Game Discourse Research Articles

Naming of characters in computer game discourse as a factor in the development of translingualism and transculturality in the world (based on the material of the game Genshin Impact)

Naming of characters in computer game discourse as a factor in the development of translingualism and transculturality in the world (based on the material of the game Genshin Impact)

Дискурсивная специфика компьютерных игр

The present paper refers to the current problem of semiotic signs’ specifics in the context of gaming discourse based on texts from action first-person shooter game Ultrakill developed by Finnish creators. The problem is relevant due to the influence that computer games have on people’s mind – in particular on the minds of the younger generation. Moreover, the study will help to understand the linguistic mechanisms of the impact of video games on players. The study used methods of semantic analysis, semiotic analysis, observation and description techniques. As a result, the research revealed that developers use intertextual units to create patterns that are familiar to the player, but which at the same time have new characteristics. While 66% of all intertext is universally known, obscure allusions play an important role in creating associations for the recipient as well, which proves the importance of intertext in video game discourse. Well-known allusions play a role in creating semantic images in the game, while the lesser known intertext has easy to understand semes that could provoke the player to action in game. The research identified the following types of intertext: allusions to songs, music albums, other games, myths, the Bible and literature. The synthesis of intertext and author’s text in level names gives the player an idea of the upcoming challenges without informing of the level context, and in some cases even intriguing the player. The combination of borrowings and original semiotic units in the names of characters creates images that are familiar to the player, but at the same time, it creates properties that are specific to this particular game. Dialogues are mainly inherent in this genre, but the conversations also have deviations from this genre, which is also done in order to affect the player – the author gives the recipient a familiar behavior pattern in order to replace it afterewards, causing cognitive dissonance to the player. Conclusions are drawn about the discourse mechanisms in video games, how they affect the player and for what purpose the developer uses one or another linguistic technique.

Measuring the linguistic similarity of discourse from open-world role-playing games to the real world through an additive multidimensional analysis

Abstract Digital games can provide rich sources of second language (L2) input; however, the extent to which gaming discourse is similar to real-world discourse has been a topic of debate in the computer-assisted language learning community. To quantitatively measure the extent to which gaming discourse shares linguistic similarity with real-world discourse, this study reports the findings of an additive multidimensional (MD) analysis comparing registers in open-world role-playing games to real-world registers using Biber’s (1988) Dimension 1: ‘Involved versus Informational Production.’ Results indicate that gaming discourse provides extensive language exposure that shares much linguistic similarity across a wide range of real-world contexts. Importantly, however, these similarities only become salient when the situational characteristics of gaming discourse are considered and parsed appropriately into register categories.

WHEN IN STELLIS: AN AUTO-ARCHAEOLOGY OF A DIGITAL ARTIFACT COLLECTION FROM TEARS OF THEMIS

Primarily, this research aimed to appraise and discover how a 21st-century Filipino object owner collocates meaning with digital artifacts and identify what cultural underpinnings influence the affinity with these things. Two novel ideas in contemporary archaeology were utilized in this study: (1) auto-archaeology, a method of employing archaeological analysis on one's objects, and; (2) archaeogaming, which treats digitally constructed objects as artifacts (Reindhard, 2018). Using these postmodern perspectives, I conducted an auto-archaeology of my collection of digital artifacts from the game Tears of Themis (COGNOSPHERE, 2020) and aimed to unearth a retelling of my recent past as a posthuman Filipino. Informed largely by Ellersdorfer's (2021) autoethnographic archaeology and Woods' (2022) gacha game discourse, my case study involved extracting memories from select pieces from my collection of digital artifacts. Findings reveal that not only can these objects reconstruct their distinct semiotic context through the game design, story of acquisition, and in-game usage but also deconstruct off-game contexts that are personally attached by an individual owner to its immateriality through perception and affective embedding. In so doing, the digital artifacts amplify the different voices inscribed within each artifact in its decontextualized form as a unit in a rhizomatic network of digital objects.

