Game Narrative Research Articles

Research on New Star of Anime Game Based on Genshin Impact's Success Factors and Potential Troubles

Abstract: Genshin Impact is one of the most widely influential and profitable Chinese games to date. So far, its achievements include but are not limited to winning the "Sony PlayStation Partner Awards", and winning the "TGA Best Mobile Game" award in 2021 and 2022. The success of Genshin Impact is legendary, and it is also a milestone in Chinese games. Studying the success of it is of great significance to the development of the game industry. This article started with the previous research on Genshin Impact and other anime games, combined with the current background of the game industry, and analyzed the underlying factors behind its tremendous success from three perspectives: the production level of Genshin Impact itself, IP publicity, and operation, and meeting the needs of players. Additionally, it delves into potential challenges that Genshin Impact may face from three aspects: the game's narrative and character design, player feedback and communication, and goals for game industrialization. Lastly, recommendations are presented for each of these fields. This article improves the strategic consideration of Genshin Impact in terms of profitability and improves the viscosity of game players.

Diminished Chinese feminine monstrosity: the transformation of femininity and monstrosity from Chinese game Gujianqitan 3 to its fanfiction

ABSTRACT Chinese videogames and fandoms have emerged as significant arenas for the representation, reproduction, and contestation of femininity. This article delves into the portrayal of a female monster in the Chinese single-player role-playing game Gujianqitan 3 and explores how fans recraft this representation in their fanfiction. The videogame introduces a female monster, Yun Wuyue, playable in select scenes. Her representation aligns with Kristeva’s abjection, but it goes beyond Creed’s the monstrous-feminine, frameworks frequently invoked in discussions of female monsters. By drawing connections to other Chinese folklores, classic literary works on monsters, and the monstrous-feminine, the article introduces a novel construct – Chinese feminine monstrosity. This term emphasizes that the monstrosity of female monsters does not originate from their exaggeratedly sexualized bodies, but rather from their beautiful human disguises, deceitful and lethal tendencies, and their transformative bodies that evoke abjection. However, Yun’s Chinese feminine monstrosity is diminished in both the game narratives and gameplay due to Yun’s free choice of allying with men, rendering her less of a threat to the patriarchy. Fanfiction further reinforces this disempowerment by stripping of her monstrosity, transforming it into a manifestation of postfeminism. This transformation is elucidated in the context of the burgeoning influence of postfeminism in China, established fanfic conventions, and players’ understandings of representation in the game and their wishes to inherit this representation in their fanfics. Thus, the article contributes to the ongoing discourse on the transformation of ideologies in game fanfiction, shedding light on the complex interplay between representation, empowerment, and cultural shifts.

Press A or Wave: User Expectations for NPC Interactions and Nonverbal Behaviour in Virtual Reality

Non-playable characters (NPCs) are important in games, as they can provide guidance to the player, create social engagement, and advance the game's narrative. Although much research exists regarding NPC interactions for traditional gaming environments, e.g. desktop or console, fewer works have considered this from a virtual reality (VR) perspective. Our work first uncovers the salient and unique dimensions of VR NPC interactions through observations of 47 existing games. We find that VR NPC interactions have an extended set of interaction mechanisms due to two key factors - interaction triggers and player constraints within the game, driven by the unique qualities of physical motion and immersion afforded by the medium. We augment these findings through a user study performed on 18 participants in a VR environment. Participant interactions with a responsive NPC allow us to delve deeper into understanding player perception and expectations of NPC behaviour and interactions. Our findings outline player expectations for NPC realism, player agency during NPC interaction, and NPC expected behaviour and feedback. We tie our findings into discussions on player agency within VR, highlighting design suggestions to develop NPCs to better fit within social behaviour expectations.

