Contemporary Video Games Research Articles

Loot boxes as part of a layered platform ecosystem: A multidisciplinary perspective

By considering diverse disciplinary perspectives on the psychological impact, design and regulation of loot boxes, this paper departs from a shared need for a holistic comprehension of the platform ecosystem in which contemporary videogames are played, developed and governed. The rationale of this paper is grounded in the rapid evolution of monetisation in videogames, which has not only generated scientific interest towards digital consumption, but also engendered concerns for player health, particularly in the realm of gambling-like loot boxes. We perform an empirical Walkthrough of FIFA22’s Ultimate Team (FUT) mode to identify four layers in FUT’s platform ecosystem, which constitute different scenarios of use and which, taken together, raise issues of uncertainty and persuasion for players. Although we focus on FIFA22, our study extends to other videogames with microtransactions, revealing implications for media, design and legal frameworks. Our findings underscore the value of a qualitative, interpretative approach to analysing videogame consumption at the intersection of various platforms and business models.

Moving Through Ruins and Encountering Entropy in the Horizon Video Games

Ruins are increasingly sites of interest in popular culture and scholarly settings, with recent academic thought surrounding ruination frequently crossing disciplinary lines. This includes work by human geographers reflecting on their experiences of walking through ruinous landscapes. By turning attention to the work of Tim Edensor and Jonathan Brettell, this article considers their ideas in the context of contemporary video games, using textual analysis to unpack the fantastical futures of Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) and its recent sequel Horizon Forbidden West (2022). Horizon Zero Dawn has been described as a ‘techno-fantasy’ (Maher n.p.), blending elements from classic fantasy novels and post-apocalypse film (Hudgins n.p.). These open-world role playing games are set in a post-apocalyptic United States, amidst landscapes strewn with debris left behind by the Old Ones. The player takes control of an outcast named Aloy, who sets out to solve the mysteries of the Old Ones and their technology, all while directing her on quests through a world overrun by strange animal-like machines. In considering the ruins of the Horizon games, this article develops the ideas of others: “that ruins might be one avenue through which to detect critical potential in games” (Fraser 178). On the whole, this article examines how Edensor’s and Brettell’s experiences of ruins compare to those in computer-generated settings, while thinking more broadly about the differences and similarities between physical and virtual ruins. In doing so, specific attention is given to how players traverse Horizon’s ruins, how game design curates the players’ experiences of ruination, and how encountering entropy provides an opportunity to reflect upon the future. Beyond these discussions, this article works to demonstrate the utility of fantasy media in interdisciplinary work, arguing that Horizon offers players an opportunity to engage with distinct entropic landscapes and to reflect on Earth’s ecological well-being.

The Use of Transliteration in Contemporary Video Game and Its Influence on Consumers: A Case Study of Elden Ring

The Use of Transliteration in Contemporary Video Game and Its Influence on Consumers: A Case Study of Elden Ring

Desire and Delusion: Fetish of Brazilian Favela in Videogame (Mis)representation

Video games have emerged as one of the most ubiquitous forms of media globally, exerting a considerable influence on our perceptions of other cultures. However, contemporary video games have perpetuated negative stereotypes about Brazilian favelas and their residents, prioritizing aesthetics and themes that fetishize poverty, precarity, and violence. This essay critically examines the (mis)representations of Brazilian favelas in video games, exploring their far-reaching implications for global perceptions of favelas and their residents, and their role in perpetuating negative stereotypes.

Making motion matching stable and fast with Lipschitz-continuous neural networks and Sparse Mixture of Experts

Motion matching has become a widely adopted technique for generating high-quality interactive animation systems in video games. However, its current implementations suffer from significant computational and memory resource overheads, limiting its scalability in the context of modern video game performance profiles.Our method significantly reduces the computational complexity of approaches to motion synthesis, such as “Learned Motion Matching”, while simultaneously improving the compactness of the data that can be stored and the robustness of pose output. As a result, our method enables the efficient execution of motion matching that significantly outperforms other implementations, by 8.5× times in CPU execution cost and at 80% of the memory requirements of “Learned Motion Matching”, on contemporary video game hardware, thereby enhancing its practical applicability and scalability in the gaming industry and unlocking the ability to apply on large numbers of animated in-game characters.In this paper, we expand upon our published paper “Learning Robust and Scalable Motion with Lipschitz Continuity and Sparse Mixture of Experts”, where we successfully proposed a novel method for learning motion matching that combines a Sparse Mixture of Experts model architecture and a Lipschitz-continuous latent space for representation of poses. We present further details on our method, with extensions to our approach to expert utilization within our neural networks.

