2013-2014

Role-Playing in Role-Playing Games

Master Thesis submitted to obtain the degree of ‘Master of Arts in Art Science’ on 8 August 2014

By: Michaël Oosterlinck (00802623)

Supervisor: Prof. dr. K. Pewny

1

2 Acknowledgements

I would like to thank everyone who made this thesis possible and supported me. My supervisor Professor Pewny for the time spent on answering my mails. My family, and especially my parents and sister, who had the patience and the energy to give me advice and to keep my moral high during stressful moments. My friends who were always willing to pick up the phone when I called them, supporting me when I needed their opinion about more formal aspects of my thesis.

3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...... 3

List of Abbreviations ...... 6

Introduction ...... 7

1. Situating Role-Playing Games as Game and as Genre ...... 10

1.1 The Medium of Videogames versus Games as Games ...... 10

Narratology versus Ludology: competition between media ? ...... 16

1.2 The Role-Playing Game Genre and Subgenres: a Conundrum ...... 19

Motivation, Player Types as key to the Conundrum...... 24

2. Role-Playing Games as Interactive Content...... 28

2.1 Remediating other Media: a matter of two forces ...... 29

Transparency and Interactivity for the sake of Immersion ...... 30

2.2 Implied Gamer ...... 35

2.3 The Set of Quests and the Set of Items ...... 43

3. Camera and Focalisation ...... 53

4. Sound and Music ...... 58

5. Visual Aesthetic and Representation ...... 63

6. From Imagination to Embodiment ...... 65

7. The Performed Virtual Self ...... 77

7.1 Inventing an Self: the Act of Self-Myhtologising ...... 77

7.2 Acting as the Self ...... 85

7.2.1 The Hybrid Anatomy of the Role-Player ...... 85

7.2.2 Performance Style and Emotions ...... 91

Conclusion ...... 98

4 Bibliography...... 101

Books and Articles...... 101

Web ...... 104

Videogames ...... 105

Film ...... 106

Appendix ...... 107

Cases: ...... 107

Dishonored ...... 107

Guild Wars 2 ...... 108

Witcher 2 ...... 109

Mass Effect ...... 109

Pictures ...... 111

Picture 1 character creation ...... 111

Picture 2 dialogue options ...... 111

Picture 3 skill tree ...... 112

Picture 4 the windowed mode ...... 112

Picture 5 Narrative Network or Story Tree ...... 113

Picture 6 Communication Model ...... 114

Picture 7 Games as a Set of Objects and as a Set of Quests ...... 115

5 List of Abbreviations

AI: Artificial Intelligence

D&D: Dungeons & Dragons

GUI: Graphics User Interface

HUD: Heads-Up Display

MMO: Massively Multiplayer Online

MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game

MUD: Multi-User Dungeon

NPC: Non-Player Character

RNG: Random Number Generation

RPG: Role-Playing Game

POV: Point-of-View

6 Introduction

Recently a trend concerning the videogames has been taking place. Gaming becomes more and more popular. And besides the ever increasing popularity, the medium also receives more attention from the artistic world. The manner of looking at videogames changes, from games as some form of entertainment to a more serious expressive medium or even an artistic discipline. The art exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum1 and the London City Hall2 prove this trend.

In addition, Stuart Brown was invited for a Technology Entertainment and Design, in short TED talk. He witnesses that not so long ago research for serious play was not taken seriously. But as the years passed by this excluding attitude towards play changed. The talk was nothing short of an ode to play: the importance and the many advantages that play gives for the development of a human being. Play is a state in which people have the ability to explore and to be curious in a safe environment. Play has also an idealistic ring to it. In this state of play the activity has no purpose. To summarise Brown’s talk, play is equal to transformation, to adaptability.3

It is valuable to add insights of other disciplines to the field of ludology or the study of videogames. Not only does a multi-disciplinary approach strengthen the actual research. It is also logical due to the dual position of the player. His position exists out of the role-taker and the role-player. In narrative heavy games the player not only takes over the perspective of the role, he also plays the role. The role-taking coincides with the viewer of a motion picture or theatre piece. The role-player on the other hand overlaps with the performer, the actor. The gamer has the information processing task similar to audiences. And he possess the executive task similar to the artist. In this thesis different concepts from disciplines such as literature, theatre, film are used to shed light on the creative process of playing. Role-Playing Games demand from the gamer to play a character (acting) and traverse the narrative (literature) by controlling the virtual avatar and camera (film).

1 “The Art of Video Games,” accessed 21 June 2014, http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/. 2 “London City Hall to host video game art exhibition,” accessed 21 June 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2012/sep/18/video-game-art-city-hall. 3 Stuart Brown. “Play is more than just fun,” TED video, 26:42, filmed May 2008, posted May 2008, http://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital#t-897515.

7 The aim of this thesis is to explain the effect of the strategies used by RPG’s to sort out the wished effect. The tactics used by the developers range from experience to level up, character creation, dialogue options, open world, statistics of gear, quests, camera to sound and music. By focussing on the creative role-playing process and the strategies enticing this process we can move away from the violent4 and sexist5 dimension sometimes connoted with videogames. The effect of immersion can be explained by mirror neurons, the functionalistic approach of emotions and imagination.

The role-play process takes place in many genres of games though not always to the same extent. Of all the genres the roleplaying-games, also known as RPG’s, are obviously the exemplary genre for the roleplaying process since RPG’s invest heavily on story, the plot branches off in different directions depending on the gamer’s choices, and character progression. These games offer the player a role and throughout the game players act as the character. In other words gamers, analogous to actors, partake in make-belief, imaginary play. In fact the role-player has more freedom than actors in theatre or films since RPG’s offer multiple manners of performing. The imaginative play is rooted on two pillars. Firstly, the player identifies with or is empathic towards the protagonist to such a degree that the gamer transports himself mentally in the skin of the protagonist. Secondly, the gamer uses the protagonist to fashion a new self. And the ingame avatar becomes the virtual representation of the gamer’s constructed self. Creating selves in numerous situations enables the gamer to experiment with their identity and explore their emotional horizon.

This thesis will not discuss the graphics of games. Since the birth of the medium the graphics evolved to a higher degree of fidelity. However this evolution did not increase the degree of identification or immersion. In fact the leaser realistic games are the more the gamer needs to activate his imagination. If graphics did influence immersion there would be a problem concerning the pen and paper/table top predecessors of RPG’s, such as Dungeons and Dragons, or MUD’s. In addition this thesis takes only PC games into account, not the console version. This has to do with the location of the machine. Consoles mostly lies in the living room near the

4 Kris Ligman, “Red Cross to game developers: make players accountable for war crimes,” Gamasutra, 30 September 2013, accessed 21 June 2014, http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/201307/Red_Cross_to_game_developers_make_players_accountable_for _war_crimes.php. 5 David Gaider. “Sex in Video Games,” GDC vault video, 48:54, filmed 19 June 2013, posted 19 June 2013, http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1017796/Sex-in-Video.

8 television. Hence the gamer sits in a room where other inhabitants gather. Therefor the roleplaying-process is contaminated by elements of the outside world. Playing does not entail the most personal inner imagining anymore. Contrary to the console, the PC is generally located in the bedroom or more private rooms. Gamers are less likely to be interrupted hence the role-playing is more personal, more intimate.

9 1. Situating Role-Playing Games as Game and as Genre

We consider role-players as performers, as actors. And we will analyse amongst others the narrative structure, the camera, the sound and so on and so forth in order to discover how the developers stimulate the player to do so. But before we analyse the features of RPGs, that entice the role-player to be engrossed and perform their role, we need to situate RPGs in a broader context. First, we will discuss the most basic part: what are games? There are two schools of thoughts, the narratologist and the ludologist approach. The former sees computer games as medium while the latter sees digital games as games. Second, after scetching the discussion of approaches for games, we analyse RPGs as genre and the issues tied to theses categorisations.

1.1 The Medium of Videogames versus Games as Games

One of the main things that newcomers will notice is that there is little consensus when it comes to defining and analysing games. A first discussion topic is whether play and gaming is biological or cultural in nature. Another issue of discussion revolves around the exact connection between play and games.6 Play is defined as follows:

“Senses relating to recreation, pleasure, and enjoyment. To engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than for serious or practical purpose; to amuse or divert oneself; to engage in fun, games, or merriment”7

This definition considers play as an overall group and games are a part of it, games are a form of play.8 It has been suggested that play and games can be distinguished on the basis that rules are not always present in play or at least the rules allow some freedom, contrary to games.9 And others see play as an instance in games. This is an interesting point because it implies that the gamer does not always play when engaged with his computer game. We will discuss the unifying position of the gamer as spectator and as performer in the chapter about

6 Garry Crawford, Video gamers (New York : Routledge), 2011, 17-19. 7 Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “Play,” accessed 07 July 2014, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/145475?rskey=NSEpLI&result=2&isAdvanced=false#eid 8 Crawford, Video gamers,17-19. 9 Aphra Kerr, The business and culture of digital games: gamework/gameplay (London: SAGE, 2006), 29-30.

10 acting as the self. Returning to the point of play and games, Crawford sees no unsurmountable obstacle: play and games do not per se have to be mutual exclusive.10 Besides games as evolutionary versus cultural phenomenon, and the play-game connection, there is the issue of whether games should be studied as games or as media. The ludologic approach desires to study games as games. They describe games as a system with explicit rules.11 Three types of rules exist. The operational rules enable and restrict play. The constitutive rules are the processes performed by the software. And the implicit rules negotiated amongst players.12The rules of the activity cannot be imposed but are an imperative to the activity. Hence participants voluntarily accept the rules in order to partake in the game. The magic circle determines the time and space of the games and separate it from everyday life.13 The magic circle is responsible for shielding the make-belief process from ordinary life and in doing so enhances the involvement. And the border is maintained by the players which implies that it is flexible and negotiated.14 The boundaries are not hermetic. The borders of the magic circle are simultaneously closed and open, a breathing skin so to speak. This means that the gamer brings a certain background along with him and he brings elements out of the game into the larger social context.15 Some examples of the porous nature of the magic border circle is the exchange of gear and resources in MMORPGs for actual money.16 Games are also interactive, causing a chain of actions and reactions. In this chain the rings are flexible and interchangeable because the player makes choices at each cross road of the story.17 The purpose of playing games is to reach a specific goal.18 The rules and the goal ensure that there are clear winners and losers. In other words, the result is expressed quantitatively. And games allow some freedom, though not total, to elect how to progress towards the unknown outcome.19 Since the outcomes are variable and each outcome has a value, the player tries to influence the outcome and is emotionally engaged to it. Though there are no actual consequences in the real world, no material benefit.20 That is to say, there are consequences in-game but no real risk of being harmed in

10 Crawford, Video gamers,17-19. 11 Chris Crawford, The Art of Computer Game Design, (Berkeley: McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media, 1984), 2-3. 12 Crawford, Video gamers, 69. 13 Kerr, digital games, 29-30. 14 Crawford, Video gamers, 20. 15 Kerr, digital games, 32. 16 Crawford, Video gamers, 22-23. 17 Crawford, Computer Game Design, 2-3. 18 Marie-Laure Ryan, Narrative as virtual reality: immersion and interactivity in literature and electronic media, (Baltimore (Md.): Johns Hopkins university press, 2001), 183. 19 Kerr, digital games, 29-32. 20 Crawford, Video gamers, 8-11

11 reality. In this sense gamers are watching from a safe distance.21 There are exceptions, for instance the e-sports tournaments where the financial benefits are at stake. Though we acknowledge these exceptions, these do not help use in shedding light on role-play. Moreover, games are based on objective reality though it is a subjective representation. Because even if the representation is unreal, it is still real in the player’s mind through his fantasy. 22 Additionally games are competitive. They figure a conflicting situation wherein the opponent must be defeated. Though games are not restricted to elements of rivalry. There is also free play where imagination, inventing identities and sometimes transgression are pivotal instead of the strict rules or the prominence of the goal.23 Despite Role-Playing Games being games with rules, role-play can be seen as free play because the developer can give the instruments for acting as the protagonist but it is in no shape or form necessary to finish the game and achieve the goal.

The reason for mentioning the three rule types, the magic circle as breathing skin and the free play is to nuance the definition. The definition of game as game has been subject to scrutiny and criticism, especially the idea of the magic circle. The argument that it has distinct boundaries that ensures engrossment points implicitly towards this naïve interpretation of immersion. Naïve because it considers the player to be swept away in heated performance, totally lost in the virtual fantasy world without a sense of mediation and ignoring the constant flux of players going in and out of play state.24 The magic circle has been reformulated in order to address the criticism. Arsenault and Perron made a model with four stages establishing a circular motion: from image and sound of the game constituting the game state to the output that the gamer received and interpreted who interacts with the game. Additionally this motion involves three spirals. The inner spiral is the hermeneutic spiral and the outer spiral is the gameplay heuristics, in between these spirals is the narrative heuristic spiral.25 Their model answers the criticism on the extraordinary and separateness of games via the magic circle. Although, the dispute also lies with the fact that the magic circle fails to position play on the macro level of the socio-cultural: games being part of a group of social practices. Crawford proposes for that reason the frame theory. Frames structure all situations.

21 Crawford, Computer Game Design, 11-12. 22 ibidem, 2-3. 23 Ryan, Narrative as virtual reality, 183. 24 Crawford, Video gamers, 23-26. 25 Dominic Arsenault and Bernard Perron, “In the Frame of the Magic Cycle, The Circle(s) of Gameplay,” In The video game theory reader 2, edited by Bernard Perron and Mark J.P. Wolf. (New York : Routledge, 2009), 113-121.

12 And these are constantly being utilised by everyone who wishes to grasp their situation. Each frame is an organisation of former experiences and knowledge of expectations, roles and codes. And switching frames morphs the behaviour and social patterns into others because different situations highlight different elements meaning other attitudes and codes are required. Gamers are very proficient at swapping frames, for example, when they discuss in- game and out of game topics or when they refer to the avatar as ‘I’. In spite of the focus of aspects in various frames changing, there are elements that continue to remain relevant even in other frames. Hence there is crosspollination among the frames. Play, since it is embedded in the external world, is multi-layered. There is the so-called primary frame consists out of natural and the social dimensions. This frame roots play in reality and social life. The secondary frame that consists out of keying, all participants are aware of the situation, and fabrication or deceiving. It enables the gamer to comprehend the virtual game-world.26

“An intermediate agency, instrument, or channel; a means; esp. a means or channel of communication or expression.”27

If we accept this definition, games should be seen as medium and as text. With the birth of digital games and its increasing omnipresence, new ways of telling narratives are being discovered. Even if the narrative of most genres is superficial and the narrative that is actually present is borrowed. There is a great potential for more. Furthermore, it has been suggested that narrative in computer games backs down in importance for the benefit of features innate to games. Due to the interactivity innate to games, it offers the player a role marked by participation. A degree of participation never reached before by other artistic disciplines. The once voyeuristic audience position of narrative cinema changes into participation.28 It is true that there are genres where the intrigue is only a pretext for playing. But remember that we analyse RPG’s where the narrative and characters are crucial. Even though characters and story are not the equivalent of their counterparts in books written by authors. This does not mean that the narrative backs down. Features such as statistics are in service to the role-player and enables him to construct a story out of a plot, selves out of virtual vehicles.

26 Crawford, Video gamers, 20-28. 27 Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “Medium,” accessed 07 July 2014, http://www;oed.com/view/Entry/115772?redirectedFrom=medium#eid 28 Kerr, digital games, 24-34.

13 Utilising theories of literature, theatre and film for analysing videogames is well-founded owing it to the fact that there are overarching elements; for instance the use of tension, the presence of empathy, the use of cameras, quest from fairy tales and so on. Though one needs to be aware of the limitations.29 An example of the limitations is the Aristotelian theory about narrative infers that the medium is of little importance and that the narrative can be easily carried over, whereas more current thoughts give the user a central position. Or inadequate concepts of discourse time and story time. When applying these rules in a game world results in actions or gameplay by the player. Therefore time in games is an interaction between user time and event time. Or narratology theories that prefer aesthetic ideals instead of characteristics typically for games.30 Yet part of the ludologist school is resistant to the inclusion of theories from other fields, arguing that games existed before electronic platforms like computers. And that games are essentially played, not consumed. Also, games do not transfer messages or meaning because meaning arises from participation and it is not inscribed in the software and hardware.31 The drifting away from the narrative towards interaction is accompanied by a static-dynamic dichotomy between media: games are dynamic and literature is static.32 These arguments seem particularly weak because it is a narrow definition if one considers only electronic devices as media, there were media before computers. The definition of media is crystal clear; language, images, etc. … basically all signs and conveyers of signs are canals where information flows through and are therefore media. Furthermore any game revolving around a story, RPGs being exemplar, endorse a message. It is true that the player creates meaning by interacting though this does not prevent developers also to express a message. It is not a case of either/or but of and/and. As for the participation versus consumption; consumption is not passive because it entails giving meaning and use to the artefact. Participation is on the one side between the game and gamer and on the other side with the game community. Meaning produced by the community is labelled as paratext: reviews, comments and marketing.33 The aspect of participation ties in with the misconception of the nature of motion pictures, literature, theatre as static and the nature of digital games is as dynamic. Both are dynamic, interpretation is not a passive brain activity. The performing, configuring (to alter the virtual

29 ibidem, 26. 30 ibidem, 22-34. 31 Crawford, Video gamers, 4-12. 32 Kerr, digital games, 34. 33 Crawford, Video gamers, 4-12.

14 world) role has to do with the control over the medium which is different from passive or active stance of the user, spectator or reader. Not all ludologists reject the idea of games as media. Since the tripartite communication model of sender-message-receiver is inadequate for computer games, theorists from the ludologist school proposed the user-verbal sign-medium communication model for the medium of games. The user could be the developer or the player.34 Though the weakness of the new model is that the developer is powerless when it comes to transmitting meaning, which is not the case with story-centric RPGs, and consequently infers that there is no implied gamer to guide the player to the meaning. The model should be developer-verbal sign- medium-verbal sign-gamer, with the meaning as kernel of the interaction with the medium. With the shortcomings of the narratology theories the cybernetic circuit has been proposed as an alternative. It revolves around the interaction between text and player. During the play session four elements of the cybernetic intercourse interact: the user/gamer, the interface that the gamer uses, the engine which the gamer has accesses through the interface and finally the data itself. The processing engine is the motor that determines the rules, the game world and how both are depicted. As a result the engine drives the action undertaken by the player. And the reason why narratology cannot analyse videogames because the gamer identifies with the whole system not with characters. And games are spatial stories meaning that geography transfers narrative.35

The struggle between ludology and narratology is context in which this dissertation can be understood. And now that the struggle between both schools has been portrayed, we would like to plead for a multidisciplinary viewpoint for the study of digital games because it could be argued that since media, old and new, remediate each other; there are no pure and independent media. The meaning of a medium is impacted by the process of mutual remediation.36 A unified model is more accurate and dependable which is not the case with a delineated model. Games as part of reality surpasses a single standpoint as the ludologic approach. Dimensions of games relate to other disciplines and ideas, i.e. the economic aspect of the gaming industry. To eliminating influences from other fields is to eliminating innovation. The emerging field that studies is founded on the field of narratology and the field of ludology, these are not mutual exclusive. Games have rules, goals and confront the player

34 Kerr, digital games, 28. 35 ibidem, 27-28. 36 Jay Bolter and Richard Grusin, Remediation : understanding new media, (Cambridge: MIT press, 1998), 55.

15 with a conflicting situation. The game state is at the same time visually and auditory represented. Mäyrä calls the rules the core and the sensory representation the shell.37 The designation of the representation as shell is risky because it can be interpreted as if it is a mere façade, while it is a powerful device to instigate emotions and consequently the engrossment of the player.

Ludologists forefront play and game theories instead of text and media theories which narratologists do. Games have rules, goals and operate in a magic circle. The magic circle does not separate the activity in time and space from other social activities but act as a frame made up out of former experiences, codes and norms that allow comprehension. Collaboration is essential because the gameplay, the representation and the gamer must be considered. Theories from literature, cinema, theatre can shed light on numerous processes in games but we must not equate games to these other disciplines and remind ourselves of the particular characteristics of computer games.

Narratology versus Ludology: competition between media ?

We rendered the debate that reigns in the studies of video games and we made our position clear by pleading for collaboration. It is possible however to interpret the opposition of the fields in the light of the following. Computer games as one of the most recent media has an interesting relationship with the preceding media. The media compete with each other and participate in reciprocal remediation.38 Hence we hypothesise that the clash of narratology versus ludology can be understood as a competition between those who affiliate themselves with the traditional medium of literature and those who associate themselves with the newer medium of digital games. Hence the interactive quality of games is overvalued by the narratologists whilst they diminish the dynamic nature of literature.39 We could interpret this attitude as fitting in a climate of competition where media, and those subscribed to the medium, want to set themselves apart and prone their uniqueness in a space where many other media compete for

37 Frans Märyä, “Getting into the Game, Doing Multidisciplinary Game Studies,” In The video game theory reader 2, ed. Bernard Perron and Mark J.P. Wolf. (New York : Routledge, 2009), 315- 319. 38 Bolter and Grusin, Remediation, 55. 39 Crawford, Video gamers, 4-12.

16 attention. And one medium desires to gain the upper hand and claim that what it does, interactivity in the case of computer games, it does that element better than any other medium. This is not the first time that this happens, for instance the Paragone between painting and poetry which started a few centuries ago. Bellow we see examples of the competitive conflict.

Some deduce out of the fact that immersion is a creative and imaginative process, that games are artistic in nature.40 Though Ryan postulates the idea that art differs from games because art possesses the innate characteristic of self-renewal. In literature each reading is new, reading is seen as a never-ending activity since meaning cannot be exhausted and regenerates.41 Computer games only induce the desire of reaching the goal and lingering in the virtual world. Additionally games once ‘beaten’ do not have any replay value according to Ryan. But she admits there is common ground between art and game since players reconstruct the narrative.42

The stance of Ryan can be contrasted with Crawford’s. The latter considers the audience of a movie, theatre or a reader to be passive. The artist of the more traditional art forms delivers the artistic experience as a completed package which the audience members or readers can open and undergo the artistic experience in identically the same manner. The experience has been prepared to the last detail. And the viewers cannot participate or they will mingle with the artistic production. A computer game is different since the creator determines the rules of interaction, not the experience itself.43 Furthermore, a game is different from a story in that the latter is only interesting the first time. After the first time the story becomes redundant due to the fact that the story has no new information to propose. When reading a book we make assumptions about what will happen. The author uses these to create surprise by adding unexpected turns and twists. Crawford argues that in order for the surprise effect to work the reader must approach the story from one angle. While games respond to the choices and actions.44

Ryan’s mistake lies in her denial of the renewal of videogames. She states that once the game has been beaten it becomes irrelevant. This would be the case with rail shooters,

40 Ryan, Narrative as virtual reality, 306-317. 41 ibidem, 183. 42 ibidem, 306-317. 43 Crawford, Computer Game Design, 2-3. 44 ibidem, 9-10.

17 shooters with limited control and where the navigation is predetermined, or games where the player is consistently in a corridor with little space to manoeuvre or implement their playing style. But open story driven games, such as Role-Playing Games or hybrids of it, do possess replayability. Replayability is a word used amongst gamers to indicate the replay value of the game. With RPG’s, the player is stimulated to play it again but in another way, by making new choices and exploring the consequences of those other choices, exploring other branches of the narrative tree or by interpreting the role differently. Apart from the replayability, videogames can be seen as media text. Media texts are interactive texts. It exists out of the organisation of the media message by the game developer, and the interpretations of the gamer which produces the text. This thought foregrounds the polysemantic nature and the plurality of experiences with the form of the message. Recent media text gain an extra level in comparison to traditional text. The latter divides between the text written by the author and the text grasped by the reader. The former distinguishes the engineered text, the presented text and the constructed text.45

Crawford’s misconception lies in the fact that he considers the information processing and interpretation by the audiences as passive. And that viewer or reader is only on the receiving end of the creative process. There is no interaction: once the creation is finalised and then presented to the art lover. Yet if we take the interpretative actions of the audience into account, the art piece only becomes complete when it is seen by the audience. The reader of a novel is an integral part of the creative process and cannot be set apart from it. Furthermore, he denies the renewal of a story by arguing that after reading it once there is no new information. However meaning evolves, no reading is twice the same since it depends on the life experiences and thoughts of the reader and these change throughout one’s life .