Video game structural layers for narrative design and articulation

ABSTRACT Video Games are composites of interlocking structures that collectively create meaning for the player to investigate and act upon. The most apparent form of meaning for the player is the narrative story or context. However, the narrative in a video game is structured and contextualized itself by the inherent form of the video game. This range of meaning making tools in the medium is both daunting and exciting. To understand the application of narrative better, designers, critics and academics need to be able to distinguish and understand the high-level structural layers that affect and support it. This paper offers a focused review of the relevant literature, explanations of key terms and diagrams and an illustration demonstrating the relationships of these structural layers.

Construct validity and applicant reactions of a gamified personality assessment

This study introduces the HEXACO-RUSH, a gamified version of the HEXACO Situational Judgment Test developed by Oostrom and her colleagues (2019). HEXACO-RUSH is a new fantasy-adventure, narrative game, where the player makes a series of decisions in a similar format like a situational judgment test. We first present evidence on the construct validity (N = 240) of the game in relation to an existing traditional personality assessment (HEXACO-60), and in a second study (N = 160), we explore perceptions towards the game using a repeated measures, within-samples research design, again compared to HEXACO-60, with a sample of participants who assumed the role of a job applicant. Our results provided preliminary support for a moderate alignment between the new game and the HEXACO model, with average correlations of .43 across the six dimensions. It also exhibited positive participants' reactions, compared to HEXACO-60, although these were moderated by previous video-gaming experience (but not age). Overall, this study provides some initial evidence for an alternative assessment of the six personality factors with improved participants’ reactions and higher resistance to faking, but further research is required to confirm its test re-test reliability and criterion-related validity, with larger employee or applicant samples.

The Expert, The Novice, and The Skeptic: Game Literacy and Pedagogical Practice

This qualitative case study explores how teachers' video game literacy impacts their pedagogical use of the digital game The Walking Dead in an ethics education course at a Norwegian high school. The research question addressed is: how is teachers' pedagogical use of a digital game impacted by their levels of video game literacy? The study followed seven teachers, varying in teaching and gaming experience, over two semesters. Observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data on the teachers' experience and pedagogical practice using The Walking Dead in their classes. Three teachers were selected for deeper analysis based them showing differences in attitudes and practices, while having similar teaching experience. These teachers were labeled "the expert," "the novice," and "the skeptic" based on their gaming literacy and attitudes. The analysis was based on a two-dimensional approach to video game literacy, emphasizing operational and cultural literacy. The results show that operational literacy impacted how teachers perceived and used various game elements, especially how they identified and framed the game’s dilemmas. The expert and novice saw the game's narrative as an important contextual resource for engaging with the dilemmas, while the skeptic saw it as merely a backdrop. The skeptic also had difficulties distinguishing between relevant and less relevant aspects of the game relative to the learning goal. Cultural literacy mainly impacted the teachers' ability to differentiate between students' perceptions and experiences of the game and different modes of playing. The expert had a more nuanced approach to how students perceived the game's motivational power, emphasizing the story's importance. The novice and expert explicitly instructed students to distinguish between playing for fun and playing to learn, while the skeptic made less of a distinction and saw playing the game more as a standalone learning activity. The findings suggest that teachers' video game literacy can significantly influence pedagogical use of digital games. Higher levels of operational and cultural literacy enable teachers to better navigate the game's elements, guide students' engagement, and facilitate connections between gameplay and learning objectives.

