I am interested in research associated with digital and ergodic literature, the use of mythology in literature to explore psychoanalytic aspects of characters, and the advancement of education and assessment. Supervisors: Karin Littau Address: Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom
This study seeks to determine whether video games, specifically narrative role-playing games, hav... more This study seeks to determine whether video games, specifically narrative role-playing games, have matured enough as a narrative medium to be remediated by their predecessors. Whilst scholars have already begun documenting how cinema has begun incorporating elements unique to video games, no such research has been conducted on whether video games have begun to impact print literature in a similar way. Writers have often used ludic strategies such as elaborate puzzle-solving and labyrinthine narratives to keep the reader engaged, such as is found in an analysis of the ergodicity and immersive qualities of Vladimir Nabokov’s 1962 novel Pale Fire. However, such pre-digital texts provide a physical interaction on the part of the reader but only through narrative means. Writers of hypertext fiction have explored using the computer’s multimedia capabilities to create a sense of reader immersion; however, as shown through a breakdown of James Pope’s analysis of the four major problems to ‘...
The mystery of woman has captured the imaginations of humanity since before the dawn of agricultu... more The mystery of woman has captured the imaginations of humanity since before the dawn of agriculture. The capability of woman’s body, seemingly without cause, to create and possibly destroy life within her seemed to mankind akin to the mystery of the seed in the soil; this eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth eventually became symbolized through the myth of the Grain Mother Demeter and the loss, and return, of her daughter, Persephone. In representing woman at both extremes of her life, that of maiden turned mother, this myth grew to represent the process of women’s maturation, both socially and psychoanalytically. Yet, the archetypal figure with whom women should empathise in this process, the daughter Persephone, has a shadowy, incorporeal presence in the myth. Her experiences once she has descended to the Underworld are undescribed; only through parallels with the experiences of other females in the narrative, particularly those of her mother Demeter, is Persephone’s maturation supposedly brought to light. Applying a Jungian psychoanalytic viewpoint to the narratives gives the Underworld a new perspective: representing the unconscious mind. That Persephone literally descends to the Underworld in the myth could be seen to represent the way woman represses conflicts of her adolescence in order to be a better mother figure. Projection onto the mythic archetypes of Persephone and Demeter allow a woman to explore these repressed emotions and experiences objectively while simultaneously extending her own conscious. Rita Dove and Louise Glück, two contemporary female authors who have appropriated these archetypes in their poetry for this very purpose, provide models of successful and insightful processes of unconscious awareness of themselves. Through understanding the myth in all its forms—agrarian, social, and psychoanalytic—and applying that understanding to Dove’s and Glück’s poetry, woman can begin to reconcile herself not as two identities of just maiden and mother but of one identity as woman.
In an effort to determine exactly where video games lie on the text-to-game spectrum, a survey of... more In an effort to determine exactly where video games lie on the text-to-game spectrum, a survey of the two-decade long debate between narratologists and ludologists is undertaken with respect to the overlaps and gaps of both sides. What becomes glaringly obvious is that neither side seems to consider the player herself as the core of what defines a video game. Research has shown that video games in fact lie outside the spectrum, as something more of an experience on the part of the player rather than an object to be played. When studying video games from this perspective, the breadth and academic importance of their impact on the player becomes more obvious. Using Ermi's and Mäyrä's 2005 SCI (sensory-challenge-imaginative) model, video games are defined more specifically by their immersive qualities.
Since it could be argued that the narratology-ludology debate has reached a stalemate, games stud... more Since it could be argued that the narratology-ludology debate has reached a stalemate, games studies researchers are in need of new terminology in determining how games fit within the greater cultural arena. Interactivity was the first one adopted, being defined in terms of the user input-computer response loop, but literary scholars from all areas protested that their respective disciplines could be considered interactive, as well, depending on the critical stance taken. Immersion was also proposed as a method of explaining how players could forget their surroundings during those hours of “deep play” often associated with games like World of Warcraft or EVE Online, but game reviews appropriated it as a marketing buzzword for super-realistic graphics rather than a player experience. Involvement has made a recent appearance as a way to explain the player experience both within and outside the game, but it, too, is a term too broadly defined to be unique to video games. Following Eric Zimmerman’s article “Narrative, Interactivity, Play, and Games: Four Naughty Concepts in Need of Discipline,” this presentation seeks to define the differences and overlaps among immersion, interactivity, and involvement and provide a useful, unique-to-games term which can finally put a name to that indescribable feeling all players get when they start a great game.