Ryan and Crawford are the advocates of their perspective, respectively narratology and ludology. And both their disclaim is situated in a context where literature and video games are at odds with each other. With a multitude of media nowadays, media endeavour to draw the attention, to portray themselves as unique and to remain relevant. Ryan denies the renewal of games through replayability and media text. Crawford rejects the interactive element of interpreting traditional text and the renewal of stories via its polysemantic nature.

45 Kerr, digital games, 20-21.

18 1.2 The Role-Playing Game Genre and Subgenres: a Conundrum

After having discussed the definition of games as a system of rules and goals and the standpoints about studying it, we should focus on the role-playing genre. Classifying is in general something complicated. Games are no exception. There are always issues concerning exceptions and hybrids covering multiple categories. Genres even change depending on the culture. And as time proceeds the classification becomes inaccurate and in some cases even outdated because new (sub)genres have been developed or genres die out. And to make matters more confusing, genres can also be integrated as a gameplay element in another genre, i.e. puzzle games. The pursue of an accurate and consistent classification for games should be based on core features: the balance among gameplay, story and simulation.46 This chapter is by no means an effort to make our own classification. The purpose of this chapter is to state our awareness of the issue. Additionally, we hope to clarify what the RPG genre encompasses and position it the diverse classifications.

The system that exists now among developers and gamers functions more as orientation. The label of RPG signals the gamer the conventions and expectations of the genre. The core features associated with role playing are: statistics, maps, back stories, focus on character and magic.47 This is echoed by Van Looy et al. The names of the genres are linked to either the gameplay, content, context of playing, social context, etc. Therefore the categories have little to no uniformity. Call of Duty and Battlefield are so-called shooters which refers to the gameplay element. The action-adventure genre received the name due to a representational characteristic, namely the narrative that has an adventurous connotation. Role-play is a genre derived from the table-top RPGs. And as the name suggests, the gamer plays a role. In other words play style is emphasised. Though the weight for the computer version shifted to the fantasy element and statistics. Guild Wars 2 is a Massive Multiplayer Online which refers to the social context. These games have servers where players meet on the internet.48 And then there is the hurdle of identifying the subgenres. Thiboust’s, a developer, efforts at differentiating the subgenres resulted in three groups: the Narrative, the Sandbox

46 Kerr, digital games, 38-41. 47 ibidem, 38-40. 48 Jan Van Looy, , Dimitri Schuurman, Katrien De Moor, and Lieven De Marez. “Gamegenres En Gamermotivaties: Putting Two and Two Together (and Making Five?).” In Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap (Nijmegen: Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 2009), 3.

19 and the Dungeon Crawler RPG. The foundation of the division lies in the experience the game envisions for the player. Depending on this experience some features become obligatory or redundant. We can read this as an implied gamer: a structure of features that promotes a specific reading and performance. Mass Effect and Witcher 2 are Narrative RPGs because the emphasis lies on the story and immersion. Features like skilltree and items should be limited, if not these start to function as a red herring: it averts the attention of the player from the main quest. Sandbox RPGs, like Fall Out and Skyrim, focus on the freedom to explore and to be anyone. Here story acts as distraction. In Dungeon Crawlers, such as Diablo, statistics of the skills and loot are important. The story is merely a context and a large world detracts from the experience. Thiboust remarks that these three subgenres have each a unique goal. And with it a different type of player is attracted. And hybridising the goals leads to lesser experiences.49 Though there are issues, he is too categorical and rigid especially with what Thiboust claims about that which the subgenres cannot do. Each subgenre emphasises either the story, the world or the character but these are far from mutual exclusive. The statement that open world dilutes the story is quite the unfounded assumption. The features connected with character ensure that the game excels in portraying the character but it does not impede the open world or story. The enjoyment of character, world and story happen at different points of time. A Role-Playing Game is not a unified experience of only the story or only the world, instead these are fragmented experiences that are afterwards imagined as unified. The player embodies the spectator and the performer. And the divers dimensions - story, character, world - of the performed gameplay can easily be segregated in time and space without hampering one another. Another point of critique is that he rejects the subgenre of MMORPG Guild Wars 2. And he does not foresee any room for games utilising features from the RPG genre such as Dishonored which has open areas to explore, it has skills, the gear can be upgraded, there is a choice in the fashion of playing and it is very story driven.

There have been attempts for a more scientific or at least more systematic grouping. One of the earlier attempts to create a videogame taxonomy set two groups apart: the skill and action games opposing the strategy games. For Crawford skill and action foreground the perception and motoric elements while strategy centres the cognitive aspect when playing. The story-driven games that we analyse are categorised under strategy, in the subgroup of adventure and D&D games to be precise. Adventures let the player gather the necessary gear

49 Jordane Thiboust, “Focusing Creativity: RPG Genres,” accessed 30 June 2014, http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/185353/focusing_creativity_rpg_genres.php

20 to overcome obstacles and reach the end. D&D games are fantasy role-playing games with roots in the pen-and-paper version. The pen-and-paper Dungeons and Dragons was led by a dungeonmaster who was the authoritative figure managing the rules. Now with the digital RPGs the dungeonmaster and dice have been replaced by the PC. The difficulty of distinguishing adventure and D&D games is owed to the crosspollination of the genres.50 This taxonomy, however, is hopelessly outdated. For example, the paddle game genre refers to games influenced by Pong. This genre is now dead.51 Although, Crawford does mention something important that will help us surpass the issue of the inconsistent criteria of popular categorisation: the pen-and-paper RPG such as Dungeon & Dragons. Another classification is the paidia-ludus spectrum. Paidia means improvisation and include the less goal orientated games. The ludus clearly has rules and goals. Witcher, Guild Wars, Mass Effect and Dishonored all lean towards the ludus wing. Play has also been classified into modes. The mode that concerns RPG’s is the simulation or mimicry. The mimicry mode is for all games that involve make-believe. However the role-play genre can also encompass the other modes which are competition, chance and vertigo. The final mode entails all play subverting order. Besides modes of play there are also forms of play. The later count nine variations: subjective, solitary, playful, informal social, vicarious audience, performance, celebrations, contest and risky play. The three forms interesting for RPG’s are solitary, because the player uses a computer, and vicarious audience play, i.e. the gamer is to some extent a spectator analogous to films or concerts or theatre, and informal social play, due to the use of internet for multiplayer, i.e. MMORPGs.52 Next categorisation took on the structural aspect of interactivity as foundation and separated computer games in the following groups. Action games, the type of interactivity here is a well-timed reaction. With war games the interactivity has a competitive nature. Strategy games lets the player decide based on the environment. And adventures where the gamer needs to interact in a logical way. The final group would be simulations.53 The role-playing genre would belong under adventures because the performing or configuring role-player inscribes himself in a logical narrative event sequence of cause and effect. A similar classification made a division between dynamic and static videogames on the basis of interactivity. The last type covers all games that are too rigid. The first type gives a high

50 Crawford, Computer Game Design, 22-31. 51 Jan Van Looy et al., “Gamegenres En Gamermotivaties,” 2. 52 Kerr, digital games, 30-31 53 Jan Van Looy et al., “Gamegenres En Gamermotivaties,” 2.

21 degree of freedom and is able to adjust depending on the play style.54 RPGs - by offering options linked to consequences - is definitely one of the more dynamic games that is able to adapt to the gamer. Some taxonomies go as far as to recognises 43 genres. Amongst all these genres role-playing appears and is defined as follows. Identity is the focus because players create or take an avatar. This avatar has characteristics such as race and gender, professions and skills. Most of these elements have statistics bound to them. The genre can be single or/and multiple- player.55

While some ludologists try to part from the popular genres, there are those who take over the popular genres but are filled in another way. Action games are subdivided in first and third person shooters. Simulations incorporates flight simulations. Though the game Sims receives the label of strategy game. And the last group belongs to role-playing games.56 The reason why the role-playing genre is stable and consistent in how it is filled in is due to the inspiratory: on one side the popular literary genre and on the other side the D&D game. The genre is intensely linked to the literary genre of fantasy. A literary genre with prominent figures like Tolkien according to Apperley.57 Punday confirms this, the source of magical and fantastical can be traced back to popular literature where authors like Jules Verne and Tolkien are seen as models. And even if digital games differ from literature in that it goes beyond interpreting the story, the fantasy, science-fiction and horror genre interact with each other across the media. This symbiosis stimulates the curiosity of the audience. Consequently, readers of fantasy literature who wish to explore the genre will turn to these videogames, and vice versa. In addition, authors rely on existing RPG’s to write books. This reciprocal inspiration helps to advance the genre in general. Punday states that introducing fantasy or science-fiction elements seems to have no impact. However without it the RPG would just be an outdated simulation.58 This is not the case with videogames, without the fantastical games are not per se outdated. There are historical or contemporary RPGs without magical beast and artefact that allow role-play. And the presence or absence does not hinder the player agency.

54 Kerr, digital games, 114. 55 Mark J. P. Wolf, “Genre and the Video Game,” in Handbook of computer game studies, ed. Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Goldstein. (Mass.: MIT Press, 2005), 202. 56 Jan Van Looy et al., “Gamegenres En Gamermotivaties,” 2. 57 Thomas H. Apperley, “Genre and game studies: Towards a critical approach to videogame genres,” Simulation & Gaming: An International Journal of Theory Practice and Research 37, nr. 1 (2006): 17-19. 58 Daniel Punday, “Creative Accounting: Role-playing Games, Possible-World Theory, and the Agency of Imagination.” Poetics Today 26 (2005): 120-121, accessed 20 July 2013. http://poeticstoday.dukejournals.org/content/26/1/113.

22 The symbiosis is certainly the case for The Witcher which is based on the books by Andrzej Sapkowski. Or the novels and comics that the Mass Effect universe spawned. The intertextuality is noticeable with the mythological creatures, godlike figures and heroes. The statistical dynamics allows to homogenise the amalgam of elements. It streamlines and makes interaction between all the elements from diverse backgrounds or textual worlds possible. The role-players rely on their experience and knowledge of the genre to connect the various sources. And the play sessions can therefore be described as hypertextual. The navigation in the hypertext space is a matter of parallelism, from link to link. Besides the fantasy literary genre, the RPG has its origin in the battle simulations: with a map of the battlefield and miniatures on it. It has been updated and popularised by Dungeons & Dragons. Then MUD’s and other forms arose based on D&D.59 In D&D there are the players with characters on the one side. And the dungeon master on the other, who conveys the fantasy world to the players. The players rely on their imagination as the story is concerned, and dice to see if their actions succeed or fail. The computer RPGs does differ from the original pen-and-paper in that it remediates the dungeon master, the throw of dice and represents the fantasy world instead of the player.60

The popular genre classification is inconsistent because it lacks a common criteria. Attempts have been made to resolve this and create a better grouping of video games but without success. The popular genre categorisation teach us that statistics, maps, back stories, focus on character and magic are the conventions connect to the role-play. The academic categorisations mentioned above teach us that the genre is cognitive (strategy), has rules and goals instead of improvisation (ludus), revolves around make-believe (mimicry), turns the player in a solitary spectator behind a computer though possibly social via the internet (solitary, vicarious audience, informal social), presents a logical cause and effect plot (adventure), is highly adaptable to players (dynamic). Regardless of the various classifications, everyone understands out of what the RPG genre consists of due to its origin: the pen-and-paper RPG and the literary movement under Tolkien.

59 ibidem, 122. 60 Apperley, “Genre and game studies,” 17-19.

23 Motivation, Player Types as key to the Conundrum.

The academic efforts of dividing into genres based on one characteristic, thus following the structuralist approach, are not without problems. One of the problems with these ludologist taxonomies is that these try to give precise labels to games however they are not able to explain the popular genres. These categorisations result only in a showcase of the wide panorama that is the videogame.61 All these taxonomies of play or games(genres) ignore the players.62 Maybe the motivations of the gamers will shed more light on the popular categorisation and explain the expectations that they have towards certain genres.

The general motivation behind playing games is that it is fun, pleasure can be derived from it. It needs to be remarked that pleasure with games is heterogeneous and flexible in nature. The pleasure in a particular gamer is not a constant as it is subject of the know-how and savoir-faire of the person among other things. These two influence the play styles.63 And the attitude of the gamer - curiosity, virtuosity or skilfulness, nurture, sociality and suffering (pain and fear) - leads to different pleasures.64 According to Crawford, when it comes to games and genres two elements must be considered, namely the motivation and selection. The selection of games are founded on gameplay and sensory gratification. The essential elements of gameplay are the quality, pacing and the required effort it demands. And the latter consists out of the music, animations, graphics which are supporting factors. The aesthetic is not the kernel element of games, interactivity is. But it supports the core aspect.65 We do not agree with the observation that the representation, out of where sensory gratification ensues from, is mere support. Gameplay and representation when it comes to role-playing are both crucial for performing an identity. The former allows the acting as the protagonist but the latter instigates emotions by visualising the outcomes of the gamer’s actions. Initially three drives for playing (MMO)RPGs were mapped. Achievement is understood as advancement, piercing the mechanics and competing. The second element involves socialising, relationships and cooperating. While immersion encompasses

61 Jan Van Looy et al., “Gamegenres En Gamermotivaties,” 2. 62 Crawford, Video gamers, 20. 63 Kerr, digital games, 114-119. 64 Aki Järvinen, “Understanding Video Games as Emotional Experiences,” in The Video Game Theory Reader 2, ed. Bernard Perron and Mark J. P. Wolf. (New York: Routledge, 2009), 102-103. 65 Crawford, Computer Game Design, 15-19.

24 exploration, story and roles, escapism or the desire to fantasise in order to be released from the everyday routine.66 The three drives resemble more or less Crawford’s mapping of motivations. He mentions escapism, skilfulness, acknowledgment, social interaction which all fit in the three-way umbrella of motivations. Yet Crawford mentions something else nose- thumbing. Games cast the player in situations beyond socially accepted conventions. However the computer games give a context in order to cover the unacceptable.67 Nose-thumbing does not fit in the three-way achievement-immersion-socialising umbrella, but it is related to it. It determines the nature of the situation in which the player is immersed, therefore it determines how he socialises and how he achieves the required standard of performing. Nose-thumbing is not automatically negative. Videogames often place the player in socially unacceptable or unattainable situations. Hence a vacuum without norms or conventions is created. This position allows the role-player to experiment with his own identity by pretending to be someone else. Hence the role-player is able to enlarge his emotional horizon and his social perspectives. So games are in a sense private laboratories where the moulding and care of the own identity takes place. In other words, role-playing foregrounds the experimental aspect with regard to one’s identity.68 An incentive more specific for RPGs is the enjoyment of experimenting with identity and fantasies. And games with intertextual elements similar to the Witcher give the opportunity to play the protagonist of books, e.g. Gerralt of Rivia, or movies and reside in those imaginative worlds.69 It gives the opportunity for fans to play an active role in the fandom. Keeping the intertextual nature in mind, the core of RPG revolves around reorganizing; thus making new combinations of narratives of which the player is fan of. The role-player emulates the fantasy, science-fiction and horror subgenres by gaming. Players can intervene and gain control in the virtual medium. This type of agency is unprecedented in the media landscape where most stand outside of the everyday person’s control.70 However MMORPGs have an advantage over singleplayer RPGs when it comes to identity experimentation in that there are multiple avatar slots. All these require a high standard of skill from the player to remain in control.71 The idea of identity experimentation brings up the next point. Playing games for freedom or being in control. The freedom to play multiple virtual avatars and to be in control in order to

66 Crawford, Video gamers, 58-62. 67 Crawford, Computer Game Design,15-19. 68 Jan Van Looy and Cédric Courtois and Melanie De Vocht,. “Player Identification in Online Games: Validation of a Scale for Measuring Identification in MMORPGs,” In Fun and Games (Leuven: ACM, 2010), 197-198. 69 Kerr, digital games, 114-119. 70 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 121-122. 71 Kerr, digital games, 114-119.

25 explore. Although in some cases the control is contested.72 Even RPG’s, depending on the viewpoint, do not always revolve around being in control: to crawl in the skin of the protagonist and lose the own identity. The three-way achievement-immersion-socialising umbrella was expanded to four activities or motives and bound to them five player types. The clustered activities are achievement, exploration, socialising and imposition (helping or griefing, harassing). The players interested in those activities - for singleplayer and multiplayer games - are achievers, explorers, killers and cheaters. Unique for multiplayer game are the socialisers. Most players have one main style. However if and when other styles are more advantageous for progressing than the gamer will shift to the other style.73 Similar to imposition, which encompasses griefing cheaters, is the pleasure of subverting the rules. It ranges from creating mods or modifications to cheating and trolling (purposely irritating other players). Overthrowing the rules is for some situations allowed or encouraged, like making mods - creating something new by modifying the program-, but the less creative ways of subverting like cheating is actively discouraged.74 Another more in-depth categorisation exists where age and gender are the condition for the type of player. There is the explorer-investigator who is curious and imaginative. His main focus lies on the quest. Followed by the self-stamper display themselves in the virtual world and express themselves through their avatar. Another type is the social climber who is competitive and is concerned about their positioning in the hierarchy. The forth type is the fighter. The collector-consumer accumulates resources. The power-user tries to figure out the underlying structure of the game in order to reach a high degree of expertise. The penultimate type is the life-system builder who is fascinated with giving shape to the surroundings. The final type, the nurturer, wish to play with others and taking care of their character.75 The social climber is unique to MMOs. And the nurture type players could be interested in (MMO)RPGs though this genre confronts the player with a conflicting situation and the solution to the conflict does not match the interest of a nurturer. With RPGs being one of the most open genre as they offer more liberty, the following remark should be made. In some cases open games increase all the possible player types. But in other cases, the transparency does not result in an increase of various types of players. It even has the opposite effect and reduces the possible types of players. Since the competence to fill the

72 ibidem, 114-119. 73 Crawford, Video gamers, 58-62. 74 Kerr, digital games, 114-119. 75 Crawford, Video gamers, 58-62.

26 gaps implies (intertextual) knowledge. The threshold rises because the gamers must fill the numerous gaps in the semantic, communicative and performative realisation. One could postulate that whenever the openness is of such extent that the game turns into a hermetic experience it is due to the inexperience of the subject. First encounters with the medium of videogames, fantasy and science-fiction, role-play can be opaque because the subject has no former experience on which he can continue to build. And he has therefore no framework in which he can operate. This points again to the importance of the frame theory.76 A number of motivations have been identified and the motivations have been linked to player types. But it has also been suggested that the type of uses & gratification could be linked to certain genres. For instance, displacement goes together with RPGs and excitement with action. However an issue with the uses and gratification is not always tied to in-game experiences, they tend to be extrinsic instead of motivations that lie in the activity itself. Nonetheless, some research did link intrinsic qualities with the popular genres. The groups are shooters, sport, racing, arcade, party, action-adventure, strategy, simulation, MMOG, role- play and adventure. The characteristics are story, characters, freedom, immersion, graphics, music, gameplay, duration, replay value, multiplayer, difficulty and thought. The findings lead to the conclusion that gamers attribute a lot of qualities to all the genres but the distribution among the genres is very different. The narrative criteria is the highest with RPGs. The opposite is the case with arcade, party and sport games. RPGs, MMOGs and action- adventures have the highest score for all the characteristics thus gamers expect the most of these genres.77 The ramifications of these findings could lead to a segregation of genres between the two schools. Shooter games fit the ludologist approach and the narratologist approach is more adequate for RPGs.

With the academic efforts of a more systematic and consistent genre classification the player is left out. The uses and gratification method helps the comprehension of the popular genres without forgetting the gamers. Pleasure is the main motive but its nature is heterogeneous and has numerous sources. The player selects the genre on the basis of gameplay and audio-visual representation. The type of gameplay determines the freedom and control of the player’s agency and his play style. The various motives are the freedom of achieving, socialising, immersion of exploring, experimenting with identity, imposing or subverting, nose-thumbing, etc. Thus certain genres attract certain types of player who have certain styles of playing because they have certain motivations. And research demonstrates that gamers expect the most from RPGs on all its dimensions.

76 Marco de Marinis and Paul Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” TDR 31 (1987): 101-104, accessed 26 July 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1145819. 77 Jan Van Looy et al. “Gamegenres En Gamermotivaties,” 3-4.

27 2. Role-Playing Games as Interactive Content.

In Chapter 1 we defined the two levels in which this dissertation is contextualised. Firstly, games are as system of rules and goals where the magic circle functions as a frame. But it is also a multidimensional artefact that has connections with cinema, the pen-and-paper D&D, music, art; and deserves therefore a multidisciplinary approach. Secondly, we defined the Role-Playing Game genre. The issues with the popular genres and the attempts from the academic world and the problem of forgetting the player. By looking at why gamers play and why they select specific genres helps to understand the popular classification and shed more light on what is important for RPGs. In Chapter 2 we discuss interactive content based on three elements: remediation and how the video game medium assimilates older media to form its own content; the implied gamer, a structure that interacts with the player in order to attain a specific interpretation and performance; and, finally, the game-world as a set of quest and objects with statistical value. In the study of games, the narratologist approach applies literary theories and theories form other fields on digital games whilst the ludologist practice demands new theories. With this debate about what approach is best, one can understand that relying on literary, i.e. implied reader and self-fashioning, and dramatic, i.e. dramaturgy of the spectator, theories is controversial. Yet these can be implemented without reducing the value of gameplay.78

However nuance is needed since criticism has been vocalised towards the notion of interaction, asserting that it is limited or even an illusion. Players are often put on a linear path when it comes to narrative and gameplay. If classes of interactivity can be distinguished - from limited interactivity to rising - there is allocation, consultation, registration and conversational. And games would be located between registration, adaptive display, and conversational, direct and in actual time. While the gamer converses with the soft- and hardware, the programme registers. The idea of game as sole interactive medium in comparison to film or books as passive is not solid. Text can be as open or closed as games because readers also fill in the gaps, interpret, imagine and even misread.79 The legitimacy of this criticism depends to what genre it is being levelled. In the end shooters are more susceptible to linearity. And even if openness is an element RPGs use to describe themselves with, the branching narrative in RPGs and viable configurations for a successful performance are confined. Although as technology will evolve, the amount of options will increase and create more opportunities for enhanced interactivity in the RPG genre.

78 Kerr, digital games, 26. 79 Crawford, Video Gamers, 73-76.

28 2.1 Remediating other Media: a matter of two forces

As stated earlier in the chapter about competition in the mediascape, recent media incorporate older ones. Consequently, its content is defined by the older media. This process is called remediation. It happens in four different ways: highlighted and represented, improvement, aggressive refashioning and complete absorption. Role-Playing Games belong to the last category. Games incorporate literature, television, film and the pen-and-paper, by incorporating the older to such a degree that the gap between them is as little as possible. Yet film and literature are by no means totally erased. Moreover, by incorporating television games possess hypermediacy, and immediacy by integrating cinema.80 Remediation is in a sense an intertextuality but on the level of the medium, “intermediality”. When stating that older media make up the content of newer media, content is more than just the subject matter of the games, the narrative with its themes and motifs. The “intermediality” transcends transmedia where stories and ideas are shared among the parties of the entertainment industry. The content means here the characteristics of the medium itself: the camera, interactivity, music, dice from the pen-and-paper. In order to decode the function of the camera in digital games the player falls back on his experience with films and his understanding of how the camera functions in it. Even if games absorb and convert the cinematic camera thus altering the use of cameras.81 Remediation is compromised out of immediacy and hypermediacy. The immediacy of digital games dictates that the medium, on one side, desires to recreate reality. On the other side the hypermediation aspect of games strives to surpass the representational. The sense of reality comes about when the medium increases the mediation. Both aspects are responsible for the transparent and the authentic experience as if it was reality.82 The videogame medium is marked by a precarious balance between immediacy and hypermediacy. While immediacy results in the immersion of the gamer, hypermediacy enables interaction through the multiplicity of data. With the former succeeding homogenising the abundancy of images and information thus in smoothing out the creases made by the latter.83 Yet transparency and the multiplication of mediation could also be contradictory notions. This reverberates in the idea that spectacle is a crucial part of games.

80 Bolter and Grusin, Remediation, 44-50. 81 Crawford, Video Gamers, 86-87. 82 Bolter and Grusin, Remediation, 4-20. 83 ibidem, 4-20.

