tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/video-games-5423/articlesVideo games – The Conversation2024-03-13T16:44:21Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2240992024-03-13T16:44:21Z2024-03-13T16:44:21ZI created a ‘cosy game’ – and learned how they can change players’ lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578950/original/file-20240229-30-ra1ord.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3964%2C2245&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cosy games exploded in popularity during the pandemic.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/cozy-pixel-art-lofi-banner-8bit-2319246649">Takoyaki Tech/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID pandemic transformed our lives in ways many of us are still experiencing, four years later. One of these changes was the significant uptake in gaming as a hobby, chief among them being “cosy games” <a href="https://theconversation.com/cosy-gaming-how-curling-up-with-animal-crossing-is-changing-what-it-means-to-be-a-gamer-196609">like Animal Crossing: New Horizons</a> (2020).</p>
<p>Players sought comfort in these wholesome virtual worlds, many of which allowed them to socialise from the safety of their homes. Cosy games, with their comforting atmospheres, absence of winning or losing, simple gameplay, and often heartwarming storylines provided a perfect entry point for a new hobby. They also offered predictability and certainty at a time when there wasn’t much to go around.</p>
<p>Cosy games are often made by small, independent developers. “Indie games” have long been evangelised as the <a href="https://gamemaker.io/en/blog/what-are-indie-games">purest form of game development</a> – something anyone can do, given enough perseverance. This means they can provide an entry point for creators who hadn’t made games before, but were nevertheless interested in it, enabling a new array of diverse voices and stories to be heard.</p>
<p>In May 2020, near the start of the pandemic, the small poetry game <a href="https://videodante.itch.io/solitaryspacecraft">A Solitary Spacecraft</a>, which was about its developer’s experience of their first few months in lockdown, was lauded as <a href="https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/priceless-play-23-may-2020">particularly poignant</a>. Such games showcase a potential angle for effective cosy game development: a personal one. </p>
<p>Personal themes are often explored through cosy games. For instance, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTCB9oqWidQ">Chicory</a> and <a href="https://kotaku.com/venba-cooking-game-switch-pc-ps5-xbox-game-pass-review-1850696280">Venba</a> (both released in 2023) tackle difficult topics like depression and immigration, despite their gorgeous aesthetics. This showcases the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-gamergate-led-the-gaming-industry-to-embrace-more-diverse-and-caring-values-190068">diversity of experiences</a> on display within the medium. </p>
<p>However, as the world emerges from the pandemic’s shadow, the games industry is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-video-game-industry-is-booming-why-are-there-so-many-layoffs-222685">facing significant challenges</a>. <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/the-impact-of-16000-games-industry-layoffs-in-one-chart">Economic downturns and acquisitions</a> have caused large layoffs across the sector. </p>
<p>Historically, restructurings like these, or discontent with working conditions, have led talented laid-off developers to <a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/2021/04/16/the-story-behind-supergiant-games-bastion">create their own companies</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2021/05/12/book-review-jason-schreiers-press-reset-ruin-and-recovery-in-the-video-game-industry/?sh=5a245c8139b6">explore indie development</a>. In the wake of the pandemic and the cosy game boom, these developers may have more personal stories to tell.</p>
<h2>Making my own cosy game</h2>
<p>I developed my own cosy and personal game during the pandemic and quickly discovered that creating these games in a post-lockdown landscape is no mean feat.</p>
<p><a href="https://whatwetakewith.us/">What We Take With Us</a> (2023) merges reality and gameplay across various digital formats: a website, a Discord server that housed an online alternate reality game and a physical escape room. I created the game during the pandemic as a way to reflect on my journey through it, told through the videos of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr_2C1KIwdgg6cvEEMVXsdg">game character Ana Kirlitz</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-vr4cmZ2ldw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for my game, What We Take With Us.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Players would follow in Ana’s footsteps by completing a series of ten tasks in their real-world space, all centred on improving wellbeing – something I and many others desperately needed during the pandemic.</p>
<p>But creating What We Take With Us was far from straightforward. There were pandemic hurdles like creating a physical space for an escape room amid social distancing guidelines. And, of course, the emotional difficulties of wrestling with my pandemic journey through the game’s narrative. </p>
<p>The release fared poorly, and the game only garnered a small player base – <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2018/9/28/17911372/there-are-too-many-video-games-what-now-indiepocalypse">a problem emblematic of the modern games industry</a>.</p>
<p>These struggles were starkly contrasted by the feedback I received from players who played the game, however. </p>
<p>This is a crucial lesson for indie developers: the creator’s journey and the player’s experience are often worlds apart. Cosy, personal games, as I discovered, can change the lives of those who play them, no matter how few they reach. They can fundamentally change the way we think about games, allow us to reconnect with old friends, or even inspire us to change careers – all real player stories.</p>
<h2>Lessons in cosy game development</h2>
<p>I learned so much about how cosy game development can be made more sustainable for creators navigating the precarious post-lockdown landscape. This is my advice for other creators.</p>
<p>First, collaboration is key. Even though many cosy or personal games (like <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/stardew-valley-eric-barone-profile">Stardew Valley</a>) are made by solo creators, having a team can help share the often emotional load. Making games can be taxing, so practising self-care and establishing team-wide support protocols is crucial. Share your successes and failures with other developers and players. Fostering a supportive community is key to success in the indie game landscape.</p>
<p>Second, remember that your game, however personal, is a product – not a reflection of you or your team. Making this distinction will help you manage expectations and cope with feedback. </p>
<p>Third, while deeply considering your audience may seem antithetical to personal projects, your game will ultimately be played by others. Understanding them will help you make better games.</p>
<p>The pandemic reignited the interest in cosy games, but subsequent industry-wide troubles may change games, and the way we make them, forever. Understanding how we make game creation more sustainable in a post-lockdown, post-layoff world is critical for developers and players alike. </p>
<p>For developers, it’s a reminder that their stories, no matter how harrowing, can still meaningfully connect with people. For players, it’s an invitation to embrace the potential for games to tell such stories, fostering empathy and understanding in a world that greatly needs it.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224099/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Jerrett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cosy, personal games, as I discovered, can change the lives of the people who make them and those who play them.Adam Jerrett, Lecturer, Faculty of Creative & Cultural Industries, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2253902024-03-11T12:56:30Z2024-03-11T12:56:30ZPlaying Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley is a reminder of Tove Jansson’s environmental message<p>Moomin author Tove Jansson’s work is characterised by a desire for balance: balance between the knowable and the unfamiliar; balance between sentiment and practicality. And balance between fragility (of people, things, mood and place) and resilience, displayed often by the smallest and the most frightened. </p>
<p>The Moomin books centre on the adventures of the Finn Family Moomintroll; round, white and large-snouted creatures descended from trolls, who live in Moominvalley with an extended group of family and friends of different species.</p>
<p>In the Moomin stories, moments of contentment and security are offset by what Jansson’s biographer <a href="https://sortof.co.uk/tove-jansson-boel-westin-life-art-words#:%7E:text=Boel%20Westin%20%7C%20Life%20Art%20Words,classic%20fiction%20and%20non%2Dfiction">Boel Westin describes</a> as “the typical Moomin feeling for catastrophe”. Even in the drawing room of the Moominhouse where the family hibernate in the warmth of the quietly smouldering peat stove <a href="https://matthewjagermagician.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/moominland-midwinter-1.pdf">“the silence [is] deep and expectant”</a>. Just outside is the Groke, the Lady of the Cold – and the lure of the Lonely Mountains.</p>
<p>Raw Fury, the developers of the new Moomin game Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley have pitched it as a <a href="https://rawfury.com/games/snufkin-melody-of-moominvalley/">“cosy”</a> adventure game. But they don’t always balance that cosiness with the catastrophic undertones that give the books their richness.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://matthewjagermagician.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/moominland-midwinter-1.pdf">Moominland Midwinter</a> (1957), Moomintroll leaves his slumbering family and heads out to explore the snowy valley he only knows in its summer form. The movement from a safe starting point into an exploration of a new space, punctuated by encounters with new experiences and people is very similar to the plot of the game. </p>
<p>Snufkin (a philosophical, fishing vagabond character from Jansson’s books) sets out to restore his dry valley to its former glory. Many Moomin books focus on an episodic quest, often navigated within a mappable terrain. Comparably, one of the items in the game’s inventory is a lovely map of its world. It draws faithfully on Jansson’s own <a href="https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fii1am5ba0ns11.jpg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3D1d9af51bae77c5e0635be24e83c578f2d8838a45">cartography of Moomin Valley</a>. </p>
<p>But Moominland Midwinter is more than a snowy adventure. It is a coming-of-age story, a treatise on the perils of dwelling on the past, or on yourself, and an exploration of fear, tolerance and longing. </p>
<p>These are children’s stories, but within them Jansson explored humanity’s quirks and frailties. She told her own stories too. <a href="https://archive.org/details/cometinmoominlan00tove">Comet in Moominland</a> (1946), for example, is <a href="https://sortof.co.uk/tove-jansson-boel-westin-life-art-words#:%7E:text=Boel%20Westin%20%7C%20Life%20Art%20Words,classic%20fiction%20and%20non%2Dfiction">“a book written in the shadow of war”</a>, and Jansson’s relationships are represented by characters such as Too-ticky (the Moomin version of her life partner, Tuulikki Pietilä).</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oNraicJviS4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Playing Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley</h2>
<p>I felt sceptical as I embarked on the opening game-play, navigating Snufkin’s annual return to the valley, which was alarmingly parched and barren.</p>
<p>I also felt sheer frustration at the gaming process – too much wandering around dead ends, too many rocks to be collected and dropped to enable the crossing of streams, so many nameless “creeps” to be lured by music and stacked on top of each other in order to ascend cliffs. </p>
<p>But once I had got into a quest to find Moomintroll, I found much to enjoy. I liked the simple delight of identifying familiar characters. It was satisfying seeing the way the game’s dried river bed echoed the changes in the natural world like snow, volcanoes and floods that generated stories in the Moominvalley books. </p>
<p>Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley attempts to connect with Jansson’s books through its environmental focus. This permeates both the design and story of the game, and is an echo of Jansson’s own concerns for balance between nature and its inhabitants. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9chKLZbHsc&t=1s">trailer</a> describes it as an “adventure game about restoring harmony with nature”. Progress is facilitated by defeating the park keeper’s attempts to turn the untamed natural beauty of Moominvalley into parks, with ordered paths and spaces and signs forbidding fun. </p>
<p>This echoes <a href="https://archive.org/details/moominsummermadn00jans_0">Moominsummer Madness</a> (1954), when Snufkin rescues the little woodies (a group of lost children) from the park in which the keeper has “cut and sheared every single one of the trees into round blobs and square cubes, and [where] as soon as any leaf of grass dared come up it was cut off”. </p>
<p>Conversely, Snufkin finds his “inspiration” in the game by rustling through free-growing plants and shrubs. Power is found in a natural world that is not tampered with or controlled, just as in Jansson’s stories.</p>
<h2>Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley’s artwork</h2>
<p>For me, the most striking element was the game’s art artwork. It is faithful to Jansson’s now iconic line drawings, and the colours used <a href="https://www.ahlbackagency.com/book/tove-jansson-work-and-love/?bookId=52">in her paintings</a>. </p>
<p>Moomin artwork has arguably become a charming commodity – I own a vast collection of Moomin merch myself – disconnected from the complexities of Jansson’s stories. </p>
<p>In the books, however, the art is as much part of the story as the text and allows Jansson’s voice to avoid the pitfalls of translation. The black ink strokes do not need recreating in any other language. Her tiny details of expression – a furrowed brow, a downcast eye – is made clever use of in the game’s construction of character.</p>
<p>The game also claims to be <a href="https://rawfury.com/games/snufkin-melody-of-moominvalley/">“story rich”</a>. But for those players who are familiar with the books, but less so the structure, pace and presentation of a video-game narrative, this is what seems to be lacking. </p>
<p>In transcribing her stories into something fundamentally visual and kinetic as opposed to linguistic, Jansson’s language is lost. The dialogue is often generic and repetitive, lacking in Jansson’s idiom much of the time, and a fundamental magic of the books is missing. </p>
<p>Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley struggles to recreate the philosophy of the books, or to replicate the richness of characterisation and mood that Jansson generates through her storytelling. A platform game that requires you to stack small, unnamed, creatures on each other’s heads to progress to higher levels in your own journey, might not be the most apt way to tell a story about rediscovering nature’s lost balance.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Esme Miskimmin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the game, power is found in a natural world that is not tampered with or controlled – just as in Jansson’s stories.Esme Miskimmin, Senior Lecturer, Programme Lead for English Literature and English Literature with Drama Studies, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209152024-02-28T12:33:16Z2024-02-28T12:33:16ZAnyone can play Tetris, but architects, engineers and animators alike use the math concepts underlying the game<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572289/original/file-20240130-15-cg1jbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2991%2C2434&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tetris has hooked people for decades. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MusicofGaming/8f0f44af03b145208aa578e21b453275/photo?Query=tetris&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=284&digitizationType=Digitized&currentItemNo=1&vs=true&vs=true">AP Photo/Richard Drew</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With its bright colors, easy-to-learn rules and familiar music, the video game Tetris has endured as a pop culture icon over the last 40 years. Many people, like me, have been playing the game for decades, and it has evolved to adapt to new technologies like game systems, phones and tablets. But until January 2024, nobody had ever been able to beat it.</p>
<p>A teen from Oklahoma holds the Tetris title after he crashed the game on Level 157 and <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/why-everyone-is-obsessed-with-the-kid-who-beat-tetris/">beat the game</a>. Beating it means the player moved the tiles too fast for the game to keep up with the score, causing the game to crash. Artificial intelligence can <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-besting-tetris-ai-to-epic-speedruns-inside-gamings-most-thrilling-feats-220620">suggest strategies</a> that allow players to more effectively control the game tiles and slot them into place faster – these strategies helped crown the game’s first winner. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aSXxa64WrEA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Las Vegas sphere lit up with a massive game of Tetris in January 2024. The game’s appeal spans generations.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there’s far more to Tetris than the elusive promise of winning. As a <a href="https://education.wfu.edu/about-the-department/faculty-and-staff-profiles/dr-leah-mccoy/">mathematician and mathematics educator</a>, I recognize that the game is based on a fundamental element of geometry, called dynamic spatial reasoning. The player uses these geometric skills to manipulate the game pieces, and playing can both test and improve a player’s dynamic spatial reasoning.</p>
<h2>Playing the game</h2>
<p>A Russian computer scientist named <a href="https://tetris.com/history-of-tetris">Alexey Pajitnov invented Tetris</a> in 1984. The game itself is very simple: The Tetris screen is composed of a rectangular game board with dropping geometric figures. These figures are called <a href="https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Tetromino.html">tetrominoes</a>, made up of four squares connected on their sides in seven different configurations. </p>
<p>The game pieces drop from the top, one at a time, stacking up from the bottom. <a href="https://tetris.com/article/33/tetris-tips-for-beginners">The player can manipulate each one</a> as it falls by turning or sliding it and then dropping it to the bottom. When a row completely fills up, it disappears and the player earns points. </p>
<p>As the game progresses, the pieces appear at the top more quickly, and the game ends when the stack reaches the top of the board.</p>
<h2>Dynamic spatial reasoning</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572281/original/file-20240130-25-8puxh9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Tetris board, which has blocks made up of four squares arranged in different formations, stacked atop each other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572281/original/file-20240130-25-8puxh9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572281/original/file-20240130-25-8puxh9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572281/original/file-20240130-25-8puxh9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572281/original/file-20240130-25-8puxh9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572281/original/file-20240130-25-8puxh9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1382&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572281/original/file-20240130-25-8puxh9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572281/original/file-20240130-25-8puxh9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1382&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Tetris board.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Typical_Tetris_Game.svg">Brandenads/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Manipulating the game pieces gives the player an exercise in dynamic spatial reasoning. Spatial reasoning is the ability to visualize geometric figures and how they will move in space. So, dynamic spatial reasoning is the ability to visualize actively moving figures. </p>
<p>The Tetris player must quickly decide where the currently dropping game piece will best fit and then move it there. This movement involves both translation, or moving a shape right and left, and rotation, or twirling the shape in increments of 90 degrees on its axis.</p>
<p>Spatial visualization is partly inherent ability, but partly learned expertise. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016127">Some researchers</a> identify spatial skill as necessary for successful problem solving, and it’s often used alongside mathematics skills and verbal skills. </p>
<p>Spatial visualization is a key component of a mathematics discipline called transformational geometry, which is usually first taught in middle school. In a typical transformational geometry exercise, students might be asked to represent a figure by its x and y coordinates on a coordinate graph and then <a href="https://www.cuemath.com/geometry/transformations/">identify the transformations</a>, like translation and rotation, necessary to move it from one position to another while keeping the piece the same shape and size.</p>
<p>Reflection and dilation are the two other basic mathematical transformations, though they’re not used in Tetris. Reflection flips the image across any line while maintaining the same size and shape, and dilation changes the size of the shape, producing a similar figure. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XiAoUDfrar0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Transformations may seem simple, but they underlie lots of more complex math concepts.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For many students, these exercises are tedious, as they involve plotting many points on graphs to move a figure’s position. But games like Tetris can help students grasp these concepts in a dynamic and engaging way.</p>
<h2>Transformational geometry beyond Tetris</h2>
<p>While it may seem simple, transformational geometry is the foundation for several advanced topics in mathematics. Architects and engineers both use transformations to draw up blueprints, which represent the real world in <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/scale-drawings-and-models">scale drawings</a>. </p>
<p>Animators and computer graphic designers use concepts of transformations as well. <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/pixar/animate">Animation</a> involves representing a figure’s coordinates in a matrix array and then creating a sequence to change its position, which moves it across the screen. While animators today use computer programs that automatically move figures around, they are all based on translation.</p>
<p>Calculus and differential geometry also use transformation. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371605360_Some_optimization_problems_with_calculus">The concept of optimization</a> involves representing a situation <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/function-mathematics">as a function</a> and then finding the maximum or minimum value of that function. Optimization problems often involve graphic representations where the student uses transformations to manipulate one or more of the variables.</p>
<p>Lots of real-world applications use optimization – for example, businesses might want to find out the minimum cost of distributing a product. Another example is figuring out the size of a theoretical box with the largest possible volume.</p>
<p>All of these advanced topics use the same concepts as the simple moves of Tetris.</p>
<p>Tetris is an engaging and entertaining video game, and players with transformational geometry skills might find success playing it. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9498-z">Research has found</a> that manipulating rotations and translations within the game can provide a solid conceptual foundation for advanced mathematics in numerous science fields.</p>
<p>Playing Tetris <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01990.x">may lead students</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00221320209598683">a future aptitude</a> in business analytics, engineering or computer science – and it’s fun. As a mathematics educator, I encourage students and friends to play on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220915/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leah McCoy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People young and old love the classic video game Tetris. A working knowledge of the spatial reasoning concepts underlying Tetris can set students up for success in mathematics.Leah McCoy, Professor of Education, Wake Forest UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2226852024-02-11T13:51:49Z2024-02-11T13:51:49ZThe video game industry is booming. Why are there so many layoffs?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573963/original/file-20240207-19-2zzpmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C0%2C4573%2C2152&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tech companies have laid off thousands of game developers in recent months.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The video game industry had a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/2023-was-a-banner-year-for-video-games-and-video-game-industry-layoffs-1.7052006">banner year in 2023, with critically acclaimed blockbuster titles selling millions of copies</a>. Yet, it was also a year of layoffs with <a href="https://publish.obsidian.md/vg-layoffs/Archive/2023">10,500 game makers losing their jobs</a>. And with <a href="https://publish.obsidian.md/vg-layoffs/Archive/2024">5,900 reported layoffs in January alone</a>, 2024 will likely surpass the previous year’s numbers.</p>
<p>An endemic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211014213https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211014213">crunch mentality</a>, exploitation, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170211061228">work intensification and growing unionization</a> in the game industry collide with government and lobbyist reports about economic prosperity and employment growth. </p>
<p>The industry <a href="https://canadasvideogameindustry.ca/">contributed $5.5 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2021</a>, an <a href="https://canadasvideogameindustry.ca/#GDP">increase of 23 per cent from 2019</a>. Global game revenue is <a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/insights-and-perspectives.html">predicted to rise</a> from US$227 billion in 2023 to US$312 billion in 2027. </p>
<p>If the industry is booming, why are there so many layoffs? Who is benefitting? Who stands to lose? And what can we do about it?</p>
<h2>Cycles of layoffs</h2>
<p>In terms of why this is happening, long-standing structural issues related to the supply and demand of labour lead to recurring layoff cycles. Very large teams spend years and <a href="https://gamingbolt.com/marvels-spider-man-2-had-a-total-budget-of-315-million">hundreds of millions of dollars</a> to make a single game. Historically, studios ramp up and hire employees in peak production and hand out pink slips after launch, as they “<a href="https://circa.ualberta.ca/?page_id=307">cannot sustain the expense of idle workers</a>.” Critical and commercial failures escalate these layoffs. </p>
<p>In addition, the labour pool is growing. Post-secondary games programs have proliferated over the <a href="https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/221309/view/">past 15 years</a>. Thousands of graduates with expertise in <a href="https://hevga.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/HEVGA_2019_Survey_of_Program_Graduates.pdf">game design, programming, art, cinematics and music</a> enter the workforce each year with little prospect of finding employment in their chosen profession. These labour supply and demand issues collide with inflation and wider layoffs in the tech industry.</p>
<p>There’s an easy answer to the question of who benefits from layoffs — it’s
shareholders. Many of the largest layoffs have come <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/25/24049050/microsoft-activision-blizzard-layoffs">in the wake of corporate takeovers</a>. Some companies explicitly point to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/unity-software-cutting-25-staff-company-reset-continuation-2024-01-08/">improving profit margins as their impetus</a>. </p>
<p>Whether short-term returns will play out in the long-term remains to be seen. Layoffs often result in planned or ongoing game projects being cancelled and some of the teams left standing seem wildly understaffed. Activision Blizzard’s esports division reportedly had <a href="https://dotesports.com/overwatch/news/activision-blizzard-reportedly-left-with-just-12-esports-division-employees-after-layoffs">only 12 full time staff</a> left after the latest round of layoffs. </p>
<p>As to who is impacted, it is disproportionately young and marginalized workers. Even when layoffs <a href="https://kotaku.com/dragon-age-dreadwolf-bioware-layoffs-lawsuit-ea-1850900755">target senior talent</a>, the influx of experienced developers into the job market pushes junior people further away from access to entry level roles. The 2021 <a href="https://igda-website.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/15161607/IGDA-DSS-2021-Diversity-Report_Final.pdf">Developer Satisfaction Survey</a> showed those most likely to be in precarious positions were gender minorities and racialized people. Waves of layoffs will only exacerbate their marginalization.</p>