Video games, as a visual medium, have been steadily advancing in their depictions of cityscapes a... more Video games, as a visual medium, have been steadily advancing in their depictions of cityscapes and architecture. Post-apocalyptic games, such as Valve’s Half-Life and Left 4 Dead series, are most notable for their realistic depictions of these spaces, but 2K Games’ 2007 release Bioshock takes dystopian architecture in games to a whole new level. Set up as an antithesis to Ayn Rand’s objectivism, Bioshock calls into question the existence of free will and honesty of a free market. And Rapture, as the setting upon which the game is set, echoes those sentiments completely. A city built underwater as a way to escape ever increasing government regulations, Rapture is a character in and of itself. The blocked air locks and systems of vacuum tubes connecting the different parts of the city represent the very moral ambiguity which is the basis for the narrative; a place meant to represent freedom and paradise is crumbling at the hands of its own inhabitants. As the game progresses and the narrative becomes increasingly savage and dystopian, so, too, does Rapture. It is both parallel and prison to the player, and it is ever so beautiful.
ISBN: 978-1-84888-438-0 First published in the United Kingdom in eBook format in 2016. First Edition, 2016
Videogames have come a long way from Super Mario Bros and Pong. After thirthy years of technologi... more Videogames have come a long way from Super Mario Bros and Pong. After thirthy years of technological advancements and academic criticisms, videogames have become a fertile ground for social change and virtual identity creation. Where big gam companies like Bioware, Bethesda, and Rockstar Games have begun to include more inclusive narratives, independent game companies are beginning to delve into the field of ' serious games', capitalising on the popularity and prevalence of social networking to inspire and assist non-game-related fields. While all of this is happening, a new subculture has become to dominate social media: that of the fanboy and the Let's Play YouTube video phenomenon. It is a dynamic time in videogame studies, from the perspective of player, designer and theorist. However, with the advent of virtual reality, the question remains: where will videogames, and subsequently or society, 'level up' to next ?
Introduction of 'Levelling Up: The Cultural Impact of Contemporary Videogames'
This volume discu... more Introduction of 'Levelling Up: The Cultural Impact of Contemporary Videogames'
This volume discusses how contemporary videogames have become less an entertainment medium and more a space for serious considerations of identity, education and social change.
Videogames have come a long way from Super Mario Bros and Pong. After thirty years of technological advancements and academic criticisms, videogames have become a fertile ground for social change and virtual identity creation. Where big game companies like Bioware, Bethesda, and Rockstar Games have begun to include more inclusive narratives, independent game companies are beginning to delve into the field of ‘serious games,’ capitalising on the popularity and prevalence of social networking to inspire and assist non-game-related fields. While all of this is happening, a new subculture has become to dominate social media: that of the fanboy and the Let’s Play YouTube video phenomenon. It is a dynamic time in videogame studies, from the perspective of player, designer and theorist. However, with the advent of virtual reality, the question remains: where will videogames, and subsequently our society, ‘level up’ to next?
This lecture will highlight the issues of gender and gaming which have come to light since the Ga... more This lecture will highlight the issues of gender and gaming which have come to light since the GamerGate controversy of the past decade. We will discuss the side-lining of females—both as game producers and game players—and how such discrimination has affected the industry, academia, and gender studies in general. We will also discuss how the greater global perspective on identifying different gender identities has begun impacting video games and whether or not the approach has been positive or just stereotyping by another name. Finally, we’ll discuss what we can do, as gender scholars, to make those changes positive from here forward and whether there is anything more that can be done to reach a more fair representation of the gaming audience.
As the accepted dissertation is under embargo for the next 5 years, I have uploaded the abstract ... more As the accepted dissertation is under embargo for the next 5 years, I have uploaded the abstract and introduction for those interested in reading/citing the full text.
This study seeks to determine whether video games, specifically narrative role-playing games, hav... more This study seeks to determine whether video games, specifically narrative role-playing games, have matured enough as a narrative medium to be remediated by their predecessors. Whilst scholars have already begun documenting how cinema has begun incorporating elements unique to video games, no such research has been conducted on whether video games have begun to impact print literature in a similar way. Writers have often used ludic strategies such as elaborate puzzle-solving and labyrinthine narratives to keep the reader engaged, such as is found in an analysis of the ergodicity and immersive qualities of Vladimir Nabokov’s 1962 novel Pale Fire. However, such pre-digital texts provide a physical interaction on the part of the reader but only through narrative means. Writers of hypertext fiction have explored using the computer’s multimedia capabilities to create a sense of reader immersion; however, as shown through a breakdown of James Pope’s analysis of the four major problems to ‘...