The Perception of Depth and Form in Fine Arts, Video Games and Medicine.

Medical imaging technology has greatly improved over the last 40 years. A good example of this is the improved 3D reconstruction capabilities of CTs, which enable photorealistic reconstructions. This technological advancement has also taken place in the computer industry, and the development of modern graphics cards has fueled progress in video games. In art, many of the techniques used to improve three-dimensionality have been known for centuries. At first sight, these fields seem unrelated, but there is actually considerable confluence. This paper focuses on three areas: fine arts, video games and radiology. The art section illustrates different drawing techniques used to create three-dimensionality. The section on video games shows the development of video games from the 1980s to the present day. Finally, the medical imaging section focuses on the first 3D radiography reconstructions in the 1980s and the improvements to the present day. Contemporary video games and 3D reconstructions of CTs enable photorealistic impressions of 3D anatomical structures. An important factor is shadow casting and light, which has been known in fine arts for centuries. The effect on the observer of photorealistic 3D reconstructions in video games and in medical imaging can be largely explained by the knowledge of 3D techniques in drawings and paintings.

Electroconvulsive therapy portrayal in contemporary video games.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an important treatment modality in psychiatry, considered to be the most effective option for pharmaco-resistant affective and psychotic disorders. Despite its great efficacy, it still remains a rather controversial method, which hinders its full potential. It is feasible to say that in part, this controversy is caused by a largely negative image of ECT displayed through media. The depiction of ECT in movies has been studied and well documented in the past. The aim of our study was to provide an overview of how ECT is represented in video games - a form of media where ECT representation has been overlooked in scientific literature so far. As with movies, most of these portrayals are negative, depicting ECT as an obsolete, aggressive or torturous treatment method.

Migration and interactive narrative in video games: scale, ethics, and experience

ABSTRACT A number of contemporary video games (and particularly independently developed or ‘indie’ games) explore migration in ways that are designed to elicit productive discomfort in Western audiences. In this article, I build on a combination of games research, narrative theory, and migration studies to examine how these games enrich and complicate the cultural representation of migration. My focus is on how different scales of migration converge in game experiences (and in the narratives bound up with those experiences), immersing the player in moral dilemmas that have no clear solution or ideal outcome. I study four indie games that deploy this conceptual and emotional dynamic within different genres: Papers, Please (2013), Bury Me, My Love (2017), Frostpunk (2018), and Where the Water Tastes Like Wine (2018). By putting the player in touch with a variety of fictional migrants, these games walk a fine line between empathy for individual migrants and understanding of the large-scale factors that shape the lived experience of migration and the discourse surrounding it. Games thus mirror the real-world complexity of migration but also afford opportunities for more critical, or distanced, reflection than is possible in engaging with, for example, factual representation in the media.

Medium Specific Uncanny in Contemporary Video Games

Abstract The academic discourse on the uncanny in video games usually focuses on the phenomenon of the so-called “uncanny valley” (Mori 2012). The article explores the emergence of other, medium-specific occurrences of the effect, prioritizing interactivity as a key factor in its establishment. Two unique areas are particularly prominent in the increasingly photorealistic worlds of video games where uncanny moments associated with the wider, Freudian concept can be found. These are linked to necessary (structuring) and contingent (destructuring) components of the game: namely its heterogeneous ontology and the glitches that may appear in it. The author hypothesizes that these less conceptualized uncanny situations are regular features of the gaming experience and emerge when the immersion in an iconically realistic environment has been broken and eerie absences or ghostly presences pop up either through encounters with the game’s boundaries that result from the technological limitations of the software or the appearance of unintended errors in its processes.

Video Games and Gender Equality: How Has Video Gaming Become a Mens Privilege?

Gender norms and gender exclusion in video games are worth discussing. Based on previous research on video games and gender equality, the article investigates how video gaming excludes female participation and becomes a male privilege. Understanding segregation is crucial because numerous video games today still feature misrepresentations of women despite the ongoing feminist movements that strive for equal rights. This article found that the video game industry was established by a male workforce that designed games to appeal to a male-centric market, thus the female voice is left out from the beginning. Women in contemporary video games are portrayed through the lens of male desire in which females are sexualized, powerless, and subordinate. They are excluded from the male-centric structure because of sexualization, sexual harassment, and workplace segregation. An optimistic vision of the future is also discussed due to the emergence of female voices in the gaming industry.