<h2>Unions can help</h2>
<p>Can unions protect game industry workers from layoffs? Vocal calls to organize are bolstered by reports that <a href="https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/microsoft-and-activision-blizzard-layoffs-didn-t-impact-a-single-cwa-union-member#close-modal">unionized workers have fared better</a>. Indeed, unions can help. </p>
<p>First, it is more difficult for an employer to change the conditions of work or fire employees when there is an active certification campaign due to the risk of an <a href="https://cirb-ccri.gc.ca/en/about-appeals-applications-complaints/labour-relations-unfair-labour-practice">unfair labour practice</a> complaint.</p>
<p>Second, unions that are engaged in active collective bargaining are better placed to eliminate, reduce or delay the impact of known or anticipated layoffs. They may be able to use the threat of strike action to bargain down the extent of the layoffs or negotiate less harmful alternatives like job sharing, reduced hours or wage freezes. Workers in bargaining are also protected by the <a href="https://newsguild.org/what-is-status-quo-and-how-can-it-protect-you-from-layoffs/">requirement to maintain the status quo</a> on terms and conditions of work. </p>
<p>Third, unions can negotiate specific protective language into a collective agreement. This can range from prevention to mitigation and include “no layoff” provisions, retraining or reassignment obligations, imposed financial transparency, and required negotiation over the nature, extent and outcomes of any restructuring at a company. </p>
<p>But even <a href="https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/microsoft-and-activision-blizzard-layoffs-didn-t-impact-a-single-cwa-union-member#close-modal">unionized workers can be laid off</a>. In many cases, the best a union can do is mitigate the impact through negotiated terms like longer notice periods, severance packages, recall procedures and supplementary unemployment benefits. In the end, a union can only protect what it has negotiated into the collective agreement, and employers strongly resist constraints on their operational flexibility. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573960/original/file-20240207-18-tqec32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A smartphone displaying the words Riot Games." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573960/original/file-20240207-18-tqec32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573960/original/file-20240207-18-tqec32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573960/original/file-20240207-18-tqec32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573960/original/file-20240207-18-tqec32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573960/original/file-20240207-18-tqec32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573960/original/file-20240207-18-tqec32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573960/original/file-20240207-18-tqec32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">California-based Riot Games, which is owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent, recently announced it was laying off 11 per cent of its global staff.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Holding companies accountable</h2>
<p>Another solution is to call for greater accountability from game companies, which benefit from public money. It is no secret that game labour costs are heavily subsidized through government tax credits in countries like the <a href="https://igda.org/resources-archive/rd-tax-credit-opportunities-for-video-game-developers/">United States</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/01/04/1068916102/how-subsidies-helped-montreal-become-the-hollywood-of-video-games">Canada</a>, <a href="http://qpol.qub.ac.uk/what-does-the-new-tax-credit-for-irelands-games-industry-actually-mean/">Ireland</a> and <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/income-deductions-and-concessions/income-and-deductions-for-business/concessions-offsets-and-rebates/digital-games-tax-offset">Australia</a>. </p>
<p>The Financial Services Union, representing Irish game developers, recently called on the government to require employers to sign written statements committing to provide <a href="https://www.thejournal.ie/game-industry-tax-credit-5436230-May2021/">“quality employment”</a> before they can receive a tax credit. Cyclical hiring and layoffs obscure employment statistics and reduce accountability. Governments should be concerned with whether or not their subsidies are creating <em>sustainable</em> jobs.</p>
<p>In addition, the post-secondary supply of “surplus labour” creates a vast and eager reserve workforce. This disincentivizes employers from investing in their employees. Universities and colleges need to take a long hard look at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476419851080">role they play</a> and the promises they make to students. </p>
<p>Claims that students are being prepared for well-paid, exciting careers seem dubious given the current employment situation. These claims are suspect given that few games programs systematically track the career trajectories of their graduates. Exactly what jobs are they preparing graduates for? </p>
<p>This is what we and our colleagues are tracking in our longitudinal employment study, <a href="https://first3yearsproject.com/">The First Three Years</a>. One of this article’s co-authors, Johanna Weststar, spoke about our initial findings regarding <a href="https://gdcvault.com/play/1029220/Lost-XP-Why-Junior-Game">impacts on diversity and career longevity</a> at the 2023 <a href="https://gdconf.com/">Game Developer’s Conference</a>.</p>
<p>Some might take layoffs for granted as a natural part of mergers, acquisitions and other consolidation efforts, however layoffs and exploitation are not new in the game industry. Ultimately they are a symptom of a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.15.2.0007">financialized industry focused on short-term gains</a> for owners and shareholders. </p>
<p>Unions, worker and consumer activism, and demands for greater accountability for taxpayer dollars and the promises of higher education are important pieces of any solution. So too are efforts to envision <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262545402/the-videogame-industry-does-not-exist/">alternative ways to craft a more sustainable industry</a>. To address this broken system, we ultimately must ask who benefits from layoffs in a booming industry and systematically remove those benefits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222685/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer R. Whitson has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to support research on the digital game industry.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johanna Weststar has received funding from the International Game Developers Association, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Dancap Private Equity Research Award to support her research on the digital game industry. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Gouglas has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Higher Education Video Game Alliance to support research on postsecondary games education and the digital game industry. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenzie Gordon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recent waves of layoffs shine a light on the systemic issues in the game industry and the post-graduation promises universities are making to students.Kenzie Gordon, PhD Candidate, Digital Humanities & Media Studies, University of AlbertaJennifer R. Whitson, Associate Professor, Sociology and Legal Studies, University of WaterlooJohanna Weststar, Associate Professor of Labour and Employment Relations, DAN Department of Management & Organizational Studies, Western UniversitySean Gouglas, Professor, Digital Humanities, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2200452024-01-29T19:04:52Z2024-01-29T19:04:52Z60% of Australian English teachers think video games are a ‘legitimate’ text to study. But only 15% have used one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568121/original/file-20240107-27-ot63a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C38%2C5152%2C3368&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/closeup-of-white-sony-ps4-controller-HUBNTCzE-R8">Caspar Camille Rubin/ Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Are you worried about how much time your child spends playing video games? Do they “hibernate” for hours in their room, talking what seems like gibberish to their friends? </p>
<p>Fresh air and life away from gaming are undeniably important. But it may help to know <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X23002664?via%3Dihub">our research</a> shows many English teachers are thinking seriously about how gaming applies in their classrooms – even if there are divided opinions about how to approach it. </p>
<h2>Video games and English education</h2>
<p>The global gaming industry <a href="https://olympics.com/en/news/ioc-president-thomas-bach-exploring-plans-to-create-olympic-esports-games">is huge</a> and continues to grow. It is tipped to be worth <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/gaming-pandemic-lockdowns-pwc-growth/">US$321 billion (A$477 billion) by 2026</a>. </p>
<p>While many gamers are over 18, we know video games are very important to young people’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439884.2021.1936017">culture and identity</a>. In 2023, Bond University <a href="https://igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IGEA_AP2023_FINAL_REPORT.pdf">surveyed</a> 1,219 Australian households on behalf of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association. It found 93% of 5-14 year-olds and 91% of 15-24 year-olds surveyed in Australia play video games. </p>
<p>More than fifteen years of <a href="https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/61222/88437_1.pdf">research</a> has also shown video games can also have <a href="https://www.acmi.net.au/education/school-program-and-resources/game-lessons/">educational benefits</a>. This includes developing problem solving and <a href="https://www.nzcer.org.nz/system/files/Critical%20literacy%20and%20games%20working%20paper.pdf">literacy skills</a>, creativity, team work and developing a critical understanding of their place in the world.</p>
<p>From an English teachers’ perspective, many video games have complex narrative scripts and plots and clear character development. They also typically require players to interpret cultural contexts and apply them. For example, games like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2023/may/12/nintendo-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-kingdom-launches-critical-acclaim">The Legend of Zelda</a> (first released in 1986 with multiple spin-offs) contain back-stories and plot-lines that are ripe for analysis. </p>
<p>However, these sorts of games (or texts) are still not valued in English curricula. Greater value is placed on studying favourite classics such as Shakespeare, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and other print-based literature. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young person holds a gaming controller." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Video games such as The Legend of Zelda contain complex plots and characters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-black-game-controller-1563796/">Deeanna Arts/ Peels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-why-the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-is-big-news-even-among-those-who-dont-see-themselves-as-gamers-205229">Here's why The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is big news – even among those who don't see themselves as 'gamers'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>To better understand how teachers value digital games in their classrooms and how they use them, we surveyed 201 high school English teachers around Australia. They came from all school sectors. More than 60% of those surveyed had been teaching for at least ten years. </p>
<p>Our research found: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>58.6% of teachers surveyed believed digital games are a “legitimate text type”. This means they thought they can be taught in English programs alongside other texts such as plays, books and poetry. A further 27.4% were unsure and 14% of respondents said digital games were not legitimate texts </p></li>
<li><p>85% had not used digital games as a main or “focus” text for classroom study, with 74% having no plans to do so in the future</p></li>
<li><p>teachers with less experience were more likely to think they could use video games as a text for classroom study. For example, teachers who had used digital games with their students were 260% more likely to have 15 years or less experience </p></li>
<li><p>of those not using digital games as a focus or supplementary text, 23% reported limited knowledge of, and time to explore, how to use them in the classroom</p></li>
<li><p>80% of teachers had not received professional development on how to use digital games but 60% had independently read articles, books, or chapters about them.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/video-gaming-can-bolster-classroom-learning-but-not-without-teacher-support-190483">Video gaming can bolster classroom learning, but not without teacher support</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does the curriculum say?</h2>
<p>The term “multimodal” appears more than 300 times in the Australian English curriculum. Multimodal means a text contains two or more modes, such as written or spoken text, video images and audio. </p>
<p>While digital games are indeed multimodal texts, the curriculum does not overtly name digital games (or video games) as an example of a multimodal text.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, only 30% of our respondents felt digital games were mentioned in the curriculum.</p>
<h2>Teachers in their own words</h2>
<p>In open-ended questions, teachers revealed strong and in some cases, polarised views about video games in their classrooms. Those who were positive, emphasised their ability to engage students. As one teacher told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think digital games are the future of education […] a medium all students are familiar with, engage in, and enjoy. Students do not read books ‘en masse’ anymore, yet we as English teachers insist on dragging them kicking and screaming through texts they detest, whilst penalising them for playing the digital games they love. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Teachers also spoke of the rich, complex nature of some games. For example, they valued the way digital games have “multiple plot lines”, “connectivity between segments”, and “immerse students in worlds” as “active rather than passive” users of a text.</p>
<p>But some teachers also said video games hampered students’ creativity: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am so over this stupid fixation. Digital games stymie imaginative writing and actually ‘flatten’ affect in the student’s ‘voice’. It comes to define their idea of writing and they regurgitate silly game stories that lack any emotional or creative flair.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They also expressed strong concerns they were were not good for students (echoing similar, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/31/1178977198/video-games-kids-good-limits">ongoing concerns</a> in news media), with one stating: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I really hate video games and I do not think they are healthy for kids […].</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A closeup of a computer keyboard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers in the study variously described computer games as the ‘future’ and a ‘stupid fixation’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/purple-and-black-computer-keyboard-74JeU2jfnfk">Syed Ali/ Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What does this mean?</h2>
<p>Our research shows digital games remain a contentious issue among English teachers. This suggests there needs to be clearer curriculum guidelines about their use in the classroom (rather than general references to “multimodal” texts). </p>
<p>It also suggests teachers need more professional development around video games, including their potential benefits as well as how to use them effectively and for critical understanding in their English programs. This will require practical resources and research-based examples. </p>
<p>We need students to be able to think critically when engaging with all types of texts. Especially those that feature so prominently in their lives. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vacuuming-moving-house-unpacking-are-boring-in-real-life-so-why-is-doing-them-in-a-video-game-so-fun-214853">Vacuuming, moving house, unpacking are boring in real life – so why is doing them in a video game so fun?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Scholes has received funding from The Australian Research Council, Catholic Education, Qld, The Department of Education, Qld, and the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Gutierrez, Kathy Mills, and Luke Rowe do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many English teachers are thinking seriously about how gaming applies in their classrooms. But opinions are divided about how to approach it.Amanda Gutierrez, Associate Professor in Literacy and WIL partnerships, Australian Catholic UniversityKathy Mills, Professor of Literacies and Digital Cultures, Australian Catholic UniversityLaura Scholes, Associate Professor of Gender and Literacies, Australian Catholic UniversityLuke Rowe, Lecturer and Researcher (Science of Learning), Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2206202024-01-10T13:29:57Z2024-01-10T13:29:57ZFrom besting Tetris AI to epic speedruns – inside gaming’s most thrilling feats<p>After 13-year-old Willis Gibson became the first human to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/arts/tetris-beat-blue-scuti.html">beat the original Nintendo version</a> of Tetris, he dedicated his special win to his father, who passed away in December 2023. </p>
<p>The Oklahoma teen beat the game by defeating level after level until he reached the “kill screen” – that is, the moment when the Tetris artificial intelligence taps out in exhaustion, stopping play because its designers never wrote the code to advance further. Before Gibson, the only other player to overcome the game’s AI was <a href="https://gamerant.com/ai-plays-tetris-so-well-it-breaks-the-game/">another AI</a>. </p>
<p>For any parent who has despaired over their children sinking countless hours into video games, Gibson’s victory over the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mathematicians-prove-tetr/">cruel geometry</a> of Tetris stands as a bracing corrective. </p>
<p>Despite the stereotypes, most gamers are anything but lazy. And they’re anything but mindless. </p>
<p>The world’s top players can sometimes serve as reminders of the best in us, with memorable achievements that range from the heroic to the inscrutably weird.</p>
<h2>The perfect run</h2>
<p>“<a href="https://www.thegamer.com/games-with-big-speedrunning-communities/#fallout-new-vegas">Speedrunning</a>” is a popular gaming subculture in which players meticulously optimize routes and exploit glitches to complete, in a matter of minutes, games that normally take hours, from the tightly constrained, run-and-gun action game <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FfD4Ims198">Cuphead</a> to the sprawling role-playing epic <a href="https://esi.si.com/speedrunning/baldurs-gate-3-world-record-speedrun">Baldur’s Gate 3</a>.</p>
<p>In top-level competition, speedrunners strive to match the time of what’s referred to as a “TAS,” or “tool-assisted speed run.” To figure out the TAS time, players use game emulators to choreograph a theoretically perfect playthrough, advancing the game one frame at a time to determine the fastest possible time. </p>
<p>Success requires punishing precision, flawless execution and years of training.</p>
<p>The major speedrunning milestones are, like Olympic races, marked by mere fractions of a second. The urge to speedrun likely sprouts from an innate human longing for perfection – and a uniquely 21st century compulsion to best the robots.</p>
<p>A Twitch streamer who goes by the username Niftski is currently the human who has come closest to achieving this androidlike perfection. His 4-minute, 54.631-second <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/09/record-breaking-super-mario-bros-speedrun-approaches-robotic-perfection/?comments=1&comments-page=1">world-record speedrun</a> of Super Mario Bros. – achieved in September 2023 – is just 0.35 seconds shy of a flawless TAS. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khu9BB2g4Ks">Watching Niftski’s now-famous run</a> is a dissonant experience. Goofy, retro, 8-bit Mario jumps imperturbably over goombas and koopa troopas with the iconic, cheerful “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37-paiEz0mQ">boink</a>” sound of his hop. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Niftski pants as his anxiety builds, his heart rate – tracked on screen during the livestream – peaking at 188 beats per minute.</p>
<p>When Mario bounces over the final big turtle at the finish line – “boink” – Niftski erupts into screams of shock and repeated cries of “Oh my God!” </p>
<p>He hyperventilates, struggles for oxygen and finally sobs from exhaustion and joy.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Khu9BB2g4Ks?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Twitch streamer Niftski’s record speedrun of Super Mario Bros. missed perfection by 0.35 seconds.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The largest world and its longest pig ride</h2>
<p>This list couldn’t be complete without an achievement from Minecraft, the revolutionary video game that has become the <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/best-selling-video-games-of-all-time-grand-theft-auto-minecraft-tetris">second-best-selling title in history</a>, with over 300 million copies sold – second only to Tetris’ 520 million units. </p>
<p>Minecraft populates the video game libraries of grade-schoolers and has been used as an educational tool in <a href="https://education.minecraft.net/en-us/blog/university-students-learn-to-communicate--create--and-collaborate-with-3d-gaming-software">university classrooms</a>. Even the <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/events/masterpieces-minecraft">British Museum</a> has held an exhibition devoted to the game.</p>
<p>Minecraft is known as a sandbox game, which means that gamers can create and explore their own virtual worlds, limited only by their imagination and a few simple tools and resources – like buckets and sand, or, in the case of Minecraft, pickaxes and stone. </p>
<p>So what can you do in the Minecraft playground? </p>
<p>Well, you can ride on a pig. The Guinness Book of World Records marks the farthest distance at <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2015/10/stephen-daultrey-our-gamers-edition-editor-shares-his-favourite-records-from-th-400538">414 miles</a>. Or you can collect sunflowers. The world record for that is <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/590304-most-sunflowers-picked-in-one-minute-in-the-sunflower-field-in-minecraft-conso#:%7E:text=The%20most%20sunflowers%20picked%20in,Records%20event%20at%20WAFI%20Mall.">89 in one minute</a>. Or you can dig a tunnel – but you’ll need to make it <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/627501-longest-minecraft-tunnel-made-in-survival-mode#:%7E:text=The%20longest%20Minecraft%20tunnel%20made,China%2C%20on%201%20February%202023.">100,001 blocks long</a> to edge out the current record. </p>
<p>My personal favorite is a collective, ongoing effort: a sprawling, global collaboration to <a href="https://buildtheearth.net/">recreate the world on a 1:1 scale</a> using Minecraft blocks, with blocks counting as one cubic meter. </p>
<p>At their best, sandbox games like Minecraft can bring people closer to the joyful and healthily pointless play of childhood – a restorative escape from the anxious, utility-driven planning that dominates so much of adulthood.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6gphsiQDjDY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Popular YouTuber MrBeast contributes to ‘Build the Earth’ by constructing a Minecraft replica of Raleigh, N.C.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The galaxy’s greatest collaboration</h2>
<p>The Halo 3 gaming community participated in a bloodier version of the collective effort of Minecraft players. </p>
<p>The game, which pits humans against an alien alliance known as the Covenant, was released in 2007 to much fanfare.</p>
<p>Whether they were playing the single-player campaign mode or the online multiplayer mode, gamers around the world started seeing themselves as imaginary participants in a global cause to save humanity – in what came to be known as the “Great War.”</p>
<p>They organized round-the-clock campaign shifts, while sharing strategies in nearly 6,000 Halo wiki articles and 21 million online discussion posts. </p>
<p>Halo developer Bungie started tracking total alien deaths by all players, with the <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/04/14/halo-3-hits-10-billion-kills">10 billion milestone</a> reached in April 2009.</p>
<p>Game designer Jane McGonigal <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIhruoUvf80">recalls with awe</a> the community effort that went into that Great War, citing it as a transcendent example of the fundamental human desire to work together and to become a part of something bigger than the self. </p>
<p>Bungie maintained a collective history of the Great War in the form of “personal service records” that memorialized each player’s contributions – medals, battle statistics, campaign maps and more. </p>
<p>The archive beggars comprehension: According to Bungie, its servers handled 1.4 petabytes of data requests by players in one nine-month stretch. McGonigal notes, by way of comparison, that everything ever written by humans in all of recorded history amounts to <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/305501/reality-is-broken-by-jane-mcgonigal/">50 petabytes of data</a>.</p>
<h2>Gamification versus gameful design</h2>
<p>If you’re mystified by the behavior of these gamers, you’re not alone. </p>
<p>Over the past decade, researchers across a range of fields have marveled at the dedication of gamers like Gibson and Niftski, who commit themselves without complaint to what some might see as punishing, pointless and physically grueling labor.</p>
<p>How could this level of dedication be applied to more “productive” endeavors, they wondered, like <a href="https://academictech.uchicago.edu/2021/11/23/introduction-to-the-use-of-gamification-in-higher-education-part-1/">education</a>, <a href="https://www.kofax.com/learn/blog/the-uses-and-benefits-of-gamification-in-tax">taxes</a> or <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-07626-3_70">exercise</a>?</p>
<p>From this research, <a href="https://gamification-europe.com/">an industry centered on the “gamification”</a> of work, life and learning emerged. It giddily promised to change people’s behaviors through the use of extrinsic motivators borrowed from the gaming community: badges, achievements, community scorekeeping. </p>
<p>The concept caught fire, spreading everywhere from <a href="https://ojs.southfloridapublishing.com/ojs/index.php/jdev/article/view/150">early childhood education</a> to the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/03/29/features-and-steps-for-gamification-in-the-food-retail-industry/?sh=381f32593956">fast-food industry</a>.</p>
<p>Many game designers have <a href="https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/persuasive-games-exploitationware">reacted to this trend</a> like Robert Oppenheimer at the close of the eponymous movie – aghast that their beautiful work was used, for instance, to <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90260703/the-dark-side-of-gamifying-work">pressure Disneyland Resort</a> laborers to load laundry and press linens at anxiously hectic speeds.</p>
<p>Arguing that the gamification trend misses entirely the magic of gaming, game designers have instead started promoting the concept of “<a href="https://www.wssu.edu/profiles/dichevc/cit-2014-dichev.pdf">gameful design</a>.” Where gamification focuses on useful outcomes, gameful design focuses on fulfilling experiences.</p>
<p>Gameful design prioritizes intrinsic motivation over extrinsic incentives. It embraces design elements that promote social connection, creativity, a sense of <a href="https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/community-health/patient-care/self-determination-theory.aspx">autonomy</a> – and, ultimately, <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness?language=en">the sheer joy of mastery</a>.</p>
<p>When I think of Niftski’s meltdown after his record speedrun – and Gibson’s, who also began hyperventilating in shock and almost passed out – I think of my own children. </p>
<p>I wish for them such moments of ecstatic, prideful accomplishment in a world that sometimes seems starved of joy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Dawes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Whether they’re heroic or inscrutably weird, video game records reveal a lot about play, cooperation and the drive for perfection.James Dawes, Professor of English, Macalester CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2196812024-01-07T12:37:16Z2024-01-07T12:37:16ZWhy we should take competitive video games more seriously<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564974/original/file-20231115-25-zcd5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C980%2C666&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Today, the esports industry is worth several billion dollars globally.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Is playing competitive video games a serious business? </p>