The mystery of woman has captured the imaginations of humanity since before the dawn of agricultu... more The mystery of woman has captured the imaginations of humanity since before the dawn of agriculture. The capability of woman’s body, seemingly without cause, to create and possibly destroy life within her seemed to mankind akin to the mystery of the seed in the soil; this eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth eventually became symbolized through the myth of the Grain Mother Demeter and the loss, and return, of her daughter, Persephone. In representing woman at both extremes of her life, that of maiden turned mother, this myth grew to represent the process of women’s maturation, both socially and psychoanalytically. Yet, the archetypal figure with whom women should empathise in this process, the daughter Persephone, has a shadowy, incorporeal presence in the myth. Her experiences once she has descended to the Underworld are undescribed; only through parallels with the experiences of other females in the narrative, particularly those of her mother Demeter, is Persephone’s maturation supposedly brought to light. Applying a Jungian psychoanalytic viewpoint to the narratives gives the Underworld a new perspective: representing the unconscious mind. That Persephone literally descends to the Underworld in the myth could be seen to represent the way woman represses conflicts of her adolescence in order to be a better mother figure. Projection onto the mythic archetypes of Persephone and Demeter allow a woman to explore these repressed emotions and experiences objectively while simultaneously extending her own conscious. Rita Dove and Louise Glück, two contemporary female authors who have appropriated these archetypes in their poetry for this very purpose, provide models of successful and insightful processes of unconscious awareness of themselves. Through understanding the myth in all its forms—agrarian, social, and psychoanalytic—and applying that understanding to Dove’s and Glück’s poetry, woman can begin to reconcile herself not as two identities of just maiden and mother but of one identity as woman.
In an effort to determine exactly where video games lie on the text-to-game spectrum, a survey of... more In an effort to determine exactly where video games lie on the text-to-game spectrum, a survey of the two-decade long debate between narratologists and ludologists is undertaken with respect to the overlaps and gaps of both sides. What becomes glaringly obvious is that neither side seems to consider the player herself as the core of what defines a video game. Research has shown that video games in fact lie outside the spectrum, as something more of an experience on the part of the player rather than an object to be played. When studying video games from this perspective, the breadth and academic importance of their impact on the player becomes more obvious. Using Ermi's and Mäyrä's 2005 SCI (sensory-challenge-imaginative) model, video games are defined more specifically by their immersive qualities.
Since it could be argued that the narratology-ludology debate has reached a stalemate, games stud... more Since it could be argued that the narratology-ludology debate has reached a stalemate, games studies researchers are in need of new terminology in determining how games fit within the greater cultural arena. Interactivity was the first one adopted, being defined in terms of the user input-computer response loop, but literary scholars from all areas protested that their respective disciplines could be considered interactive, as well, depending on the critical stance taken. Immersion was also proposed as a method of explaining how players could forget their surroundings during those hours of “deep play” often associated with games like World of Warcraft or EVE Online, but game reviews appropriated it as a marketing buzzword for super-realistic graphics rather than a player experience. Involvement has made a recent appearance as a way to explain the player experience both within and outside the game, but it, too, is a term too broadly defined to be unique to video games. Following Eric Zimmerman’s article “Narrative, Interactivity, Play, and Games: Four Naughty Concepts in Need of Discipline,” this presentation seeks to define the differences and overlaps among immersion, interactivity, and involvement and provide a useful, unique-to-games term which can finally put a name to that indescribable feeling all players get when they start a great game.
Video games, as a visual medium, have been steadily advancing in their depictions of cityscapes a... more Video games, as a visual medium, have been steadily advancing in their depictions of cityscapes and architecture. Post-apocalyptic games, such as Valve’s Half-Life and Left 4 Dead series, are most notable for their realistic depictions of these spaces, but 2K Games’ 2007 release Bioshock takes dystopian architecture in games to a whole new level. Set up as an antithesis to Ayn Rand’s objectivism, Bioshock calls into question the existence of free will and honesty of a free market. And Rapture, as the setting upon which the game is set, echoes those sentiments completely. A city built underwater as a way to escape ever increasing government regulations, Rapture is a character in and of itself. The blocked air locks and systems of vacuum tubes connecting the different parts of the city represent the very moral ambiguity which is the basis for the narrative; a place meant to represent freedom and paradise is crumbling at the hands of its own inhabitants. As the game progresses and the narrative becomes increasingly savage and dystopian, so, too, does Rapture. It is both parallel and prison to the player, and it is ever so beautiful.
