SlideShare a Scribd company logo
1 of 18
Download to read offline
Cameron, D., & Carroll, J. (2004). The story so far... The researcher as a player
     in games analysis. Media International Australia, 110, 62-72.


DRAFT version. This is a preprint copy.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


“The story so far …”: the researcher as a player in game analysis


David Cameron, John Carroll
Charles Sturt University


Abstract


This article outlines some preliminary research into the learning discourses of
computer and video games, as expressed through the printed materials that
accompany games, and the instructional elements built into game narratives.
This leads to discussion of an interesting methodological dilemma - how does
the interpretative ethnographic researcher analyse this content when he or she
becomes part of the playing process? How do you analyse the learning
mechanisms of games when you are being reflexively engaged in the training
materials and systems mapped into the text by the games designers? This
article examines this “crisis of representation” in interpretive ethnographic
research approaches to games research.


Introduction


To borrow a sporting truism, this is a paper of two halves. Our initial project
was to examine the nature of learning discourses evident in computer and
video games, and we start by discussing our preliminary observations in this
area. As we progressed in that work we became aware of a fundamental
methodological issue – how best to analyse the content of computer and video
games when we were part of the playing process? This apparent dilemma in

                                                                                                        1
the interpretive ethnographic research approach to games forms the second
half of this article.


Challenge versus failure


The ability of computer and video games to capture and maintain player
interest - their special ‘holding power or addictive quality’ (Haddon 1999:
319) - seems to stem from a mix of challenge and ability that can easily tip
towards boredom and dissatisfaction if the game becomes too hard. Some
psychologists refer to “optimal experience”, or more commonly “flow”, as
that moment when skill levels allow players to engage with a challenge
without feeling too anxious about failure, or too bored with success
(Csikszentmihalyi 1990).


Clearly an entertainment product like a computer or video game that gets the
balance wrong, that frustrates and challenges too much or too early, runs the
risk of putting players off. In a multi-billion dollar industry that relies heavily
on word-of-mouth to generate sales this could be a disaster. The designers of
computer and video games are therefore faced with a fundamental problem:
‘if no one can learn their games, no one will buy them’ (Gee 2003: 114). As a
result these products incorporate a range of teaching and information
strategies to ensure new players can quickly engage with the game content.


These can include:


      printed documentation;
      in-game help screens;
      tutorial modes of play separate to the game itself;
      episodic gameplay with simplified or instructive early stages; and
      game characters that coach (or inveigle) the player.




                                                                                  2
In addition, sources of information external to the game package itself may be
available such as telephone support lines, printed or online player guides,
cheat lists and walkthroughs. In many cases this supplementary help material
is produced or collated by players rather than publishers, and is then
distributed via fan networks, specialist magazines, or online games forums
and Websites.


Going (digital) native


Katz argues that new forms of popular culture, mostly involving computers,
have developed so quickly that there has evolved ‘perhaps the widest gap -
informational, cultural and factual - between the young and the old in human
history’ (Katz 2000). Evidence of these changes surfaces in the literature as an
expression of frustration from educators about how students use technology.
Laird (2003: 42) describes how her online students prefer to randomly access
course components rather than follow a sequential order, expect fast
information delivery, and demand immediate feedback - all characteristics of
the cognitive changes evident in the “games generation” (Prensky 2001).


Prensky (2002) also talks of a chasm between a younger generation of “digital
natives” who have not known a world without computer games, and an older
generation of “digital immigrants” forced to adapt to rapid changes in digital
technology. This raises a fundamental problem for would-be games
researchers - are you a digital native or a digital immigrant? Prensky (2002)
carries the metaphor further to suggest that many educators (and by
implication, researchers) are digital immigrants who speak with an “accent”
that some natives find difficult to understand. Examples of this accent include
not using the Internet at all, or printing out emails before reading them.
Prensky claims that this generational chasm manifests itself in education via
ten basic cognitive changes as illustrated in Table 1.




