A Framework of Player Objects in Virtual Environments

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Willumsen Ea Christina
2020 DiGRA ’20 – Proceedings of the 2020 DiGRA International Conference: Play Everywhere

Based on data gathered from an analysis of 99 digital single-player games, this paper presents a framework named the PO-VE model for analysing player objects in virtual environments. Player objects are understood as objects integrated in the virtual environment which constitute the player’s point of control and thus frame their actions in the game system. A necessary distinction is made between player object and the presentation of characterisation, separating the notion of “character” from player object, which yields certain analytical benefits. The PO-VE model, which consists of 16 different categories and thus provides a high-granularity analysis tool, is presented using two primary examples from the data set – The Witcher III: Wild Hunt and VVVVVV – and discussed in relation to its potential applications, limitations, and contributions to the more theoretical domain of game studies.

 

Dwelling in Digital Game Worlds

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Vella Daniel
2019 DiGRA '19 - Abstract Proceedings of the 2019 DiGRA International Conference: Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix

 

Processes of Roling: Mechanisms for Adopting Subjectivities in the Gameworld

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Vella Daniel Gualeni Stefano Arjoranta Jonne
2019 DiGRA '19 - Abstract Proceedings of the 2019 DiGRA International Conference: Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix

 

Sites of Play: Locating Gameplace in Red Dead Redemption 2

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Westerside Andrew Holopainen Jussi
2019 DiGRA '19 - Proceedings of the 2019 DiGRA International Conference: Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix

In Video Game Spaces (2009), Michael Nitsche proposes three indicators of ‘placeness’ in video games: identity, self-motivated and self-organised action, and traces of memory (191-201). We read this notion of placeness as closely aligned to, or overlapping with, the understandings of place and site articulated in theatre and performance research as site-specific performance. Here, we articulate the ideas (and analyse the experiences) of placeness and sitedness in Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) through an analytical conversation between performance studies and games design research with a human-computer interaction bias. Through a close-reading of gameplay experiences (Bizzocchi and Tanenbaum, 2011), we individually experienced over 30 hours of RDR2 gameplay while taking notes, recording, and capturing screenshots. During our individual analyses, we met periodically to compare notes, discuss notable game moments and share analytical insights. At this intersection of game research and performance research, we ask to what extent the theoretical articulations of aesthetic/affective experience in physical, corporeal and material spaces can develop – and further nuance – our understanding of how place is experienced (and thus designed) in contemporary videogames. In doing so, we propose the term gameplace as a means of articulating what this article will define as the affective relationship between place, experience and play.

 

“I’m overburdened!” An Empirical Study of the Player, the Avatar, and the Gameworld

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Jørgensen Kristine
2009 DiGRA '09 - Proceedings of the 2009 DiGRA International Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory

This paper presents the first results of an empirical study of how players interpret the role of the player and the relationship between the player and playable figures in gameworlds. In the following, we will see examples of four genres that situate the player in different positions with respect to the gameworld. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars illustrates a game where the player does not have a playable figure in the gameworld, while Crysis exemplifies a game where player and playable figure viewpoints merge into one entity. Diablo 2 represents a game with a developing figure, and The Sims 2 demonstrates a hybrid combination of named, developing figures controlled by the player from a god perspective. The study shows that players tend to accept all features that aid them in understanding how to play the game, and that it does not matter whether features have a stylistic or naturalistic relationship to the gameworld. Regarding the relationship between player and playable figure, the respondents do not see the dual position of the player situated in the physical world while having the power to act within the gameworld as a paradox, but a necessary way of communication in games.