ISBN: 978-1-84888-438-0 First published in the United Kingdom in eBook format in 2016. First Edition, 2016
Videogames have come a long way from Super Mario Bros and Pong. After thirthy years of technologi... more Videogames have come a long way from Super Mario Bros and Pong. After thirthy years of technological advancements and academic criticisms, videogames have become a fertile ground for social change and virtual identity creation. Where big gam companies like Bioware, Bethesda, and Rockstar Games have begun to include more inclusive narratives, independent game companies are beginning to delve into the field of ' serious games', capitalising on the popularity and prevalence of social networking to inspire and assist non-game-related fields. While all of this is happening, a new subculture has become to dominate social media: that of the fanboy and the Let's Play YouTube video phenomenon. It is a dynamic time in videogame studies, from the perspective of player, designer and theorist. However, with the advent of virtual reality, the question remains: where will videogames, and subsequently or society, 'level up' to next ?
Introduction of 'Levelling Up: The Cultural Impact of Contemporary Videogames'
This volume discu... more Introduction of 'Levelling Up: The Cultural Impact of Contemporary Videogames'
This volume discusses how contemporary videogames have become less an entertainment medium and more a space for serious considerations of identity, education and social change.
Videogames have come a long way from Super Mario Bros and Pong. After thirty years of technological advancements and academic criticisms, videogames have become a fertile ground for social change and virtual identity creation. Where big game companies like Bioware, Bethesda, and Rockstar Games have begun to include more inclusive narratives, independent game companies are beginning to delve into the field of ‘serious games,’ capitalising on the popularity and prevalence of social networking to inspire and assist non-game-related fields. While all of this is happening, a new subculture has become to dominate social media: that of the fanboy and the Let’s Play YouTube video phenomenon. It is a dynamic time in videogame studies, from the perspective of player, designer and theorist. However, with the advent of virtual reality, the question remains: where will videogames, and subsequently our society, ‘level up’ to next?
This lecture will highlight the issues of gender and gaming which have come to light since the Ga... more This lecture will highlight the issues of gender and gaming which have come to light since the GamerGate controversy of the past decade. We will discuss the side-lining of females—both as game producers and game players—and how such discrimination has affected the industry, academia, and gender studies in general. We will also discuss how the greater global perspective on identifying different gender identities has begun impacting video games and whether or not the approach has been positive or just stereotyping by another name. Finally, we’ll discuss what we can do, as gender scholars, to make those changes positive from here forward and whether there is anything more that can be done to reach a more fair representation of the gaming audience.
As the accepted dissertation is under embargo for the next 5 years, I have uploaded the abstract ... more As the accepted dissertation is under embargo for the next 5 years, I have uploaded the abstract and introduction for those interested in reading/citing the full text.
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This volume discusses how contemporary videogames have become less an entertainment medium and more a space for serious considerations of identity, education and social change.
For the full Publication: http://www.interdisciplinarypress.net/product/levelling-up-the-cultural-impact-of-contemporary-videogames/
Videogames have come a long way from Super Mario Bros and Pong. After thirty years of technological advancements and academic criticisms, videogames have become a fertile ground for social change and virtual identity creation. Where big game companies like Bioware, Bethesda, and Rockstar Games have begun to include more inclusive narratives, independent game companies are beginning to delve into the field of ‘serious games,’ capitalising on the popularity and prevalence of social networking to inspire and assist non-game-related fields. While all of this is happening, a new subculture has become to dominate social media: that of the fanboy and the Let’s Play YouTube video phenomenon. It is a dynamic time in videogame studies, from the perspective of player, designer and theorist. However, with the advent of virtual reality, the question remains: where will videogames, and subsequently our society, ‘level up’ to next?
This volume discusses how contemporary videogames have become less an entertainment medium and more a space for serious considerations of identity, education and social change.
For the full Publication: http://www.interdisciplinarypress.net/product/levelling-up-the-cultural-impact-of-contemporary-videogames/
Videogames have come a long way from Super Mario Bros and Pong. After thirty years of technological advancements and academic criticisms, videogames have become a fertile ground for social change and virtual identity creation. Where big game companies like Bioware, Bethesda, and Rockstar Games have begun to include more inclusive narratives, independent game companies are beginning to delve into the field of ‘serious games,’ capitalising on the popularity and prevalence of social networking to inspire and assist non-game-related fields. While all of this is happening, a new subculture has become to dominate social media: that of the fanboy and the Let’s Play YouTube video phenomenon. It is a dynamic time in videogame studies, from the perspective of player, designer and theorist. However, with the advent of virtual reality, the question remains: where will videogames, and subsequently our society, ‘level up’ to next?