Let's Play Video and Observable Play Experiences
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Screening Embodiment: Let’s Play Video and Observable Play Experiences A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Design (Media and Communication) Zhia Zariko BA (Hons) UniSA School of Media and Communication College of Design and Social Context RMIT University May, 2016 2 Declaration I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Zhia Zariko 23 May 2016 3 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors, Larissa Hjorth and Emma Witkowski, for their infinite patience, calm reassurance, invaluable advice, guidance, and most of all their quiet confidence in me, even when I had none in myself. I feel privileged to have known you, and honoured to have been mentored by you. You were a calm port in a chaotic storm and I will be eternally grateful for everything you have done for me. I cannot ever repay the opportunity you have afforded me, and the lessons you have left me with. I only wish I had done better. I also wish to thank Christian McCrea for sage words of advice when I needed them most, and reassurance when I needed it even more. To Tanya Lewis, whose detailed feedback was a lifesaver in more ways than one. The collective support and attention I was given by RMIT faculty members will forever impress and elevate me. I was also afforded a second chance that I did not know I could have, and I must thank Craig Batty, Tanya, Emma, and Larissa for affording it to me. A special thanks must be given to Corliss Mui Suet Chan, who pulled me out of many a fire I didn’t even know was going on. To my mother, who lost her daughter for a couple of Christmases, who was only a phone call away, who always drove me to strive bigger and higher, providing a soft landing for those times that I inevitably fell. You are the reason I am here and I am sorry for the grey hairs and missed texts. To my partner, who cared for me through long nights of insecurity and doubt, providing both comfort and tough love. You bore the brunt of my tired frustration with saint-worthy calm and understanding. Thank you for doing the dishes. To my old housemate, who told me to suck it up and keep working and who made sure I was eating. 4 Finally, to my partner’s dog, he will never understand how valuable those 3 am sessions of ball were, and just wanted me to throw it already. 5 Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 4 Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 9 Figures............................................................................................................................... 11 Introduction: ...................................................................................................................... 14 Let’s Play Videos and the Videogame Play Experiences-as-experienced ........................ 14 Chapter summary .......................................................................................................... 24 Chapter One: ..................................................................................................................... 29 Let’s Play, Embodiment, and Literature ........................................................................... 29 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 29 Positioning the Research ............................................................................................... 30 Let’s Play—a cultural shift in gaming .......................................................................... 34 Let’s Play Videos, YouTube, and Web 2.0 .................................................................. 36 Phenomenological embodiment—the gestalt of player and game ................................ 46 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 52 Chapter Two: Methodology .............................................................................................. 55 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 55 The Channels ................................................................................................................ 56 Markiplier ................................................................................................................. 57 ChristopherOdd ......................................................................................................... 59 6 Alien: Isolation and Outlast .......................................................................................... 62 Let’s Play Videos—framing the game for the audience ............................................... 69 Let’s Play and Survival-Horror ..................................................................................... 72 Let’s Play Videos as Narrative ..................................................................................... 79 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 81 Chapter Three: Alien: Isolation and Observable Videogame Play Experiences .............. 83 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 83 Learning to Fear ............................................................................................................ 84 Comparative Expressions of Fear ................................................................................. 97 The Flamethrower and Adaptive AI ........................................................................... 108 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 120 Chapter Four: Reflexive Narrative and Outlast .............................................................. 122 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 122 Self-Evaluative Play.................................................................................................... 123 Avatars and Agency .................................................................................................... 133 Videogame Play Experience as Authorship ................................................................ 141 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 150 Conclusion: ..................................................................................................................... 152 Let’s Play Videos and Videogame Play Experiences-as-Experienced ........... 152 The Story Thus Far ..................................................................................................... 152 7 Methods Reflections ................................................................................................... 157 Let’s Play Videos: Playing with play.......................................................................... 159 In finis ......................................................................................................................... 161 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 162 Game References ........................................................................................................ 182 Appendix of videos ......................................................................................................... 184 Markiplier ................................................................................................................... 184 Christopher Odd .......................................................................................................... 188 8 Abstract Let’s Play videos are the practice whereby a videogame player records their experience to share with a future audience. They are an emergent form of cultural activity that has been relatively overlooked within the field of game studies. This thesis seeks to ask: how can access to videogame play moments (and performativity) provide insights into the understanding the dynamics of videogame play experience? This thesis approaches Let’s Play videos as a way in which to expand our understandings of videogame research. To this end, this thesis explores how footage of videogame play experiences-as-experienced offers access to specific play experiences and, in turn, how play can take on various forms of embodiment, gestures, affect and performance. Focusing upon a phenomenological approach to embodiment within the context of the emotional and affective genre of survival-horror, I utilise case studies of the Let’s Play videos created by Markiplier and ChristopherOdd as they play the survival-horror, first-person games Alien: Isolation