Mateusz Felczak

This work assesses spatial design of sacred places in the context of isometric, fantasy-themed computer role-playing games. The main sections of the paper analyze and interpret two distinct modes of facilitating meaningful narratives and interactions through the introduction of sacred architecture and spatial design: one connected with cities, dwellings and urban culture, and one pertaining to nature and digital outdoors. Through the implementation of power dynamics framework proposed by Jeanne H. Kilde, it is argued that verticality, ruination, agonistic encounter design and delineation of sacred space through artifacts are crucial in evoking religious narratives and establishing players’ in-game agency.

This paper provides an overview of changes on the electronic sports information circuit in the period from 2012 to 2022. The research here focuses on visual components of e-sports events, especially games’ GUIs and interactive elements of the digital platform interfaces that provide technological scaffolding for e-sports broadcasts (such as Twitch). The analysis is conducted from the software studies perspective, with the StarCraft franchise as a chief example of the phenomena assessed in the paper. The findings presented in this study stem from the juxtaposition of divergent modes of interaction between the viewers, players and e-sports media professionals, which are subsequently confronted with the computational rules of e-sports games’ mechanics.

This study investigates the work of content creators in relation to developers and fans, focusing on digital platforms in a case study of the video game Path of Exile which functions in the game as a service (GaaS) model. The analysis was based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a diverse group of aspiring content creators and on the assessment of data extracted from distribution, streaming, and social digital platforms. The institutionalized labor of content creators, which is subjugated to the live service model curated by the developers, could be characterized by the notions of transactional play, aspirational boredom, and gaming the markets. These three elements stand for the commodification of play time, substituting actual play with broadcasted footage, and actively shaping the in-game economy, respectively. The study acknowledges the rising importance of content creators as contributors to the financial well-being of a game employing the GaaS model, while raising awareness of the cultural, economic, ethical and health issues associated with it.

This paper aims to highlight structural issues concerning the conduct of esports media professionals and their work as social media influencers. The data selected for this study include footage from social media and digital streaming platforms, with spatial analysis serving as a primary theoretical scaffolding to support the paper’s rationale. The systemic nature of self-perpetuating circulation of contentious media-related content is observed through the assessment of three case studies which feature various discourses of identity concerning players, media professionals and the audience alike. The paper discusses personal media branding strategies and the perceived role of esports media professionals in the esports communities, the proliferation of ‘reversed safe space’ serving as an element of strengthening the media presence and the discrepancies between the accepted codes of conduct in the various esports-related media.

This study, conducted from February 2020 to February 2022, applies constructivist grounded theory approach to the data gathered during participant observation and ethnographical research connected with electronic sports in Poland and Hong Kong. The research involved looking at the data on selected Twitch channels as well as social media communication of leading eSports brands and incentives (including Talon Esports in Hong Kong and ESL Gaming in Poland). The overarching aim of the study was to compare the divergent dynamics of eSports cultures in various digital media ecosystems. Key contributions of this paper to eSports-oriented game studies involve the application of comparative approach and focus on the interconnectedness of fans’ digital labor with
the physical and digital spaces dedicated to electronic sports. This project is financed by the National Science Centre, Poland (no 2019/32/C/HS2/00614).

This chapter argues for ephemerality and emergence as key characteristics of humour in the context of large-scale eSports events. The analysis is based on three large-scale venues: the 2019 StarCraft II World Championship Series (WCS), Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice 2020 and DreamHack SC2 Masters 2020: Season Finals tournaments. The assessment is made using examples encompassing commentators, audience and players, and it is argued that the digital and physical space have been crucial in establishing temporary communities based on shared moments of festive humour. Corporeal, accidental and potentially offensive components of comical phenomena are linked to playful engagement with inter- and metatextual frameworks in which humour is facilitated during live broadcasts of eSports venues on the Twitch digital platform.

In the light of the current cultural turmoil regarding the questions of identity and the power to draw the line between those who are “in” and those who remain “out” of the various social structures, it may be beneficial to look at the ways in which the figure of the Other is discursively constructed, appropriated and sometimes reassembled in modern works of art. One of the old, albeit still effective ways of doing so is to evoke the figure of a cannibal, which is handy for its ambiguity as the synonym of ultimate savagery on one hand (see Avramescu 2009) and ancient, transgressive and magical pathway to power and enlightenment on the other. Video games, medium that has been accused numerous times of advocating primitive impulses and catering to the most obscure ways of resolving conflicts, in recent years diversified its approaches to the uncanny topic of cannibalism, and introduced stories and gameplays which went beyond the simple use of this concept as a shocking ornament in the...

This paper examines how the process of assigning playful space within the video game engine prepares it for players’ actions. The method will be demonstrated with the case study of Doom 3 (id Software 2004), which source code has already been the subject of aesthetic evaluation (see McGrath 2016). Research will be presented in two intertwined parts: the first one will focus on the theoretical and methodological background, while the second will examine the selected properties of Doom 3 code and its practical implementations in organizing the game space in relation to players’ actions and their status within the game world.