Gaming Sinographs beyond the Ludic

This article rethinks the notion of the Sinophone through digital technology by using the Taiwanese videogame Word Game (Wenzi youxi, Team9, 2022) as a case study. The digital Sinophone sees Chineseness as an act of positive identification claimed by engaging with digital artifacts; it defines a single mass audience coterminous with the Sinophone cultural sphere. Word Game constructs a two-dimensional space in which all objects are composed of sinographs, requiring the player to possess extensive knowledge of the construction of and relationship between sinographs according to Chinese grammatical and semiotic uses in order to progress in the game. Contrary to the internationalizing tendencies of the videogame market and the long history of tension between sinographic writing and the typographical technologies of technological modernity, the result is a uniquely Sinophone videogame. In Word Game, the logic of gameplay mechanics consists not of mathematical universals but culturally determined relationships between sinographs. The article concludes by examining the implications for the interdisciplinary study of videogames. Whereas contemporary videogame studies seeks to situate video gaming in broader cultural discourses, a culturalist view of videogames sees game mechanics as cocreators of culture rather than a mirror of culture.

Rewriting rules, changing worlds: Diegetic and ludic forms of metareference in The Magic Circle

Abstract In addition to transmedial techniques such as metalepses, allegories, or obtrusive narrators, contemporary videogames also use medium-specific forms, including game rules, mechanics, or interfaces, to create metareference. Similarly, metareferential games seem not only concerned with questions of their fictionality but show particular interest in their own technological infrastructure and embeddedness in digital culture. In this article, I propose a systematic approach to analysing metareference in videogames, distinguishing between the gameworld and the game system as the two main layers of communication from which metareference emerges. In a case study of the indie metagame The Magic Circle (Question 2015), I show that the game’s distinctive metareferential style is the result of interactions between what I call diegetic and ludic forms of metareference, and which are produced at the level of the gameworld and the game system, respectively.

Classification of Video Games Bachelor’s Curricula

As in any professional field, aspiring video game artists, designers, and developers must acquire the necessary skills and knowledge for a successful career. Higher education institutions offer varying video game Bachelor’s degree programs to meet the diverse needs of the industry. Our objective in this study was to explore these curricula to gain insight into and understanding of the contemporary video game higher education landscape. 
 
 We explored 113 Bachelor’s degree curricula in Europe that had publicly available information in English about their courses. We classified the courses within each curriculum using ten devised classifiers based on the IGDA Curriculum Framework 2008 but modified them to suit our interests. The content of the classified curricula was then used to create curriculum profiles – data vectors that characterize a curriculum based on its contents. These profiles allowed for hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis (PCA) to identify and investigate the three common types of video game curricula: video game art, interdisciplinary video game design, and video game technology/programming.
 
 Our results indicate that art and programming curricula are highly specialized, with clear distinctions in yielding Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. Curricula focused on interdisciplinary video game design do not have such clear distinctions in the degree titles and content specialization. They are more varied in their profiles and tend to bridge the gap between art and programming curricula, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of game design as a profession.
 
 Compared to results from previous studies, we found that contemporary curricula place a greater emphasis on graduation projects, internships, and soft skills. Our findings provide an overview of the current state of higher education in video games, which may prove helpful for those working with or interested in these curricula.

A Social Phenomenology of Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in Videogames

Non-player characters (NPCs) are a common feature in contemporary videogames, particularly role-playing games (RPGs). Evidence suggests player relationships with these fictional, digital characters can manifest as deeply emotional experiences that can ‘bleed’ off the screen and affect the daily lives of players. However, research in this area is still in its infancy, and as yet has not been given a thorough conceptual treatment. Applying the sociological phenomenology of Alfred Schütz, this paper will examine the structure of the experiences that players have with NPCs, and how these experiences manifest as meaningful social experiences. By a reconceptualization of the player-NPC relationship as a deeply mediated human-human relationship, this paper aims to build a foundation for further phenomenological study into how players engage with fictional characters in immersive videogame worlds.

