The DiGRA DL publishes the proceedings of the DiGRA-affiliated conferences. ISSN 2342-9666
Digitial Games Research Association DiGRA
Licensing models vary between conference proceedings. Each published paper includes its applicable license terms within the PDF of the publication.
Research on the interaction design of VR plant installation under the perspective of embodiment
Based on the theory of embodied interaction and multi-modal sensory design, this study constructs an immersive plant experience model integrating virtual reality technology, and explores the effect of the integration of multiple senses, such as visual, tactile, and olfactory, on the enhancement of user immersion and participation. By integrating software and hardware technologies, an interaction scene containing dynamic rendering, wind sensation simulation and odor feedback is designed, and the effectiveness of the model is verified through user experiments. The experimental results show that the multi-modal interaction design significantly enhances the user's immersion and emotional connection, and provides a new direction for the application of virtual reality in cultural, ecological and educational fields. The study also analyzes the current technical limitations of multi-modal design and proposes future optimization solutions and application expansion possibilities.Place your ‘full paper’ abstract here. You do not need to have this in an ‘extended abstract’ or other paper formats.
Copyright (c) 2025 Authors & Digital Games Research Association DiGRA
Unraveling Grief: Design Space Analysis of Death-themed Games
Copyright (c) 2025 Bingxiao Luo, Perttu Hämäläinen, Heidi Rautalahti
Scary Business: Mascot Horror as Product and Reflection of Platformisation
Mascot horror is a popular gaming genre that has emerged exclusively online but, despite its domination of the indie horror gaming community, is largely unstudied within academia. While a handful of studies have been conducted on the games' design and character reception, there has been no interrogation of the values these games represent. In this paper we provide a definition of mascot horror based on an analysis of three popular titles: Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach, Poppy Playtime, and Garten of Banban. This analysis not only identifies recurring motifs—such as cartoonish antagonists associated with children's media, gross corporate misconduct, and late 20th century nostalgia—but also identifies the way transmedia storytelling techniques have been utilised by the games' developers to secure a large, secondary children's audience. An audience that is, ultimately, introduced to heteronormative gender stereotypes through mascot horror games and their merchandise.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ida Martine Gard Rysjedal, Tegan Pyke
Exploring Compatible Interaction Preferences with a Puzzle Video Game
As social beings, humans pursue happiness by craving to foment and maintain fulfilling so-cial relations, a need that transcends from personal into professional life and that leveragedthe study of psychological factors that can influence teamwork processes and outcomes.Following this tendency, the present work studies how the pairing of people with distinctinteraction preferences influences their acquired ability and experience while training to-gether. For this, a puzzle video game namedAlien Barwas deployed and used to evaluate31 pairs of players(n= 62). The results demonstrated teamwork benefits of includingself-oriented and challenge-oriented subjects, and that care should be raised when joiningothers-oriented characters. Additionally, interpersonal closeness influenced subjects’ ex-perience at the perceived competence level, but not their enjoyment which may instead re-late to task affinity. These findings may help develop instructor-driven and automatic groupmanagement, otherwise dependent on possibly inaccurate subjects’ judgements alone.
Copyright (c) 2025 Samuel Gomes, Luis Costa, Marta Couto, Sandra Gama, Carlos Martinho, Joao Dias, Geraldo Xexéo, Ana Moura Santos
A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF MODERN BOARD GAMES
Board games have been relevant throughout history, as cultural artifacts with a significant role in shaping social imaginaries and providing a unique social experience. Because of this, their production is affected by the same symbolic discrimination that affects any human cultural production. This paper presents a gender perspective study of modern board games of international renown published in Spain, in Spanish language. The aim is to discern whether they constitute a cultural element that perpetuates sexist dynamics and stereotypes. Preliminary results show that, despite some recent advances, their production process is still far away from being a truly inclusive and egalitarian space.
Ludus Triumphorum. A Ludological Introducion to Tarot
Despite the growing number of female gamers, their participation in game jams remains disproportionately low. This research seeks to understand and address some of the underlying barriers that prevent women from fully engaging in these events, often dominated by male participants and shaped by a masculine culture. Building on a 2019 study conducted in Brazil, this research replicates parts of the survey at the 2023 University of Malta Game Jam while incorporating qualitative questions, to further explore participants' motivations, experiences, and perceptions of game jams. The study found that 62% of participants were attending their first Game Jam and the primary motivators for both genders were learning (85%) and taking on a personal challenge (82%). A clear gender disparity was noted in role distribution during game development, with female participants primarily assuming creative, design-focused positions and male participants predominantly leading in the technical programming roles. 55% of the participants, the majority of whom were women, had witnessed or heard of situations where women felt uncomfortable during the event, with many citing hostile environments and technical insecurities as significant deterrents. On the positive side, 85% of all participants perceived the event as a valuable learning experience and 65% enjoyed the competition. However, only 30% of women saw it as a place to foster friendships, compared to 76% of men. Female and Male respondents had similar and diverging suggestions on how to make game jams more inclusive. These results highlight the need for targeted initiatives to foster a more inclusive and supportive environment within game jams. However, this may be challenging due to the differing experiences of women and men.
Environmental Storytelling and Active Spectatorship in Walking Simulators and Exploration Theatre
This article aims to construct a comparison between exploration immersive theatre - analysed through the work of the British theatre company Punchdrunk - and the video game genre of walking simulators. This comparison is rooted in strong similarities between the two media forms, namely the use of the environment as the main site of storytelling and the exploratory agency afforded to the audience. The narrative use of the environment is discussed through the concept of environmental storytelling, identifying in that regard two different design strategies employed in both walking simulators and exploration immersive theatre. On one hand, environmental storytelling can rely on cause-and-effect relationships, turning the player/audience into a detective, while on the other hand environmental storytelling can be used to construct an atmospheric narrative, experienced affectively and aesthetically by the wandering player/audience.
An NLP Interface for Social AI Agents in The Resistance: Avalon
Social deduction games such as Avalon present a unique challenge for AI agents. To discover the hidden roles of others, players must employ indirectness and deception in their communication. DeepRole, an Avalon-playing AI agent created by MIT researchers in 2019, can communicate through in-game actions but is unable to communicate in natural language. We have created Avalocution, a bot that enhances DeepRole with one-way bot-to-human natural language utterances informed by DeepRole's internal knowledge representation. We hypothesized that our natural language interface would produce direct and indirect communication, exhibit human- like behavior, and provide a positive gameplay experience for human players. We collected survey data from research participants who played Avalon against Avalocution agents, and the survey data supports our hypotheses. We conclude that adding Avalocution's simple one-way utterance generation model to DeepRole's existing decision-making framework captures the nuance of communication required in Avalon while providing an excellent gameplay experience.
Copyright (c) 2025 Harrison West, Matthew Fendt
Dark Souls, Implied Player and Stoic Ethics
This article examines the gameplay experience of Dark Souls. By analysing the game's mechanics and dynamics, we can delineate the implied player that was designed by the authors. The characteristics of the implied player are then related to some passages of classical philosophy, highlighting the points of contact between the elements of the game and some cardinal principles of Stoic ethics. I argue that the processes, rules and mechanics of the game create a peculiar play experience that resonates with the vision of Stoic philosophy. General principles such as a constructive attitude towards adversity, and failure and the management of negative emotions are structured through the rules and dynamics of the game. Progression in Dark Souls requires the enactment of meaningful game actions that can have transformative potential. The study indicates that both the precepts of Stoic ethics and the Dark Souls game system can bring positive consequences for the psyche. Finally, in the bibliographical appendix, I collect significant testimonies of players who speak of their transformative relationship with Dark Souls.