The main goal of the paper is to analyze the gameplay design of the computer role-playing games (cRPGs) which are based on the influential Infinity Engine developed by the BioWare studio, with the theoretical framework provided by the Walter Benjamin’s conceptions of violence and justice. It will be based on the following titles: Baldur’s Gate series (19982001), Planescape: Torment (1999) and the Icewind Dale series (2000-2002). My aim is to interpret the particular epistemology of play present in the Infinity Engine games with the help of philosophical ideas introduced by the German thinker.

This paper focuses on the analysis of audiovisual materials according to the media circulation model of eSports-related content. Its aim is to assess the process of strengthening the commercial potential of formalized eSports enterprises in a relatively new, national market. This goal is achieved through looking at a case study of one of the leading media groups in the Eastern Europe taking interest in the eSports market and launching a multi-platform campaign to promote particular eSports titles, brands and initiatives in a short period of time. The methodological framework used for the analysis encompasses media circuit model developed through the work of British Cultural Studies. Paul du Gay and Stuart Hall’s concepts used in the text involve aspects such as production, consumption, regulation, identity and representation. Data concerning the multi-platform informational shows, websites, social media presence and the overall business model of supporting the local eSports scene ha...

The article focuses on the connection between player's agency and his identity in the exploration computer games. The aim of the article is to trace down the influence of various tools and interaction mechanics on ways in which players mark their presence in the game and convey their identities. The analysed titles include pure exploration games, like Proteus (Ed Key, David Kanaga, 2013) and MirrorMoon EP (Santa Ragione, 2013),as well as some titles which employ only selected mechanics of exploration games, such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda, 2011). Three main points of interest are examined in the article: 1) interfaces and mechanics in relation to player's agency 2) tools that enable players to build their own narratives and shape the avatars 3) agency in the context of game goals and tasks assigned to a player by the game itself. The theoretical context of the article is linked to the Giorgio Agamben's theory of dispositif.

This paper applies a postcolonial framework inspired by the ideas of Achille Mbembe to analyze Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, a cRPG which directly approaches topics of colonialism in the context of a fantasy setting with strong historical inspirations. The article juxtaposes Deadfire’s gameplay formula which stems from AD&D-based Infinity Engine games with the arguably self-conscious narrative structure criticizing the colonial relations. Building on three elements of an interpretational framework: agonistic domination, necropolitical subjugation and totalizing subsumption, the narrative potential for critical play is mapped against the playful structure of more traditional, power-fantasy-inducing cRPG mechanics.

The aim of this text is to discern and analyze aesthetic tropes in selected fantasy cRPG games in the areas of visual arts and music. The analysis is con­ducted in the context of American romanticism, especially Hudson River School of painting, and musical works belonging to the dungeon synth genre. Through the enumeration and close reading of the elements pertaining both gameplay and digital landscapes, it is argued that the specific type of romantic imagery and its philosophical underpinnings may have influenced the recurring themes in cRPG games, including character development, avatar’s agency and player’s projected disposition towards the game world.

This paper applies a postcolonial framework inspired by the ideas of Achille Mbembe to analyze Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, a cRPG which directly approaches topics of colonialism in the context of a fantasy setting with strong historical inspirations. The article juxtaposes Deadfire’s gameplay formula which stems from AD&D-based Infinity Engine games with the arguably self-conscious narrative structure criticizing the colonial relations. Building on three elements of an interpretational framework: agonistic domination, necropolitical subjugation and totalizing subsumption, the narrative potential for critical play is mapped against the playful structure of more traditional, power-fantasy-inducing cRPG mechanics.

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This article seeks to explore the digital hunting games genre, in particular the theHunter franchise, using the interpretative framework based on Roger Caillois’ concepts of paidia and ludus. It is argued that both of these notions are represented in the gameplay, narrative structure and graphical user interface of the analysed titles, effectively working towards reconciliation of the possible ecocritical and hunting-focused readings. The article interprets the theHunter games by juxtaposing the divergent stances towards environmental awareness and hunting culture, in the form in which they are communicated both in the games and within the communities of players.

This paper focuses on the analysis of audiovisual materials according to the media circulation model of eSports-related content. Its aim is to assess the process of strengthening the commercial potential of formalized eSports enterprises in a relatively new, national market. The main research outcome and thesis of the paper states that the media production supporting the eSports initiatives relies on network-based activities which do not necessarily change the models of consumption and engagement concerning eSports broadcasts, and instead rely on providing a know-how basis for potential contributors and content creators. In conclusion, it is argued that such media strategy can be named "edumotion" (education, promotion and emotion), as it equally involves knowledge sharing strategies and paid promotional content stimulating affectionate user engagement. Edumotion is aimed at introducing eSports fanbase to the new teams and business initiatives in a local market , while retaining a constant influx of eSports-related information to capture the attention of its core audience.

