UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Foundations of Videogame Authorship Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/96x08750 Author Huber, William Humberto Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO The Foundations of Videogame Authorship A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, Theory and Criticism by William Humberto Huber Committee in charge: Professor Lev Manovich, Chair Professor Grant Kester Professor Kuiyi Shen Professor Stefan Tanaka Professor Noah Wardrip-Fruin 2013 © William Humberto Huber, 2013 All rights reserved. SIGNATURE PAGE The Dissertation of William Humberto Huber is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2013 iii DEDICATION With gratitude to friends, family and colleagues. To Samantha, with deepest devotion, for her friendship, affection and patience. To Rafael, for whom play is everything. iv EPIGRAPH Art is a game between all people, of all periods. – Marcel Duchamp v TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ............................................................................................................... iii Dedication ..................................................................................................................... iv Epigraph ..........................................................................................................................v Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................. viii List of Tables...................................................................................................................x Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... xi Vita ............................................................................................................................. xiii Abstract of the Dissertation............................................................................................ xv Introduction .....................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1. The semiotic elements of videogames .............................................................7 Play as signification and interpretation.............................................................................................................. 17 Ludology and narratology .................................................................................................................................. 25 Revisiting semiotics in interactive media ......................................................................................................... 31 Semiotic registers ................................................................................................................................................... 40 Genre and interpretation...................................................................................................................................... 48 Styles of game design........................................................................................................................................... 66 Proceduralism and anti-proceduralism. ........................................................................................................ 77 Chapter 2. Signs in play: Fatal Frame II and modal dynamics ........................................ 80 Modes: aggregations of signs ................................................................................................................................. 80 Modes as configurations ..................................................................................................................................... 86 Fatal Frame II ............................................................................................................................................................... 92 vi The dominant modes of Fatal Frame II ........................................................................................................ 96 In the mode for love: The Marriage as single-mode game ................................................................ 118 Game traversals and methodology .................................................................................................................... 124 Capturing Frames ................................................................................................................................................ 126 Modal rhythms ..................................................................................................................................................... 129 Modes are software; registers are conceptual frames. .............................................................................. 132 Ludic activation of the uncanny.................................................................................................................... 135 Semi-autonomous elements ............................................................................................................................ 137 From a theory of signs to models of authorship ..................................................................................... 143 Chapter 3. playing with space, playing with people ...................................................... 145 8-bit geo-space .......................................................................................................................................................... 146 Game-space and game-place. .............................................................................................................................. 149 Designed spatiality ............................................................................................................................................. 154 Game-spaces ......................................................................................................................................................... 162 Harvey’s model for the production of space............................................................................................ 165 Spaces of Final Fantasy ........................................................................................................................................ 171 Material space and the production of bodies ........................................................................................... 178 Representations of space (and place): producing worlds ................................................................... 186 Spaces of representation: Spira revisited .................................................................................................. 193 The matrix of spatialities revisited .............................................................................................................. 196 Final Fantasy XI: multiplayer games as constrained spaces ................................................................. 198 Virtual worlds of difference ........................................................................................................................... 202 Designed constraints .......................................................................................................................................... 206 Situational constraints ....................................................................................................................................... 211 Designing intersubjectivity in games ............................................................................................................... 217 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 221 References ................................................................................................................... 232 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.: Kingdom Hearts video traversal. ....................................................... 45 Figure 2.: D-Day (1982 arcade game)................................................................. 54 Figure 3.: D-Day cabinet and controller.............................................................. 54 Figure 4.: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (1999) - Omaha Beach sequence ....... 58 Figure 5.: First-person view of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault .......................... 59 Figure 6.: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, sniper-scope view. ........................... 62 Figure 7.: Call of Duty 2 (2005) Cutscene from the assault on Pointe du Hoc mission. ......................................................................................................................... 63 Figure 8.: Company of Heroes: Normandy landing sequence .............................. 66 Figure 9.: Braid a sole-authored independent game created by J. Blow (2010) ... 70 Figure 10.: B.U.T.T.O.N. Douglas Wilson and the Copenhagen Game Collective (2009) ............................................................................................................................ 73 Figure