<p>There’s no question about it for the thousands of <a href="https://www.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/">League of Legends</a> fans who flocked to South Korea last October to attend the <a href="https://youtu.be/tHMcncCS-XE?si=KFfNbrcjaTSCaCB6">Worlds 2023</a> championships of this ultra-popular game. The grand prize? <a href="https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/2023_Season_World_Championship">US$2,225,000</a>. </p>
<p>The Worlds 2023 event, which is still largely unknown to the general public, provides an opportunity for video game law specialists such as ourselves to explain just why competitive video games should be taken more seriously. </p>
<h2>Esports: a global social, cultural and economic phenomenon</h2>
<p>While North American sports leagues such as the NHL and NFL are well known — as are major traditional sporting competitions such as the Football World Cup or the Olympic Games — the same cannot be said for video game competitions. And yet, there is a whole world of professional competitions in the video game universe. Like traditional sports, the competitive video games world has its own leagues, well-established international competitions, its share of famous athletes and <a href="https://mashable.com/video/esports-events-are-filling-stadiums">hordes of fans</a>. These are known as esports.</p>
<p>Esports can be described simply as video games played in a competitive environment.</p>
<p>Although esports do not always enjoy the same level of recognition as traditional sports, they represent a sector that has grown significantly <a href="https://youtu.be/B_59wZ27ROE?si=4OWyy6Klh40POwwJ">over the last 10 years</a> and regularly attracts <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/490480/global-esports-audience-size-viewer-type/">millions of simultaneous viewers</a>. </p>
<p>A huge variety of esports games are now played competitively. In games such as <a href="https://lolesports.com/">League of Legends</a> or <a href="https://www.dota2.com/home">Dota</a>, two teams of players compete in multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs). These action-strategy games are something like supercharged chess games in which the aim is to destroy the opposing base. </p>
<p>There are also a number of very popular first-person shooting games such as <a href="https://valorantesports.com/">Valorant</a>, <a href="https://pro.eslgaming.com/csgo/proleague/">CSGO</a>, <a href="https://overwatchworldcup.com/en-us/">Overwatch</a> and <a href="https://www.fortnite.com/competitive">Fortnite</a>. </p>
<p>In short, when it comes to esports, there’s something for everyone, including those who prefer to (virtually!) play <a href="https://www.ea.com/en-ca/sports">traditional sports</a>.</p>
<h2>A booming sector</h2>
<p>In terms of viewership and popularity, the esports industry has <a href="https://www.insiderintelligence.com/insights/esports-ecosystem-market-report/">started to overtake traditional sports</a> in the past 10 years. The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to this phenomenon.</p>
<p>Esports has also seen the emergence of internationally renowned superstars such as <a href="https://youtu.be/wU-1ZaT0hIg?si=vLKp_Krn37NSmKFV">Faker</a>, an athlete often considered the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/sport/china/article/3236384/asian-games-2023-south-koreas-league-legends-esports-gold-without-goat-faker-earns-military-service">greatest League of Legends player of all time</a> thanks to his huge victories and consistent success over the past decade.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1544343462476402688"}"></div></p>
<p>Today, the esports industry is worth <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/490522/global-esports-market-revenue/#:%7E:text=The%20term%20%22eSports%22%20is%20characterized,over%201.38%20billion%20U.S.%20dollars.">several billion dollars globally.</a></p>
<p>So it’s worth asking if esports will come to be recognized alongside traditional sports, or even have organized events as part of the Olympic Games?</p>
<p>It’s certainly possible. Esports are becoming more popular and have recently been added to the programs of major regional and international competitions. Several esports games have been included as demonstration events at the <a href="https://olympics.com/en/news/esports-historic-medal-debut-19th-asian-games-hangzhou-schedule-live">Asian Games since 2018</a> and were on the official program of the <a href="https://olympics.com/en/news/asian-games-2023-overall-medal-table-complete-list">2023 Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China</a>. <a href="https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/10/600_360240.html">South Korea won the gold medal</a> in the League of Legends competition at these games, which led to Faker getting a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sports/korean-gamers-cusp-gold-avoiding-military-service-2023-09-28/">rare exemption from South Korea’s compulsory military service</a>. This exemption demonstrates how much recognition esports athletes are getting today in certain countries.</p>
<p>Regarding the inclusion of esports in the Olympics, video games were included as part of the <a href="https://olympics.com/en/esports/">Olympic Esports Series</a> in 2023. The event is organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).</p>
<p>This committee, which explores ways to rejuvenate the image of the Olympic Games and attract new audiences, has also initiated discussions about the <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-president-announces-plans-to-create-olympic-esports-games-at-opening-of-141st-ioc-session-in-mumbai">creation of an esports Olympic Games</a>.</p>
<h2>Career opportunities, but little support infrastructure</h2>
<p>Much like traditional sports, the opportunity to get involved in esports isn’t reserved exclusively for professional gamers who compete in official events.</p>
<p>As with any competitive event, professional management and support teams are essential for achieving a high performance level.</p>
<p>That means the development of electronic sports has opened up a <a href="https://esportslane.com/esports-job-profiles-non-gaming/">vast field of career possibilities</a> for game enthusiasts: as event organizers and managers, specialized journalists, nutritionists, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/beijing-winter-olympics-athlete-mental-health-1.6348932">consultants in mental preparation</a>, physiotherapists and even lawyers to organize the relationships between all these actors.</p>
<p>However, despite the popularity and immense potential of electronic sports, Canada lacks infrastructure and programs. This is especially obvious within educational institutions, places which nevertheless have many young fans of this booming industry.</p>
<p>Ideally, infrastructure suitable for esports should include high-performance computers, a dedicated esports room, a support team, intercollegiate competitions and, above all, an atmosphere that promotes the inclusion and participation of all in esports.</p>
<p>Some post-secondary institutions have created spaces on their campuses dedicated to esports. These spaces contribute to student recruitment. This is the case, for example, of <a href="https://www.stclaircollege.ca/news/2022/nexus-esports-arena-unveiled-opening-don-france-student-commons">St. Clair College in Ontario</a> which in 2022 created a brand new space at the cutting edge of technology — with a $23 million budget.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the University of British Columbia (UBC) invested $100,000 in equipment to create a <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3001912/ubc-esports-club-%20opens-online-gaming-lounge/">lounge dedicated to electronic sports</a>.</p>
<p>Other organizations, such as the <a href="https://www.osea.gg">Ontario School Esports Associations (OSEA)</a>, are actively promoting the integration of an esports program into the school curriculum.</p>
<p>In the near future, if these efforts expand, we can imagine young esports fans will have the chance to turn their passion for video games into a professional career — whether they would compete at high-level competitions or whether they would pursue another career in the video game field.</p>
<h2>Players’ health</h2>
<p>Even with the growth and dazzling popularity the sector has gained in recent years, the picture of esports today is not entirely rosy.</p>
<p>The daily life of professional esports athletes is not easy. Their <a href="https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/8845/skt-fakers-24-hour-schedule-infographic-with-mobalyticsgg">schedules</a> are particularly busy and they spend a large part of their day <a href="https://youtu.be/uyF6ZwtLonM?si=IcG1dt7zjtHxtKZR">training</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@T1_Faker">producing online content</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uyF6ZwtLonM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The competitive seasons are particularly demanding and, with some exceptions, most players’ careers are very short. In recent years, more and more players have opened up about their <a href="https://www.esports.net/news/industry/hidden-struggles-of-esports-athletes-mental-health-crisis/">mental health struggles</a>. Others have simply <a href="https://dotesports.com/league-of-legends/news/depression-burnout-insomnia-lec-pros-reveal-the-mental-toll-of-a-lol-esports-career">disappeared from the radar</a> after having made a thunderous breakthrough on the professional scene.</p>
<p>Research and support related to athletes’ working conditions will be necessary to ensure that they <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00494755221122493?icid=int.sj-abstract.citing-articles.5">do not endanger their health</a> and that they are not exploited by professional teams and leagues.</p>
<h2>Prevention and treatment of addiction phenomena</h2>
<p>The practice of esports can also have harmful effects on professional players, aspiring athletes or the general public due to excessive play time and/or expenses.</p>
<p>These phenomena are encouraged and exacerbated by the presence of mechanisms or strategies called <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/301007767.pdf">“Dark Patterns,”</a> widely used in <a href="https://www.darkpattern.games">certain video games</a>.</p>
<p>Dark Patterns can be temporal, encouraging players to invest an extended period of time in playing the game. For example, rewards for progressing in the game can be offered to players who play regularly every day.</p>
<p>Dark Patterns can also be monetary, by maximizing how much players will spend on a game. These expenses include mechanisms allowing players to pay to unlock aesthetic content or additional parts of a game.</p>
<p>Because of these mechanisms, it is essential to monitor and regulate the practices of the video game companies that use them.</p>
<h2>Esports are growing</h2>
<p>Electronic sports is a relatively recent practice that has grown incredibly over the last 10 years. However, this development has gone largely unnoticed by a large part of the general public.</p>
<p>Esports is nevertheless in a position to offer <a href="https://youtu.be/mP3fGkpmVM0?si=x6d7Pk9xr7BPOPTz">major events</a> which can easily rival the biggest traditional sporting events in popularity. It would be a mistake to underestimate esports, as it attracts both large crowds and talent.</p>
<p>On the contrary, it is important to support those who aspire to work in this field.</p>
<p>And above all, it is important to take a serious interest in the challenges and problems that esports face today, both in its professional and amateur practice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219681/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Electronic sports, or esports, is a practice that is often looked down upon. But it is a growing global phenomenon played on an incredible scale.Thomas Burelli, Professeur en droit, Section de droit civil, Université d’Ottawa (Canada), membre du Conseil scientifique de la Fondation France Libertés, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaHaoran Liu, Reaserch Assistant, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaMarie Dykukha, Research Assistant, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148532024-01-04T20:01:45Z2024-01-04T20:01:45ZVacuuming, moving house, unpacking are boring in real life – so why is doing them in a video game so fun?<p>After an exhausting day, housework is often the last thing I feel like doing. But I sometimes relax by playing video games where you tidy and arrange household items in living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms.</p>
<p>In a game, domestic tasks can be exciting. Like the indie success <a href="https://goose.game/">Untitled Goose Game</a> and the blockbuster series <a href="https://www.ea.com/en-au/games/the-sims">The Sims</a>, the games I’m thinking of position the completion of mundane tasks as entertainment and art. </p>
<p>Here are four inventive Australian video games where players perform household tasks that, in real life, are often repetitive or unpleasant. But in games these activities can be entertaining and relaxing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-why-the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-is-big-news-even-among-those-who-dont-see-themselves-as-gamers-205229">Here's why The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is big news – even among those who don't see themselves as 'gamers'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Moving Out</h2>
<p>In Moving Out (and its sequel, Moving Out 2), you’re a removalist with a time limit to move objects like fridges, beds and sofas out of homes. Created by Australian and Swedish studios, Moving Out also involves the team that made the cooking game, Overcooked. </p>
<p>In Moving Out, removal is an athletic activity. Floor plans and yards are like obstacle courses with animals, swimming pools and even ghosts. </p>
<p>Players shift furniture in haunted houses and on space stations. Each new setting brings a sense of the unreal to what, in real life, would be a pretty dull task: moving stuff from A to B. </p>
<p>Video games allow us to do things that are unacceptable in real life. In Moving Out, players save time by breaking windows and throwing objects instead of using stairs. We’re invited to embrace the pleasures of recklessness. </p>
<p>In a world obsessed with buying homes and ever more things to fill them, Moving Out offers property destruction as a cathartic alternative.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EdDrzJP3dKM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Unpacking</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.unpackinggame.com/">Unpacking</a> – which describes itself as a “zen puzzle game” – you learn about someone’s life from youth to adulthood by sorting their possessions through a series of removals. </p>
<p>Doing banal tasks in a game can take us out of our own lives to explore other people’s lives and unexpected environments. </p>
<p>Unpacking allows us to sort the unseen occupant’s possessions, but their life remains a mystery. The game’s pixel art makes their book covers and journal entries tantalisingly unreadable. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_BG98e_w6d0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Florence</h2>
<p>In Florence, you have limited storage space for objects like kitchen utensils, clothing and books. The lead designer of this game also created the enormously popular puzzle game <a href="https://www.monumentvalleygame.com/mvpc">Monument Valley</a>. </p>
<p>When Florence’s partner moves in, you learn about their differences while finding space to store their possessions.</p>
<p>Like Unpacking, Florence allows us to do familiar, domestic tasks in an unfamiliar setting; the player organises characters’ possessions but has no knowledge of the words the couple exchange in blank speech bubbles. </p>
<p>Games set in homes have been linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10509208.2010.544980">materialistic consumer culture</a>; this is a concern some have raised about The Sims. But not all games link buying with happiness.</p>
<p>Florence (like Unpacking) involves organising people’s used possessions, not new goods. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HPUwFEhgvVA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Rumu</h2>
<p>In an earlier Australian game, <a href="https://www.rumugame.com/?fbclid=IwAR2FwNLrOHlr4TbUOPvrtDGBSO93yshjSK-fNS7c3NReVSb3kvQzVeK5-wM">Rumu</a>, you’re a robot vacuum cleaner who cleans up food and drink spills and tidies clothing while you investigate the disappearance of the house’s owners.</p>
<p>This vacuum cleaner is not only an appliance but part of a futuristic home where the artificial intelligence home assistant has emotional problems. </p>
<p>The house in Rumu is like a maze; full of gadgets and secrets, this setting is designed like a puzzle that players must solve to navigate from one place to another. The home is full of advanced “smart” appliances but is abandoned, dysfunctional and alienating. Again, the surreal is mixed with the everyday.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EqQK3l126K4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Why are we drawn to games involving mundane tasks?</h2>
<p>These examples are not brand new games, but reflect the growth in popularity of everyday settings in games where you can do banal tasks as entertainment. </p>
<p>Such games invite us to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10304312.2023.2215973">relate differently to everyday settings and work</a>. They can confirm French philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre’s view that the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2930193">everyday can be surreal</a>, extraordinary, surprising and magical. In these games, everyday tasks involve encounters with robots, aliens and the supernatural.</p>
<p>Women spend more time on <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources/status-women-report-card-2023">unpaid work</a> than men. But with women making up almost <a href="https://igea.net/2023/08/australia-plays-2023/">half of video game players</a> in Australia, these games also cleverly allow us to challenge norms around gender, work and domesticity. For example, players may be able to choose from avatars of various genders and species or control a character with both masculine and feminine <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10304312.2023.2215973">traits</a>. </p>
<p>Games link domestic labour to fantasy and adventure, challenging us to imagine everyday life and ordinary places as extraordinary.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214853/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lesley Speed does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why are we drawn to video games where we have to complete tasks that, in real life, may be unappealing or boring? Here are four games that show how the mundane can be made extraordinary and surreal.Lesley Speed, Senior Lecturer in media and screen studies, Federation University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2199902023-12-19T10:39:03Z2023-12-19T10:39:03ZE3: why the world’s biggest video game event just closed for good – and what’s next for the industry<p>The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), an annual trade event for the video game industry, has been permanently cancelled by its organisers, who cited the <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/why-e3-died-a-failure-to-evolve-huge-costs-and-too-much-competition">COVID pandemic and changes in company marketing techniques</a> as the reason for the closure. </p>
<p>Stanley Pierre-Louis, CEO of the Entertainment Software Association who organised the expo <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/video-games/2023/12/12/e3-permanently-canceled/">told the Washington Post</a>: “We know the entire industry, players and creators alike have a lot of passion for E3. We share that passion … We know it’s difficult to say goodbye to such a beloved event, but it’s the right thing to do given the new opportunities our industry has to reach fans and partners.”</p>
<p>The expo has historically been regarded as the largest and most prominent event in the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67695639">video game business</a>. Since its inception in 1995, E3 has been a yearly ritual, where developers and publishers gathered to reveal new games and technology. The expo fostered a sense of community in the gaming world as industry people, fans and the media all came together under one roof. </p>
<p>The event’s competitive nature pushed game makers to be more innovative and speed up their <a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/why-the-esa-couldnt-save-e3-stanley-pierre-louis-interview/">research and development</a> to impress the audience, accelerating progress in the industry. </p>
<p>While disappointing for fans who looked forward to E3 celebrations each year, its death seems to symbolise the <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/e3-death-end-of-era-streaming/">game industry’s increasing transformation</a> in reaction to digitilisation. Many see the closure as a signal that the industry <a href="https://www.gamesindustry.biz/e3-is-dead-now-what">needs to adapt to meet the demands of a new era</a>. </p>
<p>This is being demonstrated by the move of game producers to deliver streaming sessions en masse, such as Nintendo Directs, Sony State of Plays, Xbox Showcases and <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-the-video-games-shortlisted-for-the-2023-game-awards-reviewed-by-experts-217843">The Game Awards</a> among others.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/baldurs-gate-3-wins-game-of-the-year-at-2023s-game-awards-an-expert-review-219519">Baldurs Gate 3 wins game of the year at 2023's Game Awards – an expert review</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The hybrid gaming era</h2>
<p>The cancellation of E3 highlights how in-person presentations are losing significance <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/e3-death-end-of-era-streaming/">to virtual events and live streams</a>. These online formats offer instant global reach, generating more revenue and attracting a broader audience. </p>
<p>As virtual worlds like <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-metaverse-and-what-can-we-do-there-179200">the metaverse</a> grow, it’s likely that fewer people will attend physical gaming events. Instead, fans may prefer to meet up and play games in immersive spaces, using headsets. </p>
<p>And gaming brands are interested. Microsoft’s major partnership deal with Meta which was <a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2022/10/11/microsoft-and-meta-partner-to-deliver-immersive-experiences-for-the-future-of-work-and-play/">announced in 2022</a>, for example, signals their interest in this new way for people to connect and interact. </p>
<p>Several big game producers, including <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/playstation-showcase-2023-everything-announced">PlayStation</a>, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/05/31/xbox-will-show-off-fable-at-its-showcase/?sh=534768b56de1">Xbox</a> and <a href="https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/every-summer-gaming-livestream-2023/">Nintendo</a>, have concentrated efforts in recent years on building their own showcases for game launches, such as <a href="https://blog.playstation.com/2023/09/14/state-of-play-september-2023-all-trailers-and-complete-recap/">State of Play</a>, outside of E3. </p>
<p>Streaming platforms like YouTube, Twitch and TikTok have become the main places for sharing and promoting video game content, meaning the importance of a big gaming convention like E3 has decreased. </p>
<p>This shift away from physical gatherings, however, risks losing the unique thrill that E3’s yearly event inspired. E3 played a crucial role as an anchor and focus point for large developers to catch attention and generate engagement, from unexpected revelations of <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/best-e3-moments/">legendary franchises like</a> Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy and Halo, or to announce big budget product launches like the Nindendo DS. </p>
<p>E3’s extinction event begs the question of how smaller independent studios can maintain widespread recognition without depending only on streaming networks. While internet events like BlizzCon eliminate geographical limits and decrease physical obstacles to entry, they run the danger of diluting promotional efforts for non-AAA titles (AAA titles are video games made by big or medium-sized companies with large marketing budgets).</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ypeZcRQ0VHc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A compilation of some of the most memorable E3 reveals.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The road ahead</h2>
<p>In essence, the conclusion of E3 cements the gaming industry’s inevitable transition towards <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/14684520310510127/full/html">direct, online, creator-to-consumer </a> connection, a pattern mirrored in <a href="https://venturebeat.com/games/gamings-direct-to-consumer-pipeline-is-shifting-to-webstores/">most, if not all entertainment industries</a>. </p>
<p>A good example of that is <a href="https://digiday.com/marketing/why-five-prominent-gaming-influencers-are-teaming-up-to-build-the-top-fortnite-creative-experience/">the Fortnite Creative experience</a>, where five top gaming influencers are collaborating to create Project V, a custom Fortnite game. They are aiming to make it the leading experience in the platform. </p>
<p>This project leverages their combined 120 million followers and draws inspiration from successful Roblox games, a platform where people <a href="https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/03/31/the-most-social-ecosystem-the-planet-roblox-s-new-generation-makers-and-buyers">mix work and fun</a> by making and selling digital experiences, learning about trade and investment in a social, creative community and hosting their own events to promote their own games. The project is supported by Epic Games’ new <a href="https://digiday.com/marketing/why-five-prominent-gaming-influencers-are-teaming-up-to-build-the-top-fortnite-creative-experience/">creator revenue-sharing model</a>. </p>
<p>While the gap that was created by E3 puts an end to an iconic gaming conference, it does pave the way for future growth in community interaction and game marketing which is suitable for an increasingly virtual age. Businesses should leverage internet platforms to innovate event and announcement experiences, ensuring they are engaging and accessible to all.</p>
<p>There are several ways businesses could adapt to these changing trends. One approach could be to hold digital conventions over several weeks instead of short, packed events. </p>
<p>This would give more time for individual games to get noticed. Another strategy could be expanding networks of influencers and content creators, which could aid in the discovery of new games. Additionally, pursuing integration with the metaverse could create virtual social experiences, even when participants are in different locations.</p>
<p>The end of E3 heralds a seismic shift for the gaming industry and players alike. As players migrate away from physical gaming events and seek more online interactions, there will be an increasing need to move away from 2D displays and presentations and towards more immersive, 3D, or mixed-reality experiences. </p>
<p>As the industry navigates this new terrain, it must strike a balance between the thrill of conventional events and the inclusion of online and immersive platforms – all while ensuring diverse voices flourish in an increasingly virtual, but fragmented, gaming world.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219990/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Theo Tzanidis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The end of E3 heralds a seismic shift for the gaming industry and players alike.Theo Tzanidis, Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing, University of the West of ScotlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2185752023-12-17T13:41:36Z2023-12-17T13:41:36ZBuying indie video games over the holidays can help make the industry more ethical and fair<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565328/original/file-20231212-17-944o3e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=770%2C73%2C4677%2C3276&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Big video game companies often time the release of their most popular titles around the holidays, and that means Christmas shoppers can make an impact by reflecting on the games they buy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/buying-indie-video-games-over-the-holidays-can-help-make-the-industry-more-ethical-and-fair" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://thegameawards.com/">The 2023 Game Awards</a> recently saw accolades doled out to the biggest and most celebrated games of the year — <a href="https://thegameawards.com/nominees/best-independent-game">alongside a few lucky indie titles</a> — and with the holidays fast approaching, many of those same games are starting to go on sale. </p>
<p>Video game companies often time the release of their most popular titles for the holiday season. The biggest sales of the year happen between Black Friday and Christmas, and since publishers often push hard for new game releases in the last quarter of the year, now is the time to reflect on the political economy of video games and to think carefully about which games to buy and why. </p>
<p>This year has been a tough one for game developers, with <a href="https://www.polygon.com/23964448/video-game-industry-layoffs-crisis-2023">massive layoffs</a> resulting from financial mismanagement, overzealous and unsustainable investments and generally unethical business practices, thanks in part to the <a href="https://www.polygon.com/gaming/23538801/video-game-studio-union-microsoft-activision-blizzard">lack of unions</a> in the game industry.</p>