29 But beholding it is undercutting the interactivity.84 Still, despite the potentially destructive contrast, both are needed for a sense of presence in the game. And both are by definition present in all videogame genres though not to the same degree. Singleplayer games emphasise immediacy more than hypermediacy. Contrary to the multiplayer games which is founded on hypermediacy.85 For instance, Witcher 2 is not only founded on the fantasy world of the polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, it also assimilates the literary medium. When the gamer explores the zones in Witcher 2 he can find textual excerpts which reports the background story of the witcher fantasy world. This incorporation enables RPG’s to pass on narrative elements which are still important for a deeper and insightful understanding of the imaginary world but cannot be passed on through primary cinematic narrative transmitters such as cut- scenes. Moreover the quoting is not complete since the textual excerpts are not vital for transmitting the virtual world nor is it the sole element along which the imaginative process is active. Unlike MUD’s, the predecessors of RPG, where the whole world and the character’s actions are conveyed through text.86

Transparency and Interactivity for the sake of Immersion

We use the theory of remediation to explain that computer games are inherently interactive and immersive. RPGs, by incorporating the dynamic of immediacy and hypermediacy, are able to pull the player beyond the representation and offer a sense of transparency and a fullness to him. Immediacy is possible due to automation and effacing. And hypermediacy is made possible by the windowed mode. Resulting in respectively transparency and interactivity, thus a sense of presence ensues for the gamer. This whole process ensues by quoting other media, an intertextuality for media so to speak. RPGs incorporate these contradictory notions and forms a precarious balance. If the game fails the balancing act then the player will never be engrossed.

Computer games incorporates the forces of immediacy and hypermediacy. Immediacy is the transparency of representation. The fantastical virtual world poses itself as real. The gamer looks through the screen into the virtual world thus he is unaware of the mediation. However it still depends on the one hand on the software and hardware, if broken the intended

84 Kerr, digital games, 36. 85 Bolter and Grusin, Remediation, 4-20. 86 ibidem, 44-45.

30 illusion is disrupted, and on the other hand immediacy depends on hypermediacy.87 Special effects and CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) in trailers for games and motion capture in cut-scenes demonstrate the pursuit for an ever increasing transparency of presentation.88 The opposite of immediacy is hypermediacy. A dynamic that arises through an abundancy of images and data. It involves the principle of interaction and the notion of windowed mode. These two elements result in the opacity of games. Whereas immediacy conceals the medium and the remediation for player, hypermediation confronts the gamer with the medium, remediation.89 Since Role-Playing Games are balancing immediacy and hypermediation the gamer is not perpetually immersed during his play session. Moments of immersion are interlaced with moments of hyperconsciousness. The gamer receives gratification from both moments. The role-player experiences enjoyment from the immersion when the virtual experience reaches a high degree of transparency. And the gamer feels yet again gratification when the immersive experience turns into a recognition of medium, because the temporary aspect of the socially- unacceptable or dangerous role is foregrounded: there is no real risk. This idea is reinforced by other observations. The pauses in games entail an off and online status.90 The state of play is flexible and the gamer switches between states of play and non-play.91 When certain activities in games become chores than the gamer falls out of the game frame.92 More on this in the chapter about the dual spectator-performer position of gamers. Instances of switching consciousness are when the player turns in a quest, triggering a scripted scene, afterwards experience is rewarded to him and levels up the gamer is asked to allocate the skillpoint in the skilltree. And he presses the specific key to bring up the window with the skilltree. Or after killing the villainous creatures the gamer opens up his inventory window in order to select which loot these creatures dropped are worth keeping.

On the one hand digital games adopt the immediacy strategies of the former media, namely linear perspective, effacing and automating.93 The linear perspective strategy effaces

87 ibidem, 21-23. 88 Simon Parkin. “L.A. Noire’s Pioneering Motion Capture Draws 'Line In The Sand' For Animation,” accessed 24 June 2014, http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/122183/LA_Noires_Pioneering_Motion_Capture_Draws_Line_In_The_S and_For_Animation.php. 89 Bolter and Grusin, Remediation, 31-44. 90 Kerr, digital games, 114 91 Crawford, Video gamers, 20. 92 ibidem 10. 93 Bolter and Grusin, Remediation, 24-25.

31 the surface of the screen, thus making the virtual fantasy world the extension of the gamer’s world. There is a continuity between the reality and the depicted world.94 This seeing through the screen also regards the imagination of the player, the mental image to be precise. The internal thoughts determine the digital image-player relation and it infers a type of seeing. A kind of seeing that revolves around what is represented or can be seen ‘through’ the game; for example what the characters mean for the player.95 The automation eliminates both the production process and the human element.96 Or it at least reduces the role of the developer in the reproduction process to a certain degree. For videogames the automation is based on software and hardware. The hardware is the computer used by the developer and the gamer. The software are the game engines: Frostbite 3 for Mass Effect, Unreal Engine 3 for Dishonored, REDengine 3 for Witcher 2. These engines cover the graphics, the physics, the sound, the Artificial Intelligence and so on and so forth. After downloading the game the computer, the software automatically renders the entire virtual world. Hence eliminating developers behind the game and the actors behind the cut-scenes. Still, if linear perspective was not enough for artist painters and they also had to efface their strokes, does this not mean that any human touch that remains despite the remediation is a resistance of the remediation. Hence remediation is not total.97 If that is the case than we have to mention that the automation of the virtual has a more personal touch on the level of the game engine, because developers are able to create a new engine starting from scratch. And the agency to represent an imaginative reality lies in the developer via the engine. They stands between the fictional world and the gamer. The visual aesthetic and the narrative with the underlying themes are indicative of the developers’ agency. In addition, one also has to consider that hardware is part of the user interface and enables the gamer to interact with the world on the screen. The game developers must be removed in order for the agency to transport from them to the player. So the hardware erases the developer partially, by operating the software without the developers. Furthermore, automation converts the keyboard and mouse signals into actions, movement and manipulation of virtual objects. This is the point where immediacy crosses with hypermediacy. The erasure of the creators through automation is connected to the automation needed for the interactivity. All for the sake of immersion, a sense of presence.

94 ibidem, 24-25. 95 Ilham Dilman,“Imagination,” Analysis 28 (1968): 93-94, accessed 18 July 2013, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3328022. 96 Bolter and Grusin, Remediation, 25-27. 97 ibidem, 25.

32 Computer animation, for instance cut-scenes used in videogames, achieves filmic realism. It imitates cinema instead of external reality. Furthermore, one can witness an ever increase of popularity of MoCap/Motion Capture in digital media. Cameras captivate the gestures and expressions of the actor with a dotted face, in a tight-fitting suit. The erasure is once again present in the automation but this time the actor is being effaced. Since his body is being reproduced digitally on the screen, sometimes even with an entirely different body. The human touch still remains owing to his acting: his voice-acting, his gestures and facial expressions.98

On the other hand, RPG’s adopt the opacity of hypermediacy that originates from the shattered space and subsequently the shattered gaze from the gamer. This shattering is caused by the heterogeneity of images, menus and multiplication of the windowed mode. Hence content is presented simultaneously, contrary to immediacy which is chronological linear.99 The windowed mode ties in with the fragmentation of the medium. And the player becomes hyperconscious of the game as medium. RPGs incorporate pre-existing elements of music, animation and cinema, legends and fairy tales, comics and books, the dungeonmaster and dice. Only some parts are selected. The amalgam of elements are extracted out of their context and reinserted in a new one. This deconstruction and reconstruction turns the virtual world in a heterogeneous world.100 Digital games have multiple windows. We observe the following windows. The first window is the window of the monitor from the PC platform. The second window is the camera frame which is under the player’s control and can overlap with the first window since some games can be played full screen or windowed mode. The camera window is another intersecting point between both dynamics, the first point is situated in the automation. Then the third window opens up after clicking icons and links that show the map, the inventory, World versus World or Player versus Player information and links to join these instances. Moreover, Role-playing games present the narrative in both linear and simultaneous manners. Cut-scenes as linear narrative sequences are at specific moments interrupted in order to show heterogeneous content simultaneously which is reflected in the Heads-Up-Display and GUI. During moments of action there is a constant feedback related to the statistical nature of RPGs, for instance buffs and debuffs (status effects), hitpoints, skilldamage and cooldown, etc. This partially heterogeneous nature appeals the sensory

98 ibidem, 28-30. 99 ibidem, 31-34. 100 ibidem, 38-39.

33 capacities of the player and demands to endure the effort. When gaming, an overflow of information reaches the player at the same time. These images compete for his attention. Therefor the qualitative and quantitative requirements of observing are very high. The gamer disables a part of the mass stimuli. The elimination happens automatically and unconsciously. Focalisation and selective attention are two mechanics making this possible.101 The implied gamer is indebted to the player’s selection process. We will explain the concept next chapter. As stated before immersion and interaction are contradictory forces in the videogame medium. However this does not prevent hypermediation from manifesting itself in seemingly transparent and unified medium such as videogames. When a mythical dragon appears in the Wichter 2 or the titanic sentient machines are introduced in the Mass Effect-trilogy the virtual representation is heavily mediated since the seemingly realistic is disrupted by the fantasy or science-fiction element. The medium is a coexistence of immediacy and hypermediation, with the latter undercutting the former.102

Role-Playing Games are the result of remediating fantasy literature and comics, television and cinema, the pen-and-paper with the dungeon master. Through this process content of the medium has been multiplied. The role-player responds to this abundance of information by participating. At the same time automation erases a lot of the human agencies outside of the gamer, namely the developer and the dungeon master. And linear perspective effaces the screen allowing a seeing through the game that is connected to the imagination. Hence both tendencies, immediacy and hypermediacy are balanced in games. They also depend on each other and intersect at two points: the automation and the windowed mode. Automation enables immediacy but it also allows participation in the content by translating the player’s input via the interface. And the camera, as one of windows of the windowed mode, homogenises the profusion of content. But immediacy and hypermediation are not equally present in all games. Singleplayer games will emphasis on the immediacy while multiplayer focuses on hypermediation.

101 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 107-111. 102 Bolter and Grusin, Remediation, 34.

34 2.2 Implied Gamer

Despite some ludologists’ claims, meaning does not rise from the interaction between player and game alone. Meaning is also infused by developers into story-centric games. This preferred meaning is foregrounded by the structure of the game. The name for this preferred reading is the implied gamer. Reminiscent of the implied reader, the implied gamer is a fusion of attention directing techniques, namely the implied reader and the dramaturgy of the spectator. The implied gamer is the application of the implied reader on the domain of Role- Playing Games. Since these theories originate from other fields, adaptations should be made so that the implied gamer encompass more than only a narrative. The gameplay should also be taken into account.

When playing a game the concentration and perspective are manipulated on four main principles. The first principle is the altering balance. This idea corresponds with the implied gamer. The role-player shifts throughout the narrative to different perspectives: narrating elements, plot, characters and the role of the gamer in the narrative and role of the gamer in the gameplay. Secondly, there is the principle of opposition: every action brings forth a reaction. Feedback and consequences are crucial in RPG’s, short term as well as long term, because it grants the (re)action impact. An impact which enhances the sense of presence in the virtual world. The third principle is that of simplification. Some elements are neglected in order to push other elements on the forefront; for instance side quests rarely matter for main quests. The last principle of surplus energy includes the following thought: a maximum of energy for a minimum of impact. A lot of emotions and ideas are summoned in the role- player’s head. These are translated in energy during the interaction with the medium and in the fantastical world. The energy would translate into a wide panorama of behaviour yet due to restrictions, technology wise and others, only a handful of different behaviours and performances are possible.103 Aarseth claims that only open games hold an implied gamer that conveys controlled freedom to the player. The real player when gaming is the subject to a system constituted on rules, he is being played. This system has three levels. The first one, the implied gamer or player, has expectations towards the real player. The penultimate level of the interface supports the behaviour influenced by the expectations. And the final level of the virtual avatar represents

103 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 110.

35 the player’s conduct and indirectly the implied gamer.104 We do not agree with Aarseth’s statement that only open games possess an implied gamer. Closed games have as much of an implied gamer as open games. The difference is that in closed games the implied gamer looks more like a prison instead of a path with road directions. That is why surpassing the implied gamer is an option with Role-Playing Games. Vertigo play is harder with closed games than open games. Iser recognises two compounds of the implied reader: the textual structure and the structured act. However the dual elements do not suffice. The textual structure does not cover the entire game, only the narrative part of the game. But we suggest to implement a third element: namely as a virtual structure. This part deals with the underlying structure which enables the specific gameplay. On the one hand the game promotes the developers’ perspective on the world, narrative and gameplay wise, through the fashion in which it is structured. This viewpoint enables the player to actualise his role as protagonist in the narrative and as gamer. Moreover, the four perspectives that can be discerned in literature should become five perspectives: the narrating elements (cut-scenes, audiologs or books), the characters (and other players in the case of Guild Wars 2), the plot, the role for the gamer in the narrative and the role for the gamer in the gameplay. All five standpoints give a different direction from a different point. However they do fuse together in the meaning that the videogame has. This fusion takes place in the eyes of the player since his shifting of vantage points enables him to grasp the five perspectives.105 Although it has to be remarked that the player’s interpretation is also influenced by external factors: former experiences, paratext, polysemic nature of language. And thus one can deviate from the preferred reading. On the other hand the textual-virtual structure induces the structured performance and they will only be complete after the structured performance. So it happens that, while gaming, a chain of mental images emerges. The new images do not only replace the former images, they also provide the means to shift from standpoint. And in turn, the standpoint discerns the attitudes that have to be taken upon oneself during the image-building.106 It is in the separating of the attitudes that the frame theory meets the implied gamer. Attitudes, norms and codes formed during former experiences and socialisation are applied for interpreting. For example, the male gaze to which female characters are objected to. Each of the five

104 Espen Aarseth, 2007, “I fought the law: Transgressive play and the implied player,” In Situated Play: Proceedings of DiGRA 2007 Conference, Tokyo, 24/9/2007, 132, Tokyo: The University of Tokyo. 105 Wolfgang Iser, The Implied Reader: patterns of communication in prose fiction from Bunyan to Beckett (Baltimore : Johns Hopkins university press, 1983), 274-294. 106 ibidem, 274-294.

36 perspectives demand a new frame. Gamers are very skilled at switching frames even when the concept of camera belongs to two perspectives. The camera can be a part of the narrating elements when cut-scenes are triggered. Additionally, the camera is a part of the role for the gamer in the gameplay. Approaching the camera from either perspectives and switching between them happens smoothly for the average gamer. During the play session the story can never be understood as a whole. It needs to be clarified that the narrative in a Role-Playing Game is a dichotomy between plot and story. As stated earlier, the narrative in games is superficial and with some genres more than others. Even RPGs cannot match the depth of traditional novels. Plot is the intrigue, that which motivates the role-player to go on a journey. This plot is written by the developer and is inscribed in the digital game. Then there is the story which is not inscribed in the game but rises out of the game through the role-player’s imagination. It is the combination of the plot, characters, narrating elements on the one side and the gameplay on the other side. After completing one’s performance or configuration, which is an heterogeneous amalgam of simultaneous and competing data, it is reduced to a homogenous image that can understood and fits in the linear homogenous story. Going back to the holistic comprehension of the story. The role-player occupies a wandering viewpoint where expectations about the future and memories about the past unite. Expectations and memories are entangled in a dialectic process. The unfamiliar narrative and new experiences can only be experienced on the condition that past views and memories have been called upon as a context where are graspable. It is a matter of restructuring one’s own views and cannot be reduced to simply adding on. When participating in a role-playing game, the player reacts to what he has produced himself. And he enjoys the game as an actual event because of this reaction. The entire picture of the story can only be envisioned when the ever changing flux - of the construction of the perspective on the world - ends.107 The events become real not only because he reacts to the production of his perspective but also via his embodiment and mirror neurons. We treat mirror neurons in Chapter 6. Furthermore, expectations are already broken before the gamer is confronted with the story. The pre-expressive phase takes place when the fictional artificial body is being designed, in the character-creation stage. This body reinforces and distorts the normal proportions of the body.108

107 Iser, Wolfgang. The Act of Reading: a theory of aesthetic response (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins university press, 1983),108. 108 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 110.

37

As the game session progresses the player’s actions transform the game’s structures, textual and gameplay, into personal experiences. Game developers employ tactics, similar to books and motion pictures, which result in the RPG having tendencies and specific effects. These ensure the involvement and or self-expression of the role-player. The tactics form a structured network termed the implied gamer. This network of structures invites response and prompt the player to get a grip on the dramatic situation, narrative. It anticipates the gamer without defining him fully by providing an array of options. In the anticipation of the player the game gives him an impactful role. And this role constitutes the implied gamer.109 Two dimensions can be distinguished in the implied gamer. On the one hand there is an objective, passive tendency. The player is considered to be an abiding object who is on the receiving end of the mechanics and employed tactics. He is the target of the implied gamer inscribed in the game by the developers.110 The objective side depends firstly on the range of social norms and traditions which the game developer chooses, even if the videogame medium does not possess a plethora of tradition of its own as it is a recent medium. The game creator compensates this lack of tradition by combining what little tradition they have with the literary and cinematic traditions. For instance the Witcher is based on the fantasy series of the polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Or Mass Effect utilising elements of earlier science fiction like Star Trek and Star Wars. Or Dishonored, a game set in a steampunk world based on the Victorian era. The selection functions as a referential frame. Aspects of the game enable the player to realise the organisation. The strategies deal with the game as interactive content: it organises the subject matter and the conditions of communicating. For that reason the tactics can by no means be equated with presentation but it is the inherent structure of the game which stimulates the actions of comprehension.111 During the development of the videogame the developer actualises a second self in addition to the image he creates of the player. And the best gameplay is only possible when both selves find common ground. In order for these selves to meet there cannot be a willing suspension of disbelief because it would turn the player into an impassive subject. And the developer will not be able instigate interest in his videogame. In other words, willing suspension of disbelief is counterproductive for the engrossment of the role-player. Firstly, a willing suspension of disbelief implies a detachment of one’s beliefs which is impossible. Analogue, the sense of

109 Iser, The Act of Reading, 34-38. 110 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 100-102. 111 Iser, The Act of Reading, 86-87.

38 presence - the physical counterpart of the cognitive suspension of disbelief - in videogames is not total and the transportation of the player is only partial. The absolute disembodiment is impossible because the physical body constitutes the embodiment of the virtual body. The latter does not replace or efface the former. More on this in the chapter about embodiment.112 On the other hand there is the subjective, active tendency. This tendency accentuates the perception, the interpretation, aesthetical appreciation of the viewer. The videogame is by no means able to determine the viewer’s perception entirely.113 Returning to the point of the beliefs, the player’s thoughts are moved to the background thus becoming a referential frame. The loss of one’s beliefs would culminate into forgetting former experiences vital for grasping and fulfilling the role of the protagonist. This also indicates that there are multiple ways of completing depending on the context of the subject.114 In other words the pre-expressive, the socio-cultural dimension and the own personality compose the foundation on which the player performs. It influences the degree to which a developer guides the gamer and to which degree the role-player can manipulate his virtual avatar.115 Moreover, to segregate one’s beliefs is to lose cultural and historical values and therefore to the loss of tension needed for processing and grasping the game.116

The directing function of the implied gamer is not absolute nor insurmountable. Other readings are still possible depending on the mode of play. There is a phenomenon called vertigo play where the subverting element takes the foreground.117 For example, players can oust themselves from the make-belief and pierce the veil of immersion by partaking in the unanticipated elements of the game by the developer: playing with bugs and glitches. However it must be unanticipated. Hence Goat Simulator - which deliberately accentuates the absurd, the bugs and the ridiculousness of the bugs118-, is not an instance of vertigo play since the subverting element is anticipated. Another instance are the female players subverting the male gaze inscribed in the Witcher 2. Therefore, the player is in a position of controlled creative autonomy. In this position, they are able to cooperate with the game to realise the narrative. This cooperation confines the collaborators. The dialectic balance between containment imposed by the game and the freedom of the player, in other words the nature of

112 ibidem, 86-87. 113 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 100-102. 114 Iser, The Act of Reading, 86-87. 115 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 110. 116 Iser, The Act of Reading, 86-87. 117 Kerr, digital games, 30-31. 118 IGN. “Goat Simulator Trailer,” Youtube video, 1:01, 11 Febuari 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezBRmeFUFAM.

39 the gameplay, is what gives life to the aesthetic experience. Although in practice it is impossible to set active and passive dimensions apart, since these are intimately intertwined.119 The objective and subjective sides of the implied gamer prove that the role- playing is a dynamic interactive loop between the developer, the game and the role-player. They are both involved in the same game of imagination because they create each an image in their mind that fuses together during the play session. Games take ultimately shape by and for people.120 The hypothetical model role-player as a synthesis of production and reception, receives the virtual world in two ways. First and foremost, there is the extra-textual reception. This level is made up of reading strategies necessary to grasp. The interpretation tactics originate from earlier encounters with games that shape the ‘game’ frame. The opposite is the intra-textual level, where the implied gamer is situated. These include the strategies that have been processed in the text. The text is written in such a manner that it anticipates how it will be interpreted. The videogame assumes its own receiver, not only through communication skills, but also through its meaning.121 The information that the gamer receives and the semiotic strategies strive to generate transformations. The transformation includes more than just emotional. It also entails to cognitive elements: ideas, values and beliefs. Role-Playing Games encourage players to participate and to adopt specific behavioural patterns. The interaction lets the player belief and it lets him perform: role-taking and role-playing. And this manipulative aspect of instigating believe and (re)action, relies on the uneven distribution of knowledge. Although it is more than merely letting the player know, he also produces the meaning that support the transformations.122

The typology of a game is an indicator for the nature of the implied gamer: either open or closed. A closed videogame provides a specific audience with a specific set of skills that would lead to the correct behaviour. This would be any game genre except for role-playing games: shooters, puzzle games and platformers, point-and-click, etc.123 Open games, specifically RPG’s, are more liberal in their definition of the player and the requisite competencies. Consequently the player receives a controlled freedom. In this context controlled freedom means encouraged, directed and a free speculative interpretation. And the effect of Role-Playing Games supporting free interpretation is visible in the various readings

119 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 101-102. 120, Iser, The Implied Reader, 282-283. 121 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 101-102. 122 ibidem, 101. 123 ibidem, 102-104.

40 of actions, dialogue and themes in the eyes of the beholders. However the polysemic nature does not guarantee the pertinence of all readings. Furthermore the reading one has interacts with elements present in the performance in exchange for affective and cognitive effect. We want to add that technological restraints are possible criteria determining the amount of freedom. The more advanced the technology, the more options RPGs can provide, thus more freedom to the player. The open typology is again divided into two categories owing it to the fact that open games employ a panorama of strategies in order to deal with the player and becomes accordingly esoteric.124

The attention of the gamer is crucial for the communicating. And one’s attention is a generator of coherent understanding. The techniques to attract the gamer’s attention are stratified in a hierarchy ranging from spoken text, gestures, scenery and spatial design, music and sound effects, the quest structured narrative. This hierarchy in videogames is stable and conform the genre rules. And since RPGs are story-centric, text is essential. But the priority lies on the performance of the text: voice-acting and dialogue options.125 The tactics of the Role-Playing Games encourage exploratory behaviour. The developers arouses the curiosity of the player in the initial stages of the videogame, the tutorial. This initial stage is restrictive as the game teaches the gameplay mechanics to the player. Simultaneously it shows what is yet to come, setting of the intrigue. The plot of Witcher 2, Dishonored and Mass Effect initiates with murder. After witnessing the promise of grandeur and excitement the role-player exhibits a desire for exploration. The stages following the tutorial the virtual world opens up consequently creating a game-world befitting his desire for exploration and permits its actualisation. The want to explore ultimately leads to eliciting, prolonging and intensifying the stimuli.126 One of the strategies to structure the attention of the gamer is the use of space. The placement of the gamers in the virtual world has a pivotal function in the reception. Due to the player controlling the camera and the virtual positioning, the linear plot transforms into a splintered and fragmented performance by the gamer. Hence the manipulation of space determines the reception. Other techniques that manage to structure the attention of the gamer are the camera and cut-scenes. Many artistic disciplines stipulate a route down which the attention of the audience goes. In motion pictures the camera executes this duty. But in Role-

124 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 103-104. 125 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 108. 126 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 101-104.