Temporal Agency and Timeplay in Video Games
This paper examines temporal agency in video games, referred to as the player's ability to manipulate time within the game world, to make decisions, and to observe their consequences. Building on existing scholarship about ludic agency and ludic temporality, this paper utilizes analytical formalism to examine how games with time manipulation, particularly those with recursive temporal mechanics, shape gameplay experience. The analysis identifies four key forms of Timeplay (gameplay with time): Adaptive, Strategic, Ethical, and Reflective, each emphasizing a unique aspect of the player's relationship with time. By analyzing selected games, this paper demonstrates how each form of Timeplay provides players with distinctive forms of temporal agency, deepening our insights into the interplay between time, choice, and the gameplay experience. This paper offers a framework for understanding and analyzing the multifaceted ways players engage with time in video games, expanding the existing analyses of ludic temporality and broadening our understanding of ludic agency.
Copyright (c) 2025 Karthik Kuduva Gopinath, Jussi Holopainen
Reconceptualizing LLM-Induced Hallucinations as Game Features
This study presents a novel and systematic framework to integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) into video game design by reconceptualizing the inherent characteristic phenomenon of "hallucinations"—instances where LLMs generate plausible yet inaccurate or fictitious content—as intrinsic game features. Instead of treating hallucinations as errors, we adapt them to enrich narrative complexity and enhance player experience. We introduce two key design strategies: 1) controlling narrative boundaries to limit the disruptive impact of hallucinations and 2) establishing an irrational worldview, which seamlessly incorporates these stochasticities into the game mechanism. We demonstrate these strategies through case studies of three diverse LLM-driven games across different genres. Our work contributes to the game studies community by offering innovative design paradigms that position LLMs as core interactive mechanisms, while considering their unique generative capabilities and implications for game design and research.
Copyright (c) 2025 Kate Vi, Mingzhe Chen, Yuqian Sun, Yuhao Ming, Feng Wang
'Anecdotal Evidence': A Holistic Approach to the Ecological Analysis of Videogames
Videogames, the games industry, and game studies all find themselves at a crossroads of ecological crisis. Considering the entanglement of games with ecological crisis in terms of their environmental impact, their ecological textuality, and the sustainability of game development, this paper explores the methodology of anecdotal evidence to study games' ecological relations. Doing so requires that the analysis of games comes to appreciate their innate politics to cultivate ecopolitical negotiation. By reviewing the lineage of ecomedia theory in game studies, this paper retrospectively identifies anecdotal method as capable of bridging between situated knowledge and planetary realities. Prospectively, this paper suggests future directions for anecdotal analysis.
Copyright (c) 2025 David Harold ten Cate
Sonic Lead: A Survey of Sound-First Games
Since their inception, music and sound in digital games have predominantly played supportive roles, with game states and events typically triggering the playback of sounds or changes in the music. This survey shifts the perspective to games where this relationship is reversed: music and sound are at the forefront, driving interactions and shaping the flow of gameplay. These sound-first games are significantly less common than their traditional counterparts and span a narrower range of gameplay styles and genres. Most often, they fall under the category of music and rhythm games that focus on performing timed actions synchronized with music. Beyond this genre, only a small number of platformers, shooters, and RPGs have adopted a sound-led paradigm, while a few music-making and educational applications feature playful approaches, placing them in a space that blurs the boundaries between games and music production tools. In this survey we address the lack of current categorizations for sound-first games by identifying examples and classifying them by genre, form of audio interaction, and style of control. It also identifies areas for future growth, including the development of richer sound-based mechanics, the fuller integration of spatial audio as a core gameplay element, and the exploration of more nuanced listening modes that extend beyond simple sound triggers.
Copyright (c) 2025 Vadim Nickel, Gabriel Vigliensoni
Typological analysis of pay-what-you-want donation behavior in virtual world
Copyright (c) 2025 Hisayuki Kunigita, Amna Javed, Youji Kohda
The Evolution of Women and Gender Representation in computerized RPGs: The Baldur's Gate Paradigm
This study examines the evolution of gender representation and inclusivity of the Baldur's Gate series, comparing Baldur's Gate (1998), Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn (2000), and Baldur's Gate 3 (2023). The early games (BG and BG2) adopted a binary/traditional gender system with minimal character parameterization, following the technological limitations and societal norms of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The pronouns and the wording are strictly binary, and the female characters are often Hyper-sexualized, reinforcing traditional stereotypes while offering limited representation of diverse identities. In contrast, Baldur's Gate 3 marks a significant shift in mentality. The game allows the players to parameterize their characters, including non-binary pronouns, and gender-neutral expressions, with the freedom to design characters that go beyond the traditional gender roles. Female characters are portrayed with greater depth and diversity, moving away from hypersexualized depictions, although there are cases in which hyper sexualization exists, these are not prominent. This inclusivity extends to dialogue and interactions, fostering a more personalized and affirming player experience. This change follows an evolution in the gaming industry, which increasingly includes elements of diversity and representation in their games. The shift from the stereotypical binary norms in earlier games to the inclusivity of Baldur's Gate 3 highlights the franchise's adaptation to contemporary expectations.
Copyright (c) 2025 Georgios Kougioumtzoglou, Angelica Antonakis, Anastasios Theodoropoulos
Game Engine for Change, A framework for Balancing the Intrinsic, Extrinsic and Player States at the Heart of Game Design
This paper introduces the E4X framework—a theory-informed model for designing persuasive and educational games aimed at changing players' interests, activities, and opinions beyond gameplay. By examining the interplay between play and non-play states and the dynamic roles of user and player, E4X reframes how interactive experiences can drive lasting change. The model synthesizes insights from communication, psychology, and game design to account for the ongoing transitions between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and knowledge states. Grounded in the observation, development, and evaluation of over 50 such games across diverse domains, this work outlines practical strategies for designing and testing playful systems that target transformation. It concludes with a list of methods for testing this and related theories in game design. E4X offers researchers and designers a novel lens for understanding and crafting experiences that extend their influence beyond the screen.
The Impact of Game Live Streaming on In-Game Purchases of Chinese Young Game Users
The gaming industry in China boasts a massive user base, with 654 million game users and 266 million game live stream viewers. This paper focuses on young gamers in China, exploring the impact of game live streaming on their spending behavior. Specifically, it examines in-app purchases in mobile games. Results show that watching game live streams influences both the amount and frequency of in-game spending by gamers. Platforms like TikTok and Bilibili surpassed dedicated game streaming platforms in popularity, with TikTok leading in user base. The results of this study indicate that live stream viewing is a critical factor in promoting user spending behavior in game marketing and content creation. Notably, in popular genres such as MOBA and shooting games, live streaming strongly encourages spending behavior. This suggests that utilizing live streaming will become increasingly important in developing marketing strategies and monetization models within the gaming industry.
Copyright (c) 2025 Li Jiaxin, Yuhsuke Koyama
Dicey Rules. System Design and Automation in the Baldur's Gate Series
This paper analyzes the system design in the three major installments of the Baldur's Gate IP in the context of automation. Its aim is to map selected strands concerning the evolution of afforded gameplay scenarios associated with the adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons tabletop rules for digital role-playing games. Engaging in a systemic analysis of one of the most popular high-fantasy gaming series, this work assesses the rules of play that were implemented in the influential D&D-based digital games between 1998 and 2023. It argues that the changing features of system design in the Baldur's Gate games reflect a shift from the automation of combat rules to the automation of narrative choices. These claims serve to highlight both the strengths and limitations of digital applications of the D&D system design, given its current hegemonic status in the RPG market.
