A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF VIOLENCE IN THE MASS EFFECT UNIVERSE by Michael Frias BA St. Thomas University, 2012 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION in the Graduate Academic Unit of Education (Critical Studies) Co-Supervisors: Linda Eyre, PhD (Education) Ellen Rose, PhD (Education) Examining Board: David Wagner, PhD: Chair Jane McLean, PhD, HRA, Education Lauren Cruikshank, PhD, Culture and Language Studies This thesis is accepted by the Dean of Graduate Studies THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK September, 2014 ©Michael Frias, 2014 ABSTRACT This thesis offers a critical discourse analysis of violence in the video game Mass Effect. After the Sandy Hook School shooting in December, 2012, Mass Effect was believed to motivate the shooter. Following this accusation, conversations arose defending and blaming the video game for the shooting. Rather than taking a side, I use Fairclough’s textually-oriented critical discourse analysis to explore the constructions of physical and discursive violence, especially discourses of gender, sexuality and race, in Mass Effect. Physical violence is the more overt presentation, making it easy to link the game to the shooting; discursive violence, however, is less obvious. I also explore how players engage with, and potentially resist, physical and discursive violence through online conversations and opportunities to change the game. Finally, I offer implications for video game developers, parents, teachers, players, and the public. ii DEDICATION For Brandan iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my deepest thanks to Dr. Linda Eyre and Dr. Ellen Rose. I was a scared undergraduate when we first met. You were both supportive of my starting this thesis and have never stopped. I cannot thank you enough for your patience, help, and infectious enthusiasm for critical theory. Next, I thank you Brandan. Without your love and support, none of this would have been possible. You have been a partner, an inspiration, and a walking video game encyclopedia. I could not have made this journey without you. Lindsay, you were right there to talk me through the challenges and help me through my struggles. You constantly reminded me that no matter what, we can accomplish anything. I specially thank you Noah and Jacob. Mentoring both of you this past year has been amazing. You reminded me why I am so passionate about video games and showed me how creative the imagination can be. Meghan and Emma, you are amazing friends. Whenever I needed someone to lend an ear, you were there. You never stopped believing in me, and for that, I am grateful. Last but not least, I thank my coworkers. You are all amazing people who have supported me through these difficult years. Thank you for keeping my spirits up along with my caffeine level. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ ii DEDICATION ....................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................. viii CHAPTER 1 Situating the Study............................................................................. 1 Positioning Myself in Thinking Critically about Video Games ......................... 2 Sandy Hook Shooting and Research Question ................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2 Research on the Effects of Video Games ........................................ 10 A Brief History of the Industry ......................................................................... 10 Dividing Video Games into a Binary ............................................................... 15 The “bad” side: Are you a villain? .................................................................... 18 The “good” side: Are you a hero? .................................................................... 22 Education and Video Games ............................................................................. 25 School Shootings and Video Games ................................................................. 27 Critical Exploration of Video Games ............................................................... 31 Critical approaches to school shootings. ....................................................... 32 “Video games of the oppressed”. .................................................................. 35 Gender representations in video games. ....................................................... 37 Sexuality in video games. ............................................................................. 41 Racial representations in video games. ......................................................... 45 CHAPTER 3 The Methods for Critically Exploring Discourse ............................ 50 Critical Discourse Analysis .............................................................................. 50 Research Design ............................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER 4 Exploring Physical and Discursive Violence in the Mass Effect Universe ................................................................................................................. 57 Overview of the Mass Effect Storyline ............................................................. 57 Exploring Physical and Discursive Violence .................................................... 63 Physical violence in Mass Effect. ................................................................. 65 Discursive violence in Mass Effect. .............................................................. 69 CHAPTER 5 Summary and Implications ............................................................ 120 Summary ......................................................................................................... 120 Implications .................................................................................................... 123 Taking steps to mediate young people’s use of video games. .................... 123 Towards a more critical reading of media reports and research about video games. ..................................................................................................................... 126 Helping players become more aware of the construction of discourses in video games. ........................................................................................................... 129 Helping video game developers and players to work together to resist discursive violence in video games. ....................................................................... 131 Future Research .............................................................................................. 135 Final Thoughts ................................................................................................ 136 v REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 140 CURRICULUM VITAE vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Default female and male Shepard (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) ................... 59 Figure 2: A Turian male soldier (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) ..................................... 60 Figure 3: A Reaper attacking a city (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) ................................ 61 Figure 4: An Asari commando (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) ....................................... 73 Figure 5: Character Miranda Lawson (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) ............................. 79 Figure 6: James Vega exercising (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) .................................... 81 Figure 7: A Salarian engineer (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) ....................................... 102 Figure 8: A Volus mercenary engineer (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) ........................ 103 Figure 9: A female Quarian engineer (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) ........................... 106 Figure 10: Krogan sentinel (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) ........................................... 109 Figure 11: Two Hanar conversing (from Mass Effect Wiki, 2014) ................................ 115 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AI.................Artificially Intelligent Atari VCS....Atari video computer system BSAA..........Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance CDA............Critical Discourse Analysis CT................CTMod CTRA..........CTRaidAssist DLC............Downloadable Content ESRB..........Entertainment Software Ratings Board FTL.............Faster Than Light ICT............. Interplanetary Combatives Training LGBTQ.......Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer MIT.............Massachusetts Institute of Technology Mod............Modification MMO..........Massively Multiplayer Game MMORPG..Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game NES............Nintendo Entertainment System NPC............Non-Playable Character P3................P300 PC...............Personal Computer RPG............Role-Playing Game RTS.............Real-time strategy viii TBS.............Turn-based strategy TED.............Technology, Entertainment, Design WoW...........World of Warcraft ix CHAPTER 1 Situating the