

1.  Joshalynne Finch, https://www.howtogeek.com/664088/how-to-get-started-in-animal-crossing-new-horizons/

2.goodreads.com, https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/56759.The_Mayor_of_Casterbridge

3. Se7en.ws, https://se7en.ws/animal-crossing-new-horizons-money-grinding-how-to-earn-lots-of-bells-fast/?lang=en

4. Dave Thier, https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2020/05/03/calculator-lets-face-it-turnip-prices-are-totally-broken-in-animal-crossing-new-horizons/#20ededf462a8 

5. Louis Chilton, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/games/feature/animal-crossing-new-horizons-earth-day-nature-acnh-update-nintendo-a9478156.html

6. wikiwand, https://www.wikiwand.com/en/The_Mayor_of_Casterbridge

7. Joshalynne Finch, https://www.howtogeek.com/664195/how-to-restart-your-island-in-animal-crossing-new-horizons/

[theshadowmancer-justin-blog]

Do violent video games cause violence?

I’ve heard the argument that video games cause violence in kids and I’ve got to say its simply not true I as well as many other gamers are living proof that such an argument is just wrong, I’ve played video games for most of my life and the majority of them are violent and yet I hate the idea of actually hurting someone.

These arguments are usually made by people who don’t play the games they accuse of promoting violence, as a result their rhetoric is mainly aimed towards people who don’t play video games or more commonly parents of children that play video games.

At the end of the day there is a rating on the cover of every game and people working at game shops don’t sell games to minors so if the parent purchases a violent game for their 10 year old its not the games fault, its theirs.