Selling Time: Time-Centric Language in Video Game Marketing on Steam
When discussing time spent playing video games, concern and media panic often cloud the perspectives of both developers and players. To develop our understanding of factors that may influence this concern, we examined the presence of time-centric language across the marketing information of 1,000 popular games on Steam, identifying 315 games that communicate temporal aspects in their marketing. Using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis, six themes were identified that communicate temporal aspects ranging from explicit play durations to temporal investment, legacy, and nostalgia. This study contributes to game studies and HCI by providing the first empirical, thematic analysis of time-centric language in video game marketing on Steam. By identifying six thematic patterns which reveal developer practices around temporal communication - while also exploring how such language can shape player motivations - this study opens a new avenue for understanding both developer priorities and player perceptions regarding time in games.
Copyright (c) 2025 Thomas Byers, Martin Gibbs, Bjorn Nansen
Is Eports Spectating Associated with Gambling Behaviour?
Esports exemplifies the evolution of digital games into a socio-economic and cultural force of global impact and can serve as context for investigating pressing issues of contemporary digital culture. The reframing of digital play as a form of sport has both highlighted and supercharged the ongoing convergence of gaming and gambling, pioneering techniques that are increasingly appearing in other digital contexts. There is increasing evidence of individuals first exposed to gambling within games subsequently developing problematic gambling behaviours, lending weight to concerns about normalisation of gambling through digital games. This research uses crosstabulation of a dataset gathered from digital games players to investigate whether esports spectating is associated with participation in a range of gambling, and gambling-like behaviours. By understanding the potential interactions, it is possible to identify those practices and forms of gamblification which impact players and whether links exist between game-related gambling and traditional gambling.
Copyright (c) 2025 Joseph Macey, Topias Mattinen
Play, Pay, Profit: Exploring When Gaming Becomes Gambling
This study investigates the convergence of gaming and gambling through a thematic analysis of 13 semi-structured interviews with video game players, identifying three key themes: the blurred boundaries between gaming and gambling, perceptions of gambling mechanics, and the complexities of platform economies. Notably, monetary involvement — particularly the ability to "cash out" — was central in participants' definition of gambling, with "free" gambling-like mechanics perceived as "near- gambling." Opportunities to gamble inside specific esports titles, and gambling- themed minigames further complicate these boundaries, as participants noted their normalization through constant exposure and advertisement. Platform economies, such as Steam's marketplace, were viewed as fostering speculation and encouraging profit-driven behaviors, transforming virtual items into investments. While participants acknowledged personal responsibility, concerns emerged regarding minors' exposure to these systems and the need for regulation. These findings emphasize the need for future research and regulatory frameworks that address platform-wide ecosystems rather than isolated game mechanics.
Copyright (c) 2025 Topias Mattinen, Joseph Macey, Juho Hamari
My Teammate is an AI: Evaluating Generative AI in Game Asset Creation through a Post-GameJam Study
This study explores the integration of generative AI into game development, focusing on its use during a university-led game jam involving undergraduate students. The research investigates whether generative AI holds significance for the future of game creation - highlighting its potential or otherwise to transform asset production, team dynamics, and creative workflows. It examines how AI-driven tools such as ChatGPT and DALL-E impacted the development process, enabling hybrid roles and streamlining production tasks that involve repetitive visual patterns or templated interface elements. However, limitations emerged, including asset reliability, quality, and creative customisation challenges. Finding what this means for the broader industry while emphasising the importance of refining AI tools to balance efficiency with artistic integrity. A significant number of participants (46%) reported notable learning gains, reflecting improved technical skills and a deeper understanding of AI's role in creative processes. These results point to broader questions for future policy, including intellectual property, ethical data use, and inclusive development - although such issues were not explicitly raised by participants during the study. This research offers insights for advancing AI-human collaboration models to support sustainable, innovative, and culturally diverse game production.
Copyright (c) 2025 Stephen Bezzina, Alexiei Dingli
Playing to win or playing not to lose: Measuring engagement, enjoyment, and performance in the gamification of tasks with positive or negative framing
This study investigated how goal framing influences player behavior and subjective experience in response to game design elements, as measured by player engagement, enjoyment, and performance. Despite the growing prevalence of gamified systems in work and tasks, limited research exists on how framing effects operate specifically in digital environments. Participants (n = 100) received either positively or negatively framed feedback while playing a video game. Engagement was measured via emotional arousal using galvanic skin response (GSR) sensors, while self-report scales captured enjoyment. Results indicated that participants in the positive feedback condition experienced higher emotional arousal, suggesting greater engagement. However, no significant differences were observed in enjoyment or performance. These findings highlight the importance of framing feedback in gamified digital environments, such as workplace productivity tools, where engagement is critical. Understanding these effects contributes to optimizing digital experiences for both user well-being and the successful application of gamification in work contexts.
Copyright (c) 2025 Joshua Juvrud, Angela Craddock, Jane Manson, Sophie Nickel
Assessing Empathy Across Game Fidelity Levels: A Case Study of 3D and Text-Based Versions of Brukel
This study investigates how different levels of game fidelity impact player empathy. To examine the impact of video game fidelity on empathy outcomes, a high-fidelity 3D version of Brukel, a critically recognized 3D video game, was compared with a low- fidelity text-based adaptation. Forty-two participants were recruited for a between- subjects study, and empathy was measured using the State Empathy Scale. In comparing the two versions of the game, the results indicate limited evidence for equivalence in affective and associative empathy and moderate evidence for equivalence in cognitive empathy. These findings suggest that developers creating empathy-focused games may achieve similar outcomes regardless of the visual fidelity of their game - text-based game creation software such as Twine may offer a cost- effective and time-efficient alternative to 3D development. This holds significant potential for expanding the accessibility of creating and testing empathy-driven games, particularly for independent developers or those with limited resources. In addition, it highlights the potential of using Twine as a prototyping tool for empathy in video games.
Copyright (c) 2025 Szeyi Chan, James Cox III, Ala Ebrahimi, Bob De Schutter
Analyzing Emergence in Pac-Man's Mazes with Systemic Reverberation
Copyright (c) 2025 Jared Pettitt, Nathan Altice
The Production of Machinic Subjectivity in Online PC Games
This paper analyzes the production of machinic subjectivity in Korean online PC gaming culture by applying Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's concept of "machine" and Nick Dyer-Witheford and Greig de Peuter's framework. It examines PCs as technical machines, PC Bangs as cultural spaces, and the subjectivities shaped through in-game interactions and community practices across four dimensions: technical, corporate, biopolitical, and war machine. The study investigates PCs' cultural and social significance, corporate mechanisms of control, the biopolitical processes that routinize user behavior, and the potential of collective actions like truck protests and "lying flat" as war machines. By focusing on the relationship between technological machines and subjectivity, this paper contributes to critical game studies by offering insights into how gaming cultures produce, regulate, and challenge dominant subjectivities.
Beyond the Rulebook: An Autoethnographic Journey into the Craft of Game Design
This paper is an entry into the recent discussion (Miltiadis, 2023; Perez, 2023) within game studies about the apparent disconnect between the theory and practice of game design. In response to a call for the field to embrace a research through design methodology to strengthen the dialog between game scholars and designers this paper explores the potential of autoethnography for examining the practice of game design in terms of the ability to reflect on game design from a perspective more immediately relatable to game design practitioners. The paper demonstrates how the autoethnographic method and style of writing may provide new types of productive encounters between the theory and practice of game design.
