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! i For my father, who didn’t let getting blown up slow him down. ii "#$ I would like to thank all the people who made this thesis possible. There are simply too many to name them all here. However there are a number of people who deserve special mention. Without these individuals’ support and advice I would have never reached this point. Firstly, I’d like to thank my supervisors. Over the course of my candidature I have been guided by three supervisors: Chris Chesher, Gay Hawkins and Ross Harley. This thesis is unmistakably a product of the unique talents of all three. With the crucial formative help of Chris, the astute theoretical insights of Gay, and the encouragement and motivation of Ross, I have had an amazing team supporting me over the years. This thesis would also not have been possible without the incredible support of my family. I am very fortunate to have a family with so much knowledge and experience for me to draw on. From considerable conceptual advice to countless hours of proofreading, this has been a family effort. I also want to make special mention of all those people who took the visual load off me with this thesis. Researching and writing a PhD is undoubtedly a difficult task for anyone who attempts it, but with my visual impairment it would have been near impossible if it was not for all the help and support I received. Whenever my vision failed me I knew I had somewhere to turn. From the anonymous volunteer who recorded Discipline and Punish to tape for me, to my army of proofreaders, every single person who stepped up when I was struggling was instrumental in my being able to complete this thesis. iii In particular I want to recognise the work done by John Golder whose tireless and rigorous proofreading and reviewing of this thesis went above and beyond what I could have possibly hoped for. My ideas only became a thesis with his extraordinary help. I would also like to thank my friends who gave up their time to help me with the final proofread: Craig, Jules, Rebecca, Gabriel, Davina, Sarah, and Declan. All of them willingly and uncomplainingly took on this tedious task and their generosity and skill has been much appreciated. Indeed, all my friends have kept me going over the duration of my candidature be that by encouraging, challenging or, as was so often the case, distracting me. Individual thanks must go to Clair for being a great flatmate for so many years, and Amy who has done her very best to keep me sane. And final thanks must go to my girlfriend Blanche for all her love, support and perseverance, as well as the hours of listening, discussion and proofreading. iv " This thesis examines single-player video gaming. It is an analysis of video game play: what it is, how it functions, and what it means. It is an account of how players learn to play. This is done through a set of close readings of significant video games and key academic texts. My focus is on the mechanisms and forces that shape gameplay practices. Building on the existing fields of ludology and media-studies video-game analysis, I outline a model of video game play as a cultural construction which builds upon the player’s existing knowledge of real world and fictional objects, scenarios and conventions. I argue that the relationship between the video game player and the software is best understood as embodying a precise configuration of power. I demonstrate that the single- player video game is in fact what Michel Foucault terms a ‘disciplinary apparatus’. It functions to shape players’ subjectivities in order to have them behave in easily predicted and managed ways. To do this, video games reuse and repurpose conventions from existing media forms and everyday practices. By this mobilisation of familiar elements, which already have established practices of use, and by a careful process of surveillance, examination and the correction of play practices, video games encourage players to take on and perform the logics of the game system. This relationship between organic player and technological game, I suggest, is best understood through the theoretical figure of the ‘Cyborg’. It is a point of intersection between human and computer logics. Far from the ludological assumption that play and v culture are separate and that play is shaped entirely by rules, I show video game play to be produced by an array of complex cultural and technological forces that act upon the player. My model of video game play differs from others currently in circulation in that it foregrounds the role of culture in play, while not denying the technological specificity of the video gaming apparatus. My central focus on power and the construction of player subjectivities offers a way to move beyond the simplistic reliance on the notion that rules are the primary shaping mechanism of play that has, to date, dominated much of video game studies. vi % Acknowledgements...……………………………………………iii Abstract…………………………………………………………...v Introduction: Theorising Video Game Play................................ 1 Play?............................................................................................................................ 2 Origins.........................................................................................................................4 Power, Subjectivity and Culture ............................................................................... 10 Power .................................................................................................................... 10 Subjectivity ........................................................................................................... 11 Culture................................................................................................................... 12 Case Study Selection................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 1: The State of Play....................................................... 17 The “Battle” .................................................................................................................. 19 The Figure of Lara Croft............................................................................................... 23 Theorising Play............................................................................................................. 27 Ludology....................................................................................................................... 28 1999: Conception ...................................................................................................... 29 2001: Game Studies Year One?................................................................................ 33 2003: Re-Imagining Ludology.................................................................................. 40 2004: Play Essentialism ............................................................................................ 43 Media as a Cultural Reference Point ........................................................................ 47 Pleasure ..................................................................................................................... 52 Beyond the Ludology/Media Studies Debate ............................................................... 53 Chapter 2: Playing by the Rules................................................. 55 vii Tetris and The Sims....................................................................................................... 58 Play Theory................................................................................................................... 62 Juul’s Model of Games ............................................................................................. 62 Rules ............................................................................................................................. 64 The Logic of Negative Capture................................................................................. 65 The Double Logic of Rules....................................................................................... 68 Video Game Restrictions? ........................................................................................ 70 Rules and Power ....................................................................................................... 78 The Lusory Attitude.............................................................................................. 78 Outcomes and Goals ..................................................................................................... 89 Goals in Action ..................................................................................................... 93 Rethinking Play Theory................................................................................................ 97 Chapter 3: The Cultural Logics of Objects............................... 99 A Tale of Two Cities .................................................................................................... 99 Theorising Familiarity ............................................................................................ 101 Grand Theft Auto.................................................................................................... 103 San Andreas ............................................................................................................ 104 Video Games as a Media Form................................................................................... 105

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