UNDERSTANDING VIDEO GAMES: A CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIST’S CALL OF DUTY

The objective of this presentation is to summarize patterns of contemporary video game (VG) play among youth, relevant mental health effects, characteristics of problematic gaming, and appropriate clinical interventions.

Videogames as an ‘Unheroic’ Medium: The Child Hero's Journey

In this article, I examine two contemporary videogames that engage critically and imaginatively with conventional definitions of heroism. In Röki (Polygon Treehouse) and Knights and Bikes (Foam Sword Games), the child-avatars loosen the connection between maturity and self-reliance by framing interdependence as both an inevitable and a desirable condition of human society. Furthermore, by emphasizing children's supposed malleability, these games insist on the relationality of identities: they suggest that one's identity depends on the interactions one has with individuals and institutions. I suggest that by centering cooperation, these games destabilize myths of independence and autonomy that surround the lone hero of hyper-individualism and thereby challenge assumptions about the kinds of heroism videogames can portray.

Morality inside the matrix: A qualitative exploration of gamers’ moral considerations in video games

Many contemporary video games incorporate decision-making mechanics that can alter a game’s narrative experience for players. Often, these decisions challenge players to engage with questions of ethics, morality and empathy. Much of the previous research on moral decision-making in games assumes that players utilize real-world moral frameworks to make these decisions, without accounting for the way that game spaces function as unique sites for this type of decision-making. Video games can uniquely incentivize or punish players for their in-game decisions, shaping the way players engage with issues of morality. This study examines factors that influence how players approach moral decision-making in video games. Using semi-structured interviews with 24 individuals, we explored how both players’ real-world moral foundations and in-game constraints guide their moral decisions. Findings include how customizable avatars, subsequent playthroughs, in-game rewards and the manner in which a moral conflict is presented to players all influence their choices.

Technologies and Videogames: Influences on society

In the following paper, we present the result of an exhaustive review on how contemporary video games influence multiple social aspects such as health, psychology, family, entertainment, economics, and international conflicts. It also addresses the trends for the near future on the use and influence of video games in society, their consequences, and trends. Multiple scientific articles and websites specialized in the video game industry were reviewed, from which information has been obtained on how they contribute to society. The video game industry quickly incorporates solutions to many social problems directly and indirectly, and their incorporation into society will soon become a prevailing need.

They didn't ask: Online innovation communities as a latent dynamic capability

Many contemporary video games demand considerable involvement from players, but in general, researchers have not considered such contributions as an innovation activity. To address the nature of gamer contribution, we conducted a longitudinal qualitative case study of the community surrounding the EVE Online video game. We employed grounded theory to investigate how the role played by community members changes over time, which influences their contribution to the innovation process. A dynamic classification model that highlights patterns of innovation contributions by different subgroups of the community emerged from this investigation. The findings were further analyzed utilizing Hirschman's theoretical framework, which was integrated with research on innovation communities. The results indicate that when properly activated, gamer communities can function as online innovation communities capable of contributing not only to product development but also to co-creation and strategy processes, constituting an external dynamic capability. This paper contributes to the literature concerning innovation communities and the dynamic capabilities of companies. Such insights also have practical implications because identifying different subgroups within communities is of strategic importance for companies, assisting managers in targeting segments of the community that could contribute more to the innovation process, as well as to other business operations.

Thereness

This article theorizes the abstract quality of "thereness," or a challenging presence that both invites and resists being engaged by humans, which is central to the ludic and symbolic function of a number of related video games in recent years. I will discuss games that deliberately resist the mimetic approach of an ever-increasing "realism" in this popular medium but rather explore the allegorical aspects of the mountains, notably without turning them into "mere" metaphors but insisting on their own distinct existence as something beyond ourselves. As virtual mountains that are not really to be played with, they invite a philosophical, cultural, and aesthetic interpretation as human mediations of what resists both mediation and the human, as something always just beyond our full cognitive and epistemological grasp, a limit rather than an object of our consciousness. I will discuss how games such as Celeste (2018), Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (2017), and Mountain (2014) use their unique audiovisual, tactile, and ludic qualities to convey this elusive "thereness" of the mountain as something that both challenges and rejects human interaction. Instead of offering their players the fantasy of power and control that so often underlies contemporary video games, these games evoke the otherness of mountains to take their players to the limits of interactivity within a medium that is fundamentally defined by this very interactivity.