Семантические особенности квазиантропонимов в текстах англоязычных фэнтезийных видеоигр

The article presents an analysis of the semantic parameters of quasi-anthroponyms utilized in English-language accompanying texts for fantasy computer games. As a first step, we developed an approach to clarify the term quasi-anthroponym, which had been subject to various interpretations in scholarly publications. Quasi-anthroponyms are defined here as names of animated fictional objects that function as characters within the virtual worlds of video games. Taking into account the correlation between real and fictional elements, fantasy characters are categorized based on the degree of their fictionality. Quasi-anthroponyms naming characters of highly fictional game universes are classified into three major groups according to their semantic potential. The primary semantic parameters underlying this classification include indications of the character’s appearance, specific characteristics and combinations of certain features, such as the character’s functions in the game universe. The significance of this research lies in expanding the field of anthroponymic studies by incorporating relevant language material from virtual game discourse. Moreover, the practical implications are demonstrated through the potential use of these findings in lectures and seminars on contemporary English lexicology and stylistics, as well as in the analysis of texts of fantasy video games in language teaching. This aligns with the growing trend towards gamification of modern educational practices. Ultimately, this study establishes substantive criteria underlying the creation of English-language names for fictitious characters in the realm of fantasy video games. In addition, inventorization, systematization and classification of these linguistic units were conducted.

A Tragedy at the Ends of Time: Applying Aristotle’s Poetics to The Last of Us Part II

Digital games have come a long way since their origins as pure entertainment and can no longer be easily brushed aside as a frivolous pastime. The past decade or so has seen the introduction of many narrative-intensive games that take the joy of watching a great story unfold and combine it with a sense of agency in the audience, in this case, the player, thus giving us a new form of dramatic narrative. Despite the seeming appropriateness, however, attempts at conjoining Aristotle’s Poetics to digital game scholarship have been contentious. This paper aims to show that there is great merit in viewing narrative games through the lens of the terms and mechanisms discussed by Aristotle, more specifically his outlining of the ground rules for the desired form of tragedy. Additionally, a more in-depth definition of words like hamartia, catharsis, and mimesis and their application will show the appropriateness of such a method in arguing for the artistic and aesthetic worth of this new medium that is known for obfuscating the more familiar structures of other narrative forms. To support the argument, the paper relies on recent digital game discourse and uses Naughty Dog’s award-winning, and highly contentious game, The Last of Us Part II, to demonstrate how it fits the mould designed by Aristotle and why it deserves the title of tragedy.

Commodified Death as the Ultimate Outcome of Social Inequalities: An Analysis of the Squid Game Discourse

This paper explores how death is represented in the popular Netflix television series Squid Game. While death is an overarching theme in this series, there is one feature of its storytelling that sets it apart from other fictional deadly games’ televisual or cinematic franchises. Indeed, Squid Game depicts players implicitly consenting to die if they lose the game. This narrative is centered on the deep vulnerabilities that come from social inequalities and create conditions in which death can be staged as merchandise to be sold or bought for entertainment purposes. This paper describes and analyzes how the implicit consent to death was portrayed as the ultimate outcome of social inequalities, as a commodity, and as an object of leisure. We will conclude the paper by discussing the implications of exposure to this discourse during leisure.

The Computer Game as an Alternative Artistic Discourse

The article aimed to determine the specificity of computer game discourse, its features, key linguistic characteristics, and communicative features. The methodology included the analysis of computer game discourse materials, in particular, dictionary articles, texts of electronic messages, and computer conferences, as well as recordings of fragments of the spoken language of users and users of computer games. The specific feature of computer discourse is the selective combination of features, typical for other types and forms of communication. Computer discourse has some communicative features: electronic communication channel; mediated communication; distance communication; emotionality transmission through emoji symbols; genre heterogeneity; discourse participants' creativity. Computer discourse is characterized by the dominance of English-language lexical bases (barbarisms and semantic translations) and a tendency to unify the norms and rules of communication. Despite such specificity, computer jargon in its functioning and especially word formation is subject to the laws of the Ukrainian language. In particular, affixal, non-affixal, and lexico-semantic are the most widespread modes of word formation in the computer lexicon. At the same time, lexico-semantic can be combined with other known ways. Computer vocabulary is characterized by the use of speech games and means of speech expression. The key tendency in the formation of computer discourse is to reduce the ways of information transmission as much as possible.

