Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Film, Media & Theatre Dissertations School of Film, Media & Theatre 5-11-2018 Points of Reflection: A Case for Moral Engagement Across Video Game Time and Space Ryan C. Thames [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/fmt_dissertations Recommended Citation Thames, Ryan C., "Points of Reflection: A Case for Moral Engagement Across Video Game Time and Space." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2018. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/fmt_dissertations/2 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Film, Media & Theatre at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Film, Media & Theatre Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. POINTS OF REFLECTION: A CASE FOR MORAL ENGAGEMENT ACROSS VIDEO GAME TIME AND SPACE by RYAN THAMES Under the Direction of Greg Smith, Ph.D. ABSTRACT In the field of video game studies, meaningful action and flow are upheld as primary targets of game design, and key factors in many ontological definitions of what games can and should be. Yet, games are not all action. Within most games one encounters numerous pauses and interruptions of various kinds, including the much-maligned “cut-scenes” that lead or force the player out of an active role at certain moments. Furthermore, not all actions are goal-directed. If they are, they are not necessarily pragmatic. These pauses, interruptions, and nuanced goals are often overlooked, if not actively derided, in the field of game studies. In short, ideas about how players stop and reflect, how their goals and experiences take on emotional and/or moral valences, are under-represented. My work argues that moral reflection does occur even in mainstream games, and that it tends to happen in connection with the very moments game scholars often overlook—in the pauses before or after actions, in the moments of awe or realization, when the controller has been set down or the keyboard pushed away, and yes, even during cut-scenes. Such moments may invite the player into a state of moral reflection, but for this state of moral reflection to be poignant and memorable to the player these moments must also involve a consideration of differing values. Finally, how a game structures the player’s experience of time, from receiving quests to setting out into the game world, from pauses to demanding challenges, and even through the layout of video game spaces lends these points of reflection their crucial impact. INDEX WORDS: Game studies, Ethics, Temporality, Flow, Values, Role-playing games POINTS OF REFLECTION: A CASE FOR MORAL ENGAGEMENT ACROSS VIDEO GAME TIME AND SPACE by RYAN THAMES A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of the Arts Georgia State University 2018 Copyright by Ryan Clark Thames 2018 POINTS OF REFLECTION: A CASE FOR MORAL ENGAGEMENT ACROSS VIDEO GAME TIME AND SPACE by RYAN THAMES Committee Chair: Greg Smith Committee: Jennifer Barker Matthew Payne Ethan Tussey Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts Georgia State University May 2018 iv DEDICATION I especially want to thank my family, whose constant support has made this possible. Thank you for always believing in me. I’d also like to thank my friends for being around to keep me sane, and for staying my friends from good times through the stressful times when I could rarely get out to see them. Finally, grad school would have been a very lonely experience indeed without the camaraderie of all the smart and wonderful peers in my program. My final push to finish despite numerous setbacks benefitted tremendously from regular meetings with a group of fellow dissertators that my advisor put together to commiserate and brainstorm ideas. Go ‘Taters! v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without the input and advice from the many mentors I’ve had over the years. In particular I am thankful to Greg Smith for seeing me through this process and believing in me enough to take me on as his advisee. I’d also like to thank Jennifer Barker and Ted Friedman for their contributions and insightful feedback from comps through to the prospectus. I want to thank Matthew Payne for joining the committee even though he did not know me, and for his contributions to the discussion of where to go from my prospectus. The challenges to my ideas along the way proved crucial to forge my raw ideas into this document. Finally, I’m grateful to Ethan Tussey for quickly agreeing to step onto the committee toward the end of the process, despite little introduction or advanced notice. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ V LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................ IX 1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Theories of Action, Choice, Goals, and Morality ........................................... 4 1.2 Existing Work on Ethics and Reflection in Games ...................................... 12 1.3 Plan of Study ................................................................................................... 17 1.4 Chapter Outline .............................................................................................. 20 2 CHAPTER ONE: STATES OF ACTION AND REFLECTION ....................... 22 2.1 Flow .................................................................................................................. 23 2.2 Other Game States .......................................................................................... 29 2.3 Reflection and Action Working Together..................................................... 34 3 CHAPTER TWO: STRUCTURING MORAL REFLECTION THROUGH EVENTS 45 3.1 Time, Memory, and Reflection ...................................................................... 45 3.2 Case Study from The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings .................................... 54 4 CHAPTER THREE: EVOKING VALUESCAPES THROUGH CHARACTERS........................................................................................................................... 77 4.1 Case Study of The Iron Bull ........................................................................... 82 vii 4.2 Other NPC Allies and Banter Dialogue ........................................................ 98 4.3 Iron Bull’s Crisis Quest ................................................................................ 103 4.4 Aftermath: Continuing Reflections on Choices Made ............................... 115 5 CHAPTER FOUR: EVOKING VALUES AND PROMPTING REFLECTION THROUGH VIRTUAL SPACES ............................................................................................ 120 5.1 Space and Long-term Value Associations .................................................. 121 5.1.1 Case Study of Skyrim’s Game Hubs.......................................................... 128 5.1.2 Micro-level Analysis of Space and Values Through POIs in Skyrim ...... 141 5.1.3 Counter-example Case Study from Fallout 4 ........................................... 152 6 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 157 6.1 Limitations ..................................................................................................... 162 6.2 Future Directions for Research ................................................................... 164 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 174 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 The flow channel showing movement between states (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p. 74) 26 Figure 2 Iron Bull.......................................................................................................................... 82 Figure 3 The Values of Iron Bull's Two Cultures ......................................................................... 96 Figure 4 Windhelm Outer Gate................................................................................................... 131 Figure 5 Windhelm Narrow Lanes ............................................................................................. 131 Figure 6 Windhelm's Palace ....................................................................................................... 132 Figure 7 Windhelm's Gray Quarter ............................................................................................. 132 Figure 8 Solitude's Outer Gate .................................................................................................... 134 Figure 9 Children Playing in Solitude's Market Square ............................................................. 134 Figure 10 Solitude Facing the Palace.......................................................................................... 135 Figure 11 Windhelm Roofs ......................................................................................................... 138 Figure 12 Typical Roofs Found Elsewhere in Skyrim...............................................................