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- Volume 8, Issue 1, 2016
Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds - Volume 8, Issue 1, 2016
Volume 8, Issue 1, 2016
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Polychronia – negotiating the popular representation of a common past in Assassin’s Creed
Authors: Jonathan Westin and Ragnar HedlundAbstractSeveral of the most successful large-scale digital simulations in recent years are found in the immensely popular game series Assassin’s Creed, developed by Ubisoft. A variety of monuments and places figure prominently throughout the series, but at different levels of detail and accuracy. While not presenting a thoroughly imagined representation of any time period or place, these recreations emphasize the epistemological impact of particular visual modes when communicating the past, representing the collective idea of a place or time, rather than archaeological or historical facts. The time and spaces presented in the game series give us an opportunity to study how representations of the past can be assembled to be recognizable to a wide audience. This, in turn, gives us insight into the mechanics of cultural memory. In order to analyse these mechanics, we analyse the representation of the city of Rome created for Assassin’s Creed 2: Brotherhood, the third main instalment of the series. Not only has Rome been the subject of several centuries of archaeological reconstructions, but because of the countless popular representations available, the city holds a strong position in the public consciousness. In Ubisoft’s version of Rome, the archaeological record and popular imagination meet, are combined and sometimes collide. We argue that Rome as we encounter it here amounts to a concept that we call ‘polychronia’, a place where several timelines exist simultaneously in an organized manner to appeal to a common understanding. As a polychronia, the representation of Rome is made more recognizable to the recipient than a representation solely reflecting expert knowledge.
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Constructing identities in Second Life: The challenge of representation in cyberspace
Authors: Phylis Johnson and Jonathan P. PluskotaAbstractThis article centres on understanding the issues of representation involved during identity construction in Second Life, and how it applies to virtual worlds more broadly. After a review of traditional and new media literature, the author examines several threads within the Second Life Community Forum related to race, ethnicity and gender bias among residents over a nearly four year period of time. Appearance, most notably skin colour, has been one of the most significant points raised (and argued) during forum discussions. The authors propose a duality of outcomes for virtual world participants; while there may be benefits of experimentation, such experiences do not lend themselves towards the actualization of a utopian society free of discrimination and cultural barriers. Second Life, in particular, offers some promise towards better understanding the dynamics contributing towards authenticity in identity construction and representation, and offers members opportunities to view others outside of their individual lens and social sphere. Challenges remain in real and virtual worlds, and cultural exchanges in (or perceptions of) both should be further examined.
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The Story of Volund: A translation from the oral to the visual
Authors: Elif Ayiter and Mimesis Heidi DahlsveenAbstractThe Story of Volund from Norse poetry was the foundation of a large-scaled installation in the spring of 2014 in the online virtual world of Second Life®. The installation was created in collaboration between a storyteller and a visual designer, who are also the authors of this text. This article will discuss how the principles of oral storytelling, agency and presence were woven together to bring about a ‘story-world’ in which visitors were able to become both a protagonist and a storyteller through various means and devices that were put at their disposal. This process – both the theoretical considerations that played a role during the formulation of the project as well as the strategies employed during its building – will be examined through a literature review encompassing oral storytelling and its performative aspects, the extension of these into virtual environments, Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces (1973), and a discussion of the myth of Volund himself.
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To watch or to play, it is in the game: The game culture on Twitch.tv among performers, plays and audiences
More LessAbstractThe article focuses on the rising phenomenon of Twitch.tv as a worldwide entertainment provider with several million monthly viewers and an increasing number of developers, game journalists and opinion leaders actively involved. In order to stage the first exploration of the portal, a multidisciplinary framework (cultural studies, game studies, media studies) based on the concepts of ‘Circuit of Culture’, ‘diffused audience’ and ‘immersion’ was applied towards consumption, identity and production dimensions of Twitch.tv. Accordingly, a triangulation of methods was harnessed to assess these articulations empirically: N=16 plays were analysed and N=96 spectators replied to a quantitative survey. The results point towards shared patterns in media consumption and production, offering insights for future and more specific research. Specifically, three types of Twitch.tv streaming were observed: the challenge (performed by the ‘professional’), based on ruling the game and a top-down direction; the exhibition (performed by the ‘hedonist’), depending on the twitchers’ performance skills and partial interaction; and the exchange (performed by the ‘companion’), relying on nostalgic feelings and open to the spectators’ insights.
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In control or in their shoes? How character attachment differentially influences video game enjoyment and appreciation
AbstractEmerging perspectives in media psychology have begun to focus on enjoyment and appreciation as unique reactions to entertaining media fare. Past work has found that game elements such as gameplay mechanics and game narrative are significantly associated with both feelings – with play mechanics more aligned with enjoyment and narrative more aligned with appreciation. The current study looks to extend this work by establishing associations between elements of character attachment (CA) and both entertainment outcomes. Data from an online survey of gamers randomly assigned to consider enjoyable or meaningful gaming experiences found that an increased recollection of control over one’s in-game avatar was positively associated with enjoyment (not appreciation), and that an increased identification with and sense of responsibility for one’s character were both independently and positively associated with appreciation (not enjoyment).
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Review
More LessAbstractINHABITING MULTIPLE WORLDS: IMMERSIVE LITERACY PRACTICES AND GAMING CULTURE: COMPUTER GAMES AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION: CRITICAL METHODS & APPLICATIONS AT THE INTERSECTION, JENNIFER DEWINTER AND RYAN M. MOELLER (EDS) (2014) 1st ed., Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 314 pp., ISBN: 9781472426406, h/bk, $119.95 (USD)
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