Death at the Crossroads of Subjecthood in Happy Wheels (Fancy Force, 2010)
This paper examines grammarised death mechanics and the moves of digital corpses in Happy Wheels (Fancy Force 2010) to point out how death is organised around a necropolitical mode of perception. It asserts that this grammarisation of death amplifies the real-life precarity of the deceased between subjecthood and objecthood by analysing how death is made into a spectacle with voyeuristic tendencies which verge on pornographic. By relating this to Giorgio Agamben's and Achille Mbembe's scholarship on bare life and the living dead, I ultimately propose that Happy Wheels, and other games in which game bodies are designed for destruction, entangle with real-life instances of denigration and subjugation of human lives.
Adaptive Scenario Selection in Serious Games Using Finite State Machines and Agent-Based Models
This study presents a hybrid approach to scenario adaptation in serious games, using Finite State Machines (FSMs) and Agent-Based Models (ABMs). Focusing on the educational RPG genre of software development, the proposed model aims to automatically adjust the behavior of non-playable characters (NPCs) and the game's progression based on the player's actions and preferences. The methodology included a literature review, followed by the development of a simulation in the JFLAP software, integrating FSMs to manage states and ABMs to promote dynamic and realistic reactions. The results highlight the viability of this integration, which offers an immersive experience by combining predictability and flexibility in the behavior of NPCs. As a limitation, we identified the need for more advanced tools to integrate the technologies. For future work, it is proposed that frameworks be developed to facilitate this approach's implementation.
Copyright (c) 2025 Melissa Rêgo Rodrigues
"I Used to Be an Adventurer Like You": Fear of Missing Out in The Elder Scrolls Online
We analyze players ✥ reception of collectible mechanics as part of gameplay and their associated fear or missing out in a massively multiplayer role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls Online, based on online discussion of the game on its official forums, and focusing on a notable period of time where a special anniversary jubilee event was held, and unique rare collectibles were made temporarily available. Using machine learning methods of topic modeling we reveal the prominent and rising themes during the collection period and analyze their implications for gamified collectibles and their reception.
Copyright (c) 2025 Martin Moritz, Jaakko Peltonen
Analyzing the Challenge of Navigation through the Metroid Series
We discuss how navigation works in video games with a focus on how it provides challenge for players. Informed by work on how humans navigate real world space we propose a framework to guide the analysis and design of games. The framework considers three steps in the process of navigation: Destination (determining where the player needs to go), Routing (determining how to get there), and Execution (traveling along the route). We further articulate our framework by showing some of the ways that difficulty in navigating game spaces is managed. Our analysis was conducted on games in the Metroid series; a hallmark of the Metroidvania genre. Metroidvania games emphasize exploration, navigation, and non-linearity in terms of how the gameworld is traversed. Although we limit our analysis to 2D games, the framework is extensible to other kinds of spaces.
Copyright (c) 2025 Keaton Hoek, Jose Zagal
Platform alternatives or platform power: Custom and commercial game engines in the work of foreigners in Czech game production
The paper addresses the evaluation of game engines by internationals, i.e. expatriates and remote workers, in 10 Czech studios that use custom and commercial game engines. The research employs longitudinal semi-structured interviews with internationals, to advance their (locally unexplored) perspectives on such tools. Some Czech studios use custom engines that internationals see as lagging behind commercial tools. However, projects using commercial engines suffer from understaffing as being skilled in them is demanded internationally. Through live service arrangements, projects with custom engines promote communal aspects of game-making in cooperation with players and modders. As this community might be unattractive to seniors with nomadic views on game development, the paper argues for their longer studio onboarding. The results demonstrate that seeing commercial engines as democratising game production is problematic in development contexts that use alternative engines to those promoted by powerful industrial centres or actors.
Effects of a local multiplayer cooperative game club for the development of children's social skills
Digital games have become a popular form of entertainment, especially for primary school children. While most gaming is social, the nature and quality of it can vary, sometimes including exclusionary behavior. Studies show that online cooperative games can develop social skills, but local multiplayer games with strangers are rarely studied, particularly with younger children. This preliminary study examines a local co-op multiplayer game for up to 8 players, played weekly in a game club by 7-12- year-olds over four weeks. To measure the club's aptitude to support children's social skills, three quantitative surveys (measuring social experience, peer relationship problems and social problems) were completed by game club instructors and approximately 50 children at the beginning and after the period. The paired samples t-test showed a high social experience as well as a significant decrease in peer relationship problems, however, changes in social problems were not significant, suggesting the need for further investigations.
Copyright (c) 2025 Isabella Aura, Nicolas Boucht
The Moving Pictures Factory": Designing a Game-based Platform for Cinema Literacy
In this paper we discuss the design of a digital games platform for cinema education and literacy. Through a mainly qualitative approach, we explore the students' and teachers' requirements, needs, and preferences collected through a survey and focus groups, and discuss the relevant educational design principles. The findings suggest the learning potential of the games platform from the perspective of the teachers, as well as the potential implementation challenges to be considered in the design. The children's insights reveal game design goals such as freedom and autonomy, creative expression, social play and interaction, as well as their preferred themes and narratives. We hope that the findings could serve as a model for the design of educational games especially within the field of creative arts.
Copyright (c) 2025 Iro Voulgari, Theodora Malliarou, Pantelis Panteloglou, Evangelia Kourti
Designing Anthrogames: Theory, Methods, and AI Integration in Cultural Gaming
This study explores 'anthrogames', purpose-built games that merge anthropological knowledge with interactive design. Analyzing three pioneering examples, it traces anthropology's evolving engagement with games: from virtual ethnographies and studies of game production to creating purpose-built games. The authors present a novel theoretical framework distinguishing anthrogames from educational games and traditional ethnographic media. Drawing on computer science, anthropology, and game studies, the study identifies design patterns and methodologies that translate ethnographic insights into engaging, scholarly sound gameplay. It highlights the potential of anthrogames to redefine cultural representation through emerging technologies like Large Language Models and collaborative design. Positioned at the intersection of ethnography, technology, and participatory design, anthrogames challenge anthropologists and designers to develop innovative frameworks for evaluating and creating cultural representation in interactive media. This research underscores their transformative potential in computational anthropology and interactive ethnography, bridging scholarship and player engagement.