41 Playing Games the player commands the camera thus roaming freely in the virtual world. The videogame takes on specific occasions the gamer’s control away by using cut-scenes. The use of such cinematic scenes allows the developers to unify the multitude of perspectives and heterogeneous performance created by the role-players during sessions of free roaming into a linear homogenous point in the plot, thus redirecting the attention towards the goal.127 The developer can also diminish at other specific moments the amount of freedom. This loss of control forwards a certain gameplay.128 The more one is allowed to have his own experience, the more his attention should be guided so that despite the complexity of the events, the role- player retains the sense of direction and is able to orient himself.129

Story-centric games have four principles that allow the manipulation of the attention and concentration of the player: the rule of opposition, simplification and surplus energy. The forth rule of altering balance corresponds to the implied gamer. Role-Playing Games have an underlying structure that enables the player to realise the construction of perspective. The implied user has two sides: the subjective side, the interpretation of the player and the beliefs required for it, and the objective side, the tactics that target the player emotionally and cognitively. The social norms and traditions from the objective side and the beliefs of the subjective side both form the referential frame that allow the comprehension of the virtual world. Moreover, the implied gamer interacts with two other levels, namely the interface and the avatar. And it is a textual and virtual structure that induces a structured act. The virtual and textual structures are only complete after the structured performance. The structured performance holds a wandering viewpoint with which the player shifts between the following perspectives: the characters, plot, narrating elements, the player’s role in the narrative and in the gameplay. The nature of the implied user depends on whether the game is open or closed. The more open a game is the more need for guidance. The strategies belonging to the implied gamer are stratified in a hierarchy, to name a few performance of text, the camera, and cut- scenes, space and so on.

127 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 107-109. 128 Kerr, digital games, 114-116. 129 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 107-109.

42 2.3 The Set of Quests and the Set of Items

As mentioned in the chapter above RPGs provide the person with two roles; on the one hand a role in the plot and on the other hand the role in the gameplay. Both roles are supported by two sets: a set of quests and a set of looted or crafted items. Each has a different foundation or origin. The quests come from folktales and fairy tales. The set of items is organised through statistical value which comes from the pen-and-paper game and their use of dice to determine the outcome. Quests and items are fundamentally important to experience and perform in the virtual world. Events are approachable from a narrative perspective as a setting with a plot and characters. The players create a character with whom they move, operate and explore the virtual world surrounding them. They experience the game world, anticipate and predict possible outcomes.130 And events can be seen as the state of objects. Objects forms the foundation for the invention, action and intervention of the gamer.

First we discuss the relationship between the traditional literary medium and the digital story-centric games. Texts in games are interactive and performed by the spectator. Consequently the discourses, ideologies and meaning tied to it, that are in the game via the developer, are realised. Yet some ludologists argue that meaning arises only through interaction between the game and the gamer.131 With our previous chapter dealing with the implied gamer, it is clear we do not share that idea. Another point is the comparison of traditional narration with the virtual narration. It has led to some arguing that the former already exists and is written in past tense while the latter takes place now by performing.132 The issue with stating that books are already there is that the same can assert with games. The software is already produced. But the creative process that made them is not complete until the communication process is complete. This means that traditional narrative and the virtual narrative have to be actualised by a receiver, a reader or a player. The difference lies in the nature of the agency. The reader actively interprets and the player interprets and performs the interpretation. Furthermore, literature and motion pictures use devices such as flash back and flash forward to present the story in a non-chronological fashion. It is the reader or spectator who

130 Daniel Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 114-119. 131 Crawford, Video Gamers, 74. 132 ibidem, 89.

43 reconstructs the causal sequence.133 It is the same case with video games due to the temporal dimension and the nature of the information. The time between narrative sequences varies based on the players performance. And the performance itself is a mixture of simultaneous data between two points of homogeneous narration. The great quantity of information can never be entirely registered by the player and it collides with the linear cut-scenes. To make the performance fit with the cut-scenes the player makes an after-image, an after-impression which suits the linear story. That is how the player reconstructs the sequence of his story. There are ludologists who claim that computer games do not have any story. Games only have an intrigue or plot. Role-Playing Games are a multidimensional event space. They consist out of events and existents. The happenings, characters and settings are supple when it comes to the fashion in which they are inscribed in time. The causality of events rest on the player and how he navigates through the virtual world. Hence time is geographically registered. The pacing and timing of quests is ultimately in the hands of the player. Some deduce out of this fact that gamers configure instead of interpreting.134 However, we can counter that deduction. Players have and the role of interpreting and the role of configuring though not at the same time. When the plot gains importance at a certain moment of the game, the player’s role switches to the interpretative role. When the gameplay gains prominence that the interpretive role transforms into a configurative role. As for the idea that games hardly have any story just a plot should also be nuanced. The game presents the player with plot, but he constructs out of it his story after the playing session. Even if the plot is the only element he receives, he’ll just fill in the gaps with his imagination.135 In addition, the narrative of RPGs is vital. Mass Effect’s narrative is more than an effort to connect the different moments of action. And Witcher has a beginning, a middle and an end though not in the traditional rising action-climax-falling action pyramid.136 The cases we study are more or less only rising action with the climax and denouement overlapping each other. For instance, in Dishonored the murder of the Empress and the kidnapping of her daughter functions as initial villainy and from then on the action keeps rising as Corvo eliminates the key figures of the coup d’état. The loyalists betraying Corvo does not correspond with the falling action. This twist rather heightens the action and suspense even more. The climax and the resolution is the final mission to release the Emily Kaldwin once and for all.

133 Crawford, Video Gamers, 89. 134 Kerr, digital games, 28. 135 Crawford, Video Gamers, 89. 136 ibidem, 88.

44 Atkins claims that games are linear, formulaic and limited in alternatives since the only options are extermination without any issue of morality.137 We do not have any knowledge of Tomb Raider, Atkin’s example, but his reproach of games being linear cannot be generalised. When a cult is causing trouble Commander Shepard had the choice between a violent solution or a pacifist approach. Geralt of Rivia receives a quest to kill a troll because he is drunk and dangerous but the villagers asked him not to. It is up to the gamer to decide whether to kill it or to find out why he is intoxicated. The last alternative saves the troll and punishes the killers of his wife. And the fact that these options exist places the gamer in a moral position. The Witcher is well-known for his non-linear plot where at certain points the plot branches out into various paths and ultimately also various endings. This results in a complicated narrative network. One solution is to branch out in at the beginning but at the end the branches reunite with the core which means that there is only one possible end. It is labelled as the bulging tree.138 Mass Effect and Dishonored solve this by having a universal main quest but leaves it up to the gamer how to achieve the goal. And Guild Wars 2 narrative network could be coined as the reverse tree model, having many options at the beginning and these converge into one at the end. We need to point at the difference between the network of quests which is non- linear and the player’s story which is linear. The player decides what path of the network he will follow. And it is this decision and action that reduces the heterogeneous set of quests into a linear chain. The links may be interchangeable, the chain as a whole remains linear once the performance fixes the links in time and space. At the end the gamer is able to see his story in its entirety but he will never be able to see the complete narrative network because once he reaches the end of the game his performance of the protagonist dies. No matter how many times the gamer replays the game, he will never manage to reproduce the exact same performance. Hence he will never witness the narrative network from the same perspective. When a player wishes to explore the other branches, the first play session becomes part of his frame to grasp the game. How the protagonist is imagined in the second play session will be informed by the first play session thus never having the same performance.

The possible-world theory renders the logic behind an imaginary world in order to give it life. A distinction is made between extentional and intentional world. The extensional world is a narrative world built on the basis of general principles and which is to a certain

137 Barry Atkins, More Than a Game : The Computer Game as Fictional Form, (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003) 40-41. 138 Karen Collins, Game sound : an introduction to the history, theory, and practice of video game music and sound design (Cambridge : MIT Press, 2008), 142-143.

45 extent homogenous because the entities are somewhat limited.139 The extensional world represents the set of quests. Moreover, the limits of the general principles support the idea that games do not have a story but a plot. Atkins recognises the parallel between folktales and games, namely the quest narrative. The hero is tasked with defeating a mythical best or finding a magical object. He accentuates the manner in which the quest is achieved. The gamer is likened to a reader who is telling fiction and holds authorial responsibility due to his agency. A good performance is a story well told and a bad performance is a badly told story. The game tests how skilled the player is by the amount he consumes resources, finding secrets and recognising the intertextuality.140 An example of a secret, also known as an Easter Egg, and intertextuality is when Geralt finds a corps in white robes next to a haystack. The protagonist says: “I guess they will never learn.” This inside joke refers to the game Assassins Creed, a game about assassins fighting Templars. An important mechanism is the parkouring or climbing the buildings. In order to descend the buildings easily there are points scattered throughout the city where the hero can jump in a haystack and not die, independent of the height of the building. We observe two subsets of quests: the main and the side quest. On the one hand there are main story quests. This category is self-explanatory; the story of the game exists out of a long chain of shorter connected quests. Completing these is mainly necessary to progress into the narrative. In addition, they also enable the gamer to gain experience, to level up. Doing so allows the role-player to allocate skillpoints to certain abilities fitting their build of their avatar and to find extra gear. In other words giving form to their virtual entity. Moreover main quests tend to branch out in different paths via mutual exclusive choices. The more paths the player can experience the more replayability the title possesses. On the other hand there are side quests. Missions belonging to this group have as sole purpose to fill the virtual world. Hence these type of quests make the virtual world more vibrant and more lively by finding lore in order to deepen one’s understanding of the imaginative world. Side quests rarely branch out in other side quests. These are more like solitary little narrative islands spread along the chain of main quests. It also delivers extra resources, experience and gear, for the gamer. Folktales help us understand the teleological nature of Role-Playing Games. The protagonist, being the chosen one, is the only one able to fulfil the goal, the main quest. The player, by achieving the goal, appropriates the psychology of the characters which is a driving

139 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 130-136. 140 Atkins, The Computer Game as Fictional Form, 42.

46 force for the development of the narrative. As the story progresses holes rise and the role- player must fill these.141 Propp’s theory is interesting due to the teleological characteristic. Since quest are teleological they drive the gamer forward and in a certain direction, in order to reach the desired goal. That feature is very important because, by reaching the end, it completes the identity that is adopted. The quests themselves can be categorised according to functions, similar to folktales. These performed actions are called functions; and they determine the course of the narrative. Identical actions may have different meanings and vice versa. Despite the variations in performance and choices made by the role-player, functions are also stable and constant in the narrative. The functions are the backbone of which the filling in is flexible and heterogeneous. Together they constitute the narrative. Even though not all functions are always present, their position in the sequence remains the same.142 Functions are also categorised in certain spheres: the villain, the donor, the helper, quest giver and objective, the transmitter, the hero, the false hero. And these spheres of action can be attributed to specific roles.143 Out of the spheres we recognised an important aspect of the tales that it betrayed. That is the element of morality: tales figure a good versus evil cosmology. Anyone on the side of the hero is good and the adversaries, the anti-hero and the villain, are evil. Guild Wars 2, Mass Effect and Dishonored subscribe to this cosmology. Mass Effect allows the player to be paragon or renegade. The actual meters are visible and are influenced by the dialogue one picks and the enacted behaviour. This foregrounds the manufacturability of the identity. In Dishonored only the actions impact the level of chaos. More chaos means more rats, more diseased people, more guards, bad weather and a negative attitude from Emily. Low chaos results in a less hostile environment. Guild War 2 gives no option to the player, he is already good. Witcher 2 is the only one of the four cases that does not follow the binary morality. The developers attempted to create a ‘grey’ game-world without intrinsically absolute good or evil people, only flawed characters inhabit the virtual world. The first eight functions relate to the initial situation. There is a loss. Or the villain deceives the hero and violates a law afterwards: an undead dragons invades, a fellow witcher kills the monarch or a spectre -elite soldiers- is murdered by a fellow spectre. The eighth function villainous act - kidnapping, robbery to a murder or exile - brings the story into motion. Function nine, ten and eleven is the communication of the loss and the hero decides whether

141 Choi, “Leaving It up to the Imagination,” 17-25 142 Vladimir Jakovlevič Propp, Morphology of the folktale, vert. Louis A. Wagner (Austin: University of Texas press, 1998), 19-24. 143 ibidem,79.

47 or not he will undertake a counteraction. The functions involving the donor, twelve to fourteen, are similar to the side quests in the digital games. The hero must succeed side quest: defeat an enemy, gather resources or escort someone. He receives a magical object or a helper afterwards. From function fifteen to nineteen the hero arrives at his goal in another realm. The protagonist retrieves the target or defeats the villain. In function 20, once the quest objective is achieved, the hero returns in the same way as when he arrived.144 The cases we study stop when reaching the goal. The functions connected to the journey back are rarely utilised in games. The cognitive emotion theory offers a framework to understand the connection between quests and emotions. It postulates that the role-player assesses the situation and determines the personal stakes affected by it. If the stakes are threatened then stress, fear and anger arise. And the player feels joy when the stakes are protected. The intensity and urgency of either stress or joy depends on the degree of danger, or the lack of it.145 The initial villainy/absence offers the role-player opportunities and dangers. Corvo is accused with the murder of the Empress. Geralt is charged for being the killer of kings. The universe is threatened by Reapers or the dragons are conquering the world. These circumstances provoke interaction and ensure an engagement from the gamer’s side. Corvo must save the Empress’s daughter. Geralt needs to prove his innocence. Commander Shepard needs to save the galaxy by destroying the Reapers. And in Guild Wars 2 the gamer has to defeat the dragons. The quest attempts to instigate emotional involvement of the gamer throughout the journey. Though the endeavour only succeeds if the setting interacts with the stakes of the player. In other words, the strategies deployed by the developers of role-playing games transform the gamer into a stakeholder. Furthermore, the gamer represents the situation in a sensorial and motoric fashion. This is embodiment and takes place due to the mirror neurons.146 More on this in chapter 6 about imagination.

The intentional world accentuates the texture of the narrative. The texture is reflected in the statistical description of the objects. And the statistical structure becomes a value system through the diversity in description of the objects. What unites the intentional with the extentional standpoint is the deconstruction of the textual into components that ensures the

144 Propp, Morphology of the folktale, 25-65. 145 Konijn, Acting Emotions,15-17. 146 Jajdelska Elspeth, Butler Christopher, Kelly Steve, McNeill Allan and Overy Katie, “Crying, Moving, and Keeping It Whole: What Makes Literary Description Vivid?,” Poetics Today 31 (2010): 440, accessed 24 July 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25835325440.

48 agency of the role-player. If the texture were not to serve the fictional objects than the player’s performance would be in jeopardy. This is the first main reason in favour of interpreting games as a set of objects rather than as a set of quests. Furthermore, some fictional objects have roots in reality. Consequently, the player fluctuates between the real element and their use in the story. Nonetheless their value is given by the texture of the narrative world. The artefacts can be grasped through the consequences of the texture and how the gamer judges the consequences.147 Statistics and Random Number Generators remediate the dice from the pen-and-paper RPGs, which influence whether actions succeed or fail.148 In a sense one can speak of an improvement because the RNG is automated through calculations of the computer. The automation enhances the immediacy and therefore the immersion. These abilities and items are contextualised and receive a certain value through playing. In addition to playing, the contextualisation of these characteristics also happens through paratext: a context or a collective discourse outside the game itself. The gaming community assigns value through comments, guides, “let’s plays” (a walkthrough of the entire game, it is very popular on youtube), etc. This gaming community proves that the social aspect of pen- and-paper is not lost. Moreover, the way guilds operate and can be formed, chatting/teamspeak with other players shows that the community is well incorporated in MMORPGs. This genre embodies the social playground. Hence MMORPGs remediates content and social practice.149 However Punday disagrees. Social structures can exist but these are mostly superficial. Even the social element revolves around acquiring gear and loot which are imbedded in lore, legends or myths. This is the second main reason.150 Also, the NPCs move in an overarching narrative, they therefore are not in a position of agency. Contrary to the player who manipulates the actions of their virtual avatar, utilising the statistics of their skills and objects to fulfil their quest or to explore.151 Videogames are a testimony for the use of statistics having implications for contemporary narrative practices.152 The third argument for the statistical viewpoint is that a narrative world cannot be structured around events because these events follow their own logic. Hence the

147 Daniel Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136, 148 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136 149 Apperley, T. Genre and game studies: Towards a critical approach to videogame genres. Simulation & Gaming: An International Journal of Theory Practice and Research 37, nr 1 (2006), 17-19. 150 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136 151 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136 152 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136

49 event’s logic inhibits the imaginative agencies, the role-player. The external logic exists at the expense of the active position of the role-player.153 This statement gives a clear advantage to Guild Wars 2 where the story is not as prominent as in singleplayer RPGs. The exposition of lore is only secondary. This due to the fact that quests in MMO’s serve primarily to level up and offer gear to support the levelling process. Additionally the game does not end when the story ends, there is an end game where the gamer has to reach the maximum level and the top gear of the game. Yet the statement concerning a virtual world ordered around events can partially be countered. Singleplayer RPGs are set around events but they do not inhibit the role-player’s imagination because the role-player’s imagination deals with the fashioned self, the interaction with the events and the emotions arising from it. And it does not deal with imagining the events or objects. However narratives can be interactive on the condition that it is not linear. Even if the plot follows initially a logic external to the player, he interacts with the plot by choosing for a certain narrative branch.154

In the intentional world events are described as a state of affairs that transform the objects. Events are the state of affairs of objects. Objects here also include avatars. Conditions, objects and spaces framing the event must be fulfilled before certain events can be realised. In addition, events are contained in a logical frame coined as modality: the possible, the norm, the value, the recognisability. They also allow intertextuality, interaction between various narrative worlds happens through items.155 So object realise events yet we observed that the objects are narratively imbedded. The two swords of the monsterhunter, silver and steel, have statistics but its meaning comes from its use in a world full of turmoil, where discrimination and oppression takes place. The silver sword helps the player position himself against the mythical monsters. And the steel sword aids the player position himself against the human monsters. This gives the objects meaning. The role-player starts with an avatar which is an object. By fulfilling quests, the player receives experience and/or gear. The experience is the currency that is responsible for assigning skillpoints into new abilities or upgrade older ones. Hence the avatar is also an object with active skills, passive statistics and possession. These impact actively along with personal choices whether the gamer wins or loses. Other properties such as race, class and gender are passive and only belong to the backstory of the avatar because these elements are

153 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136 154 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136 155 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136

50 not converted into the statistics.156 The incorporation of the passive characteristics depends entirely on the role-player and is not compulsory. For this reason playing as if you are the protagonist is actually free play. In addition, the role-player can import his character from one game to another in the trilogy.157 This improves the long term feedback and consequences of the game since the consequences are no longer limited to the end of the game but go beyond it into the sequel, resulting in the plot becoming more intricate. This is the case with Mass Effect and The Witcher. The objects have the possibility to be very open in its uses, owing it to the statistical qualities.158 We have to remember that Punday writes about the table-top RPG where the openness of objects arises from negotiating with the dungeonmaster. But video games remediated the game master. The gamer can step outside his role in the gameplay by partaking in actions never envisioned by game developer. But this is not due to the openness of the items or their statistical elements. These moments of thinking outside of the box arise most of the times out of a hole in the implied gamer. Any openness occurs out of bugs and glitches. In addition, RPGs usually involves the fantastic and the extraordinary in their storylines, but the statistics streamline the content and minimise the unexpected. Thus the player can make predictions about the outcomes of a meeting by utilising statistics. Although, depriving the role-player from calculating and predicting, restores the extraordinary a place.159 Even though the statistics of the objects are shown in tooltips, we could state that the automation of the game - for instance the Artificial Intelligence - redeems the extraordinary because the player witnesses only the result of the programming not the program itself. Thus the gamer is uncertain of his predictions. Although the unintelligence does not last if one takes into account the replayability of the RPG as the gamer familiarised himself with the specific automation. Meaning that the automation is not enough for perpetually maintaining the extraordinary.

We discussed games as a set of quests and as a set of objects. The three main arguments put forward by Punday leads him to the conclusion that the objects and their statistics are the best approach to RPGs. But we propose an alternative where both sets are

156 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136 157 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136 158 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136 159 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136

51 dynamically interacting with each other in the player’s performance. The role-player disposes initially of a series of objects, including his virtual avatar. These are necessary to invent an identity, enact it and intervene in the narrative network. Fulfilling quests in turn leads to the acquisition of more objects which again alters the behaviour of performing the quests. This spiral depends on both sets and one is not prioritised over the other. And role-play is a stimulated non-compulsory process that takes place in the intersection of the two sets.

Every computer game is build out of two sets. Firstly there is the set of quests. It belongs to the extentional world with its general principles and limited entities. Quests are divided in functions. And the functions are grouped into spheres linked to the roles of the characters. Quest narratives help us understand how the player is prompted to act. The teleological nature of the narrative offers a goal that transform the gamer in a stakeholder. The stakes ensure emotional investment. Secondly, there is the set of objects that belongs in the intentional world. The statistical characteristics form the texture. And ultimately a value system arises through play and paratext. Objects permits the performance of protagonist. The social interaction with NPCs or fellow players on servers revolve around acquiring more objects. And finally the quest narrative is an inadequate approach as it is an external imposed logic obstructing the imaginative process of the gamer. Each standpoint has its own merit and explains different aspect. We suggest a dynamic relationship based on both sets. The player starts off with limited amount of objects, he receives at least a virtual avatar with active skill and passive statistics. The objects aid him in achieving the quests. Once the goal is reached the gamer is rewarded with experience and more objects. So the objects are embedded in the narrative because they allow to perform the quest and emerge out of it.

52 3. Camera and Focalisation

Game developers want to ensure that the player enjoys being in the game-world by making it atmospheric. The focus on the sensorial actually implies that pleasure is derived more from being there than performing in it.160 And technology such as Oculus Rift, a device for VR or Virtual Reality, enhancing the sensorial experience has a lot of impact on immersion.161 It shows that games aim to go beyond representing and to become more of an alternative reality. This gratification of being “present” in the game-world relies heavily on the possession of the camera under the role-player. Part of his agency exists out of the control over the camera and being able to view the virtual world. In an earlier chapter about implied gamer we established that the camera apparatus can belong to two perspectives: on one hand as narrating element and on the other hand as part of the role for the player in the gameplay. This is the context of approaching the control over the camera.

There are three camera positions: first-person, third-person and god-like.162 These camera positions determine the way in which the player is inscribed in the game-world. Third- person refers to the gamer controlling a graphic representation. The virtual avatar that one controls is seen on the screen. While first-person inscribes the player in the virtual world through the perspective of the camera by overlapping with the vision of the protagonist.163 The remaining camera position simulates an omniscient being looking down on the game- world and its inhabitants. The use of overhead god-view may be an indication that immersion is less vital.164 We note that the gameplay determines the selection of the type of camera. Dishonored is first-person due to the fact that the developers wish to give the gamer the opportunity to play stealthily. POV facilitates this type of performance. And in Mass Effect the third-person could be an indication that role-play is important because a visible avatar enables the proteus-effect, this effect will be treated in the chapter about inventing the self. The role-player desires to observe the fashioning of the avatar via character creation and customisation. In turn witnessing the avatar affects the nature of the role-playing. Immersion

160 Ryan, Narrative as virtual reality, 306-317. 161 Graft, Kris. “With Oculus' latest prototype, virtual reality is a step closer to actual reality.” accessed 25 June 2014. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/208357/With_Oculus_latest_prototype_virtual_reality_is_a_step_closer_t o_actual_reality.php. 162 Kerr, digital games, 116 163 Ryan, Narrative as virtual reality, 306-317. 164 Collins, Game sound,”136.