The study is an analysis of data gathering and data processing practices pertaining major PC digital distribution and streaming platforms, that is Valve’s Steam and Amazon’s Twitch.tv. Selected case studies from different than Western perspectives on gaming culture and the use of technology were introduced to assess the globalized state of the industry. The study consists of three parts: first, it deals with the notion of digital spatiality. Second, it scrutinizes the persuasiveness of the multi-layer visual interfaces. Third, it moves into spaces beyond gameplay and addresses the double nature of modern dataveillance techniques which mediate between the visible and non-visible elements of the analyzed gaming service platforms. The methodological scaffolding of the work is based on digital surveillance studies and software studies approaches rooted in the visual aspect of the GUIs (graphical user interfaces).

This work concerns online streaming platforms centered on broadcasting video games-related content, such as Twitch.tv and Douyu.com. The aim of this article is two-fold: first, to point out the possible research methods regarding online streaming services as mediums for video game criticism, and second, to assess the potential of these platforms for generating critical discourse about video games. The methodology of the research is based on Mia Consalvo’s take on paratextual frameworks and Veli-Matti Karhulahti’s notions of interview and play frames regarding the activity of video games streaming. In this article, the initial characterization of Twitch.tv and Douyu.com is followed by an analysis on how the work of streamers as content creators can influence the reception of video games. Afterwards, a reading of analyzed phenomena based on paratextual framework is proposed. The last section juxtaposes the initial findings with the perspective of changing viewership figures in relation to selected ludic properties of games. In conclusion, it is stated that the analyzed streaming platforms reflect the proliferating crowdsource trends in the video game industry, with forms of interacting with the product at various stages of its development cycle establishing new practices of talking in and about video games.

This article uses Jacques Rancière's notion of aesthetic regime of art and Nicholas Bourriaud's idea of relational aesthetics to assess the role of aesthetics microtransactions in Path of Exile (2013-, Grinding Gear Games). Three main roles of aesthetics microtransactions are concerned: 1) signifiers in social, in-game interaction between players 2) awards which motivate specific practices of play and 3) tools of agency used outside the conventional play frame. The main claim of the paper is that the aesthetic layer of the game, while formally disconnected, nevertheless governs the practices of play and constructs underpinnings for game's post-release cycle.

This text focuses on the computer role-playing games as a genre of electronic entertainment that signifies the importance of players' presence in the digital environment. It explores several issues connected with the mechanical rules of interaction in the video games, building on the work of Miguel Sicart (2008). Firstly, the article deals with the connection between the software that governs and filters the images that constitute the players' scope of vision. Secondly, it explores the interplay between the sound and visual elements of the
game. Finally, the article addresses the problems of racial and economic stigma in the selected multiplayer online games.

The article deals with the analysis of the ludic and mechanical aspects of the video games using Levi Bryant’s notion of onticology. It expands the Bryant’s idea that the being is composed entirely of machines or processes, and treats a video game as a collective of objects that communicate with each other through various codes. The main focus of this approach is to analyze the instances in which the said objects present a certain type of self-alienation, independency and agency that allow for a continuous reconfiguration of the states in which a video game object can be found. The various scripts and their role in altering the communication patterns within the game mechanics are investigated in the context of bots, regarded as both automatic prothesis of the human agents and autonomous interpreters of the games’ implicit rules. Cases of speedruns, glitches and particular uses of the basic C++ language syntax are also considered as the examples of events in which the hidden properties of the objects form a collective process of a video game. On such grounds, this paper discusses the possible removal of distinct ontological domains of subject and object in the context of object-oriented philosophy, taking into account the fluid hierarchy of beings and their mutual inaccessibility.

This text is focused on the question of relations between players, video game enthusiasts as spectators, and fictional content introduced by the technology: software and hardware that support he ludic experience. The first topic of interest will be e-sports, or electronic sports: competitively played games, often involving dedicated gaming arenas and TV / internet live coverage. The second point of interest will be the players experiencing game content via streaming channels or internet TV (such as twitch.tv). In-depth analysis, based on participant observation, will cover a recent major event which took place in Katowice, Poland, namely the finals of the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) World Championship of March 2014. The text focuses on a selected group of computer games, which have potential to connect both active players and spectators of the particular game in ludic experience (e.g., StarCraft, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive). The thesis of the paper states that by recognizing the features of selected modern computer games, which create a unique environment where on-screen actions are conducted through various technological means, TV-mediated ludic pleasure is ‘transferred’ from professional players (who, at a certain level, do it for the sake of money, not just for ‘fun’) to e-sports enthusiasts, the vast majority of whom also consider themselves as active gamers. Each game, apart from having a ‘storyline’ created in real life by the players, is culturally encoded by secondary and tertiary narratives stimulated by the viewers, commentators and in-game observers. Nowadays, similar situations occur outside the e-sports genre, involving players who are immersed in participatory, fandom-based practices and who experience numerous games before their actual release. Therefore, my main questions of interest on the topic of e-sports relate to how and why they became so popular in Poland, and what impact they have on the ways that both gamers and non-gamers perceive modern video games. The community aspect of e-sports is also considered, with a focus on cultural (and national) diversity among e sports enthusiasts.