<p>The biggest cuts often happen in the largest, most successful companies — the ones releasing the big-name titles with massive player bases and raking in the profits. <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2023/the-state-of-video-games-big-releases-bigger-layoffs-and-an-imminent-crisis-point/">They boast about their sales, profits and record-breaking player bases</a> while laying off employees with little warning or explanation and inadequate severance.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565323/original/file-20231212-17-mwfdgg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C19%2C4228%2C2812&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young man sitting at a computer playing a video game." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565323/original/file-20231212-17-mwfdgg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C19%2C4228%2C2812&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565323/original/file-20231212-17-mwfdgg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565323/original/file-20231212-17-mwfdgg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565323/original/file-20231212-17-mwfdgg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565323/original/file-20231212-17-mwfdgg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565323/original/file-20231212-17-mwfdgg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565323/original/file-20231212-17-mwfdgg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ethical gamers should consider the labour exploitation and discrimination in the industry when deciding which games they choose to buy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even <a href="https://www.polygon.com/23903033/bioware-severance-lawsuit-canada-dragon-age-dreadwolf">industry veterans are not immune</a> to sudden job loss, and <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/the-iatse-is-shining-a-light-on-the-video-game-industrys-lack-of-unions-with-a-new-survey">many game developers see their careers as unsustainable</a>. Similarly, it tends to be the biggest companies that push their <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501746536/a-precarious-game/#bookTabs=1">precarious developers</a> the hardest during this time of year as part of the notorious <a href="https://jacobin.com/2023/10/video-game-workers-crunch-exploitation-union-organizing">“crunch culture”</a> of video games. These crunch periods see employees working ridiculously long hours and often <a href="https://www.gamesindustry.biz/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know-about-burnout">burning out</a> in an extreme push to get a game released in time for the fourth quarter sales boom, whether it’s actually ready for release or not. </p>
<p>Although many large studios are taking steps or at least starting to recognize these issues and address them, every year seems to bring a new issue, controversy or scandal to light. This year it’s been the massive layoffs, and I can only imagine what next year will bring. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.polygon.com/23485977/video-game-unions-guide-explainer">Labour exploitation and job precarity</a> have created an <a href="https://www.gameworkersunite.org/">ongoing push to unionize</a> game studios. But they are not the only problems plaguing the game industry.</p>
<h2>Discrimination in gaming</h2>
<p>Countless cases of <a href="https://magazine.swe.org/gaming-sidebar/">gender-</a> and <a href="https://www.gamesindustry.biz/lifting-the-barriers-for-black-professionals-in-the-games-industry">race-based</a> discrimination among game studios have come to light, including accusations of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/08/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-women-sexual-harassment">sexual harassment and abuse</a>, in recent years. </p>
<p>For decades, critics have decried the lack of diversity among video game characters and the ongoing issue of stereotypical, problematic and harmful representation in games, especially when it comes to <a href="https://doi.org/10.17060/ijodaep.2023.n1.v1.2542">gender</a>, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/21/confronting-racial-bias-in-video-games/">race</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/jege.2022-0043">body size</a>. </p>
<p>This is tied to the fact that the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/08/24/leveling-up-the-gaming-gender-gap/">industry is dominated</a> by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/01/31/black-game-developers-diversity-push-is-lots-talk-little-progress/">white</a> <a href="https://igda-website.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/18113957/2021DSSFull.png">men</a> who seem to primarily make games for other white men. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/women-video-games-representation-e3/">only 18 per cent of games</a> showcased at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2020 featured a playable female protagonist. Even when women are present, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221095">men have twice as much in-game dialogue as women</a> (an issue that <a href="https://time.com/4837536/do-women-really-talk-more/">reflects real life</a>). This is despite the fact that roughly <a href="https://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-Essential-Facts-About-the-Video-Game-Industry.pdf">50 per cent of gamers are women</a>. In fact, in Canada, <a href="https://theesa.ca/resource/bringing-canadians-together-through-gaming-essential-facts-2022/">more women than men play games</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, this finger-wagging at the industry, for the most part, is directed at what we refer to as the “mainstream” — those corporate studios that produce the big blockbuster titles. </p>
<p>Although they receive considerably less attention at events like The Game Awards, and <a href="https://gamestudies.org/1601/articles/Gardagrabarczyk/">the definition of “independent” is a little murky</a>, smaller-scale games produced by indie studios might be a better option for consumers interested in more diverse and progressive content. </p>
<p>That’s not to mention their <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/indie-studios-accessible-game-design-tunic-coromon/">often more innovative and accessible gameplay</a> and lower time commitment than most big-name games. Independent game developers, while sharing <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/indie-developers-abuse/">some of the same issues as the mainstream industry</a>, might be the place to look when choosing to purchase games in a more conscientious, ethical way. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565327/original/file-20231212-30-r7dzkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing headphones and holding a credit card looks at a computer screen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565327/original/file-20231212-30-r7dzkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565327/original/file-20231212-30-r7dzkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565327/original/file-20231212-30-r7dzkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565327/original/file-20231212-30-r7dzkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565327/original/file-20231212-30-r7dzkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565327/original/file-20231212-30-r7dzkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565327/original/file-20231212-30-r7dzkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Buying games made by smaller independent developers can help make the industry more equitable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Supporting indie games</h2>
<p>Independent games tend to be made by smaller teams, and are often what might be considered “passion projects.” <a href="https://igda.org/resources-archive/developer-satisfaction-survey-summary-report-2021/">Over 40 per cent of indie developers forego a salary</a> to bring their game to production, and indie studios are often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476419851081">mired in precarity</a> and are more likely to be deeply impacted by game sales — one bad flop could shutter an indie studio. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, mainstream games carry far more weight than independent games do, with much higher sales and far more aggressive marketing campaigns. This means that mainstream games have a far greater cultural impact and continue to be the driving force behind the medium as a whole. </p>
<p>It also means that it’s harder for most consumers to find new, more innovative and diverse games to play. While delightful indie games like <a href="https://www.cocoongame.com/">COCOON</a> or <a href="https://seaofstarsgame.co/">Sea of Stars</a> may shine at The Game Awards, the hundreds, if not thousands, of other beautiful interactive experiences produced each year largely go unnoticed by mainstream media and risk being passed over by consumers. </p>
<p>Gamers should support smaller-scale creators, especially those just starting out, risking it all to bring their artistic vision to life and standing out when it comes to supporting their own and their employees’ well-being. It’s an important and ethical thing to do. </p>
<p>If it means giving less money to large corporations that have shown all they care about is profit, then that’s an added bonus. I’m not advocating for boycotting the biggest hits of the year, but I am encouraging consumers to check out the indie scene as well.</p>
<p>Games hosted privately on sites like <a href="https://itch.io/">itch.io</a> are a great option, as developers receive the majority, if not all, of the profit from sales and you can even give a little extra money to support them if you’d like. </p>
<p>Or, for anyone who needs a little extra guidance, <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/">Humble Bundle</a> curates huge collections of games around specific genres or themes — many of which are indie — and offers them at a very low price while also <a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/charities">raising money for charity</a> and <a href="https://blackgamedevfund.com/">supporting Black game developers</a>. </p>
<p>Developers, critics and scholars tirelessly advocate for and work toward positive change within the game industry, and consumers can help by thinking about the games they buy.</p>
<p>It takes a little research, but by not buying games made under crunch conditions by companies that don’t care about diversity and don’t protect their employees, and instead buying smaller independent games that support emerging and diverse developers, consumers can make a big difference and help push the industry in more ethical directions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218575/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Stang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Video game companies often time the release of their most popular titles for the holiday season. Now is the time to reflect on the political economy of video games and which games we buy.Sarah Stang, Assistant Professor, Department of Digital Humanities, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2195192023-12-08T15:23:43Z2023-12-08T15:23:43ZBaldurs Gate 3 wins game of the year at 2023’s Game Awards – an expert review<p>I’m looking over the shoulder of my friend, Iulia, as she boots up her PC. “You’re going to lose your mind,” she grins. Iulia and I share a love of fantasy worlds, hot monsters and video games, and she’s invited me over to her flat to show me something “really special”.</p>
<p>Iulia admits, with a mixture of guilt and pride, that she’s already spent over 100 hours exploring the first act of a new game. She clicks through the opening, rhapsodising about the beauty of the environments, the intricacy of the turn-based combat and the glory of something or someone called “Astarion”.</p>
<p>Her enthusiasm is contagious, and I pre-order the game as soon as I’m home. I’m now truly hooked. That game is Baldurs Gate 3 – set in the world of the tabletop fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons – and it has just won <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-67656550">Game of the Year</a> at the Game Awards.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dHXi4aAILRc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Created by Belgium developer Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is unbelievably ambitious. Iulia was right – the stunning, imaginative world reacts to the player’s presence in vivid, surprising ways. The diverse non-player characters are magnetic, complex and brilliantly written. </p>
<p>The puzzles and combat are carefully designed so that each encounter feels novel and riveting. Astarion, a High Elf companion character whose morals are as grey as his perfect hair, is glorious, and the actor who portrays him rightfully won <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/neil-newbon-wins-best-performance-at-the-game-awards-2023/">Best Performance at The Game Awards</a> too.</p>
<h2>Real choices and consequences</h2>
<p>What I have loved most about this game is its fervent commitment to freedom and consequence. Thousands of desire paths crisscross through the enormous virtual world. Each challenge has hundreds of possible solutions, depending on the player’s style and proficiency. </p>
<p>Every narrative decision bends the story in a new direction. And, most importantly, nothing the player chooses to do goes unnoticed by the game. This means that freedom doesn’t feel like a power trip pandering to a conceited desire for control: freedom feels like a responsibility – and at times, almost like a burden.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pdp9xU6gO8w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Also, although this game does feature its fair share of goblin battles, tentacled villains and bloodthirsty beasts, it ultimately doesn’t feel like a traditional hero’s tale of violent domination, mastery and extermination. </p>
<p>At its heart, Baldur’s Gate 3 is about relationships – the bonds of loyalty and dependence between allies, the reciprocal connections between the natural environment and its inhabitants and the entangled threads that bind the player and others when you navigate the nuances of integrity and expediency, diplomacy and justice. Ultimately, Baldur’s Gate 3 resists the “emptiness” of many blockbuster games.</p>
<p>The theme of many high-profile, high-budget video games often feels like shiny gift wrap taped around a set of repetitive loops, functioning only as a loose justification for why you must shoot this guy, climb this cliff, grab this loot – with more speed and precision than the next dude. </p>
<p>The world of Baldur’s Gate 3 is not a shell to package and sell a bundle of mechanics, but a dynamic ecosystem of intimately interconnected variables. This is what makes it feel like a true playground. </p>
<p>Unlike some successful video games that drill players into developing a kind of disciplined obedience to the game’s exacting choreography, Baldur’s Gate 3 rewards creativity, and even deviance, in play. </p>
<p>That is to say, the skills that are most prized within this game’s logic are ingenuity, experimentation and sociability, which to my mind are truly playful qualities and what make this game worthy of the title Best Game of 2023.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/all-the-video-games-shortlisted-for-the-2023-game-awards-reviewed-by-experts-217843">All the video games shortlisted for the 2023 Game Awards – reviewed by experts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Joy Reay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The game’s expansive world thrives on creative play where every choice has a unique outcome depending on how you play.Emma Joy Reay, Lecturer in Games Studies and Game Design, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2177422023-12-05T22:16:16Z2023-12-05T22:16:16ZMicrosoft’s ban on third-party controllers on the Xbox excludes some disabled gamers from using the device<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563483/original/file-20231204-15-zq5wh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C18%2C4031%2C2999&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Xbox Adaptive Controller was designed to make gaming more accessible.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/microsofts-ban-on-third-party-controllers-on-the-xbox-excludes-some-disabled-gamers-from-using-the-device" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>When it comes to accessibility in gaming, Microsoft takes two steps forward with the Xbox Adaptive Controller, but a giant leap back with its ban on third-party devices.</p>
<p>On Oct. 31, some Xbox players began receiving a <a href="https://tech.hindustantimes.com/gaming/news/banned-microsoft-takes-firm-stance-on-third-party-xbox-controllers-and-accessories-71698733625081.html">new error code</a> on their Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles. The error code meant that players were using an unauthorized third-party controller — one not made by Microsoft or an official <a href="https://www.xbox.com/en-US/designed-for-xbox">hardware partner</a>. Players were given two weeks’ notice until the unauthorized controller would no longer work with their consoles. </p>
<p>Essentially, Microsoft had quietly banned the use of controllers not made or approved by the company. In the following weeks, Microsoft officially stated the ban was meant to protect players’ gaming experiences, and <a href="https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/errors/error-code-0x82d60002">ensure the quality and safety of players’ controllers</a>. </p>
<p>The ban, however, presents barriers to many disabled gamers who may use third-party controllers for accessibility reasons. </p>
<h2>Social exclusion and accessibility</h2>
<p>When we talk about accessibility and the social exclusion of disabled people, we often do not consider accessible forms of leisure <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479853434/restricted-access/">to be important</a>. </p>
<p>Legal policies such as the <a href="https://www.ada.gov/">Americans with Disabilities Act</a> and the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/05a11">Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act</a> that legislate access to public spaces and provide protection from employment discrimination are often viewed as more important.</p>
<p>But video games are a massive source of entertainment for both children and adults. The gaming industry is currently the <a href="https://gamerhub.co.uk/gaming-industry-dominates-as-the-highest-grossing-entertainment-industry/">highest-grossing entertainment industry worldwide</a>. With an estimated 6.2 million disabled people in <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-654-x/89-654-x2018002-eng.htm">Canada</a>, 61 million disabled people in the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/disability-inclusion.html">United States</a> and 1.3 billion disabled people <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health">worldwide</a>, there is undoubtedly a large group of disabled video game players. </p>
<p>In order to have a truly inclusive and accessible society, disabled people’s rights to meaningfully take part in accessible forms of entertainment, leisure and play <a href="http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1486508.1486516">must be supported</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563672/original/file-20231205-23-tvp6st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a man in a wheelchair with a game controller" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563672/original/file-20231205-23-tvp6st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563672/original/file-20231205-23-tvp6st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563672/original/file-20231205-23-tvp6st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563672/original/file-20231205-23-tvp6st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563672/original/file-20231205-23-tvp6st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563672/original/file-20231205-23-tvp6st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563672/original/file-20231205-23-tvp6st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Video games are the highest-grossing entertainment activity, and ignoring the needs of disabled gamers affects their ability to meaningfully participate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Video game accessibility</h2>
<p>In recent years, Microsoft has been a leader in video game accessibility. In 2018, they were the first major gaming company to release an adaptive controller.</p>
<p>The Xbox Adaptive Controller is a customizable controller that allows players to connect external devices (foot pedals, joysticks, buttons, switches) to ports on the back of the controller. This controller design allows players to <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/05/xbox-adaptive-controller-a-bold-answer-to-the-tricky-world-of-accessible-gaming/">construct their own unique gaming setup</a>. Someone previously unable to hold a controller would now be able to play a game mainly with their feet, for example. </p>
<p>Because controllers require a high amount of dexterity to use, many disabled people (particularly those with mobility impairments) are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-010-0189-5">not able to play video games</a>. <a href="https://www.atia.org/home/at-resources/what-is-at/">Assistive technologies</a> like the Xbox Adaptive Controller help <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267403944_Game_Not_Over_Accessibility_Issues_in_Video_Games">make video games more accessible</a>. </p>
<p>Disabled players have <a href="https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.128">made their own accessibility solutions</a> for years. The Xbox Adaptive Controller was a massive step forward for video game accessibility because it showed official support for accessibility in gaming from a major video game company.</p>
<h2>Banned third-party controllers</h2>
<p>Microsoft has taken a step back in their efforts to champion video game accessibility with their recent announcement. While they have clarified that devices compatible with the Xbox Adaptive Controller will <a href="https://twitter.com/KaitlynJones_/status/1719668307379278135">not be affected</a>, this does not eliminate all accessibility concerns.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1719668307379278135"}"></div></p>
<p>Disability is individual and varies from person to person. While the Xbox Adaptive Controller may work for many disabled gamers, that does not make it a universal solution that works for all disabled gamers. </p>
<p>The Xbox Adaptive Controller is only one accessibility option among many available to disabled gamers. The ban on third-party controllers means that other accessibility options and <a href="https://www.consoletuner.com/products/titan-two/">devices are now unusable</a> for Xbox players.</p>
<h2>Downsides of the Xbox Adaptive Controller</h2>
<p>The Xbox Adaptive Controller is a great accessibility option — however, it has downsides that other third-party devices may address. One of these downsides is that the Xbox Adaptive Controller is not compatible with all external devices. For example, computer mice are <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/disabledgamers/comments/11rkazg/xbox_adaptive_controller_mouse/">not compatible</a> with the Adaptive Controller but are with other now-unauthorized <a href="https://www.cronusmax.com/">devices</a>. </p>
<p>Another downside of the Xbox Adaptive Controller is <a href="https://caniplaythat.com/2020/09/24/xbox-adaptive-controller-review-xbox-pc/">the cost</a>. The controller itself <a href="https://www.xbox.com/en-CA/accessories/controllers/xbox-adaptive-controller">costs $130</a>. External buttons and joysticks can also run a high price, with some popular buttons <a href="https://www.ablenetinc.com/big-red/">retailing for $75</a>. This is on top of the initial cost of buying an Xbox, which can range from <a href="https://www.xbox.com/en-CA/consoles/xbox-series-s">$380</a> to <a href="https://www.xbox.com/en-CA/consoles/xbox-series-x">$650</a>.</p>
<p>According to the 2017 <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-654-x/89-654-x2018002-eng.htm">Canadian Survey on Disability</a>, disabled individuals are more than twice as likely as non-disabled people to live in poverty. Disabled people also earn 12 to 51 per cent less annually.</p>
<p>While we may not think about the price of assistive technologies like the Xbox Adaptive Controller as an accessibility barrier, it can play a role in limiting the available options for many disabled people.</p>
<h2>Historically overlooked</h2>
<p>The availability of the Xbox Adaptive Controller may make it seem like Microsoft’s ban of third-party controllers will have little effect on disabled players. But the <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/why-xboxs-third-party-accessories-ban-is-sparking-a-backlash-in-the-disabled-community">backlash from disabled gamers</a> shows this is not true. Disabled players are concerned about the ban’s possible effects on accessibility.</p>
<p>The video game industry has historically <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392326">overlooked disabled gamers</a> as a legitimate and sizeable consumer base. The banning of other assistive technology options for disabled gamers is an unfortunate step back in an already long and hard-fought battle for inclusive and accessible gaming.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juan Escobar-Lamanna does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Xbox Adaptive Controller is designed to make gaming more inclusive, but Microsoft’s ban on third-party devices means some disabled gamers are still excluded.Juan Escobar-Lamanna, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2178432023-12-04T16:08:12Z2023-12-04T16:08:12ZAll the video games shortlisted for the 2023 Game Awards – reviewed by experts<p><em>Six games were shortlisted for game of the year at the 2023 Game Awards – the industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. Our academics reviewed the finalists ahead of the ceremony, which revealed Baldur’s Gate 3 to be the winner. You can read our <a href="https://theconversation.com/baldurs-gate-3-wins-game-of-the-year-at-2023s-game-awards-219519">full review of it here</a>.</em></p>
<h2>Marvel’s Spider-Man 2</h2>
<p><em>Platform: PlayStation 5</em></p>
<p>Modern life is tough. Maintaining the perfect work/life balance, managing your bills and other priorities – it’s complicated stuff. Add saving the world to that list, and Spider-Man has quite the calendar to manage. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 brings us two Spider-Men – Peter Parker and Miles Morales – as they balance the challenges of life with being superheroes. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9fVYKsEmuRo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There have been countless superhero games, but few like this one. It balances a rich story with classic and complex villains such as <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Sergei_Kravinoff_(Earth-616)">Kraven the Hunter</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/venom-an-excellent-superhero-film-perhaps-best-not-experienced-in-4dx-104557">Venom</a>. The fast-paced combat is almost balletic – webbing up a manhole cover and flinging it at a villain feels oddly beautiful. Then there’s the open world, a near-perfect replica of New York densely packed with people, life and – of course – super-villains. </p>
<p>It feels less like you’re playing a game, and more like you’re entering someone else’s world for a short period of time – and I love it.</p>
<p><em>by Theo Tzanidis, senior lecturer in digital marketing</em></p>
<h2>Super Mario Bros. Wonder</h2>
<p><em>Platform: Nintendo Switch</em></p>
<p>Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the first traditional side-scrolling Super Mario game since <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdZU1vhxkg8">New Super Mario Bros. U.</a> in 2012. A side scrolling game is one where the player is seen from a side-view camera angle and the screen follows the player as they move from the left to the right of the screen – the classic Mario format. </p>
<p>Wonder, however, is not a reinvention but a remix, crystallising the gameplay of the original <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/arcade-archives-mario-bros-switch/">Mario Bros. arcade game</a> (1983), the experimentation of New Super Mario Bros. U (2012), with nods to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nW9o6M5zFo">3D World + Bowser’s Fury</a> (2021).</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JStAYvbeSHc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>With 40 years of muscle memory accumulated, playing the latest 2D platformer will instantly feel familiar. However, skill, memory and mastery quickly give way to impulse and adaptability with the activation of Wonder Flowers – in-game tokens that alter the game mechanics. Wonder is brilliant – a return, an extension, an update that mixes and remixes its history in ways that are, well, wonderful.</p>
<p><em>by Michael Samuel, lecturer in digital film and television</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-super-mario-bros-movie-dont-watch-it-for-the-story-but-for-how-it-successfully-represents-gameplay-203592">The Super Mario Bros. Movie: don't watch it for the story but for how it successfully represents gameplay</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Baldur’s Gate 3</h2>
<p><em>Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows, macOS</em></p>
<p>Baldur’s Gate 3 is a computer role-playing game set in the world of <a href="https://theconversation.com/dungeons-and-dragons-licence-changes-threaten-the-fan-community-the-game-relies-upon-legal-expert-explains-199327">Dungeons and Dragons</a> – the fantasy tabletop role-playing game where players choose their adventure and dice rolls determine outcomes. The game features a rich narrative that explores themes of mass displacement, religious fanaticism, political corruption and the allure of absolute power. </p>
