“Fear the Old Blood”: The Gothicism of Bloodborne

Gothic studies and Game studies are beginning to be explored in connection with each other to find various configurations of Gothic elements in the cybertext of games. In this article, I explore various Gothic elements in Bloodborne (From Software, 2015). My methodology incorporates the analysis of the manifestation of Gothicism in the game through the interplay between the figure of the player character, mise-en-scène, and the presence of psychologically affective states pertaining to the experience of playing the game. The role and aspects of player participation, performativity, and in-game mechanics are also examined with respect to the particular function they serve in the realization of the Gothic experience. The presence of Gothic and Lovecraftian tropes, symbolism, and elements of horror within the narrative are also explored.

Reconceiving the Fictionality of Game Worlds: Money in Osadchuk’s Mirror World as an Affective Point of Entry

On, Off and In the Map: Materialising Game Experiences Through Player Cartography

The Path That Lies Ahead: Intimacy Through Overwhelmedness in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

In this essay I read The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to consider the potential of video game worlds to create intimate affects. I trace out a framework of intimacy not as a relationship between individuals but as an affect defined by sensations including vulnerability, the loss of control, and precarity. Then, I read the formal, aesthetic, proprioceptive and structural elements of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for intimate affects. I understand the intimacy of Breath of the Wild as not anchored to any individual but distributed through the game world. Within this framework I argue that Breath of the Wild creates intimacy through being overwhelmed and contending with overwhelmedness. Finally, I consider the context of contemporary precarity to understand the stakes of inhabiting intimate game worlds.

Virtual Reality is ‘Finally Here’: A Qualitative Exploration of Formal Determinants of Player Experience in VR

It is already a truism that consumer virtual reality (VR) systems offer sensorially immersive first-person experiences that differ markedly from those begat by traditional screen displays. But what are the implications of this for player experience? It is well-documented that VR can induce illusions of non-mediation; of spatial presence; of embodiment in avatars. This paper asks—and reports on—what common features of digital games are liable to be experienced as stressors (that is, as beyond optimally affective or intense) when the player perceives her avatar–self egocentrically as a ‘life-sized’, spatially present, and potentially vulnerable entity within the gameworld. The present paper describes and discusses findings from a qualitative content analysis of immersive virtual environments (IVEs) experienced via head-mounted display-based VR systems akin to those now commercially available. A purposive sample comprising video, photographic, and written documentation of IVEs (n = 124) from historical clinical VR and telepresence research is interrogated through the lens of cognitive media theory. Effecting a novel approach inspired by systematic review, the present study's observations and inferences regarding players' subjective experience of IVEs are presented alongside relevant findings from the research literature sampled. This produces a preliminary formal framework for discussing VR player experience as significantly structured by patiency (cf. agency), with VR experiences eliciting self-directed affect, and thereby somewhat unintentionally engaging the player's body as a site for feedback.

Spatial Presence, Psychophysiology, and Game(play) Emotions

Toward Ludic Gerontechnology: a Review of Games for Dementia Care

Due to the increase of the older population, dementia has become a growing societal problem. This has led to an increased interest in digital games to support dementia care, such as cognitive rehabilitation or reminiscence games. To facilitate the design of games for dementia and set a research agenda in this domain, we carried out a literature review of games designed more specifically for dementia. The review brought out a number of design issues and highlighted limitations of on-going development. Beyond cognitive rehabilitation, we should turn to affective game design as many emotional issues stem from the dementia condition. Finally, we advocate stepping out of the functionalistic approach taken in this domain to design enjoyable, emotional and fun game experiences.

Feel It, Don’t Think: the Significance of Affect in the Study of Digital Games

Game studies methodologies which focus on the visual, narrative, and semiotic content of digital games overlook the way that embodied perception and physiological response contribute to the meaningfulness of games. Gameplay also needs to be understood in terms of affective response: the embodied, multisensory perception of the game environment. Distinguishing between affect and emotion, this paper frames the former in terms of the unquantifiable bodily dimensions of gameplay – the ‘feel’ of a game. It argues that affective response incorporates physiological and temporal dimensions that lie outside the domain of linear time and conscious choice, using examples of games like Rez that link positive player experience to bodily awareness and uncontrollable biological responses. It then proposes some ways that a theory of affect can further our understanding of what digital games are and why people play them.

Designing a Game to Model Consumer Misbehavior

Traditionally, computer games have been used for entertainment and more recently, education. However, the potential for games to be used in other contexts is now becoming an area of interest for researchers. We propose that games can be used in areas such as social behavior research, particularly in the area of consumer misbehavior. Using game design that supports research problems and provides an affective, engaging experience for players who participate in the research allows for the exploration of problems that have previously been difficult to address for social behavior researchers.