                                                                              3
Table 1: Ten learning preferences of Prensky’s “Digital Natives” (from
Cameron 2003).
    Digital natives        Traditional            Learning implications:
    prefer:                training provides:

1   “Twitch” speed         Conventional           Students desire faster
                           speed                  interaction with information
                                                  (game speed).
2   Parallel processing    Linear processing      Students desire multitasking,
                                                  processing multiple data
                                                  simultaneously.
3   Graphics first         Text first             Students desire graphic
                                                  information with a text
                                                  backup.
4   Random access          Step-by-step           Students prefer hyperlinking
                                                  through materials, rather than
                                                  reading from beginning to
                                                  end.
5   Connectivity           Stand alone            Students prefer networking,
                                                  and high level of electronic
                                                  communication.
6   Activity               Passivity              Less tolerance for passive
                                                  instructional situations - learn
                                                  by doing.
7   Play                   Work                   Students see computers as
                                                  toys as well as tools; prefer to
                                                  learn in a fun environment.
8   Payoff                 Patience               Expect immediate and clear
                                                  feedback or reward in return
                                                  for efforts.
9   Fantasy                Reality                Fantasy and play elements are
                                                  an accepted part of “serious”
                                                  work, e.g. informal work
                                                  settings.
1   Technology-as-         Technology-as-foe      See technology as
0   friend                                        empowering and necessary.




This summary of the generational differences between the teaching and
learning generations is supported by Fromme (2001: 2), who also argues that
‘parents and teachers tend to address the media cultures of the younger from
their own generational perspective’ while ignoring the digital media literacy
of children and young adults. Table 1 also clearly illustrates potential pitfalls

                                                                                    4
for games researchers who do not account for generational differences in
changing media cultures.


From manuals to manga


Traditionally, most computer and video game products are shipped with an
external player guide or manual. These can range in complexity from a brief
printed insert designed to slip into a CD-ROM jewel case, to an expanded
version with gameplay tips and background narrative, perhaps reaching the
level of a substantial book with dozens of pages explaining complex controls
and screen features (Hendrick, 1999). Some budget-conscious titles dispense
with printed material completely, but provide an electronic version of the
document that can be viewed or printed by the user.


Possibly like most software support products, these instruction manuals ‘are
frequently given short shrift by just about everybody associated with
computer games’ (Crawford, 1982). Hendrick (1999) suggests that manuals
written too early or too late in the production process, or produced by
inexperienced writers, result in texts that are ‘frequently reviled as
overblown, badly worded, uninformative dross that provide little or no help.’


However part of the reason instruction manuals may be ignored until a
problem arises is that ‘they do not make a lot of sense unless one has already
experienced and lived in the game world for a while’ (Gee 102: 102).
Experienced players may be able to recognise or make educated guesses
about controls and goals, particularly if the game falls into a familiar genre. In
this way many players prefer to start playing after only a cursory glance at the
instructions, and then return to a manual or help system only when they
become stuck, frustrated or want to see if they’ve missed any game features.
The tendency for people to jump into new software before reading the
instructions is reflected in a common acronym found in responses to new


                                                                                 5
users’ questions posted to online message boards and forums - “RTFM”
(“Read The Fucking Manual”).


Printed materials that accompany games can stretch beyond technical
instructions to be narrative texts in their own right. Hendrick (1999) notes that
this can simply be the result of a lazy writer opting to produce ‘bad fiction’
instead of a useful manual.
Yet most games have a suggested narrative frame: ‘a story on the package, in
the manual, or somewhere else, placing the game in a larger story’ (Juul 1999:
40).
Some of these texts are an interesting narrative supplement to the games they
support, moving beyond a simple “the story so far” account of narrative
background.


The PlayStation 2 version of Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty for
example eschews the model of a training manual, and explicitly adopts the
title of “Training Manga”. Game controls and tactics are described in the
Japanese manga comic-book form. Interestingly although generally thought of
by Western observers as entertainment, nearly one in every three books
published in Japan is a manga and can cover a broad spectrum including
technical manuals and educational content (Sales 2003). Nevertheless, the
images within the “Training Manga” produce an emotional orientation to the
game and its stealth strategy rather than providing explicit instructions.


Clearly, a games researcher must decide whether to consider the
accompanying instructions as part of the game being studied. Our interest in
the instructional elements of games suggested that the manuals should be
part of the research subject, but should we read them before, during, or after
tackling the software itself? How would this impact on our understanding of
the game?