Escaping Online: Teacher Student Engagement in a Digital Escape Game

Escape games have become popular as a learning activity and are being used in a large variety of subjects (e.g., chemistry (Peleg et al, 2019), music (Babazadeh et al, 2022)). Research has shown that they are generally engaging for students (Veldkamp et al, 2020). However, the study of engagement is often limited to its observable aspect (e.g., the students are having fun; they are participating in the learning activity) or is not the focus of the analysis. Fewer studies are also investigating the use of escape games in fully online settings, when students are each playing from their own location. This research study is exploring engagement from the students’ perspective, within a fully online course in a teacher education program at a Norwegian university. Teacher students were invited to play Radioaktiv, a digital escape game for natural sciences on the topic of radioactivity. Six pairs of students also participated in guided interviews after playing. Reflexive thematic analysis of the interview data with the students was conducted to investigate what characterised the students’ experience of engagement while playing the online escape game Radioaktiv. Through this research question, the study is taking a closer look at what it means when the students say they were engaged in the game. Findings show four main aspects of the students’ experience of engagement. First, the time pressure was found to be a double-edged sword. Students found the timer engaging, but some were also too stressed by its presence to the detriment of learning outcomes. Second, students were engaged in completing tasks for their own sake, independently from other game aspects. Third, students appreciated having a read thread, but were not engaged in the specific narrative of the escape game. Finally, students positioned themselves as teachers and it strongly defined their experience of engagement in the game. They saw the game through the potential it held for their own pupils. These findings raise questions about the selection of escape games for learning in online environments and when and how to use them (e.g., discover a new theme, repetition, focus on soft skills).

The role of narrative in misinformation games

The role of narrative in misinformation games

The Roles of Riddles, Puzzles, and Narratives as Pedagogy in Video Games: A Case of African-Themed Video Games

Critical thinking can be promoted through narratives, puzzles, and riddles. Literature has indicated a need to reactivate African narratives to preserve African legacies for future generations. This study argues that African riddles, puzzles, and narratives should be used in African-themed video games to promote critical thinking and awareness of African culture. It emphasizes the importance of African-centered puzzles as a culturally relevant pedagogy that fosters students’ understanding of African cultural values. The study used a participatory culture framework to bring students together to develop an African-themed video game. The game, called Nolwazi, was investigated ethnographically to highlight critical aspects. The study presents the findings of the investigation and analysis. It concludes with a discussion of the importance of using African riddles, puzzles, and narratives in video games.

Sounds of the Past: Creating Immersion in Video Games Through Diegetic, Pre-Existing Music

The modern state of gaming has seen a variety of interactive narratives play out in a variety of worlds. A major category of setting in video games is ‘the past’, whether that be a form of realistic fiction, an alternate history, or something which draws inspiration from some aspect of the real past to create an entirely imagined location. Despite the differences in their likenesses to our own world, many games referencing the past share a commonality in their musical soundtracks: the use of pre-existing music. Songs like “Drunken Sailor” or “La Cucaracha” are prolific, but there exists an ever-growing variety with less well-known examples. An interesting pattern which emerges in the temporal space of these games is the diegetic use of pre-existing music. Using pre-existing music comes with the risk of not aligning with a player’s expectations for a given piece, and using diegetic music creates a risk of misalignment between the action the player sees and the audio they hear. Combining these two modalities could initially seem to be not worth the collective risks, but games like Pentiment (2022), Assassin’s Creed: Unity (2014), and Life Is Strange: True Colors (2021) all successfully integrate their pre-existing audio with game narratives. What purpose does pre-existing, diegetic music serve to warrant its widespread inclusion in such games? An analysis of the three games and their respective examples will demonstrate the importance of integrating player expectations and experiences with the physical space established in the game to produce a more immersive experience.

A mobile serious game about diabetes self-management: Design and evaluation

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic condition that requires ongoing self-management and education. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in utilizing mobile serious games as a tool for patient education and engagement. This article presents the development of DiaPo, a mobile serious game designed to improve self-management education for patients with T2DM. DiaPo integrates gamification techniques to increase patient engagement and motivation while providing essential information about disease management. The development of DiaPo followed a structured design process, utilizing the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) educational system. This systematic approach allowed for the integration of best practices in educational game design and diabetes care. The development team consisted of experts in medical informatics, game design, and diabetes care, ensuring a multidisciplinary approach to the game's creation. The game's narrative focuses on a T2DM patient who earns positive points for making healthy lifestyle choices and negative points for poor ones. This gamified approach aims to reinforce positive behaviors and provide immediate feedback on negative ones. Interactive animations confirm or deny options selected by the player, further enhancing the learning experience. DiaPo offers a flexible and adaptable platform suitable for diverse audiences, promoting inclusiveness and accessibility in T2DM education. DiaPo represents a novel approach to self-management education for patients with T2DM, utilizing gamification techniques and a multidisciplinary design process to create an engaging and informative mobile serious game. By promoting inclusiveness and accessibility, DiaPo has the potential to empower patients with T2DM to take an active role in their disease management. As the field of mobile serious games continues to evolve, DiaPo stands as a promising tool for improving T2DM education and patient outcomes.