53 wise the first-person is the best option: the player feels his presence in the game-world to be more direct and identification is facilitated owing it to the fact that the camera overlaps with the hero’s vision. Third-person causes the gamer to be more aware as he sees the vehicle he controls. Yet it is more immersive than the god-like camera position where the characters are almost like puppets. And being positioned behind the character, in its vicinity, does not hinder the immersion too much. The first-person or POV can again be subdivided into optical and subjective. The optical Point-of View permits the viewer to put himself in the extension of the character. And the subjective POV, it accomplishes an expressive role. It encourages to imagine how the character feels in his situation.165 With digital games incorporating first-person camera positioning the optical and subjective Point-of-View overlap. The role-player observes the events and he is enticed to fill in the psychological aspect of the protagonist because he is looking through the eyes of the avatar. The techniques of the pulling the attention, including the camera, coincide with focalisation.166 Furthermore, the camera is linked to the psychological aspect of the protagonist because it allows the taking of perspective. And in turn the processing of feelings and judging the environment is determined by the perspective.167 Therefore external or third- person and internal focalisation or first-person guide the perception of those who play. First- person lets the gamer identify with the camera because he controls it. And if the camera overlaps with the protagonist than he empathises automatically with the character, making identification easier. This also means that the world is experienced indirectly via the eyes of the protagonist. Third-person has no direct link between the camera and empathising. But being in the personal space of the character offers an indirect road to empathy. On the other hand the player sees the virtual world independently from the character. In other words, the internal focalisation foregrounds seeing through the eyes of the character while external focalisation forefronts the immediate surroundings. The camera in motion pictures and focalisation in literature can give the spectator or reader access to the subjective thoughts and emotions of the character. Besides giving the access to the deepest and most inner thoughts, it also spurs the imagination.168 In digital games POV functions slightly in a different way. The gamer hears and sees through the eyes of Corvo in

165 Jinhee Choi, “Leaving It up to the Imagination: POV Shots and Imagining from the inside,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 63 (2005): 17-25, accessed 2 August 2013, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559136. 166 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 100-114. 167 Amy Coplan, “Empathic Engagement with Narrative Fictions,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62 (2004): 141-143, accessed 24 July 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559198. 168 Choi, “POV Shots,” 17-25.

54 Dishonored. No beliefs or feelings are imposed on him. He fills in the subjective side of the protagonist. Hints might be given via the implied gamer. But as stated before role-playing is free play, it does not comply to rules, therefore the hints remain optional.

Focalisation brings along the potential of identification yet it is not assured. And if identification ensues, there can be different types of it. The type of identification is informed by the acting style of involvement or self-expression. Consecutively the acting style determines the nature of the emotions and views. If the gamer opts for the style of involvement, he transports himself to the imaginary world into the skin of protagonist. The interpretation of the protagonist is based on any data given throughout the game. The role- player will take into account the context in which the protagonist operates: any lore, history and present dynamics. If the gamer elects the style of self-expression, than he will create an entity, a new “I”. This time the game is at his service. The context of the fictitious world has not as much weight. The virtual avatar is a new skin or mask for him. A platform to externalise himself. It is nothing more than an instrument and the performance is not based on the lore but on oneself. In other words, in involvement the player projects himself in the protagonist, while in self-expression the character is projected on the player.169 Whether the spurring of the imagination has effect does depend on the knowledge status of the player. If the gamer has insufficient knowledge then and only then will he fill in the gaps. Providing the gamer with information however has an inverted effect: it weakens the connection between the camera and imagination. The process goes as follows. First-person simulates the character’s perception in combination with focusing the gamer’s gaze, thus augmenting the chance of identifying with the hero. The gamer recognises the protagonist as a unite. Then he aligns his perspective with the perspective of the protagonist and this results in the acquisition of knowledge. For example, POV cut-scenes direct the gaze by pointing out any significant element or the goal. And according to what the user perceives, he will allocates desires and beliefs to specific characters. Consequently the gamer is emotionally loyal to the character.170 We do not follow the statement that less information is required because role-players can easily separate their knowledge from what the protagonists are supposed to know. Additionally, third-person also encompasses recognition, alignment and loyalty. Although alignment for this type of camera position is not literal: the player has to

169 Elly Konijn, Acting Emotions: Shaping Emotions on Stage (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2000), 36-45. 170 Choi, “POV Shots,” 17-25.

55 imagine it. Furthermore, Mass Effect is essentially a third-person game. Yet this did not prevent the developers from implementing instances of first-person. For example, on Mars a storm is rising and a prompt is given - press “m” - the player is entitled to ignore but when he presses the key the camera position shifts to show a POV shot. Atkins discusses the first-person camera and how it is associated with identification and the confusion of the real with the fictional. Atkins considers gaming as a reading of text: an engagement with the fiction. And when engaged confusion is impossible. Firstly, because the identification is mediated which confronts the player with the fact that gaming is not acting as in the fictional world. As games are a simulation and not mimesis, the actions of the “I” outside the game do not overlap with the actions of the “I” as the protagonist. There is a wide distance between the game and the real. Secondly, because the three dimensional image is communicated by a two dimensional screen. Thirdly, the technology delivering the game, he compared it to the holodeck from Star Trek, is far from perfect. He also stated that the need for immediacy through the first-person camera has less to do with creating an illusion and more with the originality of spectacle. And that the cinematic sequences in games neutralise the nose-thumbing. The violence is acceptable in the context of games because it is simulated. The fiction and act of reading is foregrounded.171 It is true that games give the player a context for the socially unacceptable actions. However we do not agree with the assertion concerning the cut-scenes. These cinematic sequences do not justify the violence. In Role-Playing Games the cut-scenes are the pinnacle of immersion. Critical thinking is suspended during these moments. And when performing the role-player is impartial to the improper aspect of games. In addition, the opportunity to elect different ways of performing is more a case of experimenting with identity - how to position oneself in relation to another -, scanning the limits and experiencing the consequences rather than be apologetic about the violence.

However, the idea that first-person augments identification is not without criticism. One possible criticism is that one does not need to create an image with the mind’s eye because the image has already been provided. Instead, one falls back on his personal memories that coincides with the lived experience now. This falling back to personal memories is not the equivalent to projecting oneself in the fictional situation.172

171 Atkins, More than a Game, 78-84. 172 Choi, “POV Shots,” 17-25.

56 However gamers automatically fall back on their earlier memories because these shape the frame to comprehend what is being observed. Not doing so would result in a disinterested player. We discussed this in the chapter about games as systems and their magic circle. And the use of one’s own memories resembles Stanislavski’s method for acting, namely the affective memory. The idea is that memories similar to the dramatic situation are invoked in order to act spontaneous. Affective memory is a vital aspect for the involvement acting style. So POV could be seen as a prompting to project oneself inside the character. A second criticism is that norms such as the happy endings make simulations unnecessary since they are not needed for predicting the future behaviour. 173 We argue that this is not the case. First, RPGs have multiple endings even the more linear games like Dishonored and Mass Effect. These endings can be achieved through different decisions and various manners of performing. The many endings simulate the impact of the actions and choices of the role- player on the game-world. Second, the game provides the role-player with the necessary information to proceed. The mental state of the protagonist is a blank slate because it makes it easier to identify with. And emotions and intentions of NPCs could function as clues for acting and interpreting of the protagonists. Moreover, the occurring holes in the psyche of the protagonist’s or Non-Player Characters are plugged by the player’s imagination. As a result role-playing emphasises the psychological dimension of those who exist in the game-world.

The camera guides the attention of the gamer as a narrating instrument and as part of the performing role. Of the three possible camera positions, the first-person is connected to the internal focalisation and the third-person is linked to the external focalisation. Though focalisation in literature shows the inner thoughts. But in computer games the player fills out the beliefs in the virtual vehicle. Moreover, focalisation can lead to identification. The process is based on three stages, namely recognition, alignment and loyalty. The type of identification is determined by the role-playing style: involvement or self-expression. And focalisation accentuates the psychological, emotional dimensions of the characters inhabiting the fantastical world.

173 Choi, “POV Shots,” 17-25.

57 4. Sound and Music

Games are multi-sensory. The visual, the touch and the auditory senses are activated when gaming.174 In this chapter we will discuss game music and how sound helps to establish immersion by instigating feelings and creating an atmospheric world. Music and sound effects enhance the effect of the virtual world as a living world, increasing the vividness of it. In addition, the developers and composers use it not only to create an atmosphere but also to guide the player. Music helps to understand in what context he performs: pompous, energetic music signals the gamer that he is in combat. And the mirror neurons decode the expressive musical movements into emotions, for instance melancholy. As a side note, music arouses emotions only in conjunction with other elements. Music belongs to a group of strategies that on their own fails to bring about the required immersion for playing the role, but combined has a cumulative effect on the gamer. Without sound, images impact to a certain extent their impact.

To state the obvious, we noticed in our cases that the musicians who compose for videogames use instruments and music genres suitable for the theme of the fantastical world. For Mass Effect, a science fiction RPG, synthesizers are combined with more classical instruments such as the piano and the violin for a more futuristic sound. Or the folk, symphonic music in Witcher 2 which suits the medieval, mythical faerie world. Moreover it is known, from the remediation theory which is mentioned above, that games assimilated the cinematic immediacy and not reality. For example, Mass Effect is a sci-fi saga in space, Witcher and Guild Wars is a medieval fantasy narrative. Dishonored is the closest to reality with its Victorian era inspired steampunk. The audio in the game can therefore not be real sounds. Natural sounds are recorded and used to create a synthesised multi-layered sound piece.175 We know them as Foley artists. They record in studios sound effects, for instance the hooves of a galloping horse and the clanging of the reins, with all kinds of props. In the history of art painters have tried to simulate volume and weight. The sound effects in games help to simulate the weight. It ensures that the representations in the game-world has an element of physicality to them. When the avatar walks and there are no footsteps then the

174 Kerr, digital games, 36. 175 Karen Collins, Game sound : an introduction to the history, theory, and practice of video game music and sound design (Cambridge : MIT Press, 2008),134-135.

58 feedback the gamer receives is that “he” in the world is a hollow skin, incapable to leave an imprint on “his” environment. Parallel to the camera, music crosses the borders of the implied gamer perspectives. The soundtrack is part of the narrating instruments, revealing elements that the virtual images alone cannot. It also supports the plot at vital moments. The characters have a leitmotif attached to them. Hence it also aids the narrative role for the gamer. And sound effects help selecting the correct data in the multitude of data during the gameplay. Moreover, a distinction is made between diegetic and non-diegetic sound. The former are all sound effects produced by the characters or the environment. The main characteristic is its adaptivity and interactivity. For instance, every holiday season Guild Wars 2 has fitting mini- games like the Bell Choir Ensemble where the gamer plays a Christmas themed tune with bells, the sound of the forest or voice-acted dialogue. And the latter is the soundtrack. It is also the mostly linear and non-dynamic of the audio: the song in the background of the cut- scene. Nonetheless it can also be adaptive as it reacts indirectly to gameplay. Stepping outside can change the leitmotif.176 Owing it to the narrative, representation, gameplay and other aspect of games ensure that the sound is nonlinear, depending on the genre of course. And if the soundtrack fails to adapt than the many functions that game audio has are at risk and the gameplay’s impact suffers. Composers compensate the lack of control over the length and the unity, the RPG narrative network can lead to fragmentation, by writing short musical pieces and recycle them without repetition through different cues and variations in the musical phrases. Some games utilise looping music but it is ineffective at instigating emotions because it has no connection to what is happening. Guild Wars 2 is an example of looping the soundtrack, except for the main quests. There are cues for fades in, fades out, cross-fade and pauses. 177 With sound having to fulfil multiple functions results in interactive, adaptive cues at a given moment that do not perpetuate for the entirety of the RPG. There are three parameters around which music changes. Character actions are a parameter: in Dishonored teleporting distorts the sound, slowing it down for a short time. The in-game parameter is when the avatar, in Guild Wars 2, has low hitpoints and a heart beating sound triggers - often combined with a bloody screen or a red frame - in order to draw the attention abundance of data towards the impeding danger. If the player fails to act appropriately and dies than an eerie sound triggers to signal it. And location-based parameters relates to the fact that cues are spatially anchored.

176 Collins, Game sound, 124-144. 177 Collins, Game sound, 140-145.

59 When the player roams around in the world of Witcher 2 and he discovers ruins, or when he walks through the dwarven city Vergen, a melancholic folk song ensues. Besides the parameters for the cues, there is a wide range of possible variations in game music: tempo, pitch, rhythm, volume, timbres, melodies, harmony, mixing, form.178 There are other functions beyond touching the gamer emotionally. First, sound serves to prepare the gamer. A clear example is a sound of an unknown origin, coined the acousmatic sound, that directs the player’s attention and possibly influences his navigation. Dishonored makes use of this when guards become aware of your presence. Secondly, music can also help with the cohesion of the quest structure. Thirdly, leitmotifs help to orient the player in how to approach objects, characters, environment because each of these have a different musical phrase and it is repeated at several moments. The repetition of the leitmotifs leads more continuity. For that reason leitmotifs are connected to the former function of cohesion.179 The use of leitmotivs/theme songs expresses an underlying idea behind the world or character. For example, the track “Illusive Man” of Mass Effect 2 is the leitmotif for the eponymous character. He is a pro-human, anti-alien extremist. His identity remains hidden for the role- player throughout the entirety of the game; the protagonist never meets him and is not able to catch the illusive man, until the end of the trilogy. The recurring musical phrase expresses that ephemeral nature of the illusive man. Always postponing the build up to a climax. In Dishonored where the sea shanty “Drunken Sailor” is transformed into a slower and darker theme song named “Drunken Whaler”. The hungry rats, rusty cleaver and loaded pistol in the lyrics paint a grim image of what awaits the player. We also hypothesise that leitmotifs and sound effects are particular useful for anchoring specific emotions via association. In Mass Effect 3 when the illusive man’s leitmotif plays during the scene where his betrayal is exposed. The scene evokes anger or distrust in the role-player. From this moment on the musical phrase, previously linked to the ephemeral nature of the character, is now connected to those feelings and it will bring them back up when repeated for the remainder of the game. Fourth function, sound also accentuates gameplay as it gives hints and goals directing the gamer’s attention. So it homogenises the hypermediacy of gameplay. The ring, when levelling up, reminds the gamer to allocate his skillpoints. The following function, voice-acting helps in presenting the emotions and thoughts of NPCs. And it guides the player’s perception of the character. Geralt’s voice is deep and there is some gruffness. His voice suits his sturdy physique. The player is being induced that Geralt is strong, intimidating and able to endure a

178 Collins, Game sound, 140-145. 179 Collins, Game sound, 140-145.

60 lot. Hence the role-player is more likely to behave according to his induction. In Dishonored however the protagonist remains silent which can help the identification. The problem with voice-over is that if voice and physique do not match with the inner image then it will lead to the alienation of the role-player which has to be prevented. If the character is silent the gamer will be the one giving him an appropriate voice. Silence is therefor as useful as music in orienting. The sixth function revolves around making the game-world more vivid, more lifelike. One possibility for the vividness is the usage of a bass, namely the thumps give a somatic experience. And we propose that the Foley artist also add to the realistic nature as stated above. Seven, music cuts the role-player off from the actual external world. And the final function, music induces and manipulates moods besides transmitting data.180 A number of these functions regards enticing emotions. There are two different angles for the emotional effect of music. One possibility is that the player hears the epic music and the heroic feeling in it transfers to the player. If this is the case than the expressive properties affect the listener merely by being observed by him. Another possibility is that the rapid beat triggers the attention of the gamer. He switches from exploring-the-virtual-world-mode to the on-guard-focussed-mode. The heroic feeling rises from defeating the opponent.181 The arguments that music does not transfer emotions go as follows. Firstly, the listener is being moved through beauty and he inadequately identifies the music as melancholic. Secondly, everyday experiences have an effect because they are cumulative, by stacking mundane elements. And music is not cumulative. Furthermore, the evoking characteristics of music are only a fraction of the entire musical structure. It never gains the upper hand and the listener will overlook the majority of the music if he pays too much attention to the expressive elements.182 It is important to note that music is only one of the strategies employed by the game creators to guide to certain attitudes and emotions. The visual supported by the interaction with objects and the audio ensure that the game is more atmospheric and more lifelike. And the enumeration of the functions above confirms that the expressive in audio is only a part of it. Others propose a black box viewpoint. The input is known, namely music. And the output is known: the listener is emotionally touched. But without stating how the process comes to

180 Karen Collins, Game sound : an introduction to the history, theory, and practice of video game music and sound design (Cambridge : MIT Press, 2008), 127-133, 135-137. 181 Peter Kivy, “Auditor's Emotions: Contention, Concession and Compromise,” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 51 (1993): 1-12, accessed 30 July 2013, http://www.jstor.org/stable/431965 182 Kivy, “Auditor's Emotions,” 1-12.

61 pass. Music can have the expressive characteristic and the auditor who perceives the emotion, as it is a sensorial characteristic, falls into the mindset of the track. Although the music does not per se lead to feelings, there is only a tendency and it can fall short.183 With the discovery of mirror neurons, the black box can be opened. Jajdelska et al. mention Molnar-Szakacs and Overy’s Shared Affective Motion Experience model. Acting, seeing or hearing, remembering and imagining are all “powered” by the same brain region. These mirror neurons activate not only for the visual but also for the auditory elements of a game. This cognitive ability allows to grasp the emotions of others because the perception and the body are inseparable. The role- player desires to understand what lies behind the soundtrack or sound effects. The movements in the music activate the mirror neurons, creating an embodied experience out of the audio and ultimately bringing about the comprehension of the intents by triggering the feelings in the listener. Additionally, performing physical movements, or in our case with the virtual avatar, and musical movements are linked. Embodiment through mirror neurons makes the game with its music more vivid because emotions arise.184

Audio complements the game-world by having a soundtrack that fits the themed world. And sound effects give weight to the virtual. The developers and composers are unable to predict the gamer entirely. And in order to have adaptive and interactive sound, the composer writes short tracks which are recycled but with a number of variations. The music or sound effects activate depending on the in-game, location-based and character action parameters. Furthermore, there was a debate about whether music transmits emotions or not. Some remark that the expressive dimension is only a fraction music. The gamer would be overlooking the other functions of audio if he focuses exclusively on the expressive. And music lacks the cumulative element. Others state that music has a tendency to put the auditor in a specific affective mindset. The discovery of mirror neurons confirms the latter. The mirror neurons activate when the gamer tries to interpret the intentions of the colourful movements in the soundtrack. Additionally, sound is more than merely eliciting emotions. Other functions are cutting off the outside world, create anticipation, counteract fragmentation, hints during play, enhancing the lifelike aspect, verbalising thoughts through voice-acting, orientating by leitmotifs.

183 Kivy, “Auditor's Emotions,” 1-12. 184 Elspeth Jajdelska, Christopher Butler, Steve Kelly, Allan McNeill and Katie Overy, “Crying, Moving, and Keeping It Whole: What Makes Literary Description Vivid?” Poetics Today 31 (2010): 440- 445, accessed 24 July 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25835325.

62 5. Visual Aesthetic and Representation

We do not consider the art style and visual aesthetic to be very important. However it is unclear where the consensus lies with the representation: whether it is pivotal to role- playing or not. When we look to the pen-and-paper version, the visual element is redundant since the player imagines everything the dungeon master relays to him through his mind’s eye. Another example are the MUDs. This type of Role-Playing Game is primarily text-based, even actions are communicated by text. The visualising of the environment and the events is the responsibility of the player. These two type of RPGs are the reasons why the importance of visual representation is questionable.

It could be stated that the visual style, similar to music and the camera, have a cumulative effect on the role-player’s imagination. Though we argue that the importance of music and the control over the camera exceeds that of the visual. Firstly, when muting the sound of a film or reading a book the spectator or reader imagines the sounds such as footsteps, and he assigns even voices to the characters. But that is where it ends, the average reader or spectator does not supplement the images with music which is essential to determine the angle for certain characters, situations and locations. An important facet of meaning is left out. Additionally, audio guides the gameplay and draws the attention of the player towards the significant elements. Leaving out audio in digital games will, besides diminishing the meaning, subsequently cause the standard of the performance to drop. Secondly, when it comes to the camera frame and the control over it, readers and players of MUDs or the pen-and-paper RPG always have a form of “camera frame”. The “camera frame” of the reader or the player is produced by their imagination and is directed by the implied reader, or the dungeon master, or the implied gamer of the MUD. The omnipresence of the camera frame, no matter what manifestation, proves the importance of it. Thirdly, determining the relative degree of immersion between using the own imagination and having the visual representation produced by software and displayed on a screen is simply too subjective. However, there are many different visual styles: from abstract to the retro pixel style, cartoonlike, cell-shaded and photorealism. In this sense digital games remediate art. And the wide range of styles help the gamer to towards a certain perspective and could possibly support the induction of emotions. Yet some posit that deep interaction between gamer and

63 game is the aesthetic ideal. Therefore the artistic style is of lesser importance.185 And that role-playing arises from the situation one faces and the abilities to deal with it.186 One could argue that, for instance, the use of colours can move the user similar to art. However it is a permanent given element throughout the game. The narrative is important because the role- player interacts with the narrative network. The camera is crucial because it enables - along with a set of objects - the configurative activity of the gamer. Audio is essential as it adapts to the actions and events. But the visual representation does not change or interact with the player. However the emphasis on interactivity forwards the character customisation. We decided to discuss the customisation of appearance in the chapter about self-fashioning as it is only a section of what is the visual representation. It has been asserted that representations and images cannot inform us about the world and can by no means be a source out of which knowledge can be extracted and withdrawn.187 This can be countered by the Proteus Effect produced by the character customisation and the avatar physical appearance.

To summarise our position, we do not deny the fact that the visual aesthetic exerts an effect. Only that the influence is not up to par with the audio and control over the camera. Audio directs the gameplay and offers meaning. The camera frame is omnipresent even without the visual representation. The representation and the aesthetic style can induce emotions but it is not adaptive to the player. Or at least most of it. Role-Playing Games features the character customisation mechanic. However we prefer to treated the customisation along with self-fashioning.

185 Kerr, digital games, 38. 186 Kerr, digital games, 117. 187 Dilman,“Imagination,” 90-97.

64 6. From Imagination to Embodiment

In the preceding chapters we discussed the vital features of RPGs that invite the role- player to respond: balancing immediacy and hypermediacy, the implied gamer, the objects and the quest narratives, the camera and the music. Now we will analyse how the gamer replies to the strategies of the game developer. The implied gamer triggers the imagination of the role-player. Long term the implied gamer conditions the player. The game rings and the player’s imagination starts to salivate. The interplay between the game and one’s imagination leads to immersion. It has three stages: empathising, sympathising and identification. Empathising or taking over the vision of the protagonist. Sympathising of the protagonist where the player cares for him. And identification with the hero: the gamer observes a resemblance between him and his avatar. Mirror neurons aid the player in these three stages. The imagination in one of the stages is fuelled by embodied experiences. The gamer utilises his embodied experiences for immersing himself. This is only possible because imagining, perceiving and remembering are “powered” by the same cognitive region.

