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Choose Wisely: Time and Decision Structure in Life Is Strange CHOOSE WISELY: TIME AND DECISION STRUCTURE IN LIFE IS STRANGE by Valeria Orlova A Third Year Research Project in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Studies at The School of Advanced Studies University of Tyumen June 2020 2 МИНИСТЕРСТВО НАУКИ И ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ Федеральное государственное автономное образовательное учреждение высшего образования «ТЮМЕНСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ» ШКОЛА ПЕРСПЕКТИВНЫХ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ (SAS) ТЮМГУ Директор Школы к.ф.н., Ph.D. А.В. Щербенок КУРСОВАЯ РАБОТА ВЫБИРАЙТЕ С УМОМ: ВРЕМЯ И СТРУКТУРА ПРИНЯТИЯ РЕШЕНИЙ В ВИДЕОИГРЕ LIFE IS STRANGE 50.03.01 Искусства и гуманитарные науки Выполнила работу Студентка 3-ого курса Орлова Валерия Олеговна Очной формы обучения Руководитель Алюков Максим Леонидович Тюмень 2020 3 DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY By submitting this research project, I hereby certify that: I am its sole author and that any ideas, techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my research project, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices of my major; and that no third-party proofreading, editing, or translating services have been used in its completion. Valeria Orlova WORD COUNT: 4907 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ 5 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 6 WHAT IS A VIDEO GAME AND HOW TO ANALYZE IT? .......................... 8 METHODS, DATA, AND OBJECT OF STUDY ............................................ 14 TIME REWINDING IN LIFE IS STRANGE ................................................... 17 ETHICAL MESSAGES AND REAL-WORLD ISSUES ................................. 20 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 22 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 23 5 ABSTRACT The video game as an independent object of research appeared in scholarly discussion only in the early 2000s. It still exists in the field where there are no approaches that would allow us to analyze video games in their full complexity. As of now, there are three prominent paradigms for video game analysis in video game studies: narratology (the analysis of narrative elements), ludology (the analysis of mechanisms and rules), and procedural rhetoric (the analysis of persuasion based on following the procedure). While the first two approaches are relatively well established, procedural rhetoric still remains a concept rather than an established theory due to a lack of empirical analysis. The purpose of this paper is to expand and enrich procedural rhetoric as an approach by analyzing time manipulation which has become common in video games. Analyzing the rewinding of time in Life is Strange, I argue that time rewinding in this game works as a procedural technique. This technique allows players to experience the game to the fullest and also works as a method of persuasion in the sense that it gives space to explore and experiment with and learn complex real-life issues, such as bullying and suicide, in a safe environment of the game. My analysis enriches the procedural approach by showing how time manipulation works procedurally and illuminates the rhetorical role of time manipulation in video games. 6 INTRODUCTION Discussion on video games among the general public and the first scholars on the subject usually starts with two charges - video games increase violence and are only played by children. Video games were considered a form of entertainment that does not deserve scholarly attention; they still continue to exist in this paradigm for some. These prejudices emerged almost with the birth of video games. The first studies focused on the connection between video games and levels of aggression among players. For example, in the 2010 study, Bushman and Gibson conducted an experiment investigating this connection: participants played a video game for 20 minutes and took a test on aggression after that.1 This work is questionable in terms of an experimental basis, other factors influencing aggression, and the way they articulate their research questions, but it reflects the mainstream of the researches in that area. Today, it is also clear that the majority of players are not children at all: according to the Entertainment Software Association, the average age for players is 32-34, and this type of activity does not belong only to men – the ratio of male and female players is 54% to 46%. Most of them are middle- or high-income people who have a full-time job.2 This statistical data challenges the myth that video games are a form of entertainment for children. The game industry is a big player in the market. Newzoo Analytical platform is forecasting the 2019 global games market to reach $148.8 billion 1 Bushman, Brad J., and Bryan Gibson,“Violent Video Games Cause an Increase in Aggression Long After the Game Has Been Turned Off.” Social Psychological and Personality Science 2, no. 1 (January 2011): 29–32. doi:10.1177/1948550610379506. 2 “2019 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry,” Entertainment Software Association, accessed February 3, 2020, https://www.theesa.com/esa- research/2019-essential-facts-about-the-computer-and-video-game-industry. 7 with a +7.2% year-on-year increase.3 It continues to capture all new areas and triggers the emergence of new social media like Twitch (live-streaming service for gamers); gaming conventions are increasing in number, and eSports tournaments are taking place regularly. The impact of computer games on the real world is not only due to the fact that they affect social media and economic markets but also due to another important feature: they construct and transmit messages in completely different ways from literature and movies. This allows them to influence the culture, add new expressions to the lexicon of even non-players (for example, the exclamation "wasted" as a reaction to failure from GTA), and broadcast worldviews of game developers. All these facts prove that the game industry is huge and has a significant impact not only on gamers but on the world; consequently, the game industry and its impact require more serious analysis. Game studies is the field of research which is focused on an understanding of video games (as well as other kinds of games) and considers them as a complex object worthy of study. The establishment of game studies can be traced back to the first issue of the journal Game Studies in 2001.4 This branch of research is still quite young and not much has been done in it, so there is a lot of space for research. In Russia, video games research is even less common: there are only two significant research centers - Moscow Game Center at Moscow State University and Computer Games Research Laboratory at Saint-Petersburg State University. 3 Tom Wijman, “Newzoo Adjusts Global Games Forecast to $148.8 Billion; Slower Growth in Console Spending Starts Sooner than Expected,” Newzoo, November 19, 2019, https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-adjusts-global-games-forecast-to-148-8-billion- slower-growth-in-console-spending-starts-sooner-than-expected. 4 Espen Aarseth, "Computer Game Studies, Year One", Game Studies 1, no.1 (July 2001), http://www.gamestudies.org/0101. 8 In this research, I will concentrate on how video games transfer messages - on their persuasion system. The essay is structured as follows: firstly, I introduce three main approaches in analyzing video games which represent dominant ideas existing in the field of video game studies. This paper will be mostly concentered on one of them – procedural rhetoric: it will attempt to explore and detail this approach since for now it is rather a concept than an established theory. Specifically, I will apply it to analyze the mechanics of manipulations with time, which have recently become very popular. The object of my analysis is the video game Life is Strange. It is a good case study for exploring time rewinding, since it is one of the most popular games with such ability which also has a strong storytelling element used to explore real-world issues.5 I am interested in investigating the place of this particular mechanic among others, understanding new procedure it builds, and explaining how it works in terms of transmitting messages or rethinking real problems. WHAT IS A VIDEO GAME AND HOW TO ANALYZE IT? A video game is a new object of digital culture which does not have a clear definition. There is no consensus on what exactly we can consider a video game. It seems that the computer code, images that are produced on the monitor, the narrative, even the disk itself on which the game is recorded can be called a video game. On the other hand, the game does not exist if no player interacts with it. A video game is a complex object larger than itself because it cannot be reduced only to its parts, and so far, there is no single answer on how to analyze all of the game elements to create a comprehensive analysis. This complexity of the nature of video games has generated many different theories 5 Life is Strange, directed by Raoul Barbet and Michel Koch (2015; France, Paris: Dontnod Entertainment, 2008), Steam. 9 and approaches. In game studies, three dominant paradigms focus on different aspects of games – narrative,
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