Видеоигры как социальный институт: различные аспекты институционализации

This article examines video games and game journalism as social institutions. The author proposes to move away from the fragmented perception of the gaming industry, looking at it as an interconnection of cultural, social, economic and political processes. Particular attention is paid to the regulation of video games by the state, the emergence of gamers’ own language, cultural differences between developers and narratives in games as indicators of institutionalization. In addition to the above, an attempt is made to understand the culture of participation, publicity and mass participation as factors of institutionalization that allowed the video game industry to emerge from the status of entertainment. The problems associated with the institutionalization of video games are also briefly touched upon: new ethics, social responsibility, the problem of commercial success, censorship and unification. In conclusion, the article analyzes the possibility of using an institutional approach to video games in future research, and outlines the prospects for a comprehensive study of their impact on society and the state.

On the Defects and Value of Game Narrative to Historical and Cultural Inheritance

On the Defects and Value of Game Narrative to Historical and Cultural Inheritance

Transculturation in Latin American Video Game Production: Between Regionalism and Cosmopolitanism

This research explores the manifestation of transculturation, a literary paradigm designed to situate Latin American production in the context of globalization, in video game production, evaluating its applicability to the study of cultural representation. Embracing a documentary research and content analysis methodology, the study analyzes 29 video games from nine Latin American countries, classifying them as “regionalist” or “cosmopolitan” based on settings, themes, audiovisual elements, and intertextual references. The regionalist category exhibits a preference for realism, natural settings, representation of myths, and an emphasis on cultural preservation. Conversely, the cosmopolitan category favors the fantastic, urban settings, reinterpretation of myths, and an emphasis on cultural exchange. By scrutinizing video games through the lens of transculturation, the study revalidates this theory as a relevant paradigm for understanding cultural representation in the digital age, offering new insights into the interplay between local and global influences in Latin American video game narratives.

The Ascendancy of Video Games: Can They Eclipse Literary Works?

This article investigates the factors contributing to the rise of video games and their potential to surpass literature in narrative expression. By examining extensive research on the intersection of video games and literature, the study dissects their complex interrelationships, mutual impacts, and shared evolution. Video game narratives, often inspired by literary predecessors, have become increasingly complex and engaging, drawing on literary techniques and non-linear storytelling methods from postmodernism and metafiction. These narratives challenge players to actively construct meaning, enhancing emotional resonance through character development, evocative prose, and carefully crafted dialogue. Technological advancements have played a crucial role in the evolution and rising popularity of video games, offering immersive, interactive experiences that empower players to shape the narrative and storyline, contrasting with literature, which relies on the reader's imagination and interpretation. The future of storytelling is likely to be shaped by the ongoing interplay between video games and literature. The integration of literary techniques and interactive elements across these mediums will continue to evolve, resulting in innovative hybrid entertainment forms that leverage the strengths of both literature and video games. This dynamic interaction ensures a diverse and vibrant future for storytelling, reflecting the multidimensionality of human creativity and imagination. As video games continue to incorporate more sophisticated literary techniques and storytelling methods, they become more capable of delivering rich, nuanced narratives that rival those found in traditional literature. This evolution opens up new possibilities for hybrid forms of storytelling that combine the best elements of both video games and literature. By embracing these hybrid forms, creators can push the boundaries of narrative expression and create new, immersive experiences that engage audiences in ways previously unimaginable. The article concludes that the future of storytelling lies in the continued convergence of video games and literature, promising a diverse and dynamic landscape that celebrates human creativity and imagination in all its forms.

Eliciting guilt in virtual reality games: interplay of self-attribution, presence, and morality.

