Video Game Research Proposal

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Videogames: More Than a Game

“I’m making games about things that I have personally found interesting and want to communicate.”- Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario Creator), Kotaku interview

Since 1977, Miyamoto has been hard at work in the videogame industry; his most famous creation being the iconic videogame character Mario. I chose to start with this quote from him because it reflects the theme behind one of the major communication theories; namely that of Walter Fisher. According to Fisher “all meaningful communication is a form of storytelling or giving a report of events and so human beings experience and comprehend life as a series of ongoing narratives, each with their own conflicts, characters, beginnings, middles, and ends” (Wikipedia; (I will find the real source late; please do not comment)). Fisher’s statement is known as narrative paradigm theory. When narrative paradigm theory is applied to Miyamoto’s quote, it leads me to question if others in the videogame industry have something to say with the videogames they have created over the years.

I am a gamer. Hence I have played through a number of games and I can say that my favorite games usually contain a story of some kind. With regards to story telling, videogames are no different than films, novels, or even art. All of these mediums and more have something to tell those who consume, view, analyze, etc whether it is something about the artist, society, the work itself, or any number of things. Despite all of the rich content within; anytime a game makes the news, it is usually because either a) there is something controversial around it (Grand Theft Auto: San Andres, Bully) or b) there was an act of violence that was somehow connected to a videogame (Columbine). What I do not see is a review of the new art style a game is utilizing (Okami, Shadow of the Colossus) or an analysis of the characters or the story being told in the game.

There is so much that goes into a videogame that they are essentially more than just “games”. However, it does not appear that society can get past the word game when the topic of video games comes up.  However, if one were to strip down a videogame to its bare essentials, it could arguably be considered an interactive movie. Thus, for my project, I will be applying Fisher’s narrative paradigm theory to videogames and see what stories are trying to be conveyed through them.

To complete this project, at least two methods will be applied the first being literature review on what research has already been done regarding the treatment of videogames as communication mediums. When I say communication, I mean what message it is determined that the game in question was conveying, be it positive or negative.

In addition to the literature review, there will also be a survey distributed to voluntary participants. While withholding the true nature of what the content of the survey is, participants will be asked to analyze a synopsis of the plot and characters of a novel, play, movie, or videogame; the details will also be withheld. When asked to analyze these synopses, participants will be instructed to identify if the synopsis is from a novel, play, movie, or videogame and, if they can, to identify title of the medium selected. Participants will also be asked to pick out any underlying themes, messages, etc that they see in the synopsis. The responses to this survey will be coded and then analyzed to look for trends regarding how the synopses were identified and how the participants interpreted what they read.

Tags: research proposal, video game