Copyright (c) 2025 Michael Hoffmann, Adrian Paschke
"Covertly Using" Generative AI in China's Game Industry
This paper investigates the covert adoption of generative AI technologies in China's video game industry, where practitioners frequently use such tools in content creation while remaining publicly silent about their use. Through qualitative research combining in-depth interviews with industry professionals and review of policy documents, this study explores the tensions between technological efficiency, artistic authenticity, and the material conditions. Findings reveal that AIGC technologies have permeated most stages of game-making, from initial planning and production to distribution. Individual creators across different roles and company sizes exhibit ambivalent attitudes shaped by both institutional pressures and personal aspirations.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ningxi Guo, Wen Wen
Critical practices in Japan regarding the historical twin relationship between contemporary art and contemporary games: A case study of the curatorial work for the exhibition art bit -Contemporary Art and Indie Game Culture-
"I felt like I was them. I just didn't know it.": Exploring Queer Identity through TTRPG Play
Tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) have been proven to both positively and negatively impact the well-being and mental health of people playing them. In this paper we discuss how TTRPGs may impact identity exploration, specifically for queer people. While there is extensive research on how video games and queer identities interact there is little research discussing TTRPGs and queer identity. Specifically we explore identity exploration, an important part of the identity formation process. We performed 12 semi-structured interviews with TTRPG players on their experiences creating and playing characters related to their own queer identity exploration. Participants shared with us the ways that TTRPGs helped them explore different possible identities by providing low-stakes, structured, social environments to practice them. We discuss how performance plays a role in our current ideas about the performativity of queer identity and ways that game developers can encourage players to foster safe game communities during TTRPG play.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jailyn Zabala, Josie Zvelebilova, Alexandra To
Identifying Differential Perceptions of Video Game Players Based on Gaming Platform
The persistence of negative, outdated categorizations of game players limit can inclusion within gaming communities by marginalizing underrepresented groups and reinforcing negative behaviors. While prior research has explored stereotype content for so-called "gamers", an open question is whether an individual's choice of gaming platform results in differential stereotypic perceptions. This study uses the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) to explore the differential impact of gaming platforms on stereotypic perceptions (warmth and competence) and emotional reactions (admiration, pity, envy, and contempt). A custom survey collected 180 responses via recruitment in social media and public university settings. The results found perceptions of warmth and competence differed by platform and, to a lesser extent, by gamer identification and gender identity. The results also show traditional perceptions of the PC/console/mobile hierarchy persist, emotional reactions differ by platform, and the role of warmth and competence in predicting these reactions is a complex phenomenon.
Party, but for whom? Accessibility, inclusivity and equity in Finnish game industry events
Game industry events are key venues for networking, career advancement and information exchange for industry members. However, these events are not always accessible, inclusive or equally available to all participants. This research examines barriers to attendance through an inclusion framework that emphasises individuals' needs for both belonging and uniqueness. Moments of exclusion, differentiation, and assimilation are analysed using survey data and interviews collected from members of the Finnish game industry in 2023, alongside an exploration of how class relations become visible through event experiences. Moving beyond the documented issues of gender-based exclusion, the study expands the discourse by identifying additional forms of marginalisation affecting participation in industry events, such as geographic location, socioeconomic status, disability, sobriety, social discomfort, and professional seniority. The findings contribute to academic discussions on local game production and offer recommendations for fostering more inclusive industry events.
A Longitudinal Look Into University Student Video Game Designs
Teaching video game design is challenging due to its plural and interdisciplinary nature, lack of theoretical and methodological consensus, and idiosyncratic dependence in its iterative process and practice. We analyze the game design documents (GDDs) generated over several years by teams of students in university video game design and development subjects. Observations and samples suggest game implementations are guided by informal discussions and not by design practices discussed in class and included in the materials. The delivered GDDs have content patterns (favoring flowcharts, lists and tables) but not structural patterns in the schema, and they are not iterated with the same frequency as game prototypes. We conclude that students are tasked with a practical, iterative process requiring knowledge and experience they lack. They use GDDs for documentation, not design, leading to costly and redundant teacher monitoring. Teaching video game design should include flexible guidelines for structure, methodology, and content through practice.
Copyright (c) 2025 Alan Tapscott, Carlos León, Óliver Pérez, Joaquim Colás
Designing a toolkit for visualising desirable sustainable futures in video games
Copyright (c) 2025 Niva Kay, Gabriela Baron, Joost Vervoort, Maria Armoudian
Revisiting the Magic Circle for Critical-ethical Reflection through Artistic Installation Game Design
This article discusses how scholarship on moral decision making can inspire and inform the creation of ethically notable games. Following the method of artistic research, we describe the design of the installation game ✘ ✙ ✚ ✛✜ ✢ ✣ ✛✚ ✤ ✥✦✚ ✘ ✧ ★. The paper showcases that the creation of a thought experiment space, in combination with metaphoric embodied interaction, can encourage players to engage in critical ✩ ✪✫ ✬ ✪ ✭✮✯✰ ✱ ✰ ✱ ✲ ✳✴ ✪✵✵ ✶✷ ✸✩ ✰ ✹✬ ✪ ✴ ✵✺✭✻ ✲ ✵ ✮ ✻ ✪ ✻✺ ✴ ✲✱-technology relationship. In addition, the application of an artistic research method indicates that the format of ✮✻ ✪ ✯ ✱ ✵✮✲ ✬ ✬ ✲ ✮ ✯✰✱ ✼ ✲ ✴ ✪ ✽ ✲✱ ✾ ✯✱ ✸ ✲✩ ✮ ✯ ✭✺ ✬ ✲ ✩ ✮ ✻ ✪ ✳ ✹✬ ✪ ✪ ✾ ✷ ✰ ✫ ✮ ✻ ✪ ✼ ✲ ✴ ✪ ✵✸ ✲✭✪ ✯✱ ✮ ✰ ✪ ✿ ✪ ✩ ✶ ✾ ✲✶ ✬ ✯✫ ✪ ✽ ✭ ✲ ✱ ✸ ✩ ✰ ✿ ✯ ✾ ✪ ✲ ✸ ✰ ❀ ✪ ✩ ✫ ✺ ✬ ✮ ✰ ✰ ✬ ✫ ✰ ✩ ✭ ✰ ✱✱ ✪ ✭ ✮ ✯✱ ✼ ✲ ✱ ✲ ✴ ✹✯ ✼ ✺ ✰ ✺ ✵ ✱ ✲✩ ✩ ✲✮ ✯ ✿ ✪ ✮ ✰ ✮ ✻ ✪ ✸ ✬ ✲✶✪ ✩ ✵✷ lived experiences.
Copyright (c) 2025 Xiaoou Ji, Steven Malliet
Parties, partying, and party games in single-player videogames
Parties and partying appear in single-player videogames but have been studied little. In this paper, we investigate how parties are used and represented in videogames. In this explorative study, we analyzed 22 games to answer the research question. Parties in games are often intertextual references to film and television as well as to party games in popular culture. The analysis resulted in the following themes: Party as a Backdrop, Party as Space for Social Interaction, Party as a Place to Have Sex (with subthemes Bodies Collide, Party Games as Minigames and Party Games Motivating Sexual Encounters), Party as a Place for Voyeurism, and Organising a Party as a Challenge.
Copyright (c) 2025 Petri Lankoski, Tanja Välisalo
Domesticating Play at the Playboy Mansion
This paper explores how Playboy magazine and the Playboy Mansion shaped early gaming cultures through the lens of domestication theory. Focusing on backgammon, pinball, and early video games, it examines how Hugh Hefner's lifestyle recontextualized play as a marker of urbane, heterosexual masculinity. Games became tools for reinforcing male sociability, status hierarchies, and gendered power dynamics, with women positioned as decorative participants. Through analysis of key features in Playboy (1973-1975), this paper highlights how Playboy normalized gaming as a male-coded activity. These dynamics prefigure the exclusions and toxicities of contemporary gaming cultures, revealing the deeply rooted gendering of 20th century play.