This study investigates the psychological mechanisms in virtual reality (VR) games, focusing on the interplay between character morality, self-attribution, presence, guilt, and their collective impact on player enjoyment. Based on Affective Disposition Theory, it hypothesizes that players' moral judgments of characters significantly affect their engagement and enjoyment of VR narratives. A post-test between-subjects experiment was conducted with 97 participants to examine the influence of character morality on guilt through the mediation of self-attribution, and how these factors affect players' sense of presence and overall enjoyment in VR games. The findings indicate that self-attribution significantly mediates the relationship between character morality and guilt. Additionally, the sense of presence enhances enjoyment, with a stronger sense of 'being there' amplifying the emotional impact of players' moral decisions. This study highlights the full mediating effect of self-attribution in the context of VR gaming, intensifying players' emotional responses to moral dilemmas. The results suggest that VR game designers should consider the moral implications of game narratives and character actions to create more emotionally engaging and ethically reflective gaming experiences. These insights have significant implications for VR game design and ethics, promoting greater ethical sensitivity among players.

Ойын кейіпкерлер баяндаушы құралыретінде: визуалды дизайнның ойындағы оқиға желісінің дамуына әсерін зерттеу

The article considers the relevance of presenting the visual design of game characters through the narrative activity of the game, the development of the storyline and close communication with players. Analysing current trends and technological advances, realistic and emotionally expressive character design shows how you deepen your connection with the player. Explores the growing importance of inclusivity and cultural representation in character design, working to explore the appeal of game narrative and the impact on the marketing sphere. Using examples of popular game cases, the power of brand and narrative role shows their impact on recall and success, proving the importance of visual character design not only as additional factors, but also as a primary driver of engaging and engaging narrative in modern video games.

Formalism and Power of Language: Unravelling the Narratology of Final Fantasy XVI

Using the framework of formalist analysis, this study examines how language serves as a source of power in shaping the narrative depth, character development, and thematic exploration of Final Fantasy XVI. This research involves analyzing various types of language, from dialogue and narration to symbolism, metaphor, and simile. The research methodology employed is qualitative analysis, allowing for an in-depth examination of the linguistic complexities present in the game through textual analysis and content analysis. By thematically dissecting language and applying techniques from formalist linguistics, such as Deixis Analysis, the study aims to determine how game creators purposefully use linguistic techniques to construct emotional connotations and expressive effects. Additionally, it explores how witty dialogues between characters contribute to the development of story-related themes. This study reveals how the linguistic fabric of Final Fantasy XVI functions as an effective tool in crafting an engaging and powerful story. It draws players deeper into the game's world and evokes their sympathies for the various forces at play. Furthermore, the research highlights the intentional use of linguistic devices to enhance narrative immersion and emotional impact, showcasing the intricate interplay between language and storytelling in video games. Through this analysis, the study underscores the significance of linguistic elements in video game narratives, providing insights into how language can be manipulated to create compelling and immersive experiences for players.

The Replacement of the Mentor/Educator Archetype With the Pseudo-Father Figure and in the Video Game Narrative

The Replacement of the Mentor/Educator Archetype With the Pseudo-Father Figure and in the Video Game Narrative

Analysis the Enhancement of User Game Experience Based on Digital Media Designing

In the context of the digital era, video games, as an emerging form of entertainment, have become the focus of research in terms of their design and optimization of user experience. This study focuses on the application of digital music in games and its impact on player experience, aiming to reveal how music elements deepen the immersion and emotional resonance of games. According to the analysis, digital music significantly enhances game immersion and players' emotional engagement through dynamic music systems, close integration with game narratives, and innovative applications in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) games. In particular, games such as Traveler provide players with a unique empathic experience and deep emotional impact through well-designed music and sound interactions, demonstrating the central role of music in enhancing game narratives and building game worlds. However, the study also points out the technical, subjective, and culturally sensitive limitations of digital music in game design, challenges that need to be faced and overcome by future game developers and music creators alike.