<p>While players are free to choose their own moral pathways through this thorny terrain, the team mechanics and the dynamic ensemble cast imply that interdependence, solidarity and trust are the compass points that should guide us. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XuCfkgaaa08?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Players recruit a diverse band of adventurers to aid them on their travels and each ally has their own compelling backstory, beliefs and goals. Forming friendships – and potentially romantic relationships – with these brilliantly written characters makes every narrative decision feel meaningful and every dice roll feel fraught.</p>
<p>The strengths of Baldur’s Gate 3 are its deft oscillation between immersive role-playing, strategic turn-based combat and careful resource management – in conjunction with its beautiful, expansive gameworld. I don’t really have anything bad to say about it. Having completed a single-player run, I am now hugely enjoying playing in local co-op mode with my partner and I can see myself replaying Baldur’s Gate 3 several more times. </p>
<p><em>By Emma Reay, lecturer in games studies and game design</em></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/baldurs-gate-3-wins-game-of-the-year-at-2023s-game-awards-an-expert-review-219519">Baldurs Gate 3 wins game of the year at 2023's Game Awards – an expert review</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resident Evil 4</h2>
<p><em>Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC via Steam</em></p>
<p>This remake of Resident Evil 4 had much to live up to. The <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/game/resident-evil-4-2005/">2005 original</a> represented a substantial departure from the atmospheric horror of its forebears towards action-driven gameplay. And what action! Our hero, Leon, rampages his way across a sepia-drenched Spanish village, in his quest to rescue the president’s daughter from the hands of a diabolical cult leader.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Id2EaldBaWw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Resident Evil 4 trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Leon’s gung-ho intervention is assisted by a splendid armoury of handguns, shotguns and the occasional heavy ordnance. No mere shooting gallery, Resident Evil 4 updates the visceral combat with considerable aplomb, where combat arenas demonstrate highly dynamic and escalating scenarios. Firearms and their corresponding upgrades provide nuanced choices with regards to power, precision and clearance. Understanding the intricacies of combat guides the player’s journey – first fearful, then fearless. All told, Resident Evil 4 is an unforgettable Spanish holiday.</p>
<p><em>Reviewed by David Stevenson, assistant professor in the school of film</em></p>
<h2>Alan Wake 2</h2>
<p><em>Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC</em></p>
<p>Alan Wake 2 marks a significant shift from the original game’s action-adventure mechanics to a narrative-driven survival horror. Players alternate between Alan – trapped in The Dark Place since the first game – and new protagonist, FBI agent Saga Anderson, who is investigating the enigmatic town of Bright Falls. The game oscillates between the two characters, balancing Saga’s investigations with Alan’s nightmarish experiences in the surreal New York of The Dark Place.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MEWgOlTIW4Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Alan Wake 2 trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the original game’s combat returns in a refined form, Alan Wake 2 focuses more on puzzle solving, aligning with the game’s mysterious tone. Enhanced by stellar audiovisual design, the game firmly immerses players in an unsettling atmosphere which constantly sees them question reality with the game’s frequent interplay between gameplay and live action cut scenes. Modern game development techniques like ray-tracing and asset streaming further support this immersion, allowing players to fluidly switch between protagonists and settings at will.</p>
<p>Alan Wake 2 not only surpasses its predecessor, but also pushes the survival horror genre’s boundaries, with game studio Remedy proving once again its dedication to creating polished, haunting and memorable gaming experiences.</p>
<p><em>Reviewed by Adam Jerrett, lecturer in computer games technology</em></p>
<h2>Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</h2>
<p><em>Platform: Nintendo Switch</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-review-a-masterclass-in-rewarding-curiosity-205797">Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</a> is the Terminator 2 of sequels. It takes everything its predecessor, <a href="https://www.ign.com/games/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild">Breath of the Wild</a>, did right (vast exploration, diverse combat and compelling story) and enhances all of them. The addition of the highly contrasting Sky Islands and Hyrule Depths, as well as the difficult to manage Gloom debuff, adds a whole new challenge to exploration never before seen in a Zelda game. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uHGShqcAHlQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alongside this come old enemies with fresh new looks and combat styles, along with the multitude of new monsters to discover as you run, swim and glide through Hyrule. The game does suffer from the same occasional frame rate issues as its predecessor, but not often and it does very little to detract from the spellbinding gameplay. Do not just take my word for it, this game is well worth picking up and experiencing for yourself.</p>
<p><em>Reviewed by Henryk Haniewicz, game developer and research fellow</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our academics review the finalists ahead of the announcement of the winner on December 7.Theo Tzanidis, Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing, University of the West of ScotlandAdam Jerrett, Lecturer, Faculty of Creative & Cultural Industries, University of PortsmouthDavid Stevenson, Assistant Professor in the School of Film, Trinity College DublinEmma Joy Reay, Lecturer in Games Studies and Game Design, University of SouthamptonHenryk Haniewicz, Game developer and research fellow, University of SouthamptonMichael Samuel, Lecturer in Digital Film & Television, Department of Film and Television, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2170742023-11-30T13:35:42Z2023-11-30T13:35:42Z‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ became the surprise hit of 2023 by upending conventional wisdom about what gives video games broad appeal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562215/original/file-20231128-26-2w9re0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C7%2C4977%2C3285&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The role-playing game has sold millions of copies since its August 2023 release and is one of the highest-rated video games of all time.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-baldurs-gate-logo-of-a-video-news-photo/1683467136?adppopup=true">Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Few predicted that the smash hit video game of 2023 would feature old-school game mechanics, hours of brooding cutscenes and a vexing learning curve.</p>
<p>Yet “Baldur’s Gate 3,” a 20-year-old title based on a 50-year-old role-playing game, has already become one of the <a href="https://gamerant.com/best-video-games-all-time-baldurs-gate-3/">highest-rated</a> video games of all time.</p>
<p>“This is a very specific niche of game,” admitted <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/larians-baldurs-gate-3-team-is-10-times-bigger-than-when-it-made-divinity-original-sin/">Swen Vincke</a>, the CEO of Larian, its developer. “We’ve never been about the money.” </p>
<p>Nonetheless, since Larian released the title in August 2023, the company <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/hasbro-stock-price-videogame-baldurs-gate-3-1762f357">has been raking in the money</a>. And it has done this with a rare focus on elements like story and character, <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-RPG-standards-swen-vincke-interview/">upending the industry’s conventional wisdom</a> about what it takes to create a blockbuster game.</p>
<h2>Going against the grain</h2>
<p>“Baldur’s Gate 3” was underestimated, in large part, because it is old-fashioned. </p>
<p>It’s based on the oldest role-playing game around, Dungeons & Dragons. It features an <a href="https://www.cbr.com/ff-turn-based-combat-revamp-vs-real-time-action/#:%7E:text=Summary,for%20character%20development%20and%20customization.">out-of-style combat system</a> and a gobsmacking <a href="https://gamerant.com/baldurs-gate-3-cutscenes/">174 hours</a> of <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/22/18235914/anthem-cutscenes-low-quality-final-fantasy-cgi">narrative cutscenes</a>, which are akin to mini-film clips – and are generally considered passé because they interrupt gameplay.</p>
<p>Even more off-putting: There’s a steep learning curve, which harks back to the <a href="https://eightify.app/summary/gaming-and-entertainment/are-video-games-getting-easier">bygone days of the arcade</a>, when games were designed not to sustain engagement but to present a challenge – and extract as many quarters from players as possible.</p>
<p>Despite all of this, “Baldur’s Gate 3” captured more than <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-hype-shifted-release-date-avoid-starfield/">25% of all playtime</a> on the gaming distribution platform Steam during the first weekend of its release, with gamers logging an astonishing <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/6199820457241938859">10 million hours</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young man with hair dyed white and gray grins as he poses with a dagger." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cosplayer dressed as Asterion from ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ at New York Comic Con in October 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cosplayer-posing-as-asterion-from-baldurs-gate-3-as-star-news-photo/1735879642?adppopup=true">Roy Rochlin/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Narrative gets a much-needed win</h2>
<p>To understand why <a href="https://www.macalester.edu/english/facultystaff/jamesdawes/">teachers of game design like me</a> are so excited about “Baldur’s Gate 3,” it’s helpful to focus on a concept we use in game studies: namely, the continuum between <a href="https://intapi.sciendo.com/pdf/10.1515/ausfm-2015-0009">narratology and ludology</a>.</p>
<p>Narratology prioritizes the storytelling aspect of video games, whereas ludology – from the Latin “ludus,” or game – prioritizes gameplay and game mechanics. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fQtxKmgJC8">Tetris</a>” was pure gameplay, all geometry and timing, while the earlier, text-based adventure “<a href="https://www.thezorklibrary.com/whatiszork.php">Zork</a>” was pure interactive storytelling.</p>
<p>Most games involve both, but the narrative is almost always secondary. The thinking goes that you can have a good game without a good story, but you can’t have a good game today without good gameplay.</p>
<p>Moreover, the kind of story you can tell is limited by the kind of game you are designing. If you want to write a poignant little tale about somebody who really just needs a hug, you can’t do it with gameplay defined by hacking evildoers to death with a hatchet.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ToEllOW2r1Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A brief history of ‘Zork,’ a game that’s entirely centered on text and storytelling.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What distinguishes “Baldur’s Gate 3” from the vast majority of games is that it is, at its heart, a narrative game. Players can spend hours clicking through dialogue options to trigger chatty cutscenes that flesh out backstories and advance character plots. They can flirt with a fiery barbarian devil, confront the racial prejudice of an extraplanar visitor, or help the emo priestess Shadowheart process her childhood trauma. </p>
<p>One of its most dramatic and memorable moments – spoiler alert – is when players get to give a hug to somebody who desperately needs one, even though the gameplay is defined by hacking evildoers to death with a hatchet.</p>
<p>These moments – romancing, arguing, befriending, understanding – are the connective tissue that gives form and meaning to the otherwise skeletal mechanics of hacking and slashing. </p>
<p>To ludologists, however, these kinds of cinematics are a <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/05/30/storytelling-in-games-part-1-the-past-and-present">design failure</a>. They interrupt the game. They force players to stop playing and start watching. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/video-games-stories/524148/">They lazily mimic</a> what novels and films are better at doing.</p>
<p>Ludologists take the writing principle “Don’t tell, show!” and supercharge it for games to “Don’t show, play!” </p>
<h2>Leaving money on the table</h2>
<p>But the risks “Baldur’s Gate 3” took by leaning into the story go far beyond the doomspeak of ludologists. The gaming industry has shifted away from narrative in recent years as it has evolved from a niche entertainment into a force to <a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/insights-and-perspectives.html">rival Hollywood</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2007/05/game-writing-1/">video game journalist Ben Kuchera explained</a>, “Writing doesn’t translate into dollars.”</p>
<p>Why is narrative seen as a bad bet for game studios? And why did Larian decide to make that bet anyway?</p>
<p>The first argument is that narrative has a low – even negative – return on investment. Larian invested heavily to develop multiple side plots and branching narrative pathways, showcasing <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-ai-no-place-voice-acting-performances-motion-capture/">276 mesmerizing voice actors</a> and devising a reported <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/if-you-thought-baldurs-gate-3-couldnt-get-any-bigger-apparently-it-has-17000-possible-endings/">17,000 variations</a> of the ending. </p>
<p>Because choosing one path means closing off another, most players will never experience the vast majority of this carefully wrought content. You can replay the game, but with standard runs <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/baldurs-gate-3-standard-playthrough-takes-75-to-100-hours-larian-says">taking an estimated 75 hours</a>, even hard-core gamers will still miss out. </p>
<p>And Larian will too. Larian does not make money on player retries. From a financial perspective, undiscovered content represents pure loss. </p>
<p>A narratologist, however, would argue that this kind of “loss” is precisely the point. In “Baldur’s Gate 3,” choices have costs. You can make decisions you will regret. And that is why you can also experience regret’s opposite: delight.</p>
<p>The second argument against narrative game design is structural. Narrative games leave money on the table because they are designed to end. “Baldur’s Gate 3” is structured as a three-act plot with an inciting incident, escalating action, and an appalling and beautiful climax. It leaves players satisfied. And that’s precisely the problem.</p>
<p>The games that make the most money today are designed to never end. Narratively shallow games, such as the first-person shooter “<a href="https://www.thegamer.com/fortnite-history-explained/">Fortnite</a>,” can keep a player hooked for years, inducing them to spend money on <a href="https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/epic-agrees-to-pay-245-million-ftc-fine-over-fortnite-microtransactions#">microtransactions</a> that far exceed the one-time purchase price of a game like “Baldur’s Gate 3.” They are desire treadmills, always holding off the promise of satisfaction with the lure of another thing to buy: next season’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonwosborne/2023/05/25/how-loot-boxes-in-childrens-video-games-encourage-gambling/?sh=246db61f5653">loot boxes</a>, next season’s <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/battle-passes-make-me-never-want-to-play-a-multiplayer-game-ever-again/">battle pass rewards</a>, <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gaming-skins-just-became-50-143352555.html">next season’s skins</a>. They transform play into shopping.</p>
<p>“Baldur’s Gate 3” has none of this.</p>
<p>“We believe in providing a complete and immersive gaming experience without the need for additional purchases,” <a href="https://www.pcgamesn.com/baldurs-gate-3/microtransactions">Larian wrote on the game’s website</a>.</p>
<p>Gamers and reviewers reacted to that announcement like swimmers taking their <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/08/12/the-main-lesson-frombaldurs-gate-3-should-be-people-hate-microtransactions/?sh=2025300b7a88">first snatch of air</a> after an overly aggressive dunking at a pool party.</p>
<h2>Beyond button-mashing</h2>
<p>The third argument against story-driven games is that they don’t appeal to a broad audience. The thinking goes that most gamers tend to be hyperactive button-mashers who lack the attention span for complex stories. And because developers can spend tens, even <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2014/09/24/why-video-games-are-so-expensive-to-develop">hundreds of millions</a> to bring a game to market, they cannot risk limiting their appeal, so they instead follow established models of success. </p>
<p>Even before the ascendance of the “Fornite” business model, that often meant shying away from story. <a href="https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/all-for-games-an-interview-with-warren-spector#close-modal">In a 2007 interview</a>, game designer and producer Warren Spector griped: “You don’t want to know how many projects I’ve been told to ‘just go make a shooter.’ I had one publisher tell me ‘you’re not allowed to say story anymore.’ It’s a constant battle to do something other than what everyone else is already doing.”</p>
<p>For now, the gaming industry has dubbed “Baldur’s Gate 3” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWdZhKFtxKg">a unicorn to admire rather than a model to follow</a>. Larian can do what others cannot because it is a privately owned company that doesn’t have to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-08-18/-baldur-s-gate-3-is-a-huge-hit-thanks-to-privately-owned-larian-studios">compromise artistic choices due to financial pressures</a>.</p>
<p>That may be true. But the game’s surprising success is a much-needed reminder that in the video game industry, making art and making money aren’t mutually exclusive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Dawes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For years, the biggest video game publishers have operated under the assumption that compelling stories and captivating characters don’t offer a good return on investment.James Dawes, Professor of English, Macalester CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2177192023-11-27T12:16:09Z2023-11-27T12:16:09ZThe Legend of Zelda film: past adaptations have gotten Link’s character wrong<p><a href="https://zelda.nintendo.com/">The Legend of Zelda</a> (first produced in 1986) is one of the most beloved videogames around the world, so when Nintendo <a href="https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/release/en/2023/231108.html">announced</a> the development of a live-action movie a couple of weeks ago, it inspired a lot of speculation (and fear) about how they might pull off a film. </p>
<p>Despite being haunted by the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108255/?ref_=ttco_ov">infamous adaptation</a> made 30 years ago, the recent <a href="https://www.nintendo.com/sg/smbmovie/index.html">The Super Mario Bros. Movie</a> was a global family hit. However, for some fans – myself included – it failed to deliver a compelling story about its central characters, which are some of the most iconic in videogame history. If <a href="https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/release/en/2023/231108.html">Nintendo’s aim</a> is to put smiles on every fan’s face, then adapting The Legend of Zelda will be a real challenge.</p>
<p>Set in a fantasy medieval world, the game series follows Link, an Hylian elf-like hero, and Zelda, princess of the kingdom of Hyrule. The stories differ from game to game, but often involve Link’s quest to rescue Zelda, defeat Ganon (the main antagonist of the series) and save Hyrule. They also tend to feature stories around the Triforce, a divine artefact formed by three equilateral triangles, each of which represent a virtue (power, wisdom and courage). The triangles can grant a wish to players who possess them all.</p>
<p>There is not a magic formula for a good adaptation and the process is made more complicated by such a vast, narrative-rich source material. Like many other fans, I would like to see a film that echoes what I felt when playing the games and preserves its DNA.</p>
<h2>Losing Link</h2>
<p>The original game was first released in 1986 and since then, another 19 games have followed (excluding spin-offs, remakes and re-releases). The latest instalment, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, has become <a href="https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2023/230803_2e.pdf">one of the most lucrative</a>. </p>
<p>From the vibrant landscapes and welcoming inhabitants of Hyrule to the daunting puzzles in dungeons and caves, feelings and emotions are the essence of Zelda’s storytelling. Recent titles have provided an expanded view of the settings, underpinned by open worlds offering a vast array of side quests, locations, monsters and non-playable characters. </p>
<p>A major part of getting the adaptation “right” will be in how the film chooses to portray Link.</p>
<p>Link is an archetype of a hero. He is brave, pure and communicates non-verbally in the games. His muteness is one of his most recognisable traits and one which helps anyone to identify with the character during the gameplay. </p>
<p>Although we barely know anything about his past, Link is somehow given depth by the players’ actions, who decide if they want to spend hours talking and helping villagers in side quests or embody an introvert hero who simply sticks to the main plan. This approach used in the games is not easily transferable to other media and, unsurprisingly, previous adaptations diverted from this path.</p>
<p>Earlier official adaptations of the game series were deemed non-canonical and distanced themselves from the source material in different aspects and degrees.</p>
<p>Many Zelda games have their own manga adaptations, which follow the original game storylines and add depth and provide backstories to the main characters. In the manga, Link talks, expresses emotions with facial expressions and is given a more rounded personality. We also learn about his past, providing more context about how the hero came to be. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OE4VkfYaP1w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0832330/">animated series</a> was released in 1989, alongside <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096707/">Super Mario Bros. Super Show!</a>, and lasted only 13 episodes due to the negative reception. In this adaptation, Link has brown hair and eyes (in contrast to his blonde hair and blue eyes in the games) and is chatty and immature. </p>
<p>While protecting the kingdom and the Triforce of Wisdom from Ganon, he is truly invested in flirting with Zelda, who – far from being a damsel in distress – rejects all his attempts to get a kiss. This diverts from the games, which have never depicted Zelda as Link’s love interest.</p>
<h2>In Hollywood’s hands</h2>
<p>In 2015, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-86552">The Wall Street Journal reported</a> that Netflix was preparing a live-action series based on The Legend of Zelda, which was described as “Game of Thrones for a family audience”. This was eventually <a href="https://time.com/3747342/nintendo-ceo-satoru-iwata/">denied</a> by Nintendo. </p>
<p>Game of Thrones is notoriously dark, bloody and highly sexual, it’s hard to imagine what it looks like re-imagined as family entertainment. The Zelda series does feature more complex stories, which sometimes get quite dark (such as <a href="https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Wii-U-games/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Twilight-Princess-HD-1082222.html">Twilight Princess</a> and <a href="https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-64/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Majora-s-Mask-269525.html">Majora’s Mask</a>). </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uHGShqcAHlQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>However, it’s difficult to imagine Nintendo moving away from light, family fun – it’s what they do best. Players will also expect them to produce a film with a PG rating. They tried a flirty Link before and it didn’t quite work – here’s hoping they leave that iteration alone. </p>
<p>Nothing has yet been said about the plot of the film adaptation, but Nintendo has confirmed that it will be directed by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1226871/">Wes Ball</a> (The Maze Runner trilogy). It will be produced by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/nov/23/pushing-buttons-nintendo-shigeru-miyamoto-super-mario-zelda-video-games">Shigeru Miyamoto</a> – co-creator of the game series and one of the most influential and acclaimed game designers of all time – and Avi Arad, chairman of Arad Productions Inc. The company has been involved in a long list of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0338101">videogame, anime and comic adaptations</a>. Miyamoto has <a href="https://twitter.com/Nintendo/status/1722011980129779795">also said</a> that he has been working on the theatrical adaptation for many years.</p>
<p>It seems to be in safe hands and hopefully Nintendo has learnt from past failures. The least we can hope for is that with Miyamoto on board the legendary world of Zelda will be able to inspire similar feelings in viewers as the games have for nearly 40 years. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>José Blázquez received funding from Arts Council England. </span></em></p>Nintendo doesn’t have the best track record of turning their games into successful screen iterations.José Blázquez, Senior lecturer, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2160042023-11-13T00:12:23Z2023-11-13T00:12:23ZAustralia’s media classification system is no help to parents and carers. It needs a grounding in evidence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557940/original/file-20231107-29-5gynl3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3964%2C1988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/classic-vintage-retro-style-old-television-614643728">Commonwealth of Australia/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the era of proliferating streaming platforms, choosing what to watch on family movie night can be hard.</p>
<p>Parents have a greater need than ever for good advice to help them narrow down the options, and they should be able to turn to the government’s classification system. </p>
<p>When they do, they will usually trust that if something is rated G or PG, it’s suitable for young children. </p>
<p>You might be surprised to learn, then, the current media classification system has no basis in evidence about children’s developmental needs.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/episode-choose-your-story-the-inappropriate-game-your-kids-have-probably-played-127445">Episode – Choose Your Story: the inappropriate game your kids have probably played</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Where did classifications come from?</h2>
<p>Australia’s National Classification Scheme for films, games and publications was established in 1995. The Commonwealth and the states and territories agreed to replace what was then known as the “censorship” system. </p>
<p>The scheme classifies media content based on the perceived impact (very mild, mild, moderate, and so on) of elements such as violence, sex, and themes related to social issues including crime, racism and suicide. </p>
<p>The ratings aim to give effect to four principles listed in the <a href="https://www.classification.gov.au/about-us/legislation">National Classification Code</a>. One of those is that “minors should be protected from material likely to harm or disturb them”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2D8qrfgcTjs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">This film ratings promo was on many VHS and DVDs in Australia in the 2000s.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Initially there was no R18+ classification for games. </p>
<p>After <a href="https://theconversation.com/r18-classification-for-videogames-the-quest-continues-2835">intense debate</a> in the late 2000s, the adults-only classification was introduced in 2013.</p>
<h2>Flawed attempts at reform</h2>
<p>The Commonwealth referred classification law to the Australian Law Reform Commission for review in 2011. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/national-classification-scheme-review/">2012 report</a> revealed little about the efficacy of the scheme for families. </p>
<p>The review led to <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/national-classification-scheme-review/implementation-13/">very few changes</a>. None were of any real significance for consumers.</p>
<p>Recommendations from the <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/review-of-australian-classification-regulation--may2020.pdf">latest review</a> of the scheme were submitted to the Morrison government in 2020. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/there-are-no-age-restrictions-for-gambling-in-video-games-despite-potential-risks-to-children-96115">There are no age restrictions for gambling in video games, despite potential risks to children</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There was no action on those until the Albanese government, in April 2023, announced a couple of fairly significant changes, such as <a href="https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/rowland/media-release/albanese-government-outlines-key-reforms-national-classification-scheme">mandatory minimum classifications</a> for gambling-related content.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, however, useful information for families is still hard to come by. </p>