Pluralist Game Studies: Practical Tools for the Crisis of (Inter)disciplinarity
Game Studies, as an "interdisciplinary" field is and always has been in crisis. While the majority of thinkers, scholars, and pedagogues on games agree on a common goal of diversity, inclusivity and beneficial conflict, there is little agreement on how to get there. This piece reframes the history of interdisciplinarity as a crisis on two fronts: ideological and material (inter)disciplinarity. The text then argues for a particular solution to these sticky problems: pluralist game studies. Pluralist game studies is then explicated as having three practical approaches to enable the vision of game studies we all seem to want: anti-disciplinary, anti-qualification, and anti-exclusionary practices and spaces. The text concludes that these are not required of all game studies spaces, but in order for a healthy (inter)discipline, a certain percentage in pedagogy, conferences, and journals should exist. It concludes by highlighting spaces that already feature these techniques and ideology.
Finnish lapsed players and (game) cultural expectations
This article focuses on narratives that approach the topic of game cultural and cultural expectations from the point of view lapsed players. The interviews of 22 Finnish lapsed players were analyzed by using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2022) and examined through the lens of narrative expectations analysis (Hyvärinen 1994). The analyses resulted in two themes: defying normative behavior and feeling the pressures of implied player. These themes illustrate that the expectations related to players entangle with expectations related to adults and mothers and reveal the need to update these cultural scripts to make game cultures more welcoming and diverse.
Games in Cultural Venues Using Public VR: Designing Motion-Tracked and Story-Driven Experiences
Copyright (c) 2025 Anastasios Theodoropoulos, Angeliki Antoniou, George Lepouras
The Role of Games in Cultural Dissemination: A Comparative Analysis of Multilingual Reviews
This study examines the role of video games in cultural dissemination through a comparative analysis of four culturally representative titles: Black Myth: Wukong(Chinese mythology, China-developed), Total War: THREE KINGDOMS(Chinese history, UK/Japan-developed), Ghost of Tsushima (Japanese culture, USA-developed), and Red Dead Redemption 2 (American culture, USA- developed). By collecting and analyzing multilingual (Chinese, Japanese, and English) player reviews from Steam using co-occurrence network analysis (KH Coder), this research explores nuanced differences in player focus, cultural engagement, and perceptions of cultural narratives. Findings reveal that Chinese and Japanese players often demonstrate strong familiarity, appreciation, and deep engagement with culturally proximate or familiar narratives, though gameplay mechanics remain important. For instance, Chinese players showed strong cultural pride and engagement with Black Myth: Wukong, while Japanese players highly appreciated the cultural depiction in Ghost of Tsushima. In contrast, English-speaking players generally prioritize gameplay mechanics and overall game experience, showing more limited explicit engagement with the cultural backgrounds of foreign-themed games, unless the depicted culture is highly familiar (as observed with Red Dead Redemption 2). These patterns highlight the complex interplay of cultural proximity, developer origin, genre, and narrative appeal in shaping the cross-cultural reception and dissemination potential of video games.
Copyright (c) 2025 Yuhsuke Koyama, Li Jiaxin
"A train is passing through Stardew Valley": Post, Complex, and Cyberpastoral Video Games
This article extends existing scholarship on the pastoral video game Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe 2014), highlighting the diffuse ways in which pastoral video games act as sites of encounter between oppositional impulses of nature and technology. Drawing on diverse literature, including Leo Marx's ([1964] 2000) description of the American pastoral, Paul Martin's (2011) idea of the video game landscape as a garden, and Amanda Phillips's (2014) concept of "algorithmic ecologies," this paper proposes the term "cyberpastoral" to capture the nuanced interplay in how these games articulate the relationship between the natural and the technological. This framework is further tested through a close playing of Satisfactory (Coffee Stain Studios 2024), demonstrating the utility of the cyberpastoral in understanding contemporary video game environments. The analytical approach applied here has implications not just for scholarship of similar titles, but for wider study of games engaged with ecological and environmental care.
The Benefits of Banding: Overcoming Barriers to Community Participation Among Magic: The Gathering Players
Many game communities, including those who primarily play Magic: The Gathering (MTG), struggle with different kinds of toxicity, often directed towards players of minority gender identities. To help understand how these players deal with the barriers they face, we conducted a two-phase mixed-methods study. After surveying 324 MTG players and interviewing 14 of them, we found such players encountered barriers such as male-dominated environments, stereotyping and underestimation and developed strategies of community support, including personal adaptation based on previous systemic familiarity and alternate formats to persist and succeed. The research highlights economic barriers, cultural and social barriers, along with knowledge and experience gaps. Important themes include recognizing cultural norms, overcoming stereotyping, engaging selectively, and building inclusive playgroups, resilience and adaptability. We believe these strategies imply a broader need for intentional inclusivity practices and support mechanisms within gaming communities to foster a more equitable and representative gaming public.
Copyright (c) 2025 Chelsea Russell, Michael Tisi, Michael Nixon
Exploring Inaction Inertia and Proactive Procrastination among MMORPG Players
Understanding the behavioral dynamics of players in and outside of games is essential for game designers, marketers, and researchers in psychological and behavioral assessment fields. This study examines variations in inaction inertia and proactive procrastination among players of the acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, focusing on the disparities between clearly defined "hardcore" and "casual" players' behaviors during gameplay and in their daily lives. We employ a questionnaire-based approach—drawing on both self-constructed items about in-game engagement and established scales for out - of - game behavior — to determine (1) whether inaction inertia and proactive procrastination manifest differently across these player groups within the gaming context and (2) whether those same tendencies transfer to real-life situations. Our results confirm that hardcore players exhibit significantly stronger inaction inertia during gameplay than casual players, whereas both groups increase proactive procrastination when engaging with content they deem familiar. However, neither inaction inertia nor proactive procrastination observed in-game corresponds directly to patterns seen outside the game, indicating that separate mechanisms underlie in-game versus real-world behaviors. We discuss possible reasons for this divergence—such as the role of avatar identification, immersion as a form of "conscio us simulation," and the notion of a "digital double life"—and outline directions for continued research to map boundary conditions between virtual and real-world self- regulation strategies.
Copyright (c) 2025 Bin Yin, Yuan Zhong
Escape Rooms for Misinformation Education: A Case Study of Co-design with Two Communities
This case study explores the application of co-design to develop digital misinformation escape room games tailored to two distinct communities, an interest-based group (music fans) and a subset of the general population united by shared identity (the Black community). Motivated by calls for educational interventions on misinformation that resonate with diverse communities, the research team created a co-design framework based on an existing misinformation escape room, and facilitated a series of co-design sessions with participants from the two communities. These sessions resulted in two new games featuring entirely new narratives built upon the original ✛ ✜✢ ✣✤ ✥ ✥ ✦✧ ★ ✩✦ ★ ✧ ✣ ✜ ✪ ✫ ✢ ✣ ✩ ✬ ✜ ✪ ✭✩ ✥ ✮ ✯ ✭✪ ✫ ✭ ✪ ✛ ✥ ✫ ✣ ✢ ✰ ✪ ✥ ✦✧ ✜ ✦✣ ✦ ✬ ✣ ✱✰ ✦✣ ✪ ✦ ✭✜✲ ✰✳ ✧ ✜✱ ✭✫✴ narrative-focused co-design to engage diverse populations. The study discusses both successes and challenges encountered, offering insights to guide future misinformation game development.
