Defining Genre in Video Game Historiography: Structural, Discursive, and Sociocultural Definitions

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Krawczyk Stanisław
2018 DiGRA ’18 – Abstract Proceedings of the 2018 DiGRA International Conference: The Game is the Message

 

From Video Games to Virtual Reality (and Back). Introducing HACS (Historical-Analytical Comparative System) for the Documentation of Experiential Configurations in Gaming History

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Therrien Carl
2017 DiGRA '17 - Proceedings of the 2017 DiGRA International Conference

This paper introduces a comparative analytical system that seeks to document the evolution of the game experience in the history of video games. Following an overview of formal and ontological inspections of games, ten interactive figures – domains of human agency typically modelled by game systems – are presented. The study of figures in art history traces the emergence and resurgence of different types of characters, poses or scenes, and indeed this is the meaning that is ascribed to the term here; games propose different “roles” depending on the specific ways they model this agency. These concepts are ideal to segment any game experience, and each of these segments are then analyzed with four conceptual categories: three layers of interface (the manipulation, mapping and feedback layers), and the ludic modes of engagement associated with each figure. The presentation of the system is encapsulated in an argument about the recurring fascination for VR technology in the world of video game; the analytical system will be able to document the actual integration of such elements along with other important parts of the ludic mediation

 

From Euclidean Space to Albertian Gaze : Traditions of Visual Representation in Games Beyond the Surface

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Arsenault Dominic Larochelle Audrey
2014 DiGRA '13 - Proceedings of the 2013 DiGRA International Conference: DeFragging Game Studies

In this paper, we examine the two highly relevant traditions of the simulation of space, and the simulation of the gaze, to develop an art history approach to video games rooted in the relationship of a gamer to the visual and play space implemented in the game through its surface and diegetic spaces. Parallel projection and perspective are both examined from their philosophical roots in Greek antiquity to their technological implementation in 2D game engines; the many techniques employed to simulate a third dimension out of the bidimensional surface of the screen (namely parallax scrolling, occlusion, depth cues and ray casting) help influence the player’s engagement with the game space, and his positioning on the continuum opposing contemplative immersion and interactive engagement. We finally present an original model of Axial-Spatial Play to account for the mapping of diegetic and surface spaces in 2D video games.