<h2>Vague terms not based in fact</h2>
<p>The current system is based entirely on “impact”, which is undefined. </p>
<p>The efficacy of the system in protecting children from harm or disturbance is diminished because it’s not based on evidence of children’s developmental needs. </p>
<p>For example, there is strong evidence that scary content <a href="https://smallscreen.org.au/september-2023-editorial/">poses risks</a> for children’s mental wellbeing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557946/original/file-20231107-17-2a7znm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A child plays a video game wearing headphones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557946/original/file-20231107-17-2a7znm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557946/original/file-20231107-17-2a7znm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557946/original/file-20231107-17-2a7znm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557946/original/file-20231107-17-2a7znm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557946/original/file-20231107-17-2a7znm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557946/original/file-20231107-17-2a7znm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557946/original/file-20231107-17-2a7znm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">R18+ classifications were brought in for video games in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/little-boy-playing-video-game-dark-1587426013">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But unless it’s actually violent (which it isn’t always), you have to hope it will be picked up under the “themes”. </p>
<p>If we had an evidence-based system, scariness would be established as a separate criterion during the classification process.</p>
<p>Regarding violent content, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1529-1006.2003.pspi_1433.x">there is evidence</a> as to which kinds pose greater risks than others.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2021.1904446">a study</a> of the Classification Review Board’s thought processes around violence shows these are often at odds with the evidence.</p>
<p>For example, they tend to downplay “superhero violence”. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.12987/yale/9780300218879.001.0001">research</a> shows appealing perpetrators whose violence is justified are more likely to foster an attitude in viewers that violence is an appropriate way to resolve conflict.</p>
<p>The most recent review of the scheme recognised the need for an evidence-based system, but stopped short of recommending it. </p>
<h2>Overhaul needed to better guide parents</h2>
<p>Parents need reliable information to judge the suitability of content for children of different ages. </p>
<p>The G and PG ratings, for example, effectively lump everyone under 15 into a single age group. This means they don’t provide any guidance about whether or not content is suitable for any particular age group under that threshold. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/review-of-australian-classification-regulation--may2020.pdf">2020 review</a> suggested an additional category (PG13) could be appropriate. </p>
<p>This may help address the vast range of content lumped in the current PG category, but only if it was based on evidence about the developmental needs of children under 13. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557944/original/file-20231107-22-2d6qf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A mother, father and young boy sit on the couch eating popcorn" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557944/original/file-20231107-22-2d6qf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557944/original/file-20231107-22-2d6qf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557944/original/file-20231107-22-2d6qf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557944/original/file-20231107-22-2d6qf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557944/original/file-20231107-22-2d6qf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557944/original/file-20231107-22-2d6qf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557944/original/file-20231107-22-2d6qf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parents should have more of a say to make the Australian classification system more user-friendly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/family-leisure-people-concept-happy-smiling-1658483641">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And even if PG13 was introduced, the system would still fail to address the differing developmental stages of children aged 1 to 12 years.</p>
<p>An overhaul of the system is needed, including a move away from “impact” to a test based on children’s developmental needs.</p>
<p>This could help support parents to make well-informed decisions for their children. The Commonwealth is obliged to do this under article 18 of the UN’s <a href="https://www.unicef.org.au/united-nations-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>.</p>
<p>Policy-makers should also be seeking the thoughts of parents, who ultimately interact with the system most. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.classification.gov.au/about-us/research-and-publications/classification-usage-and-attitudes-2022">Previous government research</a> hasn’t focused on parents enough.</p>
<p>A 2022 report found 74% broad agreement with the statement “classification categories do not need to change”. But participants, only 30% of whom were parents or carers, were not given an alternative model for comparison. </p>
<p>We cannot know what participants would have said if they had been asked to consider other options, such as an age-based set of categories.</p>
<p>Research we are currently undertaking fills this gap. </p>
<p><a href="https://unisasurveys.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cV1sFcIAgFXa1gy">Our survey</a> informs parents and carers about the current Australian system and asks them to rate content using an evidence-informed framework.</p>
<p>It will provide important information about the usability of the scheme. Then, we can propose a model of classification that better reflects the needs of its primary users – one that is actually based on evidence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216004/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Handsley is President of Children and Media Australia, the national peak non-profit organisation representing children's rights and interests as media users. In this capacity she made submissions and representations to the Stevens review of the National Classification Scheme. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fae Heaselgrave is conducting research with Children and Media Australia about the usability of the Australian Classifications Scheme for parents and carers. </span></em></p>We’re all familiar with a green ‘G’ or a red ‘MA’ on a movie poster, but those ratings don’t have any basis in what we know about child development. They’d be much more useful for parents if they did.Elizabeth Handsley, Adjunct Professor of Law, Western Sydney UniversityFae Heaselgrave, Lecturer in Communication and Media, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2161202023-10-31T15:55:16Z2023-10-31T15:55:16ZCastlevania: how the video game was inspired by classic Dracula horror films<p>If you’re one of the talented few who have completed Konami’s 1986 gothic horror action-adventure game Castlevania then you’ve seen the game’s unusual closing credits. Instead of a list of the names of people who worked on the game, it is instead an homage to those involved in classic horror cinema. Among the names are the actor Christopher Lee (written as Christopher Bee) but also the much more obscure name of Terrence Fisher – director of British horror film company Hammer’s 1958 Dracula. </p>
<p>Bram Stoker’s 1897 popular novel has been adapted in countless ways, and the vampire has appeared on screen in about <a href="https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=dracula&ref_=fn_al_kw_1">400 different incarnations</a> from all over the world. The Castlevania video game series is deeply influenced by the vampire’s filmic outings and across the 30 or so games you can find references littered throughout. </p>
<p>This reverence for the monster’s cinematic history is because, as one of the game’s creators Hitoshi Akamatsu has said, the team wanted players to feel like they were in a <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/thearkhound/183537621473/1993-castlevania-commentary-from-micom-basic">classic horror film</a>. It is no wonder then that the game has been adapted into two series by Netflix: <a href="https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80095241">Castlevania</a> and the newly released Castlevania: Nocturne.</p>
<h2>Hammer’s big influence</h2>
<p>One of the most recognisable filmic iterations of Stoker’s monster is <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/why-i-love-bela-lugosis-dracula">Bela Lugosi’s iconic 1931 portrayal</a>. Lugosi’s Hungarian accent and slow, steady delivery combined with smaller details like slicked-back hair and a distinct medal has become one of the most caricatured versions of the count, influencing films like the animated franchise Hotel Transylvania and even Sesame Street’s math-loving The Count. </p>
<p>While, for many, this is the definitive Dracula film, in Japan, it’s seemingly Hammer’s 1958 production starring Christopher Lee.</p>
<p>When Hammer produced its Dracula film, it was <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dracula-lost-his-x-rating-87655">transformational</a> because it challenged audience expectations of the characters. The lawyer Jonathan Harker, for example, is not an unwitting victim and instead is a vampire hunter who arrives at Dracula’s castle looking to slay him. </p>
<p>These differences were made because Hammer had to be really clear that they were not drawing on Lugosi’s portrayal, so as not to intrude on Universal Studios’ copyright. Instead, they breathed new life into Stoker’s original novel, creating a frightening new version of the character.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZTbY0BgIRMk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Hammer’s Dracula’s popularity inspired the creators of Castlevania (known in Japan as <em>Akumajō Dracula</em>) for the first game released in 1986. Hammer holds this influence in Japan due to timing. As the film <a href="https://store.ingrampublisherservices.co.uk/store/default/detail/workgroup?id=3-025-6e763030-04c5-42d2-9f92-032ec7ece7cc">Masaya Shimokusu</a> has noted, Dracula arrived later in Japan as it wasn’t translated until after the second world war. This meant audiences missed out on Lugosi and instead writers and creatives were inspired by the many repeats of Lee’s Dracula and the larger series, which features nine films, on television throughout the 70s and early 80s. </p>
<p>The game and its many sequels owe a lot to these early British horror films.</p>
<p>Its influence on Castlevania can be seen in the game’s initial narrative, which saw a man turning up at Dracula’s castle to slay him. There are, of course, differences. In the game, it’s not Jonathan Harker but Simon Belmont, a descendant of a legendary vampire hunter, who has to navigate the castle using well-timed jumps and attacks to progress through different levels, defeating hordes of monsters. Finally, Belmont must confront Dracula himself in a form that conveys all of Lee’s ferocity.</p>
<h2>Reinventing the game</h2>
<p>Just as Hammer did across its nine films, Konami continued to reinvent its series to meet audience expectations. In 1997, the Playstation game <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HnhPNS0rqM">Castlevania: Symphony of the Night</a> brought the series to new heights (1997). The title starred Dracula’s son, Alucard – a reference to the character of the same name in the 1943 American film, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0rPaeTHJmY">Son of Dracula</a>.</p>
<p>Reflecting changing conventions, Alucard was refined and pale on the game’s distinct cover. This was more in keeping with the image of vampires in 90s movies. </p>
<p>Dracula underwent a similar transformation to his son, losing some of his resemblance to Lee. Earlier appearances saw him as a monstrous, motiveless demon, but here he becomes a tragic, romantic figure who is mourning the death of his wife – echoing the Dracula film of the time, 1992’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgFPIh5mvNc">Bram Stoker’s Dracula</a>. </p>
<p>Symphony of the Night was so successful its influence can be seen across a vast range of games. Not only is this entry highly critically regarded and considered one of the “<a href="https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/castlevania-symphony-of-the-night-review/1900-2546968/">best games ever released</a>”, but popularised the “Metroidvania” format. This meant players explored vast areas as they wanted, unlocking powers as they went. The Metroidvania genre has grown in popularity in recent years, especially with smaller studios, such as <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/game/hollow-knight/">Team Cherry’s universally acclaimed Hollow Knight</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wDE34DggEw4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Both TV series draw heavily from Symphony of the Night and their versions of Dracula and his son Alucard. The original Castlevania series ran for four seasons from 2017 to 2021 and garnered <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tv/2021/5/20/22444731/netflix-castlevania-season-4-review">critical acclaim</a>. It begins with Dracula’s wife being burned at the stake and the vampire vowing that the people of Wallachia (a real place in Romania) will pay with their lives. The series follows Trevor Belmont (the protagonist in Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse) as he battles Dracula’s demonic forces with the help of Alucard.</p>
<p>This new spin-off series is set hundreds of years after the events of the first and is also gathering <a href="https://www.theverge.com/23891310/netflix-castlevania-nocturne-review-konami-animated">praise</a>. It follows the young vampire hunter Richter Belmont (who made his debut in the game Castlevania: Rondo of Blood) and his adoptive sister Maria Renard as they try to stop an apocalyptic vampire plot during the French Revolution. Alucard returned late in series one and is set to play a bigger role in series two.</p>
<p>There hasn’t been a new game since 2014’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. These two streaming series adapt some of the best story lines from the games’ back catalogue and will hopefully draw people back to playing them – and maybe even revisiting the classic horror films that first inspired them. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216120/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Crofts does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Christopher Lee’s Dracula remains was one of the game’s biggest early influences.Matthew Crofts, Researcher in Gothic Literature, University of HullLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148372023-10-08T19:26:28Z2023-10-08T19:26:28ZAustralian video-game music is an exciting area of cultural activity – and you should be paying attention<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552259/original/file-20231005-15-vd064x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C2986%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-playing-with-a-video-game-console-7382425/">Pexels/Polina Tankilevitch</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An enthusiastic, sellout crowd arrived at Melbourne’s Hamer Hall in September to hear an evening of music from Orchestra Victoria. </p>
<p>The program consisted largely of Australian music and premiere performances. If the sight of over 2,500 filled seats (filled, anecdotally, by those much younger than the typical orchestra audience) did not indicate how deeply this music was loved, then the standing ovation at the end of the night would leave no-one in doubt.</p>
<p>This packed concert, however, wasn’t a performance of a symphonic great or even a major film soundtrack. It was an evening of music created for video games.</p>
<p>Video games are now a cultural activity for <a href="https://igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IGEA_AP2023_FINAL_REPORT.pdf">the vast majority of Australians</a> and a major platform through which audiences are introduced to new music. </p>
<p>Audiences have personal, even intimate relationships with the music of video games, given the long hours spent playing in lounge rooms and studies around the nation.</p>
<p>The potential of video-game music is particularly evident in Australia, where several independent video games have obtained both critical and commercial success around the world. This is, in part, thanks to their music, such as <a href="https://hardcoregamer.com/features/checking-the-score/checking-the-score-cult-of-the-lamb/426836/">Cult of the Lamb</a> (2022), <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/game-show/game-show-ausmusic-unpacking/13620250">Unpacking</a> (2021) and <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/hollow-knight-ost-still-surpasses-every-expectation/">Hollow Knight</a> (2017).</p>
<p>However, how the game developers actually work with musicians to produce these landmark works has so far been an unanswered question.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qcvSMhwZncI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-video-games-like-starfield-are-creating-a-new-generation-of-classical-music-fans-211016">How video games like 'Starfield' are creating a new generation of classical music fans</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Performing on the global stage</h2>
<p>Our new <a href="https://creative.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/australian-music-and-games-2023-benchmark-2/">Music and Games 2023 Benchmark</a> aims to establish the scope and scale of Australia’s game-music sector. </p>
<p>Our research includes findings about working conditions, rights, royalties and more. It paints a picture of a sector confidently performing on the global stage alongside far bigger national industries.</p>
<p>Game music work is overwhelmingly being undertaken in Australia as contract-based freelance work and rarely as full-time employment. Despite this, game developers see composers as fundamental creative partners. </p>
<p>Game music workers feel they have meaningful input on the projects they work on. They rarely approach game soundtracks as “just another gig”. This is reinforced by our finding the vast majority of game music workers in Australia create original music for game projects, rather than implementing pre-existing works.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_BG98e_w6d0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Australian game composers are more likely than workers in other soundtrack sectors to retain rights and opportunities. </p>
<p>In film and television, disadvantageous <a href="https://agsc.org.au/buyouts-apra-membership/">“buyout” contracts</a>, where composers hand over all ownership of their music to studios, have become common. In the Australian game music sector, such arrangements exist in only 13% of projects. This allows most composers to retain ownership of their music and to tap into additional revenue streams like performance royalties. </p>
<p>An astonishing 74% of music workers are able to release their game’s soundtrack personally and independently, rather than going through either the game’s studio, publisher or a music label.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/music-that-you-help-make-composition-for-video-gaming-draws-on-tradition-and-tech-124282">Music that you help make: composition for video gaming draws on tradition and tech</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Different ways of working</h2>
<p>There is no “one way” of working for Australian game music workers, with a wide diversity of skills and experiences evident. </p>
<p>Many composers work directly with game development tools or with audio “middleware” such as <a href="https://www.fmod.com">Fmod</a> or <a href="https://www.audiokinetic.com/en/products/wwise/">Wwise</a> on game projects. Tools like these allow composers to engage with the game’s production and implement their music directly into the game, rather than simply handing over audio files to game developers.</p>
<p>Around half, however, prioritise music creation and leave implementation of that music up to the developers. This means technical knowledge of game development is not as integral to creating game music as many may assume.</p>
<p>Creative communication skills are also important for musicians and highly valued by game developers who may otherwise find music to be a language they do not speak.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qNy-6L_xTC0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Like the game development and music sectors more broadly, unpaid work remains common. Only 53% of game music workers report any income from this work. </p>
<p>However, we found the median annual income for all game music workers is A$40,000, compared to only <a href="https://makingmusicworkcomau.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/mmw_full-report.pdf">$30,576 for musicians generally</a>. Among those who make more than the Australian minimum wage ($45,000) from game music, this jumps to a considerable median income of $82,500.</p>
<p>Being at the intersection of games and music also means the gender and racial inequalities of the video game and screen composing sectors are entrenched within game music. </p>
<p>Three-quarters of all game music workers identified themselves as male, and 72% as white, Caucasian or European. While Australia has diverse musicians, they currently have unequal ability to move into game music. This needs proactive solutions.</p>
<h2>Creative works in their own right</h2>
<p>Our benchmarking report reveals an exciting and so far under-appreciated area of cultural activity in Australia. </p>
<p>Australian game soundtracks are not sterile assets produced for a mass medium. They are genuine creative works that are adored in their own right by audiences around the world. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ctX3jVORkkk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>However, growing the sector in Australia requires focused support. Its lack of diversity is a major area of concern. </p>
<p>Even while game music workers are able to retain generous rights to their music, many are frustrated and confused by the lack of clear standards. We also heard several stories of workers being pressured to give up their rights once an international publisher decided to invest in a local game developer. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://igea.net/2022/12/australian-game-development-industry-records-job-boom/">Australia’s game industry continues to grow</a>, it will be important to watch how Australia’s musicians are brought along for the ride.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-sustainable-australian-video-game-industry-production-rebates-are-a-small-important-step-147090">A sustainable Australian video game industry? Production rebates are a small, important step</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Correction: this article originally misstated the capacity of Hamer Hall. This has been corrected.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214837/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Golding received funding from Creative Australia to undertake the Australian Music and Games 2023 Benchmark report. He is also a practicing videogame composer and made music for Untitled Goose Game and the Frog Detective series, both of which are mentioned in the report.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Keogh received funding from Creative Australia to undertake the Australian Music and Games 2023 Benchmark report. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taylor Hardwick worked as a Research Assistant at the QUT Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC), which received funding from Creative Australia to undertake the Australian Music and Games 2023 Benchmark report.</span></em></p>Our new Music and Games 2023 Benchmark aims to establish the scope and scale of Australia’s game music sector.Dan Golding, Associate Professor, Swinburne University of TechnologyBrendan Keogh, Senior Lecturer, Queensland University of TechnologyTaylor Hardwick, Research Assistant, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2145442023-09-29T12:23:56Z2023-09-29T12:23:56ZThe fight for 2% − how residuals became a sticking point for striking actors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550993/original/file-20230928-27-9gozwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C7018%2C4643&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The SAG-AFTRA actors union has been on strike since July 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-writers-guild-of-america-joined-by-members-news-photo/1585226795?adppopup=true">Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Streaming disrupted the entire entertainment industry, upending the DVD-purchasing, film-renting, moviegoing model of decades past.</p>
<p>That shift has also changed how actors get paid. And some of the gains actors made through prior labor struggles – <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/27/1190336979/actors-strike-residuals-sag-aftra-wga">particularly through residuals</a>, which are a small percentage of shared earnings from film or television – have vanished.</p>
<p>Though the Writers Guild of America <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/09/wga-strike-officially-end-leaders-approve-tentative-deal-1235556919/">ended its strike</a> on Sept. 27, 2023, actors represented by SAG-AFTRA remain on strike. Residuals are one of their main <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/business/media/hollywood-writers-strike-deal.html">sticking points</a>: They want to receive 2% of revenue generated by shows they appear in on streaming platforms.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/actors-strike-why-sag-aftra-streaming-revenue-proposal-rejected-1235541505/">Studios counter that the number is unrealistic</a> – that it amounts to actors not assuming any financial risk when shows and movies flop, while reaping rewards when they succeed.</p>
<p>But in reality, actors simply want to adapt existing payout models to changing technology and consumption habits.</p>
<h2>The pandemic revealed a glimpse of the future</h2>
<p>The extent to which streaming changed the entertainment landscape came into focus during the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/regal-cinemas-decision-to-close-its-theaters-is-the-latest-blow-to-a-film-industry-on-life-support-147535">With many movie theaters shuttered</a> because of government restrictions and most people reluctant to sit in a theater, some movie studios decided to release their movies through streaming services using what they called <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/07/business/media/universal-premium-video-on-demand.html">premium video on demand</a>.</p>
<p>For the made-to-be-blockbuster “Black Widow,” Disney decided to <a href="https://people.com/movies/black-widow-will-be-available-to-all-disney-plus-subscribers-earlier-than-expected/">release</a> the film simultaneously in theaters and on its propriety streaming service, Disney+, for US$30. </p>
<p>The film’s star, Scarlett Johansson, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/disney-sued-by-scarlett-johansson-over-black-widows-streaming-release/">sued Disney</a> for breach of contract. Johansson claimed to have lost $50 million from the simultaneous release, because her contract did not have the same revenue-sharing deal in place for streaming as it did for a theater release.</p>
<p>At $30, the price to stream “Black Widow” on television was <a href="https://www.natoonline.org/data/ticket-price/">equivalent to</a> roughly three theater tickets. At the same time, premium video on demand cuts most costs associated with exhibiting a film in the theater: The studios <a href="https://observer.com/2021/07/hollywood-movie-theaters-vs-streaming-pros-cons/">generally keep 80% of the revenue</a> as opposed to the standard 50% split with theaters.</p>
<p>Actors <a href="https://time.com/6294212/sag-aftra-actors-strike/">decided to strike</a> because they see the pitfalls for their own livelihoods tied to the structure of the contracts they are currently fighting to negotiate.</p>
<h2>A struggle for dignity</h2>
<p>The tensions today echo Hollywood’s 20th-century labor battles.</p>
<p>The Hollywood studio system of the 1930s and 1940s <a href="https://www.umsl.edu/%7Egradyf/film/STUDIOS.htm">was an era</a> of vertical integration in the film industry. The “Big Five” major studios – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros., Paramount, 20th Century Fox and RKO – <a href="https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-the-studio-system-in-hollywood/">employed</a> directors, writers, actors and camera operators. Filming, editing, distribution and showings were all handled in-house.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photo of buildings from the sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551068/original/file-20230928-29-c65001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551068/original/file-20230928-29-c65001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551068/original/file-20230928-29-c65001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551068/original/file-20230928-29-c65001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551068/original/file-20230928-29-c65001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551068/original/file-20230928-29-c65001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551068/original/file-20230928-29-c65001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A c. 1930 aerial shot of MGM Studios in Culver City, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-mgm-studios-in-culver-city-california-circa-1930-news-photo/1139655537?adppopup=true">Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This created an efficient system that allowed for assembly-linelike production of films, not unlike <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/fordism">Ford automotive factories</a>. Actors – just like everyone else employed by the studios – received a salary for the length of their contracts. They didn’t make any extra money if a film became a blockbuster hit.</p>