Copyright (c) 2025 Chris Coward, Nisha Devasia, Jin Ha Lee
Losing Intentionally: Comedic Resistance to Meritocratic Genshin Impact
This article explores how intentional failure in Genshin Impact functions as comedic resistance to the game's meritocratic culture. Genshin Impact promotes a meritocratic system through its mechanics, rewarding players based on skill, time, and labor investment. Through ethnographic research in Chinese player communities, this study examines how players disrupt this meritocratic culture by deliberately failing in exaggerated and humorous ways. Intentional failure transforms Genshin Impact into a site of cultural critique and collective resistance. By embracing comedy and humor, players challenge the game's emphasis on productivity and skill, creating a carnivalesque space in which norms and hierarchies are inverted. This disruption allows players to reclaim the essence of play, emphasizing creativity, community, and liberation over competition. The findings contribute to broader discussions on the politics of play, highlighting the potential for digital games to become spaces of subversion and critique, rather than mere tools for control and productivity.
A Conceptual Framework for Socienactive Scenarios of Play: a Pilot Study
Copyright (c) 2025 André Luiz Brandão, Maria Cecília Calani Baranauskas
The Politics of Care: The Possibilities and Limits of Video Games for Political Campaign and Propaganda in Lugawan ni Leni (2022) and Let Leni Lead (2022)
This article will analyze two mobile video games, Lugawan ni Leni [Leni's Porridge Shop] (Coffee Brain Games, 2022) and Let Leni Lead (Cordless Games, 2022). Released during the height of the 2022 Philippine Presidential Campaign, both games are election and propaganda games that endorses and supports the candidacy of former Philippine Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo for president. By analyzing the two games' design and mechanics, the games attempt to affect the discourse surrounding Leni Robredo will be highlighted. The essay will conclude with the possibilities and limits of the two games in soliciting electoral votes and political action.
Copyright (c) 2025 Christoffer Mitch Cerda
From Paper to Pixels: Horrific Remediation in Inscryption
Analogue and digital games collide in Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games 2021), creating a hauntingly immersive experience that blurs the lines between reality and fiction. This paper examines Inscryption through the lens of remediation theory, exploring how its design utilises immediacy and hypermediacy to evoke a compelling hybrid of analogue and digital gaming experiences. By blending skeuomorphic design with metafictional narrative elements, Inscryption crafts a uniquely unsettling and immersive player experience. This analysis focuses on the game's ability to remediate analogue card games into a digital horror context, leveraging design elements and layered narrative structures to evoke both nostalgia and unease. We argue that Inscryption exemplifies the potential of digital games to innovate at the intersection of media forms, challenging conventional notions of player interaction. We offer insights into the evolving dynamics of analogue-digital convergence and its implications for the future of game studies.
Copyright (c) 2025 Alex Reid, Marc Elliott
From Myth to Market: Lessons from Black Myth: Wukong's Success
The release of Black Myth: Wukong (BMW) in August 2024 marked a watershed ✘ ✙✘ ✚✛ ✜ ✢ ✙ ✣ ✤ ✥✦ ✛ ✧ ★✩ ✪ ✧ ✘✚ ✦ ✛ ✫✬ ✩ ✜✣ ✭✮ ✯✛✩ ✰ ✦ ✣ ✚✫ ✱ ✭ ✜ ✥✚ ✲✳ ✧✩✩ ✦✲ ✤ ✥✦ ✛✚✩ ✚ ✛ ✙ ✴✚ ✳Journey to the West, the game achieved remarkable success, selling 10 million copies and earning $450 million in revenue within its first three days. This unprecedented market performance, coupled with critical acclaim, also drove increased cultural tourism, underscoring the complex ways in which cultural authenticity, narrative design, and advanced technologies c ✧ ✛ ✣✚✩✙ ✛ ✧ ✜ ✚ ✪✳✙ ✱ ✧ ✳ ✳ ✭ ✮ ✵ ✥✦ ✩ ✰ ✧✰✚ ✣ ✚ ✶ ✧ ✘ ✦✛ ✚✩ ✷✸ ✹ ★✩ ✩✬✲✲✚✩✩ through four interwoven theoretical lenses ✺representation theory, cultural hybridity, procedural rhetoric, and ludonarrative resonance ✺to elucidate how cultural authenticity and global game conventions converge in shaping player experiences and broader socio- ✚✲✙✛✙ ✘ ✦✲ ✦ ✘ ✰ ✧✲ ✜ ✩ ✮ ✷ ✭ ✧ ✛ ✧✳ ✭ ✻ ✦ ✛✪ ✷✸ ✹ ★ ✩ ✲✬ ✳ ✜ ✬ ✣ ✧✳ representation, technological innovation, and market as well as social outcomes, this study contributes to ongoing discussions about how culturally enriched games can reshape global perceptions of local traditions, stimulate economic growth, and encourage meaningful cross-cultural dialogue.
Redefining Play: A Novel Framework for Differentiating Agency and Autonomy in Video Games
Copyright (c) 2025 Xuechen Xu, Jen Beeston, Alena Denisova
Intergenerational Dynamics and Coping Strategies from Workshopping Games on Acculturative Stress with First-Generation Latine Communities
This paper investigates the nuanced experiences of acculturative stress among first-generation Latine individuals in the United States, focusing on their intergenerational dynamics and coping strategies. Building on previous research, we explore the dual challenge of maintaining cultural heritage while adapting to American society. Using a series of virtual focus group discussions and workshops, we qualitatively examined participants' familial relationships, communication strategies, and recreational activities, particularly games. These sessions revealed not only sources of acculturative stress but also the unique coping mechanisms employed by this first-generation Latine-American community. By highlighting these strategies, our research aims to contribute valuable insights to the field of Human-Computer Interaction and provide practical themes for developers and community organizations to create interactive experiences that address acculturative stress. By amplifying the voices of Latine individuals, we strive to promote opportunities for novel digital resources that recognize and enhance inclusive and culturally relevant approaches to addressing acculturative stress.
Copyright (c) 2025 Samantha Conde, Aviv Elor, Sri Kurniawan
Neocolonialism in Video Games: the Social Discourse of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
This paper explores the relationship between video games and neocolonialism narratives, focusing on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) as a case study. The Iraq War, initiated by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, serves as a backdrop for examining how media, particularly video games, contribute to the legitimization of neocolonial interventions in the Middle East. While traditional media often rationalizes such interventions, we argue that video games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare play a significant role in perpetuating militarism and violence, framing the U.S. as a global peacekeeper while depicting the Middle East as chaotic and threatening. Using Oliver Perez Latorre's (2015) methodology based on rhetorical analysis of game, we analyze the ludic design of character/player, game world, and game play activities, tracing how these elements construct the "other" in Middle Eastern factions and reinforce the binary of "us" versus "them." The game's depiction of Western protagonists as heroic defenders of global stability reinforces colonial ideologies and justifies military interventions. The game's narrative simplifies complex geopolitical conflicts into a clear dichotomy, positioning the West as morally superior and justified in its interventions. This paper argues that video games, while providing immersive and engaging game play experiences, also can serve as vehicles for reproducing colonial power dynamics and contributing to the ongoing legitimization of military interventionism in neocolonial contexts. By analyzing these representations, we demonstrate the significant role that video games play in shaping contemporary geopolitical ideologies and how they continue to reflect and perpetuate colonial ideologies.
Copyright (c) 2025 Cansu Parlak, Erdinç Kaygusuz
The Rise of Gamer-Consumers: Anger, Protests, and Divisions in South Korean Gamer Activism
This paper explores the phenomenon of gamer activism, focusing on the motivations behind online and offline protests against game corporations (e.g., review bombing, boycotting, crowdfunding, truck protesting), which are reshaping game industry practices and regulations in South Korea. Based on semi-structured interviews with those actively involved in Korean gamer protests from 2021 to 2023, the research identified anger towards game corporations over the fluctuating value of virtual capital as a motivational driver to collective actions. Furthermore, the constructed identity of Gamer-Consumers was identified. Gamer-Consumers perceive financial and time investments as integral to the game experience while evaluating their legitimacy as "real consumers" as "real gamers". This fosters divisions and discrimination towards casual players and gender minorities while encouraging game corporations to operate in favor of heavy-spending players. Therefore, while gamer activism plays a critical role in reporting game companies' malpractices, it also raises the concern of polarizing gamer discourse and commodified relationships in gaming culture.