We have mentioned before that since Role-Playing Games invest in strategies to facilitate make-believe it belongs to the play mode of simulation or mimicry.188 The imagination is process between the representation and attributed meaning. The video game invites the player to fantasise. If he agrees then an exchange process comes about with the game as a whole serves as a counterpart resulting in a holistic inner image out from a mediated context. An external signal is optional because imagination can also be self-induced. The screen and the aspect ensure that there is no confusion between the virtual representation and anything formed by the mind’s eye. The aspect is the core of the virtual representation. It is what he sees and identifies in the image by means of the likeness which is a component of the aspect. Furthermore, the game creators translate their abstract thoughts and knowledge into concrete virtual images. And they present the role-player with these images tied with ideas and concepts. The player manages to decode some or all of the ideas behind it due to the implied gamer. Sometimes additional principles are attributed that were not anticipate. The creation of the game and of an inner image feed on the knowledge and the memory of the actual user. Their knowledge and memories constitute the frame that allows them to express and grasp these thoughts. The role-player distillates an inner image once he interprets the

188 Kerr, digital games, 30-31.

65 virtual images, thus merging the abstract ideas with the concrete.189 For instance, the abstract idea of discriminating someone for their otherness. The concrete image will be an aggressive oppressor and a fearing victim. The inner image will be the specific character being in distress because the character is a victim of oppressive discrimination. And the idea of that memories function as a frame is reminiscent of the frame theory, earlier on we established that the magic circle is a frame to grasp play. Here is point where the frame theory intersects with the imagination process. In addition, memories are also the foundation for having embodied experience in role-play (see below). Furthermore, the transition of abstract ideas into concrete images and finally the fusion of the abstract and the concrete in the inner image counters the statement that developers do not transfer a message as mentioned before. Striking when looking at the imaginative process are the prominent elements of sensorial perception and the psychological dimension of the inner image. This is repeated by those who categorise the overall group of immersion into sensory perception and psychological immersion. Immersion is generally accepted as transportation into a fantasy world, however the details can vary. For example, some argued that the target of the immersion is either the game as a whole system and/or the fantastical world. Others propose that tension is essential for engrossment. Another standpoint is that immersion is only a part of engagement. The other part is concentration for performing adequately. And closely connected to it is the idea of flow. Achieving a challenging goal demands concentration. The gamer acts skilfully and is gratified by it because it is inherently entertaining and he loses himself in the activity yet he remains in control. Feedback is essential to retain this control. Also, the time morphs and action fuses with consciousness. Rules structure the experience and rewards motivate the player. But the level of difficulty of the task at hand should be neither too difficult nor too easy.190 It is a curious idea, the need of suspense for grabbing the player’s attention is the other way around. The fact is, tension means that the role-player has become a stakeholder. And there are stakes because the player has identified with the protagonist. Tension is an end product of immersion and not the other way around. Immersion has also been associated with cognitive and emotional proximity, without the sensory. And the way it establishes is through play, not through an illusion made by the medium. The ludology school labelled the latter the immersion fallacy. Moreover, a spectrum of immersion with different stages has been suggested. The stages are from lesser to higher degree: curiosity-sympathy-identification-empathy-transportation. The ludologist responsible

189 Dilman,“Imagination,” 90-97. 190 Crawford, Video Games, 77-78.

66 for the spectrum also claimed that the notions of engrossment and alienation are entangled in a dialectic process. Another grouping of immersion is the sensory, the imaginative immersion and the challenge-based interaction.191 The issue with the spectrum is the confusion made between sympathy as altruistic behaviour and empathy as the generally neutral taking of the role. We propose to remove curiosity and transportation because curiosity is described as a common willingness to know. It is not exclusive to immersion as it is also part of the gameplay where immersion is optional in singleplayer games or even improbable in MMOs. During moments of gameplay the computer displays simultaneously heterogeneous data. So all the gamer’s energy goes to the maintenance of his concentrate and performing on a high standard. There is accordingly no place for the character-emotions or immersion. Furthermore, a gamer can be curious about the underlying rules of gameplay. Additionally, the order should be adjusted to empathy-sympathy-identification. The neutral taking of perspective can become a caring for the protagonist - this means the player is invested in him - which can grow into identification. The problem with the triple classification is that the challenge-based interaction has nothing to do with transportation into the hero and his narrative situation. When performing the gamer places the character-emotions and the stakes tied to the protagonist in the background. There are stakes in reaching the goal when performing but these are not related to the context of the narrative. The stakes when performing deal with the execution of the performance, for that reason task-emotions rise. We discuss the spectator-performer nature of the player, the task- and character-emotions in-depth later on in the chapter about performing the fashioned self. Finally, the sensory immersion is not immersion. The multi-sensorial experience is only a pre-stage of immersion. The sensorial is meant to induce the imaginative immersion. The game invites the player to use imagination, consequently he will be invested in the protagonist and accordingly immersed in the RPG. The act of investing and immersing happens through empathy. When the role-player controls the avatar and navigates with it in the game-world, he takes over the psychological dimension of the protagonist. This is a cognitive process and not an emotional one. During the cognitive role-taking one retains the own identity. The role-player does not lose himself in the role despite imaginatively experiencing the emotional, of which the intensity varies, and cognitive state. This self-other differentiation is useful because the role-player can have his own experiences at the same

191 Collins, Game Sound, 133-134.

67 time. And he is in the position to analyse the boundaries between oneself and the role. It also prevents the empathiser to act as if he actually experiences the event.192 Self-other differentiation is important as it proves that empathy is not a naïve becoming of another. However the notion is problematic for the role-playing because he does act out the perspective. Role-players share the role-taking process with the reader and the spectator, but they go a step further in that after shifting perspectives they perform the perspective. A solution can be found in the fact that the frame of play, namely the magic circle, and the convention of the RPG genre does allow the ‘acting as if’ therefore the prevention does not occur. The self-other differentiation also influences the intensity of the emotions. Another aspect that influences the intensity of the imagined emotions is the fact that the character- emotions are quasi-emotions. More on this in the chapter about acting the self. Finally, the differentiation or double nature is reminiscent of the dual position of the role-player as spectator and performer with which he respectively undergoes the character-emotions and task-emotions. A few side notes must be made. Empathy is not similar to in-his-shoes-imagining. Empathy requires facts about the character. And in-his-shoes-imagining merges the player and the character together. While empathy is not a confusion of the ‘I’ and the role. Although this can be criticised. The role-player’s mind serves as model for the character and his beliefs are never totally bracketed hence there is always some contamination between both entities.193 Furthermore, sympathy and empathy share the same principles. Except for the discerning feature that the former is an altruistic attitude, the well-being of the other is prominent, instead of imaginatively experiencing the other’s situation. Empathy leans more towards indifference. A specific type of empathy is the emotional contagion. When taking the perspective of the person unconsciously mimics the characters leading to a transferal of feelings and ultimately a merging ensues. Some consider this a lesser form of empathy since there is no self-other distinction, it is not imaginative and it does not involve incorporation of the emotional or cognitive dimensions.194 Sympathy helps to explain how empathy, which impedes the empathiser to act as if he is in the situation, instigates the action to help the other. Empathy triggers sympathy. This is why we proposed to replace the spectrum with empathy-sympathy- identification. In addition, emotional contagion is by no means the same as identification.

192 Coplan, “Empathic Engagement,” 143-146. 193 Coplan, “Empathic Engagement,” 146. 194 Coplan, “Empathic Engagement,” 143-146.

68 Identification has still to some degree a self-other differentiation because playing is mediated and the gamer puts his beliefs and emotions in the background. Two types of imagination are important in order to understand empathy. On the one hand acentral imagination entails all the facts in the fictional world. On the other hand central imagination instigates the player to move in the context of the protagonist and to take his beliefs and desires at heart. The self-imagining is the objective here: the role-player, in his imagination, is the role. The “I” is the protagonist and therefore is the “I” the target of the imagination. Related to the two forms of imagination is the mental process containing emotional reactions such as imitation and reflexes.195 Digital RPGs make the acentral imagination redundant by rendering the facts and rules of the game-world. The player can still be curious about it and wish to explore it but no imagining is required here. Thus it draws the attention of the role-player away from the factual, towards the thoughts of the protagonist that still need to be assigned; a statement we made earlier when we analysed the importance of the camera and focalisation. POV shots do not impede the imagination by providing images because RPGs accentuate the psyche of the protagonist and not the production of images of the world. Despite the absence of the acentral imagination, the facts and rules bring the expectations across which direct the central imagination. Moreover, the central imagination is the motor that drives empathy. And the third category with the imitations and reflexes is driven by the mirror neurons. Throughout the gaming session the central imagination will rely on the imitations and reflexes. Owing it to the camera, the user assimilates the viewpoint of the virtual avatar. The camera triggers the central imagination subsequently enabling a mental take-over: namely empathy with other characters and identification with the protagonist. Hence there is a relationship between the spatiotemporal and the emotional dimension. The empathic ability has benefits when it comes to fiction. Firstly, integrating avatar’s viewpoint means that the events are easier to grasp and recall. Secondly, if the protagonist’s feelings, attributed by the gamer, resemble the own emotions then the own emotions are processed faster. Thirdly, role-players also judge the environment and the objects in it differently depending on the perspective. Gamers navigating from a POV position judge the objects directly in front of him faster while the third person position lets the player treat the environment equally. And even if the role- player’s knowledge of the situation surpasses the protagonist’s knowledge, the former keeps considering the latter’s viewpoint.196 Considering the character’s perspective is important

195 Choi, “POV Shots,” 17-25 196 Coplan, “Empathic Engagement,” 141-143.

69 proof for role-playing and it contradicts the criticism levelled at computer RPGs when compared to the pen-and-paper RPG, namely that the focus of the former is only interested in the gear and items while the latter emphasises character development. Access to information in RPG is moderated, often in textual excerpts spread throughout the game-world in order to reward exploratory behaviour. The manipulation of lore impacts the fashion in which the viewpoint is established. One of the possibilities is the theory-theory. Cause-effect relationships permits the prediction of intentions and behaviour of others.197 This is echoed in the assertion that identification is used to predict the reaction of others on his own actions. The subject does this by shifting to a different point of view.198 Another possibility is the simulation theory. According to it the role-player imagines the situation and puts himself in the skin of the character and decides himself, but the action is attributed to the character.199 He models the mental dimension of the protagonist after his own mind. By bracketing the majority his own beliefs and substitutes the hero’s beliefs.200 The two theories are not mutually exclusive. The gamer is flexible enough to combine the theory- theory and the simulation theory. Which theory is selected depends on the target or object. If the target is the protagonist than the role-player gives preference to the simulation theory. Whenever the role-player desires to understand the Non-Player Characters or other players on the server then the theory-theory is elected. Empathy as a process to engage with fiction has been criticised because readers are external observes and not participants. The reader possesses often more information, he sympathises with the character and responds to a situation by wishes a certain ending that the character does not. And if simulation does take place it is due to the genre: it happens irregularly and is only approximately alike. However this criticism does not take the self-other differentiation into account.201 Role-Playing Games are a form of fiction that transforms the gamer into a participant. He is as a result not outside but inside of the events. The role-player intervenes in the events. The game registers the actions and adapts to it. The medium of the game establishes this way a kind of conversation. Yee et al. mentions research where empathy is seen as one of the three forms of role-play: empathic, emotional and counterattitudinal role-play. With the first form aiming to foster empathy with minorities, the second form tries to decrease destructive comportment - for

197 Choi, “POV Shots,” 17-25 198 Van Looy and Courtois and De Vocht, “Player Identification,” 198. 199 Choi, “POV Shots,” 17-25 200 Coplan, “Empathic Engagement,” 146. 201 Coplan, “Empathic Engagement,” 147-149.

70 example smoking - and the last form entails a person who adjusts his thoughts to a declaration that contradicts his own beliefs.202 Role-players assimilate all three as they game. The central imagination shapes the inner image of the protagonist based on hints from the game. By taking the perspective, through the camera, he feels and thinks the ideas of the protagonist, though there still is self-other differentiation, if the emotions and ideas contradict the own feelings and beliefs than the player places them on the background and takes the emotions and ideas of the protagonist temporarily over. The next stage is identification where the gamer associates himself with a role based on similarity in terms of physical resemblance and wishfullness.203 The gamer identifies with the virtual on three levels. Firstly there is the avatar identification. Secondly, there is group identification, it encompasses socialisation and the actualisation of relationships. And the last form is game/community identification.204 Singleplayer and Multiplayer games have all three though not to the same degree. Group identification with Guild Wars 2 is emphasised through the possibility of chat, forming groups to clear dungeons and establishing more permanent relations through guilds. This is normal since the narratives of MMOs are more superficial and the development of the player’s story happens by interacting with other players. Mass Effect as a singleplayer, also has group identification because the gamer acts with Shepard’s crew and performs with a squads. The group identification in Witcher 2 is more complicated because he is half human and no matter what side he chooses, elves and dwarves or humans, Geralt never fits in entirely. The same with Covro in Dishonored, the player could identify with the group of loyalists with whom he collaborates but this changes after the betrayal. The criteria impacting wishfullness and resemblance with the gamer/story/character range from structural features, character types, the fondness for the protagonist. In addition, Van Looy et al. consider identification as a gateway for empathy. They define empathy as emotions of the eye witness and grasping the inner workings of an entity by projecting oneself into the target. In this manner empathy is the opposite of identification. With empathy the external entity remains external and in identification the avatar is internalised.205 But we oppose the assertion that identification has a chance to lead to empathy. Empathy is a cognitive process, by simulation the other’s situation the player can imagine the thoughts and

202 Nick Yee and Jeremy N. Bailenson and Nicolas Ducheneaut, “The Proteus Effect: Implications of transformed digital self-representation on online and offline behavior,” Communication Research 36 (2009):289. 203 Jan Van Looy and Cédric Courtois and Melanie De Vocht,. “Player Identification in Online Games: Validation of a Scale for Measuring Identification in MMORPGs,” In Fun and Games (Leuven: ACM, 2010), 197. 204 Van Looy et al., “Player Identification,” 197-198. 205 ibidem, 197-199.

71 emotions of the hero: it is a more or less neutral taking of perspective. But there is an emotional distance between the two entities as a result of self-other differentiation. Yet identification depends on elements like fondness and wishfullness. Identification is subsequently an emotional process. It also resembles sympathy, a feeling for another, except that sympathy has a higher degree self-other differentiation. We propose empathy-sympathy- identification spectrum. There is no empathy-identification opposition because empathy is more of an earlier stage of immersion. In the broad frame of empathy there is a possibility to become sympathetic with the protagonist. In turn sympathy could capsize into full identification. In the spectrum empathy has the most self-other differentiation and it decreases in the following stages. And sympathy is the stage where the cognitive process becomes an emotional one. Van Looy et al. also distinguishes two types of identification in the videogame medium. The first one is the monadic identification. One can speak of unification and of becoming one. It implies a much closer connection between the avatar and the gamer. Opposite to the monadic identification is the dyadic identification in traditional media. The reader resides outside of the character.206 The monadic is a naive take on identification. Empathy and identification infer a self-other differentiation though at varying degrees. The mediation and the fact that the gamer has a body outside the game impedes the merging. We state for this reason that there is only dyadic identification. Furthermore, we note that whether roleplaying games are empathic or focussed on identification depends not merely on the medium itself, but also on the player and the make- up of his gameplay. If the game strategies are unsuccessful to appeal the gamer to internalise the protagonist, then he may only have empathy for it and failing to make the next step of identifying. Internalising here is not fusing together, internalising happens by extending the perception. Moreover, the acting style, involvement or self-expression, determines the direction of the identification. With involvement the player identifies himself to the character. And if self-expression is utilised, then the character is identified to the player. We elaborate these acting styles in the chapter about acting as the self. The mental processes responsible for imitations and reflexes that support the central imagination brings us to the mirror neurons. The nature of mirror neurons is both empathic and interpretative according to Jajdelska et al. who connects empathy and emotions through

206 Van Looy et al., “Player Identification,” 197-198.

72 mirror neurons.207 Yet we learned from Coplan earlier on that empathy, emotionless role- taking, should be separated from sympathy, feeling for another. This is seemingly an opposition, nevertheless empathy is a cognitive process not an emotional one like sympathy. It needs to be clarified that the process can lead to emotions but is not as a result emotional itself. The key to understanding role-play as an imaginative act similar to traditional actors lies in the mirror neurons. Jajdelska et al. determined the criteria of vividness on several levels. On the level of the medium, vividness can be increased if the developers focus on the whole rather than the part, movement, emotions should depicted in broad strokes and set boundaries.208 These specifications where made for the description of faces in literature but we hypothesise that it is applicable for the characters and environment of digital games. On the level of the receiver there are two models the jigsaw based on pieces of information reconstructed into one, and the experiential focused on the emotional embodied reaction. Embodied means that the gamer undergoes a holistic bodily experience rather than a mere visual one.209 Contrary to popular belief, imagination is entangled with all the senses and is not just a case of the visual. The first reason for this is that fantasising, memory and perceiving are alike. The common ground of these three activities lies in the activated brain region when partaking in the action. When a player prepares to do something, the same part of the brain lights up when watching another perform.210 In the whole action-perception relationship, the mirror neurons cause motor activation or interference: the influence when watching the behaviour of others. The mirroring functions as interpretative element for movements.211 Furthermore, imagining is similar to remembering: it is a set of experiences. One must avoid the misconception of comparing a mental image to a static picture. For example, being confronted with a dragon in Witcher 2 and trying to take over the perspective of Geralt involves the embodied memory of fire as heat or even pain, the embodied memory of a reptile as disgusting, the embodied memory of the huge size as frightening and so on and so forth. If it is the first encounter with a dragon than it becomes a memory, a benchmark for future encounters in other games. As memories and experiences differ among individuals,

207 Elspeth Jajdelska, Christopher Butler, Steve Kelly, Allan McNeill and Katie Overy, “Crying, Moving, and Keeping It Whole: What Makes Literary Description Vivid?” Poetics Today 31 (2010): 446, accessed 24 July 2014, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25835325 208 ibidem, 433-447. 209 ibidem, 433-439 210 ibidem, 435-443. 211 Andreas Gregersen and Torben Grodal, “Embodiment and interface,” in The video game theory reader 2, ed. Bernard Perron and Mark J.P. Wolf. (New York: Routledge, 2009), 65-69.

73 subsequently the perceptions deviate from one and another.212 This explains why the implied gamer only guides towards the preferred performance and is unable to force it upon the gamer. The memories and experiences of the game developers differs from the gamers. The example of the dragon in Witcher 2 reminds us of the mental image, an image invented by combining parts of earlier experiences. The relation between the digital image and the role- player is internal because the thoughts of the player determine how the image is understood and identified. This internal relationship distinguishes the representation and what the player sees in the representation. This internal relationship also implies a type of seeing. A kind of seeing that revolves around what is represented or can be seen “through” the game; for example the characters. And this type of seeing is connected to immediacy. The inner image of the protagonist is also an instance of the mental image.213 The mental image is not to be confused with an after-image, a mental imprint of a previous experience. The after-image is applied to the gameplay. In order to envision his story in its totality, the heterogeneous performance is compressed into a homogenous image so that it can fit the more homogenous plot. The after-image and the player have an external relationship since the grasping and identification of the virtual image relies on impressions induced by earlier experiences. The external relationship depends on a seeing of the virtual representation as a virtual representation. To see the game as such, a medium. This type of sight is linked with hypermediacy.214 Another reason why immersion as an embodiment experience does not infer a loss of the senses from the actual body in the real world is that embodiment exists out of two sense: the body and the agency. The physical body constitutes the experience when roaming in the game-world and the experience in the real world at the same time. In fact experiencing events in games goes beyond the own physique. Empathy is such an instance of crossing the own corporeal boundaries. From the start RPGs will entice the gamer to align and extend the own perspectives with that of the hero in order for the body images, and subsequently the embodied experiences, to match. The sense of agency and of body are automatically united in the player if he is in a position of action. The embodied experience must be unconscious, if not the temporary merging of the two senses halts. Situations of inaction result only in a sense or ownership of the body. The two senses are also susceptible to beliefs that the player has of himself, to be more precise ideas concerning his own competence or incapacity. Embodiment

212 Jajdelska et al., “What Makes Literary Description Vivid,”435-443. 213 Dilman,“Imagination,” 90-96. 214 Dilman,“Imagination,” 90-91.

74 manifests itself as follows. the player has an intention to act and the action has feedback. Mirror neurons inverse the cycle. To understand the feedback the play looks at the movement and interprets the intentions.215 The jigsaw theory can be applied to the character customisation, from the outfit and tools to the character creation where the player create the virtual body of the avatar and select the race/class. The virtual avatar is a puzzle that can be reverse engineered, back to the inner image that it expresses.216 Building an avatar and using it as a vehicle demonstrates the flexibility of the player’s embodiment. The perception of the own body, coined as body schema, can extend to instruments. Bimodal neurons are responsible for this inclusion of external elements, after which the two senses apply to that element. Examples of this are the interface, the mouse and keyboard, but also the avatar. The (Graphical) User Interface supports embodiment by having actions mapped to them, in our case the keyboard and the mouse, and visualising the preformed actions. This is possible due to body-mapping where the actions are pinned on the virtual avatar.217 The jigsaw model may be utilised for the construction of a virtual avatar, nevertheless fellow role-players in MMORPGs do not experience the avatar of others as a jigsaw puzzle but rather as a whole. Players approach other avatars via the experiential model. The holistic experiential theory is useful for the vividness that the medium can induce. We do not discuss books but digital games, there is no opposition of the jigsaw versus experiential model. And both serve another purpose: the jigsaw for analysing the player’s expression and the experiential for the player’s reception. Repurposing the models also avoids the issue that the jigsaw model had as an interpretational tool, namely it was judged to be inadequate by scientific research. And the model confounds accuracy or the listing of features with vividness. A confusion that impedes the ability to recognise and therefor the embodied response. This impediment is labelled as verbal overshadowing effect.218

Summarising, the game sends external signals but imagination is internal because the player recognises what or who is in the virtual image. In doing so the player unites the abstract ideas of the developer and the concrete image. The imagination converses with the computer game. This is known as immersion. The immersion spectrum goes from empathy to

215 Andreas Gregersen and Torben Grodal, “Embodiment and interface,” in The video game theory reader 2, ed. Bernard Perron and Mark J.P. Wolf. (New York: Routledge, 2009), 65-69. 216 Jajdelska et al., “What Makes Literary Description Vivid,”440-442. 217 Andreas Gregersen and Torben Grodal, “Embodiment and interface,” in The video game theory reader 2, ed. Bernard Perron and Mark J.P. Wolf. (New York: Routledge, 2009), 65-69. 218 Jajdelska et al., “What Makes Literary Description Vivid,”440-442.

75 sympathy and identification. The central imagination is the motor of empathy. Events, environment and feelings are faster processed when assimilating the perspective. How the perspective is aligned depends on what theory is employed: the theory theory or the simulation theory. The former implies that the player has a theory that allows to make predictions. The latter infers that the gamer depicts the situation of the hero. By taking over the point-of-view the gamer fills in the thoughts and emotions of the protagonist. There is a chance that empathy turns into sympathy because the player is fond of the character. The sympathy can in turn change into identification when the player recognises himself in the character. The whole imagination process is supported by the mirror neurons. The inner image of the protagonist and the embodied experience in the gamer-world is founded on the brain region that unites imagining, remembering, perceiving and acting. The shaping of the hero in the game through character creation is analogous to the jigsaw model. However, the other players of the server perceive the avatar as a whole via the experiential model.

76 7. The Performed Virtual Self

After explaining how the imagination reacts to the game’s signals we can continue to the shaping of the self and the performance after the invention. First, the game foresees the fashioning of a self by implementing character customisation. It is subdivided into character creation, dialogue options and skill trees. These three features are well known in the gamer community and have become synonymous with the Role-Playing Game genre. We will go analyse how the features are implemented into our cases. Besides self-fashioning, the Proteus effect has been applied to explain the effect of the visual representation of the virtual avatar. Then we will discuss the performance and the emotions flowing out of the narrative role and the performative role. In general it could be stated that emotions betray the presence of stakes of the gamer and that each role inspires different emotions that are not necessarily congruent.

7.1 Inventing an Self: the Act of Self-Myhtologising

The role-player uses the game to create a self in the game. And he fills in this entity, analogous to an actor taking on a role. RPGs offer the gamer the necessary means to do so through the shaping apparatus. The apparatus exists out of three particular shaping instruments for inventing an entity: character creation, dialogue options and skill trees. These three features enable the role-player to invent a more ideal self. Once the gamer designs a new self he interacts with the narrative network and the virtual world, leaving behind traces of his presence. His imprints influence the future of the narrative and have consequences tied to them. The shaping are specific to the genre of role-playing games and therefor make the RPG exemplary for the role-playing process. This chapter aims to describe the three notions and tries to explain their impact through self-fashioning and the Proteus effect. It is important to note that the fashioned self does not end after the character creation at the beginning of the game. Performing the new entity starts after the character creation and takes shape throughout the journey. The fashioned self is only complete when the narrative has ended, when the player’s story can be envisioned in its entirety.