<p>This period was <a href="https://cinemascholars.com/movie-stars-in-the-studio-system-secrets-and-rules/">rife with exploitation</a>, with low wages, <a href="https://theconversation.com/literature-has-long-been-sounding-the-alarm-about-sexual-violence-in-hollywood-87496">sexual violence</a> and little bargaining power for actors. </p>
<p>Actors fought hard against this system; they wanted to be able to negotiate payouts tied to their work on specific films. In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the studio system <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-day-the-supreme-court-killed-hollywoods-studio-system">violated antitrust laws</a>, ending these unfair contracts. Actors’ newfound free agency allowed them to sign contracts with studios for individual films. This resulted in large earnings for some stars, but they were still largely cut out of any studio revenue.</p>
<p>Some actors began receiving residuals in the 1950s as part of their individual contracts. The system was modeled on royalties earned in music based on the sale of copyrighted music. But where composers and recording artists share in the copyright, actors do not have a claim to copyrights.</p>
<p>In the 1960s, SAG-AFTRA <a href="https://www.sagaftra.org/about/our-history/1960s">went on strike</a> to insist on residuals as part of the basic contract to provide revenue sharing with all actors. Ultimately, they received them.</p>
<h2>Getting a slice of streaming revenue</h2>
<p>It’s key to remember that today’s actors already receive <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/07/15/actors-strike-what-are-residuals/">2% residuals on revenue</a> from traditional television in secondary markets. A secondary market is a market outside of the film or television show’s original domestic release. Examples include foreign box office revenue, DVD sales, syndicated television shows and theater releases that appear on television. </p>
<p>So shows originally produced for broadcast television aren’t an issue. When “Friends,” which was originally an NBC sitcom, generates $1 billion dollars on streaming platforms, the five leads <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/07/15/actors-strike-what-are-residuals/">each earn</a> 2%, or $20 million apiece. But a show like “Stranger Things” – produced and owned by Netflix – never goes to a secondary market as long as it is aired only on Netflix, so the stars earn only their original pay. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1706768558150267106"}"></div></p>
<p>The problem, then, comes from the fact that the existing residual model, per the expiring SAG-AFTRA contract, doesn’t take streaming into account.</p>
<p>In the streaming era, all new shows produced by streaming platforms are concurrently reruns and original runs. Actors want 2% of streaming revenue generated by the show or film to replace this line of income. </p>
<p>One issue is that revenue from streaming remains an opaque process. <a href="https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/disney-sued-by-scarlett-johansson-over-black-widows-streaming-release/">Data on earnings tied to streams</a> aren’t as clear as ticket sales or advertising revenue, and streaming platforms tend to keep this information in-house. But streaming services have their own metrics to determine the value of a show or film to the company, such as the number of streams, the first show a subscriber watches upon paying for a subscription and how long a customer remains a subscriber.</p>
<p>This 2% of streaming demand isn’t all that different from what <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/wga-ends-strike-releases-details-on-tentative-deal-with-studios-writers-hollywood/">writers received</a> to negotiate the end of their strike on Sept. 27, 2023. As part of that deal, the <a href="https://www.wgacontract2023.org/the-campaign/summary-of-the-2023-wga-mba">Writers Guild of America</a> negotiated residuals based on viewership on streaming platforms, and producers agreed to share data with the WGA, such as total streaming hours, to help determine payouts.</p>
<p>While 2% of revenue generated from shows and films equates to a larger demand for residuals than the WGA, <a href="https://www.sagaftra.org/files/sa_documents/SAG-AFTRA_2020TV-Theatrical_Summary.pdf">actors have always had higher residuals</a> <a href="https://www.wga.org/uploadedfiles/contracts/mba20.pdf">than writers</a>.</p>
<h2>Closing the loophole</h2>
<p>The original shows and movies created for streaming services like Netflix, Max or Disney+ reflect a vertically integrated system in which the platform owns the studio and the rights to those productions. In this sense, it harks back to the old studio system of the 1930s and 1940s.</p>
<p>For this reason, there is no benefit for studios and platforms to offer actors revenue for every stream, because technically there is no secondary market. Studios and platforms see larger profit margins, while actors see a loss of income. This is the loophole striking actors are looking to close.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/business/media/hollywood-writers-strike-deal.html">When reporters characterize</a> SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher as taking a “hard line” for 2% of revenue, they fail to see that is what actors already have. Actors simply want it to apply to shows and films that originate on streaming platforms.</p>
<p>They fought this battle to end the studio system. The fight for 2% is about demonstrating that the work actors do for streaming television is just as valuable as it’s always been.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214544/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Arditi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Studios say the number is unrealistic − that it amounts to actors not assuming any financial risk for content that flops. But actors simply want to adapt existing payout models to changing technology.David Arditi, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Texas at ArlingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132442023-09-19T06:03:45Z2023-09-19T06:03:45ZStarfield is the latest game to be boycotted by conservatives. This time because of pronouns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549023/original/file-20230919-25-rkla81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C2552%2C1433&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">XBox</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most highly anticipated game releases this year is Bethesda Studio’s action role-playing game Starfield. An open world game set in the year 2330 with over 1,000 explorable planets, it’s been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/06/13/starfield-bethesda/">described</a> by producer Todd Howard as “Like Skyrim in space” and by director Ashley Cheng as “the Han Solo simulator. Get in a ship, explore the galaxy, do fun stuff.”</p>
<p>New game releases are rarely without their controversies. Earlier this month, a clip of YouTuber <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_zmPqauxanOAGszXfdipEA">HeelvsBabyface</a> complaining about the inclusion of pronouns in Starfield went viral. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You take everything we love, all our immersions, all our fantasies, all our escapism, and you can’t help shovel your dogshit fucking crap ideology into everything.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1698283924860874804"}"></div></p>
<p>Other internet gaming personalities are claiming they will boycott the game over its inclusion of pronouns in the character creation system.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1697874280871014603"}"></div></p>
<p>All this is in a response to a window that pops up during character creation asking the player to confirm their character’s pronouns from three options: he/him, she/her, and they/them. </p>
<p>Larian Studios’ Dungeons & Dragons-based game <a href="https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/rpg-experts-on-why-we-love-baldurs-gate-3-and-the-future-of-the-genre">Baldur’s Gate 3</a> was released for Playstation 5 on the same day as Starfield. The game has a similarly detailed character creation system including three “identity” options: male, female, and non-binary/other, which has similarly incited criticism from gamers.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kfYEiTdsyas?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>What is character creation?</h2>
<p>In an ever-growing age of increasing digital processing power and graphics capabilities, big-budget releases such as Starfield are judged by the level of detail in worldbuilding, graphical realism, and character customisation options. </p>
<p>Open world games <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/how-game-sizes-got-so-huge-and-why-theyll-get-even-bigger/">keep getting bigger</a> and character creation systems are becoming increasingly comprehensive.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1667959913744613379"}"></div></p>
<p>The Sims (2000) was one of the first games to offer a highly detailed level of <a href="https://youtu.be/_b0Mj3B9JBU?si=5Z2BcFTYIIsvWYcu">character customisation</a>. Most role playing games follow The Sims’ established sequence of choosing male or female, which displays a default character on screen. Players then progress through different selection pages to further customise skin colour, body proportions, hairstyle, facial features and clothing.</p>
<p>Conventionally, the body initially chosen will then go on to limit options for hairstyles, facial hair, and clothing. It may also affect the character’s voice in-game, determine what pronouns with which they are referred to, and limit romance options.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hogwarts-legacys-game-mechanics-reflect-the-gender-essentialism-at-the-heart-of-harry-potter-199604">Hogwarts Legacy's game mechanics reflect the gender essentialism at the heart of Harry Potter</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Newer releases are changing their approach to the sex, gender and body options to allow the creation of characters <a href="https://theconversation.com/hogwarts-legacys-game-mechanics-reflect-the-gender-essentialism-at-the-heart-of-harry-potter-199604">beyond the gender binary</a>. Some games, such as Elden Ring (2022), simply avoid gendering secondary sex characteristics by allowing players to choose between “Body A” or “Body B” in place of male or female. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ec24d2-QX80">Splatoon 3</a> does something similar. </p>
<p>Other games go a lot further: CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077 (2020) was the first game to allow <a href="https://youtu.be/4Gk7ZI80-tk?si=ruhgmTr6cko4K22U">genital customisation</a>. Regardless of the gender chosen at the beginning of character creation, players may then select between two penis options (circumcised and uncircumcised) and a vagina, and can select a penis size from “small”, “default” and “big”. </p>
<p>Genital customisation does not affect gameplay, but according to <a href="https://screenrant.com/cyberpunk-2077-genital-options-decisions-change-anything-later/">ScreenRant</a>, “both aligns closely with the cyberpunk subgenre and allows for greater player expression”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4Gk7ZI80-tk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>What are pronouns, and why do they upset some people?</h2>
<p>Pronouns are some of the first identifying words we learn. They form the basics of how we refer to ourselves and others, and we all have them. </p>
<p>Pronouns include words such as “I”, “me”, “you”, “your”, “she”, “his”, “them”, and “theirs”. When conservative internet personalities complain about pronouns, they are referring to the inclusive in-game options that allow people to create characters beyond the gender binary.</p>
<p>The argument that pronoun and custom genital options impedes player’s ability to have an “enjoyable experience” is a reflection of <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/why-have-nearly-half-of-transgender-australians-attempted-suicide">real-world transphobia</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PXZVjESnsdg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Trans and gender diverse people have <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/2464191923?accountid=14681&pq-origsite=primo&parentSessionId=A3ev1qHDCjcVo63ZM62pJ1Jf1%2BfffyZuxCAeBDYx%2Bfo%3D">used games</a> as a way to escape this reality, entering worlds where they can play as characters that align with their gender identity in ways their real-world body may not. </p>
<p>This is a <a href="https://youtu.be/G5s2V-K1vwE?si=ERSl06dYUmm-gFqn">common acting-out fantasy</a> among non trans players too, who might create a character who is stronger, taller, or more conventionally attractive than they perceive their real-world selves to be. Games offer a world where almost anything is possible, and with the added features in newer games such as Starfield, trans and gender diverse people have more possibilities than ever to perform their gender.</p>
<p>Those calling for a boycott of these games over their inclusion of pronoun options and customisable genitals are also seeking to act out a fantasy: one where trans and gender diverse people do not exist. To wish the world, even a fantasy world, be rid of all traces of gender diversity, is to impose a political ideology onto a game. </p>
<p>Paradoxically, this is the very thing these conservative reviewers are mad about. Politics informs all forms of media in some way, but especially so science-fiction narratives, which speculate on the myriad future possibilities of humanity and beyond. Inclusive options in character creation are not only a draw for the increasingly diverse consumers of digital games, they are also an important part of storytelling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213244/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article was co-written with Seth Malacari.</span></em></p>Starfields is one of the biggest games of 2023 – but it’s joined other recent games like Baldurs Gate 3 in being boycotted by conservatives because of the way it interacts with gender.Prema Arasu, Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2110162023-09-05T12:29:10Z2023-09-05T12:29:10ZHow video games like ‘Starfield’ are creating a new generation of classical music fans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546018/original/file-20230901-25-u3v8gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C3199%2C2122&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The London Symphony Orchestra has performed music from video games like 'Starfield' and 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.' </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/niklas-benjamin-hoffmann-winner-of-the-donatella-flick-lso-news-photo/623978072?adppopup=true">Tristan Fewings/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“<a href="https://bethesda.net/en/game/starfield">Starfield</a>” is one of the most anticipated video games in recent history. </p>
<p>The game, which was released on Sept. 6, 2023, allows players to build their own character and spacecraft, travel to any one of a thousand or more planets and follow multiple story arcs.</p>
<p>The soundtrack is equally epic, with audio director Mark Lampert describing the game’s music as a “companion to the player,” with a “sense of scale” that “had to be totally readjusted,” in a <a href="https://youtu.be/fedc6ZzfU8I?si=Ui0UHlf-vnrKhXlX">recent interview</a> about Starfield’s sound design.</p>
<p>Soundtracks for outer space have appeared in many films – “Star Wars,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Interstellar,” to name a few.</p>
<p>But the interactive music of “Starfield” by composer Inon Zur does something different: Utilizing a palette of musical language that cultivates a contemplative soundscape, it launches the listener into the vastness of space while remaining curious, innocent and restrained. If you close your eyes, you can imagine it being performed in the concert hall.</p>
<p>That’s exactly what happened prior to the game’s release, when the London Symphony Orchestra <a href="https://youtu.be/IaskxKfeFno">performed the “Starfield Suite</a>” before a sold-out audience at the Alexandra Palace Theatre, one of the world’s most prestigious concert halls.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jaaronhardwick.com/">As a conductor, musician and educator</a>, I’m excited about games like “Starfield” because they’re drawing people to symphonic music like never before.</p>
<h2>Classical music becomes exclusive</h2>
<p>Before recording technology, the only way to hear music was to experience it live. Throughout early history, music functioned as an integral part of cultural life: It was played at festivals, accompanied religious services and even served as a means of communication.</p>
<p>During the time of the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/renm/hd_renm.htm">Renaissance</a>, around the middle 15th to 16th centuries, there was a shift from music as function to music as art and entertainment.</p>
<p>Soon, live vocal and instrumental music became a form of popular entertainment, and people clamored for bigger and better sounds. In the 16th century, the marriage of art, drama and music was consummated in <a href="https://www.sfopera.com/learn/about-opera/a-brief-history-of-opera/">opera</a>. During the 17th and 18th centuries, instruments continued to evolve, large concert halls and opera houses were built, and composers explored new ideas that pushed boundaries.</p>
<p>What’s now known as “symphonic music” was born: music that was performed by a symphony orchestra. <a href="https://coloradosymphony.org/symphony-vs-orchestra/">A symphony</a> is not only a large group of musicians, but it is also a piece of music written by a composer containing multiple movements.</p>
<p>To hear a performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, you had to witness a symphony orchestra play it, and crowds clamored to gain entry to concert halls hear the newest and most acclaimed composers’ works.</p>
<p>During the 18th and early 19th centuries, however, a set of social rules calcified around this music: how to listen, what to wear, where to sit and when to applaud. As tastes and technologies began to <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/amcm/hd_amcm.htm">change in the late 19th century</a>, the masses were drawn to new forms of music like jazz. Concert halls, meanwhile, became the realm of high culture, high art and high society.</p>
<p>A clear divide between popular music and <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/music-theory/why-do-we-call-it-classical-music/">what became known as “classical” music</a> emerged. That divide still exists today.</p>
<p>Many argue that the <a href="https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/11/17/the-classical-music-world-is-grappling-with-accessibility">classical music world is no longer accessible</a> to most people – it’s seen as too intimidating and too stuffy, with works that are too long and tickets that are too expensive. Meanwhile, symphony orchestras around the world <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/16/arts/music/orchestra-diversity.html">are scrambling to diversify their music and ranks</a> within a tradition and culture that was long reserved for the highly educated, wealthy and white.</p>
<p>With symphonies working to be more inclusive in their music education and program offerings, I see video games as a key way to bridge this divide.</p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/69xgGwecfj6y1Jfz2e73PA?utm_source=generator&theme=0" width="100%" height="352" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<h2>From ‘bleeps and bloops’ to symphonic music</h2>
<p>Due to limitations in hardware, early video games utilized synthesized “bleeps and bloops.” However, these constraints spurred programmers to think about creative ways to make games more immersive through sound. </p>
<p>Today, video games do not have the same limitations. Composers have the agency to create soundscapes that utilize the most advanced hardware and software, and they can employ some of the best musicians in the world <a href="https://www.grammy.com/videos/assassins-creed-wins-best-score-soundtrack-video-games-interactive-media-2023-grammys-premiere-ceremony">to record award-winning soundtracks</a>. </p>
<p>In a 2021 interview, video game composer and conductor <a href="https://youtu.be/wInG9pSpmNQ?t=1505">Eimear Noone said</a>, “More young people listen to orchestral music through their game consoles today than have ever listened to orchestral music in the history of music.” </p>
<p>She’s probably right. <a href="https://financesonline.com/number-of-gamers-worldwide/">There are over 3 billion gamers</a> around the world, and people between the ages of 18 and 25 spend the most time playing video games. A <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/video-games-children-classical-music/">2018 poll conducted by the U.K.’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra</a> found that more young people are exposed to classical music through video games than through attending live performances.</p>
<p>The fusion of advanced technology and scholarship has forged worlds like those found in the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise, which can <a href="https://doi-org.wake.idm.oclc.org/10.1086/713365">act as time machines</a> that allow players to explore ancient Greece, with historically informed soundtracks accompanying them on their journeys.</p>
<p>In Activision’s “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice,” composer Yuka Kitamura used traditional Japanese instruments to craft a sound informed by Japan’s <a href="https://doyouknowjapan.com/history/sengoku/">Sengoku period</a>; the music of “Civilization IV” contains tracks influenced by composers throughout history; and many of today’s most popular video game titles <a href="https://limelightmagazine.com.au/features/the-best-classical-music-in-videogames/">feature classical music</a>. </p>
<p>“Thanks to video games,” <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/04/28/arts/i-fell-love-with-classical-music-thanks-video-games/">Boston Globe music writer A.Z. Madonna wrote</a>, “I fell in love with classical music.”</p>
<h2>Getting the recognition it deserves</h2>
<p>Today’s video game music is more interactive and nonlinear than traditional concert hall and film music. This means that <a href="https://stringsmagazine.com/top-video-game-composers-talk-craft-and-breaking-into-the-business/">composers think differently when writing for games</a>. Tools, technologies and education for composers and musicians are changing.</p>
<p>The increasing complexity of video games means composers are once again pushing boundaries through expanded sound palettes. Like “Starfield,” many modern game titles incorporate symphonic music needed to provide the emotional and atmospheric underpinning of the game experience.</p>
<p>As the gaming industry continues to expand – it’s projected <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/748044/number-video-gamers-world/">to earn US$533 billion globally by 2027</a> – video game soundtracks have become more and more popular. When a game is released, <a href="https://blog.chartmetric.com/video-game-music-rise-popularity/">music streaming platforms</a> routinely release an accompanying soundtrack. </p>
<p>The classical music world and symphony orchestras may finally be catching on.</p>
<p>In 2022, the BBC Proms, a daily summer concert series that features classical music in London, included video game music <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/erjv9r">performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra</a> for the first time in history. In 2023, the Grammys recognized “<a href="https://www.grammy.com/news/2023-grammys-new-categories-songwriter-year-best-video-game-soundtrack-social-impact-special-merit-award-65th-grammy-awards">Best Video Game Soundtrack</a>” as an official category for the first time. Its inaugural winner was <a href="https://www.grammy.com/news/stephanie-economou-interview-2023-grammys-assassins-creed-valhalla-best-score-soundtrack-video-games-interactive-media">Stephanie Economou</a> for her work on “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök.”</p>
<p>Today, there are a number of symphonic concert series – <a href="http://gameonconcert.com/">GameOn!</a>, <a href="https://www.gameconcerts.com/en/concerts/final-symphony/">Game Concerts</a>, <a href="https://ffdistantworlds.com/">Distant Worlds</a> and <a href="https://www.videogameslive.com/">VGL</a> – that feature live video game music performed by top orchestras.</p>
<p>“Starfield” will be marked by beautiful graphics, interactive game play and a compelling story, but holding it together will be the gravity of its sonic landscape. Video game music has come a long way from its first “bleeps and bloops.” Symphonic music will continue to accompany players’ video game journeys, and like “Starfield,” the sky is no longer the limit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Aaron Hardwick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The genre has long been viewed as too exclusive, too expensive and too stuffy. Thanks to video games, that’s starting to change.J. Aaron Hardwick, Orchestra Director and Assistant Professor of Music, Wake Forest UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2114432023-08-29T15:34:43Z2023-08-29T15:34:43ZFinal Fantasy XIV fans fear the game’s new colonial storyline – here’s why they don’t need to<p>The popular online role-playing game <a href="https://www.finalfantasyxiv.com">Final Fantasy XIV</a> will be taking its players to the “New World” when its fifth content expansion, <a href="https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/dawntrail/">Dawntrail</a>, is released next summer. More than a passing reference to the age of European exploration, it is set on a new continent, known as Tural, which draws historical and cultural inspiration from pre-Columbian Latin America and civilisations such as the Aztec, Inca and Maya.</p>
<p>The game’s producer, Naoki Yoshida, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/--_vb2j_qDo?feature=share&t=3832">announced the expansion</a> at the end of July 2023 during an official fan festival. He explained that the story will begin with playable characters being invited to the New World. There they will oversee a contest over the throne of Tuliyollal – a major city in the region.</p>
<p>The journey to Tural is portrayed in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdtXxyqlF9E">announcement trailer</a> as a well-earned, exotic vacation for players after the apocalyptic events of the game’s last expansion, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTTtd6bnhFs">Endwalker</a>. While some Latin American players <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitpostXIV/comments/15cwa6i/comment/ju0bxds/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">are excited</a> to see their historical culture represented in the game, other players have <a href="https://twitter.com/lavender_paws/status/1685031736617623552?s=20">expressed concern</a> about the colonial role their player character might play in the story. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1685031736617623552"}"></div></p>
<p>One fan responded by <a href="https://shivasdarknight.tumblr.com/post/724145759303434240/time-for-your-regularly-scheduled-killjoy-hour">analysing the way</a> in which they claim indigenous culture has already been poorly represented in the game. They claim that the game’s producers, Square-Enix, have “a really awful track record” that “doesn’t bode well for Dawntrail”.</p>
<p>These concerns about the way in which Latin American history and culture will be reflected in the game are understandable. While video games are an exciting medium through which to reflect Latin American history and culture, the region’s past is <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/3457/Cultural-CodeVideo-Games-and-Latin-America">commonly represented</a> through tomb raiding ancient civilisations and colonisation.</p>
<p>However, as a historian of empire, I believe that Final Fantasy XIV has already demonstrated over the past ten years of its development that video games can present nuanced interpretations of imperialism.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SdtXxyqlF9E?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The announcement trailer for Dawntrail.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Final Fantasy’s track record</h2>
<p>The release of the newest game in the long-running series in June hasn’t helped the brand’s image – when <a href="https://uk.finalfantasyxvi.com">Final Fantasy XVI</a> hit the shelves, Yoshida was criticised for the game’s lack of racial diversity. When asked about the absence of non-white characters, <a href="https://kotaku.com/ffxvi-square-enix-naoki-yoshida-ff16-release-date-1849744847">he stated that</a> this was because the game world was based on medieval Europe. Whether intentional or not, this white washing of European history ignores the <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/black-presence-pre-20th-century-europe-hidden-history/#:%7E:text=The%20140%2C000%20slaves%20imported%20into,not%20influential%20as%20a%20group.">continent’s racially diverse past</a> – a misconception historians are already <a href="https://theconversation.com/mary-beard-is-right-roman-britain-was-multi-ethnic-so-why-does-this-upset-people-so-much-82269">struggling to counter</a>.</p>