Copyright (c) 2025 Yeonwoo Lee, Solip Park
Choose Your path Quickly: The Many Crossroads of the Interactive Movie
This paper explores the interactive movie with full-motion video (FMV) as an artifact of the attempts to merge two media: videogames and cinema. As a hybrid struggling to combine gameplay with narrative, the interactive movie perhaps unsurprisingly did not garner much scholarly attention in the early years - and turf wars - of game studies. Nonetheless, FMV games in general were an important game form across the 1980s and 1990s, well deserving of deeper consideration, and interactive movies represent a key subcategory of this form. The present paper summarizes the discourse on FMV games, the core makeup and structure of the interactive movie, before zooming in to focus on three titles, Dragon's Lair (1983), Mad Dog McCree (1990), and Night Trap (1992). The authors analyze how these games leveraged, experimented with, and simultaneously were constrained by, then-new optical disc technology, and how the combination of FMV and CD-ROM shaped their gameplay mechanics. The paper concludes by situating these titles and their technologies in the evolutionary maze of the videogame and their continuing influence in the medium.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jakub Majewski, Scott Knight
Electronic Waste (e-waste) is the fastest growing waste stream worldwide, and the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices is greatly accelerating e-waste production. IoT devices are often designed to limit repairability and shorten lifespans, resulting in products rendered prematurely obsolete. Additionally, guidance that should inform consumers how to responsibly manage a products end-of-life is severely lacking, leading to improper disposal and further environmental harm. This paper argues that challenging these harmful cycles requires citizens and communities to have better access to knowledge and practical skills - which are essential to successfully embrace a culture of repair and reuse towards a wider sustainability transition. This paper presents two Serious Games - Re:Play and RepairLand - interactive experiences aiming to engage and educate. Applying Research-through- Design and Speculative Design approaches, this paper presents our design decisions and critical reflections that shaped the development of these games.
Copyright (c) 2025 Violet Owen, Michael Stead, Paul Coulton
Embody Kin with Games: Redefining Player-Game Relationships through Kinship Embodiment
This paper introduces the concept of kinship embodiment, a multifaceted relationship between players and a game's virtual assemblage, where components such as avatars, NPCs, environments, and narrative devices dynamically interact to create a cohesive experience. Drawing on philosophical frameworks like dualism and animism, and incorporating perspectives from queer and Indigenous studies, the paper positions kinship embodiment as a new model for evaluating player-game relationships. Through a close-play analysis of Hollow Knight, the study demonstrates how the game balances immersive and outmersive elements, fostering an emotional bond that transcends established binaries. The metaphor of a molecule within a substance highlights how the interaction between player and game fluctuates, maintaining a critical yet intimate distance. By expanding the vocabulary of game studies, this research proposes kinship embodiment as a framework to assess games not just for their immersive and outmersive qualities but for their ability to cultivate a participatory and relational connection with players.
Outlining the spectrum of values of self-identified gamers
Copyright (c) 2025 Jukka Vahlo, Maria Ruotsalainen, Kai Tuuri, Aki Koponen
After All, Caesar Never Was a Quitter: Struggling with the past in early game design
Copyright (c) 2025 Corine Gerritsen, Angus Mol
TREEgame Design Reflections and Dispatches from Treewhere
Copyright (c) 2025 Thomas Brandstetter, Margarete Jahrmann, Stefan Glasauer
Post-optimism: Chants of Sennaar, Norco and the Problem of Optimism in Environmental and Ecogames Gamestudies
Ecogame scholarship, the subdiscipline of videogame studies concerned with environment, has a shortcoming. I establish how ecogames changed from a deeply critical to a problematically optimistic field. Reflecting on recent developments I suggest ecogames must take a stance against optimistic climate rhetoric. I analyse two games: Chants of Sennaar (Moya and Panuel 2023) and Norco (Yuts and Gray 2022) arguing they highlight the potential and pitfalls of games as environmental texts. Chants of Sennaar suggests ways of living after climate catastrophe but promises a utopia. Norco, comparatively, makes no promises but risks inaction. Together they show that the games industry and game studies cannot just promise brighter futures but that an attitudinal shift is required. Ecogames and ecogames criticism should not operate under the assumption that climate problems can be solved but must look beyond unrealistic optimism, helping fellow climate survivors by rejecting desires for ideal lives, embracing instead a desire for least bad outcomes.
The use of digital avatars in live streaming, called VTubing, has seen a steady rise over the past 5 years. The increase in VTubing has had transformational effects on streaming as a practice, and on game culture in a larger sense. Previous work on VTubing indicates that the creation of the digital avatar is a central aspect of the practice. This work also indicates that the presence of the avatar is a major draw to performers and viewers, and changes perceptions of the stream for both. However much present work focuses on larger audience VTubers, or those who are backed by a studio. This work investigates a question and answer forum for VTubers to understand their perception of the practice in terms of day-to-day requests for information and advice. It contributes a framework of VTubing as a practice that can be built upon in future theoretical work within this domain.
This study investigates how specific game mechanics in digital play influence prosocial behavior in children, focusing on resource sharing under varying levels of perceived risk. Using a custom-designed video game, The Ludum Detector, researchers controlled game mechanics to measure how children weigh costs and benefits in decision-making. Forty-six 8-year-olds (23 boys, 23 girls) participated as part of a larger project, encountering donation prompts after completing levels with high, medium, or low perceived risk. Preliminary findings reveal that children shared fewer resources in higher-risk conditions, even when not in a competitive or cooperative context, with significant differences between high- and low-risk and medium- and low-risk scenarios. No differences in behavior were observed between sexes. These results suggest that perceived personal risk strongly influences prosocial decisions, providing insights for designing digital games and educational tools that foster cooperation, empathy, and generosity in children.
This comprehensive study advances the ontological furnace framework to interrogate how cinematic gaming’s pursuit of photorealism transmutes human presence into commodified simulacra. Through rigorous comparative analysis of Erica’s filmed virtuality and Detroit: Become Human’s uncanny prison across four ontological dimensions— Organic Crucible, Fracturing, Forged Replica, and Commodified Specter—we demonstrate how both production paradigms generate Baudrillardian third-order simulacra that undermine authentic connection. Combining technical examination of motion capture pipelines with philosophical interrogation spanning Simondon’s individuation theory to Plato’s dianoia, this treatise documents how these apparatuses induce existential dissonance through perceptual-behavioral mismatches, propagate cultural pathologies via simulation anxiety and misrecognition cascades, and enact the death of play through ludic anorexia. Our findings reveal that despite divergent technical implementations— live-action footage versus algorithmic recomposition—both models prioritize spectacle over substance, resulting in what we term promethean paradox: technological awe coupled with human dispossession. The study concludes by proposing three principles for revelatory embodiment that transcend replication toward ethical co-creation. By rejecting replication-centric paradigms, our principles for revelatory embodiment offer concrete alternatives that realign avatar design with ludic integrity and ethical co-creation which is a key contribution to DiGRA community.