77 The protagonists are empty to facilitate the process of identification and take over the avatar as vehicle.219 Role-Playing Games, by implementing character creation, offer the gamers a blank canvas which they can fill as they please. One has the possibility to invent and shape an avatar. At the beginning of a game, before the player is introduced to the plot, there is a page with sliders that changes that way the nose, ears, mouth and the list of bodily features continues. The implementation of such an instrument attests the jigsaw model, even if it lost its use in literature. We also discussed in the chapter about embodiment that the protagonist is modelled after his own mind: he shapes through his central imagination a more ideal image based on himself. And he blows life into the virtual skin with the inner image, by imagining the cognitive and psychological dimensions of the protagonist This very personal reflection is “only” more ideal due to the constraints of the medium: there are only a finite amount of options and none of those are deep enough in order to create the most ideal picture. The player is given an opportunity to change appearances and can select a class and a race, each of the classes have a selection of befitting abilities and statistics. The skills and statistics ensure that the specific class excels at a certain function. The class system can be seen in Guild Wars 2 and the Mass Effect-trilogy. Although character creation is not necessarily a standard feature. The Witcher or Dishonored do not provide this level of customisation. The Proteus effect is rooted on the character creation and the set of objects. According to Yee et al. the effect explains that seeing the image of the virtual avatars inspires the player to behave in a specific fashion. This behaviour is echoed in the interaction between characters.220 The Proteus effect is a result of the character perspective of the implied gamer and affects the perspective of the performative role. In MMOs the avatars of other players are experienced in a holistic way because the mirror neurons are activated in order to decode the intention of the other player. Despite the jigsaw structure of character creation, the experiential theory in combination with the implied gamer accounts for the observation Yee et al. made about how the behaviour and image of one’s avatar influence the responds of others. Digital games strategically elicit this effect to guide the player to a preferred attitude and gameplay. Two filters form the foundation of the Proteus Effect. On the one hand there is behavioural mimicry. The player adopts the manner of acting and speaking from others. And a protagonist whose general attitude suits the gamer is prone to receive positive responds from the player. Or a new player in MMOGs is often subjected to a socialisation process where he takes over the terminology and the dominating metagame. The metagame is the methodology, the tactics

219 Kerr, digital games, 117. 220 Yee et al., “The Proteus Effect,” 285.

78 that circulates in the gamer community for achieving optimal effect or maximise the chance of success. For instance, the perfect group composition in MMORPGs of tanks, damage dealer and healer for clearing a dungeon. Others players will be more sympathetic towards the newcomer if he accomplishes his socialisation process. On the other hand there is the appearance filter. Analogous thoughts and looks entice sympathy. The influence is both direct and indirect. The direct influence is originates from the virtual avatar. The attention from others is the indirect influence. Another indirect stimulus is the behavioural confirmation which resembles the self-fulfilling prophecy. Expectations of fellow players or NPCs in games result in an alignment of oneself with the expectations. The earlier example about metagame is again useful here. In a guild a certain level of skill will be expected which results in to behavioural mimicry of the metagame. The player perceives his character from the outside to assume the anticipated attitude based on the appearance of his character. This is known as the Self-Perception theory. Deindividuation heightens the self-perception in that being anonymous or a member of a guild in a MMO shifts the player to a social identity and to situational signals for affecting the player’s attitude. When not deindividualised, the gamer is focused on his thoughts and personal identity.221 The Proteus effect is heavily indebted to the mirror neurons. Mimicking speaking and acting, sympathising with a character, aligning expectations, assuming anticipations are only possible because perceiving, remembering, imagining and acting are driven by the same brain region. Lacking character creation should not impede the creative process of creating and performing a self-made entity. As long as the developer does not burden the gamer with the past of the protagonist. A predetermined past does not adapt and is unmodifiable from the outset. Taking away control deters role-playing. Guild Wars 2 has no issue because the character creation is literally the birth of the avatar, it has no implied past life. But Witcher 2 does, yet it avoids problems because Geralt of Rivia suffers from amnesia. In this manner the gamer is not saddled with luggage from the protagonist’s past. The player is free to discover the fantasy world just like Geralt has to rediscover his world. At the same time it is crucial to find out the past because some of Geralt’s memories help to explain why certain events happen. Amnesia is used to give freedom and induce tension in the player. The gamer and the character must find their path among the turmoil between on the one hand humans and on the other hand non-humans; elves, dwarves, etc.

221 ibidem, 286-292.

79 Dishonored also misses any form of character creation. The developers remedy this through the first person perspective and starting point of the narrative. The artists of the development team created Corvo’s appearance. And the need for role-players to determine the protagonist’s physique becomes redundant owing it to the first-person camera and the fact that the gamer barely sees the protagonist in cut-scenes. The rarely seen face of the hero in combination with the mask, which resembles a skull, gives the gamer the liberty to form the appearance of the protagonist in his own mind. Also the moment when the plot takes off is crucial. It starts when Corvo returns from his expedition in order to find help against the rat plague: the player’s position is that of an in media res. Some time ago there was an outburst of plague and the hero, Corvo, is send to resolve this. Once he is back the Emprise got murdered and the conspirators used him as a scapegoat, hence the title. This new context makes the luggage that a fixed past entails obsolete. A break with the past is made at two different moments. The first juncture is the plague outbreak. It interrupted the course of everyday life in the whole steampunk world and now life in Dunwall city revolves now around survival. The second juncture is the assassination of the Empress and Corvo being accused of it. Consequently the protagonist is stripped of his high status - the bodyguard of the Empress - and imprisoned. Mass Effect does possess character creation and it infers the past life of Commander Shepard. To prevent hindering role-play the developers give the gamer the ability to choose which past: spacer, earthborn or colonist. The beginning of Dishonored, just like The Witcher, presents the gamer with a blank slate to be filled out at will. A protagonist disconnected from the past life, otherwise the role-player would have to keep considering it throughout the invention and performance of the entity. Another shaping and performing element are dialogue options. As the role player navigates through the narrative network, he will encounter and interact with numerous Non- Player Characters. The dialogues with these NPCs can be classified into narrative-based dialogue. This type entails the exposition of the lore and background of the virtual world or the expressions of emotions. The other category is the performance-based dialogues: each option reflects a different attitude - good/bad or passive/aggressive - and the selection of an option will have specific consequences. If we situate the performance-based dialogue options on the perspectives of the implied gamer then it will be in the grey zone between the narrative role and the performative role of the gamer. For instance, in Mass Effect the mentally unstable officer starts a cult and becomes a threat. When a quest giver tasks the player with a quest then the player selects a dialogue option appropriate to the fashioned self. After performing, which is again based on the inner image, the player returns to the quest giver and he elects

80 again a dialogue option that confirms the attitude during the performance. The performance- based dialogue transfers the heterogeneous gameplay into the homogenous plot. In other words, this type of dialogue allows the formation of after-images out of the gameplay. In Mass Effect the dialogue options are displayed on a wheel with the standard replies on the right and the paragon/renegade responses. The former lines are accessible any time of the game. However the latter options can only be selected if the gamer builds up high enough paragon and/or renegade karma from earlier encounters. This simulates the reputation build by the player during the game. The Witcher utilises a more nuanced method then the binary system. At first sight the dialogue options resemble those of Mass Effect. The witcher can convince the other via reason, hex or attack them when moments of dispute rise. For example during the siege one can help villagers against the king’s soldiers. Or the hanging of Geralt’s old friends. Tension is induced in such scenes by implementing timers. But on closer inspection one concludes that the fantasy world in this game departs from the black and white. “Good” options may evolve in bad consequences and “bad” choices might lead to good results. For instance at the end of Chapter I, depending on which narrative branch the gamer is situated, the player is given an alternative either save the elven women from the flames or kill the fraudulent Commander Loredo. The first option will save the women but in the end the village Flotsam will be sold to a tyrant king and non-humans have it even worse than before. The latter alternative, murdering Loredo prevents the impending fate for non-humans. In addition neither of the groups, human or non-human, are intrinsically good or evil. Humans treat elves and dwarves as second rate citizens and perform the occasional pogrom while non-humans undertake terrorist attacks. At the end of Chapter I the role-player has to make a choice between accompanying the humans or the elves. The refusal of pure good and evil makes this choice morally far more interesting. The third fashioning element are skill trees. Skill trees, owing its name to its branchlike appearance, are a collection of abilities and skills attributed to a class. Unlocking basic powers of the tree will give access to powers higher up the tree. Usually these abilities can be bought via experience. The “experience” currency is awarded by accomplishing quests. Hence gameplay in role-playing games is embedded in narrative. The collections of powers are dividable in active skills and passive skills. The former category can be activated once in a specific time limit. Upon activation the power will be on cooldown, meaning the power needs an specific amount of time to recharge. The more powerful the ability, the longer

81 the arbitrary cooldowntime is. The latter group are permanent once acquired, for example enhancing the statistics such as hitpoints or damage. The whole skill tree system influences greatly the gameplay. The role-player will opt to specialise in a certain tree according to his preference, the manner of perceiving the protagonist as well as the unknown future. The Witcher gives four trees: training, magic, alchemy and swordsmanship. To specialise in swordsmanship means head-on confrontation whilst magic focuses on disabling and maintaining distance. The gamer can also elect for a hybrid build, meaning combining two skill trees thus merging both strengths of the trees and minimising their weaknesses. However spreading in too many other categories might lead to a faulty performance as none of the statistics are high enough for disposing of future opponents. In Dishonored, Mass Effect and Guild Wars 2 the traditional tree shaped skill trees has been replaced by a more straight forward, simplified version. Although the core idea remains with different categories where basic talents can be build up towards higher levels. It is worth remarking that approaching games as a set of objects with statistical properties, including the virtual vehicle, impacts the definition of creativity. Creativity is the imaginative use of predetermined statistical rules and grasping the intertextual narratives out of which these originate. Hence, the player navigates within intertextual and statistical domains. The type of creativity arising in the play sessions is called invention and not creation because the gamer deals with predefined objects out of literary genres with statistical components.222 Further design elements supporting the former three identity-shaping elements are the inventory and loot. The latter are any objects found by exploring the area, by crafting, as reward for accomplishing quests or are dropped by beaten opponents. Loot are often weapons, armour and miscellaneous items useful for reaching the final levels. All these are collected and stored in the inventory. After storing the loot the gamer compares the different objects on the bases of statistics and appearance. Weapons and armour have statistical differences hence different play styles are encouraged. The criteria of appearance and statistics are informed by the manner in which the role-player perceives his character and the value he gave to it.

222 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 124-128.

82 Greenblatt’s notion of self-fashioning offers a theoretical foundation which can give insight behind the idea of the character creation, dialogue and gameplay. This theory analyses the selves in fiction which can be moulded. The role-player is the author of his fashioned self through the three self-shaping strategies. The player pours his created entity in a textual format via dialogue options. Though self-fashioning is far from purely a textual element. It is also visible in the behaviour, or in the gameplay. The subject has a self which can be consciously fashioned in the expression and representation of the identity. The forming can be interpreted as literally a physical shape or as a manner of interacting with the surrounding, a way of perception and behaving. It is important to note that the social life and the medium of expression are not separated. There is an interplay between players, culture and fashioning other selves. By self-fashioning the role-player exerts control over his behaviour and over culture. In turn, cultural systems influences the individuals, the fashioned self and the embodiment because actions are imbedded in meaning. Games reflect shaping codes that guide to the role-player’s behaviour which is a display of those codes. The focus here lies on the interaction between the structures in the game and the social context of the subject and it constitutes the process of self-fashioning.223 Moreover, Demoor foregrounds the theatrical aspect from the act of self-mythologising because the act happens before an audience.224 The idea that self-fashioning revolves around theatrical representation and the importance of cultural influence is similar to the concept of diffused audience. In the “mediascape” that exists everybody is a spectator and performer and everybody uses mass media to inform his social performance. We explain more about this when we analyse the double nature of the role-player. The actual process of self-fashioning involves a conversation between an authority, namely the role-player, and an alien, mostly opponents in the quest narrative or fellow players. The latter is negative or chaotic towards the role-player. The other is being interiorised when fashioning a self. Subsequently the destruction and submission of the alien other is incorporated in the new self.225 Demoor observes that Henry James’ prefaces delineates an idealised, revised, unified, repeatable presentation of his fiction.226 We posit that this is applicable to the role-playing process. It has been established in the chapter about embodiment that the new self is modelled after the actual self. However the presented self is

223 Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-fashioning From More to Shakespeare, (Chicago: University of Chicago press, 1998), 1-9. 224 Demoor, Marketing the author: authorial personae, narrative selves and self-fashioning 1880-1930, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 40-52. 225 Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-fashioning, 1-9. 226 Demoor, Marketing the author, 40-52.

83 idealised and is performed in an equally idealised manner. Thus a unified vision of the actual self arises. The unified vision highlights the more favourable elements of the gamer’s personality hence the virtual protagonist is a more ideal version of the gamer. As for the repetition, it is apparent in Guild Wars 2. It has several character slots and the gamer is able to create different avatars with suitable narrative. Repetition is also noticeable in the replayability of The Witcher 2, Mass Effect or Dishonored. Players replay the game after beating it a first time. They alter their actions and decisions, thus ending up in a different narrative branch and/or skill tree than their first playthrough. This repetition proves that the actual identity is not identical to the fabricated self. The self-mythologising in the virtual is far from uniform, unique and evident. The self emerges through expression. Hence it is not the source of expression. The virtual self appears through actions, decisions and communication. However the imagined entity is not the source of the emotions driving his performance. This means the selves are produced by the gamer in the virtual world. And the actual identity of the subject is crucial for performing the self even if it is a repetition of a displaced model. In the videogame the gamer shows his avatar in such a manner that he presents a controlled image of himself as a gamer.227

227 Demoor, Marketing the author, 40-52.

84 7.2 Acting as the Self

To understand the performance of the fashioned ideal self we need to explore the position of the role-player. When we discussed the implied gamer we mentioned the need to adapt the implied reader in order to apply it to the medium of games. The role of the player in the gameplay was added. The performative role is as important as the role of the gamer in the narrative. The role-player incorporates both roles. In this chapter we will continue this line of thought. Furthermore, emotions in games go along with actions. Out of the dual position of the gamer flow two types of emotions: the character-emotions and the task-emotions. How the emotions manifest depends on the acting style of the player, either the style of involvement or the style of self-expression. The behaviour of the gamer betrays emotions which means that he is invested and holds stakes in the situation.

7.2.1 The Hybrid Anatomy of the Role-Player

A specific feature for computer games is that gamers possess two bodies: a physical one fixed in reality and a virtual body fixed in games. They project themselves in the virtual bodies and they present it as a new identity or an extension of themselves. These virtual bodies move in an enclosed playing space, the game-world. The imaginative experience of projecting oneself in the game is called immersion. Immersion depends on the passion of the player and the possibility to interact. The thematic appeal alone does not suffice.228 When immersed the player performs through the avatar and acts with the NPCs. Characters in games are grouped in either avatars that function as a tool for the gamer or in narrative sequences.229 As stated in the chapter about remediation, the cinematic sequence is immediate in nature and the gameplay is hypermediate. Owing to the balancing of immediacy and hypermediation in role-playing games, the gamer is not perpetually immersed in the narrative during his play session. Consequently the emotions felt by the gamer do not always coincide with the presumed emotions of the protagonist. This idea is echoed in Diderot’s writings about theatre, namely that actors pretend to feel the emotions of the character but he does not actually

228 Ryan, Narrative as virtual reality, 306-317. 229 Kerr, digital games, 117.

85 experience these emotions.230 The functionalistic approach of emotions solves the paradox as follows. Gamers when playing undergo two types of emotions. On the one hand there are character-emotions. Emotions of this type relate to the character and the fictional setting in which he operates. On the other hand the actor experiences task-emotions. These are feelings connected to the actual situation of the performer. His performance is judged by the computer game which is a system of rules, and among those rules are the conditions for winning or losing.231

By fulfilling quests, the player receives experience and gear. The experience is the currency that is responsible for assigning skillpoints into new abilities or upgrade older ones. These abilities and items are contextualised and receive a certain value through playing. Character development seems therefor out of the question.232 This leads us to the criticism levelled against the computer RPGs, it posits that the gamer does not role-play anymore. It is impossible to play the role since digital games remediate the dungeon master and other players. The world is clearly defined due to the software. While with the pen-and-paper, the players collectively give shape to the fantasy world. Another criticism is that the character development and role-playing have been reduced to amassing loot and beating challenges: the character is an unvalued bag of characteristics.233 This is echoed in Punday’s analysis. The characters in RPGs can be evaluated on the basis of the artefacts that they have in their possession. Yet Punday argues that the agency of the gamer is a ritualised process of reaffirming himself and his control by describing himself with statistics.234 This reaffirmation of oneself points to a specific historical evolution. Rituals used to revolve around the cosmological tragedy. Over the centuries society became more and more individualistic. This shift is mirrored in games since virtual avatars reflect the inner psychological state of the players.235 Returning to the criticism, role-play only can be stimulated by game mechanics. Contrary to what was asserted, the set of objects support the performance of ideal selves instead of functioning as a red herring. Character developments happen in the mind of the role-player. The inner image evolves throughout the journey because the gamer learns more about the fictional world. Still role-play is a form of free play

230 Elly Konijn, Acting Emotions (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2000),15-17. 231 ibidem, 15-17. 232 Thomas H. Apperley, “Genre and game studies: Towards a critical approach to videogame genres.” Simulation & Gaming: An International Journal of Theory Practice and Research 37 (2006), 17-19. 233 ibidem, 17-19. 234 Punday, “Creative Accounting,” 113-136. 235 Kerr, digital games, 32.

86 and cannot be forced by rules. Furthermore, the gamer is a participant who often refers to the protagonist as “I” and takes the avatar’s perspective over even if the gamer holds more information than the character should know.

During game session the player is not constantly immersed. Play is segregated into several tiers. The state of play is flexible because the players, their perception and social context is fluid. For that reason, gamers change between states of play and non-play.236 Videogames have pauses, thus the player’s involvement fluctuates between off and online statuses.237 As long as the performative role for the gamer does not incorporate tedious or trivial tasks then the player will not fall out of the online status.238 This is problematic for Guild Wars 2 because the player must “grind”, the monotonous act of farming a huge amount of resources for levelling up. Moreover, the fact that the player repeatedly experiences the emotions and remains in control is only possible owing it to two models. Firstly, Konijn mentions the double consciousness. Applied to our case, the player is a performer who actualises the plot and a spectator who interprets.239 The twofold anatomy of the role-player is confirmed by others. During narrative sequences, such as cut-scenes, the role-player is a viewer. On all the other moments the player is in control and performs.240 And secondly, due to the self-other differentiation which we discussed along with empathy. It prevents merging or confusion of the self and the protagonist. Still, the bracketing is not perfect and some of the actual self seeps through the border. In previous chapters, we explored how the features of the game, grouped together in the implied gamer, influence the interpretation and performance. Now we will examine how the gamer bargains with the implied gamer. The most adequate model to describe gamers is the diffused audience from the spectator paradigm. With today’s modern social media everyone becomes a spectator and a performer. The mass media serve as a foundation for their social performances. The diffused audience incorporates elements from the other audience types: the simple and the mass audience. The former entails an exceptional ceremonial event in a dedicated location and is addressed to the audience and demands concentration. The latter

236 Crawford, Video gamers, 20. 237 Kerr, digital games, 114. 238 Crawford, Video gamers, 10. 239 Konijn, Acting Emotions,15-17. 240 Kerr, digital games, 38.

87 involves an everyday experience, hence little effort is needed to decode, addressing the audience indirectly who resides a private location.241 By accepting the dual position of the gamer deny the assertion made by certain ludologists, namely that spectators are not compulsory for games since they do not possess a story. This might be the case with Mario or Space Invader but story-centered genres like Mass Effect and Witcher do. Crawford reacts to it by stating that gamers are simultaneously participant and audience.242 Even though we confirm the dualistic nature of the player, the positions do not manifest at the same moment so the two position do not overlap. Moments of narration that demands interpretational actions are followed by moments of interaction and performance. The positions succeed one another. The following structure can be distilled. The main tiers are the play state, when playing a game, and the non-play state, when doing everyday activities. The play state is in turn subdivided in the on and offline play state. The former tier entails any moment of immersion or concentration during gaming. The latter tier are the moments when tasks become chores, but the gamer plays but he is not in a state of mind of play. His mind is not present and he has little attention for the activity he performs. The online play state is founded on one side by the narrative role, as the player is immersed. And on the other side, it is founded by the performative role when the player concentrates. The ludology school argues that players draw first on the skill of playing before the skill to interpret.243 But we do not agree with the proposed sequence of skills. Role-play cannot begin if the inner image has not been formed by the central imagination. And in order to do so the player has first to interpret the game. His attempt is supported by the implied gamer as it leads the attention of the player and guides ultimately to a preferred interpretation. The state of surprise grabs the player’s attention on an unguarded moment. Consecutively, the attention of the player brings about curiosity. This curiosity drives exploratory behaviour and selective attention. The effectiveness of the attention increases if the gamer has had previous experiences and is confident.244

In the realisation of the self-fashioned virtual entity the gamer experiences two types of emotions. He experiences the character-emotions as viewer and the task-emotions as performer. And owing to the fact that the timing of the character and the task-emotions

241 Crawford, Video gamers, 36-41. 242 Crawford, Video gamers, 33 243 Crawford, Video gamers, 12. 244 de Marinis and Dwyer, “Dramaturgy of the Spectator,” 100-114.

88 differs which guarantees that the two positions do not overlap.245 For instance the protagonist encounters a Non-Player Character who gives a side quest. A cut scene is triggered, showing the NPC requesting for aid. The short cinematic scene offers a background for the side quest. The NPC has been wronged by someone else. During this scene the role-player feels character-emotions such as anger, revenge or a sense of justice. And stakes are introduced because he sympathises with the other. After the cut-scene there is usually a moment dedicated for interaction through dialogue options. The narrative-based dialogue offers exposition and lore that help to enhance the empathy. The performance-based dialogue have options with actual consequences and the choices are made in accordance with the inner image of the protagonist. During the cut-scene the gamer is in the position of the viewer. Whilst in the dialogue interaction following it the gamer becomes a performer. The player takes up the quest and he shifts to the position of the performer. Consequently the character- emotions are replaced with task-emotions. A foe needs to be defeated and/or an artefact must be recovered. The reason of this transformation can be found in the fact that the player must concentrate to reach a certain level of competence in order to fulfil the task. Not succeeding in achieving the standard will lead to failure. This in turn will result to the denial of narrative progression. The stakes in this stage originate not from the narrative but from the mechanics of the medium, the rules that define the winning or losing condition. After completing the quest the hero returns to the quest giver and activates again a cut scene. The final cut-scene of the side quest is parallel to the starting cut-scene because the narrative sequences endorse the identity and attitude of the player as the character. The emotion types switch again, the task- emotions are replaced by character-emotions. However the final scene varies from the starting scene because the former tries unite the heterogeneous gameplay into one point again, while the latter offers the player the different ways of performing. If the cut-scene is part of the main story, and not merely a side quest, than the ending cinematic scene transforms into a starting cut-scene which leads to a new quest and the cycle continues.

The gamer faces two aspects of his performance. Firstly, there is the ephemeral aspect of his story. To end performing means that his story ceases to exist. Secondly, there is the opposition of his actual body commanding his virtual body by giving input through the interface.246 The second point has a tremendous impact on performing. Konijn distinguishes four strata or compound founding the performance. And each of these layers corresponds to a

245 Konijn, Acting Emotions,15-17. 246 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 30-33.

89 certain type of emotion. Adapting her four strata to the gamer results in the person with his private emotions. The person as gamer has the task-emotions, for instance feelings tied to concentration, persistence and satisfaction after clearing the obstacle. Then the inner image connected to the intended emotion. And finally, the realisation of the image which corresponds to the emotion portrayed in the performance.247 These compounds interact with the implied gamer as follows. The level of the gamer encompasses all the perspectives, his skill will determine how he interacts with the narrating elements, the plot, the characters, his narrative role and his performative role. The level of the intended or inner image is formed by spectating the cut-scenes and belongs therefore to the narrative role assigned to the gamer. And the level of the realisation belongs to the performative role allocated to the gamer. The strata converse with each other. The inner image of the main character emerges at the beginning of the game, during the character-creation. The choices are based upon associations originating from codes, social norms and past experiences. Therefore the private life is related to the intended image. In addition, the abilities of the selected class link the level of gamer and the inner image together. Every profession has a specific set of active and passive skills and these mechanics need to be mastered on the level of the gamer. In Dishonored or the Witcher customisation is much more reduced. But this does not prevent the role-player to shape an inner image of the protagonist.248 Emotions associated with the inner image create expectations. And these are played out against the actual performance of the character. The clash between the expectations and the realisation creates the aesthetic feelings and causes tension, excitement.249 In addition, the clash ratifies our position about the art style of the virtual representation. The interaction should be emphasised because it is the source of the aesthetic experience.

247 Konijn, Acting Emotions,15-17. 248 Konijn, Acting Emotions,15-17. 249 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 33-34.