Reading the Signs”: Aspects of Perception of a Game Polycode Text in Space of a Modern City

One of the new linguocreative practices of organizing the city space as a cultural text is analyzed. The game discourse of polycode texts is considered, which combine elements of different semiotic systems: signs of traffic rules, supplemented by visualized symbolic allusions and quotations, collectively referring to the motifs of famous works of art. The constructive principles of modeling the associative context of polycode posters placed in the Literary Quarter of Yekaterinburg are characterized. The universality of the generation of game texts of any semiotic nature on the basis of an operational technique that creates the effects of associative deducibility and associative integration is substantiated. The novelty of the study is related to the description of the algorithm for creating and deciphering a game polycode text of this type, identifying the factors and strategies for reading it by the addressee. The dynamic component of the semantic diversity of the analyzed texts is experimentally verified, taking into account the respondents’ recognition of the prototypes of the game transform, reflection on the connection between its visual and verbal components, and the ability to derive allusive implicatures. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of game transform decoding strategies in the light of the mechanisms of linguocreative thinking based on the switching of associative stereotypes in the language game register.

Discussions of Fantasy Characters and Demonstrations of a Defensive Hybridity in Gamer Masculinity

This paper situates gamer discussions of the fantasy race the drow, or dark elves, in masculinity theory. I examine threads from a Facebook group discussing the topic, and code the reactions of men participating. I discuss how some gamer masculinities that are displayed reinforces a belief of epistemic privilege among White men that allows for hegemonic responses to discussions that involve structural racism. I propose larp gamer masculinity as a hybrid masculinity, complicit in its support of hegemonic models but appropriating elements of subordinated populations to allow individuals to feel like an “outsider.” In these gaming discourse spaces, men employ an anti-intellectualized form of digital hooliganism as a rationale for their claims. These men dismiss claims of discrimination as they see those as characteristics outside the scope of the game. The resistance exhibited by these men reacting to changes should be viewed differently than extremist discourses.

Лингвистические особенности текстов гейм-инструкций

Modern computer games are gaining popularity in the cultural space. Due to them new modern types of discourse are appeared. The growing role of computer games in various aspects of modern life, the rapid process of complicating their technical parameters gives rise to a parallel process of improving and complicating the texts of game manuals that allow gamers to follow the most effective tactics of the game. The authors of the article, in a comparative manner, analyse foreign and domestic research correlated with the linguistic features of games, game slang, manuals as examples of prescriptive text and their specific features. The texts of game manuals are an important component of game discourse, their special functional specificity and the nature of the addressee predetermine a number of specific linguistic characteristics, which are still a poorly studied. The authors consider the linguistic characteristics of texts at various linguistic levels in their relationship with the informative elements of manuals that correspond to the most important elements of the game. The authors analyse the pragmalinguistic elements of the manuals. They describe stylistic and grammatical features of the developers’ appeal to the prospective players, try to trace the logic of the use of certain linguistic means in the context of the game manuals. The authors analyze game instructions in English and Spanish, which is based on fact that English has been and still remains the main language in which original game manuals are published. Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages ​​on a global scale. Some language similarities and differences of manuals in Spanish and English are analysed. Specific characteristics of manuals regarding the use of techniques that are non-standard for this type of text, ensuring the maximum approximation to the social status and age of consumers are described. In addition, the authors provide examples of English-language game discourse penetration into the Spanish-language game discourse.