<p>So, will Dawntrail’s narrative and setting parrot colonial tropes of the Americas? While it’s still too early to tell, Final Fantasy XIV’s story has a track record of taking the historical realities of imperialism seriously, despite its fantasy setting. </p>
<p>Like many other games in the series, the plot of Final Fantasy XIV centres around a struggle against the oppressive expansion of an empire. While hardly a post-colonial critique, the game sheds light on imperial relationships and themes that reflect a more nuanced understanding of the history of empire.</p>
<p>The Garlean Empire is presented as a threat to the player at the beginning of the game’s narrative. This is due to its military expansion into Eorzea, the region in which players begin the game. The way in which the Garlean Empire justifies its imperialism is strikingly similar to historical empires. </p>
<p>Although they are unable to utilise magic, Garleans are a race of humans that are born with a “third eye” that increases their spatial recognition. This racial trait is used by Garleans to differentiate themselves from the other “savages” of the world. This allows the empire to frame its expansion as a civilising duty. This accurately reflects the historical rhetoric of imperial policy makers, who adhered to the “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/white%20man%27s%20burden">white man’s burden</a>” – the idea that the white race had a moral duty to civilise the non-white peoples of the world.</p>
<h2>Changes for Stormblood</h2>
<p>The game’s second expansion, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt1h1MinlLI">Stormblood</a>, draws attention to the ways in which local elites have sometimes collaborated with imperial rulers. This is an aspect of imperial history that <a href="https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/BuehrerCooperation">historians such as Tanja Bührer are keen to analyse</a>. It demonstrates that imperial relationships are not simply static interactions between colonisers and the colonised. Power and agency is fluid on both sides.</p>
<p>Fordola Lupis is an antagonist in the story who serves the Garlean Empire after her home nation, Ala Mhigo, is annexed. Players learn that she brutally suppresses Ala Mhigan resistance efforts because her father was killed for advocating collaboration with the empire to ensure the nation’s survival. Despite her loyalty to the empire, Fordola is still considered a “savage” in the imperial hierarchy. This reflects the limitations that local elites have faced when cooperating with imperial powers in real life.</p>
<p>The game’s last expansion, Endwalker, presented the perspectives of imperial citizens in the metropole. When the Garlean Empire finally collapses, players encounter Garlean citizens and gain insights into the ways in which the empire’s expansion influenced their civilian lives. It’s important because it recognises that empires not only subjugate and affect other peoples, but that they also <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674025561">transform society at home</a>.</p>
<p>If Dawntrail ends up propagating colonial tropes, then it ought to be criticised. But Final Fantasy XIV’s narrative demonstrates that video games can present nuanced interpretations of imperialism. </p>
<p>The game’s localisation lead (who oversees the game’s translation from Japanese and helps build its lore), Kathryn Cwynar, offered players hope on the second day of the fan festival when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/YozopuVW8Mo?feature=share&t=26654">she explained</a> that: “when we do draw on real life cultures and languages, we want to develop an understanding and a respect for those cultures”. She said that the team was aware of its past failings and promised that “we are really working on it” for Dawntrail.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211443/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Bryne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some Latin American players expressed concern about the colonial role their player character will play in the story.Alex Bryne, Teaching Associate, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2111272023-08-28T20:03:56Z2023-08-28T20:03:56ZA battlefield for ants? New study on ant warfare shows we could manipulate their fights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542462/original/file-20230813-108238-w4bkeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C903%2C3234%2C1887&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bruce Webber</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans are not the only animals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10407413.2020.1846456">that go to war</a>. Ants do so too, and on a similarly catastrophic scale.</p>
<p>Battles play out daily – in human conflicts, among animals in nature, and across the virtual worlds of video games. How these battles progress depends on the combatants involved and what their battlefields are like.</p>
<p>In a new study <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2217973120">published in PNAS today</a>, we used mathematical models on video game simulations to test how battlefield dynamics change warfare outcomes. We then confirmed these concepts in the real world – using ant battles.</p>
<h2>The mathematics of a battle</h2>
<p>Despite the horror of war, it occupies a prominent place in public imagination. In the early 1900s, English engineer Frederick William Lanchester developed a mathematical model that described the outcome of battles as dependent on the individual strength of each soldier in opposing armies, and on the size of each army. </p>
<p>To this day, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10407413.2020.1846456">Lanchester’s laws</a> remain valuable tools for evaluating battles. Investing in a few strong soldiers should be more effective when battles resemble a series of one-on-one duels. On the other hand, investing in large armies should be more effective when they can surround their enemies and concentrate their attacks.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/11.6.686">Later research</a> by evolutionary biologists Nigel Franks and Lucas Partridge revealed it’s not just the soldiers. The complexity of the battlefield itself can also tip the balance in favour of one strategy over another.</p>
<p>When fighting in tunnels, alleyways, or difficult terrain, it’s harder for large armies to surround their opponents, so small forces of strong or savvy soldiers can succeed. Such tactics are the basis for the story of Spartans holding off hundreds of thousands of Persian soldiers at the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2022/01/betrayal-crushed-spartas-last-stand-at-the-battle-of-thermopylae">Battle of Thermopylae</a> in 480 BCE.</p>
<h2>Age of Empires II versus ants</h2>
<p>In our study, we first used the video game <a href="https://www.ageofempires.com/">Age of Empires II</a> to assess the importance of battlefield complexity.</p>
<p>This game allows players to arrange different soldier types, build maps and fight against computer-driven enemies. In featureless battlefields, small armies of strong infantry units (Teutonic Knights) could defeat up to 50 weaker units (Two-Handed Swordsmen), but no more.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542468/original/file-20230813-101760-mirg3t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="In a video game, a group of nine soldiers in blue are surrounded by a larger group of soldiers in red" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542468/original/file-20230813-101760-mirg3t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542468/original/file-20230813-101760-mirg3t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542468/original/file-20230813-101760-mirg3t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542468/original/file-20230813-101760-mirg3t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542468/original/file-20230813-101760-mirg3t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542468/original/file-20230813-101760-mirg3t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542468/original/file-20230813-101760-mirg3t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A small army of Teutonic Knights (blue) are surrounded and overwhelmed by 60 Two-Handed Swordsmen in a simple battlefield in the strategy game, Age of Empires II.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Age of Empires II</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, in complex battlefields, nine Knights could slay up to 70 Swordsmen. We found that video game wars, even though not explicitly programmed to do so, clearly followed Lanchester’s laws. But how relevant are these laws to real-world battles?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542469/original/file-20230813-196116-xbiy6a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="In a video game, groups of soldiers in red move down narrow alleyways of land between strips of water. Facing them in the alleyways are small groups of soldiers in blue" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542469/original/file-20230813-196116-xbiy6a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542469/original/file-20230813-196116-xbiy6a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542469/original/file-20230813-196116-xbiy6a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542469/original/file-20230813-196116-xbiy6a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=291&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542469/original/file-20230813-196116-xbiy6a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542469/original/file-20230813-196116-xbiy6a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542469/original/file-20230813-196116-xbiy6a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a complex battlefield, the same army of Swordsmen are unable to surround the Knights, and are instead funnelled between barriers of water. Now, the Knights have fewer Swordsmen to face at any one time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Age of Empires II</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most animals do not engage in warfare on the same scale as humans. This is because there’s no evolutionary incentive in risking their lives for a cause in which they don’t necessarily have a direct stake.</p>
<p>Social insects such as ants <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10407413.2020.1846456">are an exception</a>, because through warfare, the evolutionary future of the sterile worker ants who do the fighting is invested in the greater good of the colony.</p>
<p>Testing Lanchester’s laws required two ant species that clearly differed in their fighting prowess. Our first combatant was the Australian meat ant, <em>Iridomyrmex purpureus</em>. These large and beautiful ants, with their conspicuous gravelly nests, are familiar to many people in regional Australia as they are dominant in undisturbed or remnant bushland habitats.</p>
<p>As their enemies, we selected the notorious Argentine ant, <em>Linepithema humile</em>. These aggressive invasive ants are comparatively tiny but live in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2009.01.013">extremely large, hyper-cooperative colonies</a>.</p>
<p>Because of the size difference, meat ants always defeat Argentine ants in one-on-one duels. We formed small armies of 20 meat ants, and opposed them in the lab to increasingly large armies of up to 200 Argentine ants.</p>
<p>These battles took place either in simple arenas (featureless plastic containers) or complex arenas (the same containers with narrow wooden strips glued to the floor).</p>
<p>As predicted by Lanchester’s laws and by our video gaming, fewer large meat ants died in battle in complex arenas compared to simple ones.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542467/original/file-20230813-29-sz0e9o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large ant is being attacked by two smaller ants, while another large ant stands to the side" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542467/original/file-20230813-29-sz0e9o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542467/original/file-20230813-29-sz0e9o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542467/original/file-20230813-29-sz0e9o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542467/original/file-20230813-29-sz0e9o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542467/original/file-20230813-29-sz0e9o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542467/original/file-20230813-29-sz0e9o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542467/original/file-20230813-29-sz0e9o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A meat ant grapples with two smaller Argentine ant adversaries, while a fellow meat ant watches on.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bruce Webber</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Understanding ant invasions</h2>
<p>Experiments like this can inform us about the dynamics between native and non-native invasive ants. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-red-fire-ants-and-yellow-crazy-ants-have-given-themselves-a-green-light-to-invade-australia-208479">Non-native invasive ants</a> are some of the worst pests on the planet, costing the global economy <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-022-02791-w">tens of billions of dollars per year</a>. Ecosystem managers are keenly interested in new ways to manipulate the competitive success of these invaders.</p>
<p>One of the unifying features of non-native invasive ants is that, like our Argentine ants, they are generally individually <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/303270">smaller than non-invasive species</a> in the areas they invade, while living in extremely large colonies. It has also been observed that non-native invasives are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1603/0013-8746(2004)097%5b0513:COFCFN%5d2.0.CO;2">particularly dominant in disturbed environments</a>. </p>
<p>While there are many possible reasons for this, disturbed environments are often simplified at ground level, with the removal of undergrowth and natural debris creating open battlefields.</p>
<p>The fact that small but numerous non-native invasive ants are more successful against their large native competitors in simplified environments makes sense, in light of our experimental study of ant warfare.</p>
<p>It also suggests that adding ground-level complexity, such as natural debris, may tip the balance in favour of larger native species. Just like for humans (and in computer games), the outcome of ant wars depends on the nature of the battlefield.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-know-if-were-winning-the-war-on-australias-fire-ant-invasion-and-what-to-do-if-we-arent-121367">How to know if we’re winning the war on Australia’s fire ant invasion, and what to do if we aren't</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211127/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samuel Lymbery was supported by a Forrest Prospect Fellowship from the Forrest Research Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Webber is supported by CSIRO Health & Biosecurity. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raphael Didham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mathematical models, video games and experiments with ants can all further our understanding of the dynamics of war.Samuel Lymbery, Postdoctoral Fellow in Biosecurity, Murdoch UniversityBruce Webber, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRORaphael Didham, Professor of Ecology, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2113902023-08-11T10:03:15Z2023-08-11T10:03:15ZGran Turismo: why this glorified advert fails where Barbie succeeded<p><em>Warning: the following article contains spoilers for Gran Turismo.</em></p>
<p>Directed by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0088955/">Neill Blomkamp</a> (District 9, Elysium), Gran Turismo is based on the true story of <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a44759037/gran-turismo-true-story-jann-mardenborough-now/#:%7E:text=The%20facts%20are%20accurate%20though,and%20killing%20one%20of%20them.">Jann Mardenborough</a> (played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5994098/">Archie Madekwe</a>), a teenage gamer addicted to the driving simulator game Gran Turismo, who wins the chance to become a professional racing driver.</p>
<p>As he joins the Gran Turismo (GT) academy, Jann goes through exactly the sorts of setbacks and near-misses you might expect. From the group bully to the countless crashes in training, right through until the final challenge where – you guessed it – he achieves what we all knew he would from the start, it’s all very predictable. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GVPzGBvPrzw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Gran Turismo.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s not that this is an out-and-out bad film, like some video game tie ins we’ve seen in the past (I’m looking at you 1993’s <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/super_mario_bros">Super Mario Bros.</a>). It’s just really dull. And it’s not really a proper game tie in. Aside from the rampant product placement and the slightly awkward homages to GT producer <a href="https://gran-turismo.fandom.com/wiki/Kazunori_Yamauchi">Kazunori Yamauchi</a>, you could be forgiven for thinking this isn’t a film about video games at all. The film simply can’t decide what it wants to be.</p>
<h2>Missed opportunities</h2>
<p>While the link between video games and professional racing has a lot of cinematic potential, the gaming stage of Jann’s life is over with quite quickly. We never really get a sense of how much time he spent gaming, or even what skills he gained that helped him become so good at GT.</p>
<p>The racing side of the film is also rather shallow. Beyond a lot of engine noise and tense expressions from behind the wheel, there is never any sense of proper jeopardy. After all, Jann won his chance to be a racer – it’s not like he really has anything to lose.</p>
<p>It is quite disappointing that a film about racing doesn’t give much insight into the art of racing, or the skills required to make it to the top. Rather, we are simply told by Jann’s trainer (played by Stranger Things star <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1092086/">David Harbour</a>) that it’s all about “commitment” and “conviction”.</p>
<p>It is a little ironic then, that the film’s biggest failing is that it lacks the strength of its own convictions. There’s very little in it for gaming enthusiasts (beside a few Easter eggs and a lot of product placement). Meanwhile, the racing scenes are generic and lack the heft of proper motor sport.</p>
<p>The end result is a film that feels flat. Midway through the screening I attended, a group of tween boys sitting just in front of me walked out – they’d simply had enough.</p>
<h2>The blurring of worlds</h2>
<p>As a concept, Gran Turismo is a curious beast. It is a film produced by Sony, about games that are published by Sony and played on consoles manufactured by Sony. </p>
<p>As a marketer, I am fascinated by the fact that consumers are paying to watch a film about a product that is ultimately designed to sell more copies of that product. Audiences are essentially paying Sony for the privilege of watching an extended advert. This is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1469540520944228">a topic I have written about extensively in my research</a> – especially examples in which the consumer also becomes a part of the product, such as with social media. </p>
<p>But so long as toys and video games continue make big money, this trend of movie tie-ins like Gran Turismo is only going to continue. From the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_JOBCLF-I">Lego movie</a> to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtuFgnxQMrA">Transformers</a> franchise to the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/greta-gerwigs-barbie-movie-is-a-feminist-bimbo-classic-and-no-thats-not-an-oxymoron-210069">Barbie movie</a>, we all seem to enjoy a film that makes us feel nostalgic, or adds value to something we already love. </p>
<p>The Barbie movie’s success speaks to its strong writing, A-list stars and handling of wider themes. Gran Turismo lacks the substance and depth that have made its doll-themed counterpart so popular. Compared with its competitors in the movie tie-ins market, Grant Turismo feels rather shallow. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Ryder does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Audiences are essentially paying Sony for the privilege of watching an extended advert.Mike Ryder, Lecturer in Marketing, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102572023-07-25T18:53:58Z2023-07-25T18:53:58ZWhat the ‘NPC streaming’ TikTok trend spells for the future of gaming and erotic work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538915/original/file-20230724-20-6acg1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1194%2C619&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Livestreaming represents an increasingly important part of social media.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I54asYsgnRM">(KnowYourMeme)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/what-the-npc-streaming-tiktok-trend-spells-for-the-future-of-gaming-and-erotic-work" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>“Yes, yes… mmm, mmm ice cream so good,” coos a platinum-haired woman known on TikTok as Pinkydoll. Holding a hair straightener, she plays with popcorn kernels and audibly pops her lips. Your screen brightens with emojis of food, roses and stars purchased by her audience. What are we watching? Why?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/tiktok-npc-livestream-pinkydoll-1.6916479">Pinkydoll</a> is a Montréal-based social media creator who has become the face of TikTok’s latest trend: NPC streaming. The trend draws its name from the non-playable characters (NPCs) of video games. Think of background characters that might perform a few preprogrammed lines or actions.</p>
<p>NPC streamers perform a cycle of non-sequitur dialogue, cartoonish stares and physical jolts for no purpose besides ambience in a virtual world. In July 2023, videos featuring creators like Pinkydoll — mostly thin, conventionally attractive women — went viral to the confusion of millions.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/19/tiktok-npc-streaming-live-stream-pinkydoll">Top content creators can earn thousands of dollars a day</a> online. With this trend, more TikTokers have found incentive to become living game pieces for a digital public. <a href="https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/npc-tiktoker-onlyfans-star-pinkydoll-reveals-staggering-earnings-2218222/">Pinkydoll credits the backgrounds citizens of the <em>Grand Theft Auto</em> video game as the inspiration for her performances</a>. </p>
<iframe src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7257586575431978246?lang=en-US" style="border:0;width:100%;min-height:825px;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/3akvdw/npc-livestream-trend-pinkydoll-tiktok">Some touted NPC-ing as a triumph for “fetish videos</a>.” Others argue that <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/21/pinkydoll-npc-tiktok-sex-work-not-fetish-content/">labelling NPC content as “fetish” expands digital surveillance and moral panic against sex workers</a>.</p>
<p>A number of popular NPC streamers also produce paywalled adult content on sites like OnlyFans. The rise of NPC streaming showcases how gamer cultures and adult content make for lucrative bedfellows.</p>
<h2>Livestreamers as our ‘playthings’</h2>
<p>Livestreaming represents an increasingly vital part of the social media business models of companies like YouTube and Instagram. Their apps offer an easy interface between broadcasters and audiences, who interact with each other in real-time via voice and chat. </p>
<p>TikTok offers live video streaming to users with at least 1,000 followers. NPC streamers are thus already established creators familiar with commodifying our attention.</p>
<p>NPC streaming depends on the purchase and posting of “gifts.” Buying an NPC streamer a virtual gift triggers a chain reaction of the absurd: the gift will appear in a creator’s stream as emojis like ice cream cones, balloons, or even squids. NPC streamers then react accordingly to the specific image on their screen. Squeals, catchphrases, lip smacking and a myriad of gestures result. These broadcasts offer built-in incentives to keep engagement going.</p>
<p>Scholars have previously used “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276415619474">gift economy</a>” to describe the <em>unpaid</em> rewards that prompt us to share with each other (for example, writing fan fiction without remuneration). In NPC streaming, not only is gifting tied to real-world currency; but gifts incite the streamer to <em>move</em>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I54asYsgnRM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The NPC streaming trend involves performing a cycle of non-sequitur dialogue and actions.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>TikTok’s transactional approach to intimacy is not new. Amazon’s Twitch platform remains an exemplary case of a streaming platform that sells live interaction, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/746173/monthly-active-streamers-on-twitch/">with more than seven million active streamers</a>. Dominated by professional gamers, Twitch operates a similar model where viewers accrue Channel Points for as long as they are watching a stream. With Channel Points, users can buy special emojis to be used in chats. They can also be redeemed to purchase subscriptions, which put real money in streamers’ pockets.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13634607221103204">The parallels between livestreaming and webcam work have just begun to be academically recognized</a>. Like the NPCs of TikTok, Twitch gamers render their bodies as intimate interfaces. <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comments/gszv8m/using_channel_points_to_workout_and_engage_with/">As reflected by one Twitch streamer’s advice for colleagues</a>, it is not uncommon for game streamers to set a “Bathroom Break” and “Hydration Break” as “achievements” (or commands) that viewers can purchase for their streamer to perform on demand.</p>
<p>Game streamers like Ludwig Ahgren have taken the sale of control further. In 2021, the Twitch creator broke records with <a href="https://screenrant.com/twitch-ludwig-subathon-money-total-time-cost-stats/">a 31-day continuous livestream from his home</a>. For every subscription received, Ahgren would extend the livestream by 10 seconds, <a href="https://screenrant.com/twitch-ludwig-subathon-money-total-time-cost-stats/">leading to over US$1.4 million from those who subscribed</a>. </p>
<p>In this context, NPC streamers are just the latest genre of creators who divide their bodies into marketplaces of intimacy.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7256965308735442222?lang=en-US" style="border:0;width:100%;min-height:825px;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<h2>What’s new is old in gamer patriarchy</h2>
<p>With their predilection for shocking wigs, filters and revealing outfits, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/welcome-to-planet-egirl/">NPC streamer aesthetics bear a stark familiarity to the archetypes of controversial gamer “e-girls”</a>: a once sexist slur from eSports that <a href="https://kotaku.com/young-women-are-reclaiming-the-word-egirl-1836738879">women gamers have reclaimed for themselves in recent years</a>. Like e-girls, NPC streamers have been received as anti-heroines who have gamed our eyeballs into profit. </p>
<p>When women gain our attention for money, we pay attention to the figures. The media fixation on Pinkydoll echoes back specifically to the scandalous reaction to e-girl creator Belle Delphine <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15274764221080930">who made headlines in 2017 for selling her own “Gamer Girl” bathwater for US$30 a bottle</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, many commentators have quoted the US$7,000 per day Pinkydoll has earned from streaming. However, TikTok alone did not pay her bills. According to the creator, <a href="https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/npc-tiktoker-onlyfans-star-pinkydoll-reveals-staggering-earnings-2218222/">the money is a collective sum from her streaming and adult content</a>. </p>
<p>The economics of online fame are closely tied to a more invisible economy of online sex work. This is happening as the internet becomes increasingly unkind to erotic content creators. Anti-sex work movements such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-online-safety-bill-could-allow-censorship-of-anyone-who-engages-with-sexual-content-on-the-internet-154739">FOSTA-SESTA</a> legislation in the U.S. and <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/instagram-removing-sex-positive-accounts-without-warning">Meta’s purges of kink accounts</a> are linked to growing online hostility toward those who sell intimacy, regardless of if they identify as sex workers. </p>
<p>In gamer cultures, a similar paranoia pervades against women seen to be “weaponizing” their sexuality. Twitch’s female game streamers operate in the shadow of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/20/20808875/gamergate-lessons-cultural-impact-changes-harassm">2014 GamerGate</a> harassment campaign.</p>
<p>NPC streaming gives creators a new avenue to earn money online. Understanding how different bodies, practices and agencies are received — and strategically surrendered — is essential to building safer play and work in social media.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine H. Tran receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>There’s more to NPC streaming than strange gimmicks. The rise of the trend showcases how gamer cultures and adult content make for lucrative bedfellows.Christine H. Tran, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Information, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.