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Player As Author : Digital Games and Agency

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Player As Author : Digital Games and Agency PLAYER AS AUTHOR: DIGITAL GAMES AND AGENCY by Cindy Poremba B.A., University of Waterloo, 1998 THESIS SUBMITED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Applied Science in the Department of Computing Arts and Design Sciences O Cindy Poremba 2003 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY August 2003 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Cindy Poremba Degree: Master of Applied Science Title of Project: Player as Author: Digital Games and Agency Examining Committee: Chair: John Nesbit Associate Bmfessor Ron wakkary Senior Supervisor Associate Professor - clh Biuocchi CWFearce External Examiner Associate Director, Game Culture & Technology Lab Cal-(IT)2 University of California, lrvine Date Approved: PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENCE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of ThesislProjectlExtended Essay: Player as Author: Digital Games and Agency Author: (signaturej Cynthia Katherine Poremba (Name) August 6th,2003 (Date) ABSTRACT One of the key properties of the digital game genre is the proliferation of player- produced content and artifacts. The reworking of original game materials is an integral part of game culture that can not be ignored in the study of these games. This thesis explores player-production as a mode of authorship resulting from the agency of the game player. Agency-as an attributed, contextualized power to affect meaningful change-is a common subject for analysis in interactive media research. This thesis argues that authorship in the digital game environment lies at the intersection of designerlplayer agencies. At the level of player-created game artifacts, the player's agency extends beyond an instantiation of the designer's agency to the authorship of a new artifact. These artifacts, in turn, become vessels of the player's agency, and play a key role in the social validation of their role as authors. This work reflects a reality that digital games are malleable, loosely bounded, and socially validated and defined. Rhetorical criticism is used as a methodology for examining player-produced artifacts: demonstrating how the exchange and interpretation of meaning in this environment represents player agency and authorship, and how these meanings are dramatized through player-production. The artifacts reveal specific themes that speak to the construction of agency, including the opposition or extension of the primary author, and the legitimacy, ownership and access players assume as part of the role of player-producer. These player works demonstrate a common underlying structure which both reflects the community at large and the individual social realities of the players: that of player agency via authorship. This relationship between the game designer and player provides a new framework from which to examine the production and exchange of meaning in digital games. This framework suggests further inquiry both inward, into the game experience, and outward, into explorations of mass culture. It also puts forth rhetorical criticism as a methodology in game research, and provides an important documentation of emerging modes of player-production. iii DEDICATION To infinite possibilities. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank-you to my committee: to Ron Wakkary for helping to focus the ideas in this thesis, for his editing support, and for keeping an eye on SCOPE; to Jim Bizzocchi for his observations and input on the concepts presented, and for the support and encouragement he has provided throughout my graduate program; and to Celia Pearce for taking the time to participate in an atypical remote defence, and for her invaluable knowledge and insight in this domain. Thank-you also John Nesbit, for helping us conduct a summer defence despite a flurry of vacations. Iwould also like to thank Rob Woodbury, who has provided tremendous encouragement and assistance over the course of my graduate program, and Tom Carey, who played a prominent role in my decision to pursue graduate studies in the first place. Iowe a great deal to Justine Bizzocchi, Allison Neill, and Penny Simpson for their assistance in physically producing this document, sometimes under rather hectic conditions. In the successful defence of this thesis, Ialso owe a debt to Yaana Dancer, who provided a great deal of insight based on her observations of the defence process. And one final thank-you goes out to Derek Vanderveer, for his proofreading, fact-checking, insight, and tolerance over some crazy months. TABLE OF CONTENTS .. Approval ........................................................................................................11 ... Abstract .......................................................................................................111 Dedication ....................................................................................................iv Acknowledgements .......................................................................................v Table of Contents .........................................................................................vi ... List of Figures ............................................................................................ VIII List of Tables ................................................................................................ix Glossary ........................................................................................................x .. List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................XII Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Remaking Each Other's Dreams .................................................................. 4 Player Agency and Authorship in Digital Games ................................................ -4 Implications ................................................................................................ 10 Digital Games and Player Production ......................................................... 14 Player as Producer: Game Mods and External Artifacts .....................................16 Agency as Authorship................................................................................. 21 An Interdisciplinary Survey of Agency ............................................................ 21 Negotiating Designer/Pla yer Agency Through Artifacts .....................................24 Primary Authorship ..................................................................................25 Secondary Authorship ...............................................................................26 Methodology .............................................................................................. 28 Games and Rhetoric .................................................................................... 28 Player Products as Rhetorical Artifacts ........................................................28 Epistemic Views of Rhetoric .......................................................................29 Fantasy Theme Analysis ............................................................................... 29 Structure of the FTA Method ......................................................................31 Fantasy Theme Analysis as Game Research Methodology ..............................32 Research Design ........................................................................................ -33 Rhetorical Analysis ..................................................................................... 34 Rhetorical Artifacts .....................................................................................-34 The Sims (Mods) ......................................................................................34 Velvet-Strike ..........................................................................................-34 Collective Detective ..................................................................................35 Fantasy Themes of Secondary Authors ........................................................... 36 Characterizing the Player-Author : Legitimacy. Ownership and Access ............ 37 Characterizing Primary Authors : Opposition and Extension ........................... 44 Summary ................................................................................................49 The Rhetoric of Player Authorship .............................................................. 51 Agency as Rhetorical Vision .........................................................................-51 Conclusion.................................................................................................. 54 The Pla yer-Author ...................................................................................... -54 The Relationship between Games and their Authors ......................................... 55 Player-Authors
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