Reconstructing History and Culture in Game Discourse: A Linguistic Analysis of Heroic Stories in Honor of Kings

Honor of Kings (HOK) is currently the most popular yet controversial mobile game in China. It is deeply inspired by Chinese history and culture, while its heroic backstories have been criticized for potential distortion of historical views. Drawing upon Systemic Functional Linguistics, this study explores the reconstruction in ideational and interpersonal meanings through comparing heroic stories with historical accounts. It reveals that HOK game stories have (1) significantly reconstructed activity processes while largely preserved spatial circumstances; (2) partly fabricated social relationships among characters, which result in the distortion of historical timeline; (3) retained core judgements on characters. It further explains how the reconstruction of heroic stories is embedded in the social context of game discourse, as far as entertainment, sociality, and cultural identity are concerned. The findings may shed light on discourse semantic interpretation in game studies and provide pertinent suggestions for future in-game story writing.

The discourse of video games: on the question of terminology

The discourse of video games: on the question of terminology

Лингвистические аспекты локализации видеоигр

The paper deals with the linguistic aspects of video game localization. The practical material for the study is the original and localized versions of the games Dishonored 2, Control, and Monster Hunter: Rise. The paper provides a brief overview of scientific research on localization. The analysis of existing studies gives grounds to speak about the relevance of investigating the linguistic aspect of video game localization, its specific features, and interrelation with other aspects of this process. Video game discourse as a multi-genre product, which includes all types of communicative influence, is considered in the paper as a kind of computer discourse based on a number of common features, previously distinguished in the literature. This discourse is creolized text consisting of visual and auditory components. The linguistic component of this discourse is presented in written and audio form. The paper indicates the main types of modern video games depending on the plot and the role of the gamer. A brief overview of the history of the term ‘localization’, which is currently interpreted as the process of adapting a product or content for a particular region or market, is presented. The authors examine the relationship between the concepts of ‘localization’ and ‘translation’ in the context of modern translation studies and translation practice. The paper provides a typology of video game localization levels and a description of its main models. The analysis of video game localization is carried out considering the three ‘blocks’ of localization that require work with linguistic aspects, namely translation: interface, in-game text, subtitles and dubbing. Linguistic and extralinguistic, primarily technical, factors were found to be the main factors complicating the translation process.

Optional Narratives and Supplemental Storytelling in Behaviour Interactive’s Dead By Daylight Steven Greenwood

This written analysis and the videographic essay it accompanies explore the relationship between narrative and gameplay in Dead by Daylight (DBD). The term “ludonarrative dissonance” has become very popular in video game discourse, referring to situations where the gameplay and narrative of a game seem to be at odds: the story tells you one thing, while the actual gameplay mechanics ask you to do something that doesn’t logically fit with that story. I want to explore how Dead by Daylight creates the opposite phenomenon of ludonarrative harmony, where every gameplay input or choice not only fits within the narrative but actually serves a crucial role in telling it. Match-based, short-form games like DBD often struggle with ludonarrative dissonance. It’s really hard to tell a cohesive, consistent story in a game with short, standalone, multiplayer matches where each match begins and ends in the same place. DBD is a compelling example of a game that manages to find a strong narrative function for its cyclical matchmaking structure. The last section of this analysis makes a case for why this phenomenon is particularly relevant to the horror genre. DBD takes a style of game where narrative is often seen as secondary or optional to the main experience of gameplay and makes a case for the centrality of narrative to the game. I tie this into a similar discussion of horror, exploring how people often see the plots of horror movies as thin excuses for the “real” entertainment, and how these assumptions miss out on the importance of narrative to even horror films whose narrative seems supplementary.