90 7.2.2 Performance Style and Emotions

Players concentrating on their quest indicates that task-emotions are present. Concentration in combination with flow and spontaneity induces a sense of presence. In other words; task-emotions are intertwined with, and form partially the foundation for character- emotions. Traditional actors regulate their expression of emotions rather than shaping emotions in earlier stages of the emotion process.250 However role-players differ from the stage actor because the former is ignorant of any artifices that allow the regulation or at least the advanced skill to regulate their emotions. Subsequently the gamer does not regulates his emotions. If the task-emotion is different from the intended character-emotion, than the player accepts the emotion which arose from his performance and forms afterwards an after-image which binds the initially clashing emotions. The meaning of the virtual avatar and the nature of what is being expressed depends on the acting style. Either the gamer performs based on involvement or on self-expression. To be emotionally involved means to be spontaneous and invisible. The role-player achieves spontaneity and invisibility by identifying with the character and aligning his perception with the protagonist. Additionally, he must fuel the character-emotions with personal emotions or the emotional memory. Role-players rarely possess an elaborate set of artifices to act. So they intuitively draw from their emotional memory. And as the narrative proceeds, identification becomes less difficult because the gamer’s knowledge of the protagonist and the lore grows.251 Konijn also remarks that the signal that instigates involvement can be strengthened by two elements: concrete emotions and mimicry. Making situations more concrete enhances the intensity of the emotions, abstract emotions are weaker. And mirror neurons link observing, acting and embodied interpretation. This imitation is entirely unconscious.252 As a result first and third-person camera are of major importance. Third-person allows the player to observe the others and his own mimicry, in doing so the game directs the role-player towards psychological state of mind. This is also known as the Proteus effect (see above). Conversely, first-person perspective obstructs the player, denying the mimicry of his avatar. When the developer decides for a first person POV then the sense of presence is stronger but at the expense of the Proteus Effect. There is less emotional guidance with POV, giving the gamer

250 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 72-77. 251 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 36-39. 252 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 84-88.

91 more freedom. In addition, making abstract emotions concrete is reminiscent of the mental image: developers translate abstract ideas into concrete ones and the mental image merges the abstract and concrete. Moreover; games touch values, character concerns, by challenging taboos and treading on social conventions. Narratives treating subjects like genocide, intolerance and injustice defy cultural norms.253 We mentioned in the chapter about motivations for gaming the notion of nose-thumbing. The socially unacceptable context, and the negative connotation it has, that some games feature means that this assertion should be nuanced. The self that the style of involvement produces is the virtual self. The ideal self that the player engineers himself is by definition ambulant, the so-called six degrees of freedom. It compromises out of the operational degrees, to change point-of-view, and the translational degrees, to explore. Bolter and Grusin remark that the six degrees threaten the self because it becomes a collection of POV-shots. Furthermore, the virtual redefines the ego. As a pure ego is at the core of the fashioned selves and binds them together. And the virtual self is determined by the set of objects which functions as parameters to adjust the self. Moreover, Bolter and Grusin assert that the embodiment is partial. Firstly, owing it to the fact that vision is disembodied. Only imagination ensures emotional involved. Secondly, the virtual self discards the difference between itself, the others and the world. Thirdly, the gamer forgets his body and substitutes it with a disposable, restricted avatar. Only imagination enables to embody.254 The issue is that Bolter and Grusin ignore the mirror neurons. Remembering, imagining and observing are related and made up out of embodied experiences. As a result, vision is not disembodied because the role-player aligns his perception, assimilating the protagonist’s vision. This incorporation and the mediation by the medium mean that there is self-other differentiation and it prevents the actual body from being forgotten. Opposite to involvement is self-expression. This style is appropriate when the structure of the medium is exposed and the avatar is nothing but a hollow vehicle. The person includes the character along with his own personality and master the virtual avatar. Yet his voice remains spontaneous. In doing so the gamer exteriorises himself.255 The type of self that the style of self-expression produces is the networked self. The networked self functions in a network or internet, for example the Massively Multiplayer Online Guild Wars 2 on servers, dealing with the multiplying and fragmentation of

253 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 36-39. 254 Bolter and Grusin, Remediation, 243-254. 255 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 36-39.

92 information in the windowed mode. The connecting of data indicates the presence of the networked self. It is important that immediate visual perception in hypertext is out of the question. In the MMORPG Guild Wars 2, pressing hotkeys or clicking icons make windows appear with new data.256 Thousands of gamers meet each other on the server and interact not only with virtual items but also with the other gamers. Interplay in Guild Wars 2 is divided in three tiers: PVE, PVP, WvWvW. The first stands for player versus environment. The interaction in this category is reduced to purely co-operation with Non-Player Characters. The narrative is located in this tier. The focus in player versus player relies on competition among gamers of the same server. And in the third category, World versus World versus World, three servers oppose each other. It is PVP on a huge scale. Furthermore gamers gather in guilds with a given hierarchy, where collaboration is primordial. Chat, or Teamspeak, improves the efficiency of the teamwork. All the same the networked self is foregrounded in this MMORPG. The multiplying and fragmentation can be seen on the character screen of Guild Wars 2 which shows all the character slots, each containing an avatar of different species and classes. The MMO stimulates the gamers to multiply and fragment their self-fashioning and their gameplay. Fragmentation also happens on the level of the Heads-Up Display, or HUD, information and images rival for the gamer’s attention during moments of combat. Fragmentation also manifests itself through the windowed mode. The different windows of the windowed mode are the screen window, the camera window and the remaining windows are the result of the connecting performed by the networked self. The styles of involvement and the style of self-expression are not suitable for all the types of Role-Playing Games since the acting styles focus on different criteria. Involvement fits better with the singleplayer games, for example Witcher or Mass Effect. Due to the game mechanics being so the heavily embedded in the narrative, subsequently the degree of immediacy is higher and the structure is less visible. Whilst self-expression suits more MMO’s, for instance Guild Wars 2. Massively Multiplayer Online have more superficial narratives and the structure is more obvious because the set of objects is accentuated. The virtual avatar is merely a mask or an object to configure the game-world with. And players of MMOs have an extensive knowledge of the metagame, the most optimal way of playing. Discipline and mastery is a must for playing along other gamers on the server. Finally, chat and Skype or

256 Bolter, Grusin, Remediation, 257-258.

93 Teamspeak ensure the freedom and spontaneity of the gamer’s voice. The dialogue options in singleplayer do not suffice and the freedom of his voice is guided. Since we discussed gratification earlier on it would be important to mention the difference between emotions and pleasure. Emotions are a form of communication through facial expression, short in time and not voluntary. And pleasures are the opposite of all these characteristics.257 The concept of self-discrepancy offers another standpoint about the difference between emotions and gratification. Gamers with little courage identify with the hero, as a result there is a high degree of discrepancy. However this rift declines during the moment of gaming. The role-player believes for the brief duration of the session to be as brave as the protagonist which leads to gratification. Gamers who experience little to no psychological difference between themselves and the avatar have the most fulfilment.258 We disagree with the fact that pleasure is not communicative since it can clearly be seen on someone’s face and heard in his voice. And emotions can be voluntary when for instance someone goes to the opera and is moved by an aria. The fact that the person went deliberately to the opera means that the undergoing feelings are deliberate. We consequently side with Van Looy et al. where gratification flows out of emotions. When looking at emotions in games two aspects are of concern: the game states and the spectacle. Games states are snapshots that carry information, arranged in a certain way, about the set of objects and the set of quests. Game states, usually indicated with scripted events, convey the narrative through the traditional arch. These passages are interlaced with silence or breaks for attaining psychological effects.259 We would like to contest that games follow a traditional narrative arch. There is no rising, climax and falling action. The action is perpetually rising and the climax happens at the same time as the resolution. An example of a game state are boss fights in Wicther 2 or Guild Wars 2. These take often times place in a space separate from the rest of the game-world. There are also multiple phases. And each phase has a different mechanic, e.g. different action sequences from the boss or a different area must be targeted. With the possible outcome reduced to win or lose, continue the narrative or restart the fight. This binary outcome elicits hope or fear. And

257 Aki Järvinen, “Understanding Video Games as Emotion Experience,” In The video game theory reader 2, ed. Bernard Perron and Mark J.P. Wolf. (New York : Routledge, 2009), 89. 258 Van Looy et al, “Player Identification,” 198. 259 Järvinen, “Video Games as Emotion Experience,” 87-102.

94 suspense is also evoked by emphasising skill.260 Another example of game states are obviously the quests. Aside from the game states, entertainment and spectacle should also be taken into account when discussing emotions. Games stimulate multiple senses and the stimuli go beyond the function of transmitting data. The spectacle enacts the narrative, making it observable for the various senses.261 The intensity and valence of the emotions depend on the evaluation of events, agents and objects; in other words to what degree is the role-player a stakeholder in the situation. This implies that emotions betray personal stakes, emotions are intertwined with action owing it to the mirror neurons as explained in the chapter about embodiment.262 The stakes or concerns of a gamer are discerned into two main groups. Source concerns are the general motives like competence, self-image, sensation and aesthetics. While surface concerns are the concrete manifestation of source concerns in specific situations, namely skill, approval, excitement and satisfaction or other feelings when moved.263 The emotional process has five stages. Firstly, appraisal arises if something is important.264 Appraisal is tied to core components attribute by role-players to quests; namely objectivity, reality and demand. Their influence on the difficulty and urgency of the event depends on how the source concerns has been achieved. A successful enactment of the source concerns lead to a positive appraisal.265 Secondly, Context evaluation happens when the gamer tries to figure out how to act.266 This stage is connected to context components: familiarity, control and flow. Flow, here, is defined as balancing threat and challenge. These determine what type of emotion is triggered.267 Then there is action readiness when the gamer is eager to act.268 Spontaneous emotions are more urgent and intense than intended feelings from the inner image of the character. The action tendency of spontaneous rising emotions is for this reason harder to restrain and gain control precedence.269 The character-emotion from the inner image of the character is sometimes at odds with task-emotions of the performance. The narrative role and the performative role have different concerns and could elicit different emotions.

260 Järvinen, “Video Games as Emotion Experience,” 100-101 261 ibidem, 95-96 262 ibidem, 85-91. 263 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 61-64. 264 Järvinen, “Video Games as Emotion Experience,” 85-91. 265 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 64-67. 266 Järvinen, “Video Games as Emotion Experience,” 85-91. 267 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 64-67. 268 Järvinen, “Video Games as Emotion Experience,” 85-91. 269 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 70-72.

95 Especially if we consider that the narrative role is immediate and the performative role is hypermediate: the empathic process stops when the hypermediate appears. If so, then the task- emotions gain priority. But the moments of performance are imbedded in immediate narrative sequences. And these allow the formation of an immediate after-image of the performance. Basically, character-emotions flowing out of the make-belief are quasi-emotions. Quasi- emotions are not as potent as spontaneous emotions and are only temporary. Still the quasi- emotions are strong enough to trigger corporal responds.270 Fourthly, physiological change occurs when expressing emotions. And finally the emotions lead to action tendency.271 Several emotion groups can be discerned. Quests trigger prospect-based emotions because these focus on the goal. Fear, hope, surprise and suspense are some of prospect-based emotions. Fortunes-of-others are emotions tied to the fate of others. Järvinen says empathy is an instance of fortunes-of-others. However he confounds empathy with sympathy, the feeling for others is different from the neutral role-taking. Well-being is the next category, these entail wanted or undesirable situations, for example the gameplay as a whole. The following group is attribution emotions and it accentuates the agents, including the game itself; for instance being proud or ashamed. Attractions emotions are the fondness or aversion of objects, particularly the look, and are connected to the Proteus effect.272 Konijn recognises that empathy and identification are not emotions but processes extending one’s perspective. She proceeds by postulating that empathic process is related to the sympathy concern: an altruistic attitude involving the fate of the character. She utilises the term self-object-dissolution to differentiate empathy from identification. Identification has no separation between the role-player and the protagonist: he forgets the fictional nature. Unlike empathy, identification leads to similar emotions and concerns as the character. Still, empathy and identification are strong processes for activating the role-players.273 It confirms what we discussed above, in the chapter about embodiment, that the self-other differentiation with identification is the lowest, compared to empathy, but it is not non-existent. Moreover, empathy cannot be a sympathy concern, it is not altruistic behaviour. We propose that empathy is a surface concern of competence. The role-player requires the skill to portray the protagonist by correctly extending perceptions.

270 Marie-Laure Ryan, Narrative as virtual reality, 142-157. 271 ibidem, 85-91. 272 ibidem, 90-93 273 Konijn, Acting Emotions, 36-39.

96 The role-player replies on the invitation by inventing a self in text and in actions. Thus the alien other who threatens the authority is incorporate and submitted. It is a conscious act that is influence by the socio-cultural context. Once in the game-world the player is not only confronted to the alien other, but also to the Proteus effect of the virtual avatars. Players imitate and confirm external attitudes. Both process are enabled by character creation, dialogue options and skill trees. Moreover, the role-player is not always immersed: play and non-play, on and offline, immersed and concentrated. The conflicting notions of immediacy and hypermediacy lead to contrasting character and task-emotions. These emotions revolve around either the fictional situation or the task at hand, namely successfully performing. The acting styles are also crucial. Involvement demands being invisible while self-expression requires the exteriorisation of oneself by internalising the role and mastering it. With the former the role is a skin and the player projects himself in it. The latter is the opposite, the role is a mask that is projected onto the player: the avatar is a platform to express his inner self. Each style produces another type of self depending on the type of the medium. In other words, the virtual self suits singleplayer games better because of the higher degree of immediacy. And the networked self matches with multiplayer games because the hypermediacy is higher. The acting styles influence what emotions are felt. Despite this difference the character-emotions are “merely” quasi-emotions that do not last outside the game-world. The manner in which the task and character-emotions rise is through a cycle beginning with appraisal than the context is judged, action tendency, a physiological change manifests itself and finally the action tendency.

97 Conclusion

In this thesis we tried to establish that Role-Playing Games is an intrinsically imaginative form of fiction, where the role-player is an agent that configures the narrative and the game-world. And all the features of this genre of computer games are focused on that element. RPGs are a system of rules and goals. The magic circle in which play partakes is a frame made out of norms, codes and past experiences. Meaning rises from playing the game. In addition to this, games are also a medium and the game developers transmit a message, especially with story-centric games like RPGs. Meaning is encrypted in the digital game. Meaning or values also rises from paratext. So there should not be a narratology versus ludology debate. Games are an artefact that bridges multiple fields thus a multi-disciplinary approach is essential. The debate between both schools may be indicative of competing media, namely literature and games. Gamers play (MMO)RPGs for various reasons: fun, freedom, control, escapism, achieving something, the social aspect. And research proves that players find the narrative the most important dimension of RPGs. This supports the need for multi-disciplinary studies. Another argument for multi-disciplinary is the concept of remediation. Media compete with each other and assimilate other media. Videogames remediate movies, literature, comic books, the dungeon master and pen-and-paper RPGs, etc. Remediation is divided into two other processes that try to give a sensation of reality. On one side there is immediacy, reality is reached by erasing the screen and automating the gaming process. Yet a human residue from the developers remains in the games. On the other side is hypermediacy which achieves a sense of reality by the windowed mode and multiplying images, information. Both elements contradict each other but the medium of games succeeds in balancing them. Though singleplayer games lean more towards immediacy and multiplayer games are more hypermediate. The game has passive tactics that target the player and active tactics that guide the interpretation of the player. The implied gamer is an instance, an underlying structure that guides the player to a preferred interpretation. The implied gamer takes from traditions and norms, transforming them into a referential frame. These interact with the frame, the believes and experiences, of the gamer. The implied gamer is as well textual as virtual and induces a structured act: a wandering viewpoint between narrating elements, characters, plot, the narrative role and the performative role.

98 Additionally, the gamer is an agent due to two sets. The set of objects, including the avatar, belongs to the intentional world. The items have statistics tied to them and form the texture. It enables the performance of the other set, namely quests, that belongs to the extentional world. Quest narratives are goal-orientated and sets the player into motion. Another feature is the control over the camera. The camera is a narrating element as well as a part of the performative role. There are three types: first-person, third-person and god-like. First-person corresponds to internal focalisation and third-person is parallel to external focalisation. In other words, the camera is a gateway to empathy and identification. Music also supports the imaginative role-playing process. There is diegetic audio which is every sound from the game-world: voice-acting and sound effects. Opposite is the non- diegetic audio, such as the soundtrack which supports the game-world. The composer cannot predict the actions of the gamer. In order to deal with this problem he writes short pieces and recycles them but varies the music pieces. Besides the variations, there are the parameters that trigger the music: character actions, in-game and location-based cues. Soundtrack has many functions ranging from orienting, cutting off the world to cohesion and inducing emotions. Some state that music holds no emotions and that the expressive is only a minor part. Others note that music does have emotions. With the discovery of mirror neurons, it is known that the auditor perceives feelings as he tries to identify the intentions of the colourful movements. All these tactics stimulate the imagination. The gamer identifies what is represented. By extending his perception he immerses himself. The empathic reaction focuses on the psyche via the central imagination. Still there is self-other differentiation. There is no fusion of the gamer as person and the protagonist. Empathy has a chance to morph into sympathy, being fond of the hero, and it could in turn transforms into identification. The differentiation decreases with every stage but it does not disappear. Empathy happens either by predicting, the theory theory, or by simulating the situation, the simulation theory. The mirror neurons execute these theories. Mirror neurons are the neurons that activate during actions, perceiving, remembering and imagining. These result in embodied experiences where all the senses are triggered. These experiences constitute the performance and the emotions flowing out of them. The player fashions with the character customisation an ideal self. The ideal self incorporates the opponent of villain as an alien other and subdues it thus preventing the other from destroying the authority. When the character is formed, along with other NPCs, it affects the player’s behaviour. This is labelled as the Proteus effect.

99 And finally, the position of the role-player is double. There are states of play and non-play, online and offline, immersion and concentration. The character-emotions manifest themselves when a situation is appraised. The player judges the context and an action readiness appears. Then there is a physiological change when expressing emotions. And last of all there is an action tendency. However the character-emotions are only quasi-emotions and are therefore less urgent. As a result task-emotions gain the control precedence. The actual character- emotions depends on the acting style. On the one hand involvement requires being invisible. On the other hand self-expression demands discipline and spontaneity.

All these aspects make up the creative role-playing process. It starts from the game developers in their studios. After purchasing and installing the game, players are bombarded with features that are designed in such a manner that these trigger the imagination and elicit a response from the gamer. The conversation persists until the end of the plot, after which the player’s story can be fully grasped. Yet at the same time dies out.

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Assassin’s Creed: Director’s Cut Edition (PC version), Developer: Ubisoft Montreal / publisher: Ubisoft, 2007.

Dishonored (PC version), Developer: Arkane Studios / publisher: Bethesda Softworks, 2012.

Guild Wars 2 (PC version), Developer: ArenaNet / publisher: NCsoft, 2012.

L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition (PC version), Developer: Rockstar Games/ publisher: Rockstar Games, 2011.

105 Lord of the Rings: War in the North (PC version), Developer: Snowblind Studios / publisher: Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, 2011.

Mass Effect Trilogy (PC version), Developer: Bioware / publisher: Electronic Arts, 2012.

Metro 2033 (PC version), Developer: 4A Games / publisher: THQ, 2010.

Witcher: Enhanced Edition (PC version), Developer: CD Project Red/ publisher: Atari, 2008.

Witcher 2 (PC version), Developer: CD Project Red / publisher: Bandai Namco Games, 2011.

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106 Appendix

Cases:

Dishonored

The plot of Dishonored deals with murder, betrayal. And how the player can interact with it, through revenge or mercy. The city of Dunwall is ravaged by the plague of rats. Corvo returns from his mission to find a solution. When you return the Empress Jessamine Kaldwin is murdered and her daughter Emily Kaldwin kidnapped. Corvo is found guilty and imprisoned. The outsider gives the former bodyguard Corvo supernatural powers and the player sets out to find redemption, either through revenge or forgiveness. The game takes place in the city of Dunwall: a steampunk industrial based on Victorian London. The city is marked by pollution and the colours used by the developers are very bleak. Thus creating an atmosphere that reflects the dark fate of the city. The art style is also reminiscent of oil paintings. The other location is the Void, where the Outsider resides. It is the is a timeless and fragmented version of Dunwall. The music serves more to for suspense - which is suggested by moments of disharmony, a lack of grand/pompous music and the use on unconventional instruments - rather than instigation a feeling of heroism. Corvo is the protagonist played by the gamer. He is rarely seen since the game is first-person. The only time he is seen is in cut-scenes. He has dark hair and grim facial features. He wears his bodyguard uniform, a long dark coat. This accentuates his fall from a prestigious function to an outcast. His is not voice-acted, the player must imagine his voice. His skull mask is the most prominent object. It makes Corvo anonymous, there is no need for character creation, and gives him the status of an angel of death. This influences the gameplay of the player. The dialogue options has no consequences only the player’s actions. He can generate high, average and low chaos which is reflected in the weather, the presence of guards, rats and deceased people. The character customisation is non-existent.

107 Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars has advanced character creation. The player can select a race: - The Asura are technological advanced goblin-like creatures. - The Charr are catlike creatures focused on brute force and heavy industry. - Humans - Norn who are tall humans based on Viking culture. - Asari are plant creatures who obviously live in harmony with nature The player is also allowed to select the gender and his class: warrior, guardian, engineer, ranger, thief, elementalist, mesmer and necromancer. The game takes place in Tyria. A large continent with diverse biomes, from forests to swamps and tundra. The places are filled with fantastical creatures, such as minotaurs, ogres and dragons. The player can shape the avatar’s biography, physique, clothes and talents. He can also choose out of several plots, there are three types: personal plots, race plots and the general plot. Everyone shares the last one, the gamer has to repel the undead dragon and his forces. The narrative is very superficial because the aim of the MMO is to give the player the opportunity to write his story with other players on the server. This MMO is heavily inspired on existing fantasy literature and folktales. The symphonic music supports the fantasy element, translating a heroic and grand ambience. There is voice-acting but the voices rarely suit the avatars which is normal due to the openness of the character creation. The art style resembles water painting, giving the game-world a bright atmosphere. Music is not as important compared to the singleplayer games.

108 Witcher 2

The king is murdered and Geralt is arrested. His journey is to clear his name. The world surrounding him is marked by discrimination between humans and non-humans, the dwarves and elves. And the player will have to take sides but none of the options is ideal. Both sides are flawed in nature and committed crimes. The setting is a medieval European fantasy setting. The world is less open than Guild Wars 2. The colours used for the world remind us of romantic paintings. And the music is a combination of folk and symphonic which supports the fantasy themed world. The protagonist is Geralt of Rivia, a witcher or mutated monsterhunter. There is no character creation. He has white hair and vertical pupils betray the experiments preformed on him. His body is muscular and full of scars, which infers his past life. Geralt’s gestures are minimal, his facial expression are non-existing. His physique is visible due to the third camera and it influences the player’s performance. His voice-acting has a gruffness to his voice. His costume is changeable and his two most important requisites are the metal and silver swords. These are for slaying the monsters: the silver one for the creatures and the steel one for the human “monsters”.

Mass Effect

Commander Shepard has to save the universe from being exterminated by the Reapers and their associates. He does this by making alliances with aliens. The protagonist is an elite soldier. The player can be either male or female and the appearance can be shaped, yet there is a standard physique. The standard physique is the preferred “reading”. The male Shepard has the generic look of a soldier: shaven head, muscular and white skin. The female Shepard has short ginger hear and white skin. The props is the arsenal collection and fellow squad members. The role-player becomes attached to his crew and throughout the gameplay the player can undertake actions that secures their fate or dooms them. This feature relies on sympathy. The voice-actors have very clear voices without any distinct feature, e.g. hoarseness, this is for the simple reason that it still needs to match the virtual body even if the gamer decides to change the preferred appearance. It takes place in our universe. It is situated in the future, the architecture and colour palate are mostly white and neon colours are being used. The white clean look corresponds to the future envisioned by current science-fiction

109 movies. The music is also futuristic due to the selected instruments: a combination of classic instruments with synthesisers.

110 Pictures

Picture 1 character creation

Picture 2 dialogue options

111 Picture 3 skill tree

Picture 4 the windowed mode

112 Picture 5 Narrative Network or Story Tree

274

274 Artur Justynski, “Endings - The Witcher 2 - Choices, Consequences & Endings Game Guide,” accessed 03 July 2014, http://guides.gamepressure.com/thewitcher2assassinsofkingschoices/guide.asp?ID=11663.

113 275

Picture 6 Communication Model

275 Jonathan Jansma, “Guild Wars 2 Review,” 03 July 2014, http://gameverse.com/2012/09/14/guild-wars-2- review/.

114 Picture 7 Games as a Set of Objects and as a Set of Quests

Picture 8 Quest Narrative Arch

115