Psychological analysis of “The sims 3” computer simulation game discourse: opportunity to create models of sustainable behavior

The article presents the results of theoretical analysis of possibilities of the psychological using of computer simulation game «The Sims 3». The novelty of the research lies in the practical summarizing of existing researches. It shows that the development of skills presented in game could provide a methodological material for metacognition learning and understanding the mechanisms of studying. Game also may be useful for social and foreign language skills development. Coping with stress, aggression and negative emotions allows player to realize emotional self-regulation. The game provides an opportunity to simulate situations from the player's life, recreate the past traumatic events and modulate the desired future. The game as a way of escapism can also act as a way of finding inspiration, creativity for real life. A number of studies that observe the manifestation of psychological traits and simulate various situations in the game "The Sims 3» have been noted too. The analysis of game strategies, influence of the factor of limited and unlimited time, reduced social and moral control are important for psychological analysis. A wide range of applications opens up opportunities for considering the game as a unique virtual environment that can be used in psychological and pedagogical practice.

ДИСКУРС ВІДЕОІГОР ЯК МУЛЬТИМОДАЛЬНЕ ЯВИЩЕ

This article seeks to review contemporary approaches to researching videogame discourse, such as analyzing it as internet discourse, electronic discourse, or multimodal discourse. It also aims to define “videogame discourse”, distinguish the terms used to describe it in order to avoid terminological confusion (between the terms “videogame discourse”, “computer game discourse”, “internet discourse”, etc.) and to justify the most suitable approach to studying in-game text. The literature overview has shown that the term “videogame discourse” is the most fitting and commonly used out of the abovementioned terms. While videogame discourse is defined as a multilevel entity that encompasses several levels of discourse based on the senders and the receivers of the message (game developers, gamers, game journalists, etc.), this paper focuses primarily on the in-game text programmed by game developers. As video games are multimedia products, analyzing their discourse from a multimodal perspective appears to be the prevailing approach. In addition to the six modes typical of modern video games (i.e., aural, visual, linguistic, gestural, spatial and haptic), the article highlights the procedural mode, which represents creating and conveying meaning through gameplay mechanics. The paper also views videogame discourse as a polygenre, intermedial and transmedial entity, providing both definitions and examples of these terms.

RESURRECTION OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY IN GAMING: HOW CAN OLD PRINCIPLES CONTRIBUTE A NEW DOMAIN

The multidisciplinary character of game studies enables the implementation of knowledge from various study fields, and so explores games in different terms. However, not all approaches have so far gained sufficient attention. This study introduces the meaning of evolutionary psychology as well as points out its significance and certain neglect in relation to present digital games research. The exploratory study aims to contribute to the creation of a theoretical framework for the research of digital games from the perspective of evolutionary psychology. Partial goals include summarization, characteristics, and applications within the gaming discourse illustrating far-reaching ways in which evolutionary theory could potentially advance digital games research and hence enrich the game studies in general.

Pretense Awareness Context and Autism: Insights from Conversation Analysis.

Utilizing approaches from Conversation Analysis and Interactional Sociolinguistics, this study investigates linguistic resources related to discourse while playing a tabletop roleplaying game, with particular investigation around the discourse of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The study examines interactions as they take place across three frames that are associated with interaction in this community of practice: the primary frame, the metagaming frame, and the character frame. The study found that the participants with autism frequently violated the stable pretense awareness context that persists across these frames in tabletop roleplaying game discourse. This research has implications for social skills training methods and psychological models of autism symptomatology.

Некоторые грамматические особенности игрового дискурса английского школьника

The paper aims to reveal grammatical peculiarities of the English schoolchild’s discourse of outdoor games which constitute his leading activity. Scientific originality of the research lies in the fact that the author for the first time analyses grammatical peculiarities of the English schoolchild’s gaming discourse, examines linguistic units representing its grammatical features. The conducted analysis allows identifying diverse grammatical features and a wide range of linguistic units-representatives typical of colloquial English, which is conditioned by spontaneous, situational and non-formal nature of the discourse under study.