                                                                                 6
For example, one of the authors starting playing Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft
Auto: Vice City without reference to the paper manual. Although familiar with
the game milieu (organised crime in a Miami-like city) from reviews, word-of-
mouth and the opening credits of the game itself, he had not seen or played
the game before.


He was able to determine by trial and error the basic mechanics of moving his
character around and interacting with the game world (primarily fighting and
driving skills). Within a few minutes he was armed with a handgun and on
the prowl, as illustrated in Figure 1. Soon he was involved in street fights,
shootouts with criminal gangs and police, car theft, and even a joyflight in a
stolen helicopter.




Figure 1: Loud guns, and even louder shirts, are basic tools of the trade in
Grand Theft Auto - Vice City (source: www.rockstargames.com).




                                                                                 7
He spent the best part of two hours enjoying a chaotic rampage through Vice
      City before even realising there were specific goals and missions built
      into the game. At that point the manual, framed as a tourist pamphlet
      and blending game instructions with “facts” about the world within
      the game, became required reading.


Learn to play / play to learn


Learning strategies are often an implicit part of the game narrative. Non-
player characters may be positioned as coaches. There may be a “boot camp”
or training scenario separate to the game, or early levels of a game can be
designed to introduce players to basic skills and functions within the game
realm. For example, the authors starting playing Capcom’s Resident Evil -
Code: Veronica X without recourse to the manual. After a lengthy cinematic
introductory sequence the player character, named Claire Redfield, regained
consciousness in a darkened cellblock. The following text appeared on the
screen:


“If I were equipped with a lighter, I could see outside…”


Taking that internal monologue as a clue to our next step, an experimental
press of control buttons soon brought up a control screen that indicated that
Claire was in possession of a lighter, and this was quickly brought into use.
The control screen also included a rudimentary help system to describe basic
functions, a map to show the location of key game features as we progressed,
and tactics for solving puzzles in the games. The internal monologue cue
system appeared again as we progressed into the next room of the game maze
and discovered a manual typewriter:


“An old typewriter. I could save my progress if I had an ink ribbon.”




                                                                                8
Thus we were introduced to the game’s mechanism for saving progress at key
checkpoints in the game maze. The language of the monologue also illustrates
the curious blend between story and game mechanics that occurs when
instructive elements are introduced into a narrative. Not only is the Claire
character describing her surroundings (“an old typewriter”), but also she is
explicitly aware of progressing through a game maze (“I could save my
progress”).


Clearly there is learning happening here, but just what is being learnt is the
issue if players are ignoring the manuals designed to introduce them to the
game. Obviously there is learning based on the computer game concept of
mastery of the interface, such as the onscreen help and the internal
monologue clues in Resident Evil. But by initially ignoring the manuals most
players appear to have a learning experience that closely mirrors the process
of experiential learning that occurs in role based process drama (Carroll &
Cameron 2003). Of particular interest is how the learning concepts drawn
from process drama such as understanding role distance and dramatic
protection (Carroll 1986) apply to games learning.


For example, while under the control of novice researchers/players the main
character in Resident Evil was continually being killed before they worked out
how to defend against the zombie attackers; yet their avatar Claire Redfield
existed in a penalty-free learning zone with nothing to lose. This allows the
players to indulge in high-risk behaviour while at the same time being
protected by their role distance from deep identification with the character so
that her potential danger becomes a learning experience. Describing her
experience playing the same game, Tosca notes:


        ‘actual gameplay is full of trial and error actions, specially at the
       beginning of the game when we are not familiar with the interface or
       the story’ (Tosca 2003: 202).




                                                                                 9
Drawing on Goffman’s (1974) explication of Frame Analysis - this concept of
the dramatic frame, where the player is operating “as if” the situation is real -
there are a range of conventions that can be engaged that vary the levels of
protection required within the game. In the initial stages of playing Resident
Evil the role distance for the player is a long way from being an involved
participant in the event. It is distanced from identification with the central
character, and instead becomes the observer/learner who needs to know how
to navigate within the new environment. The one obvious way to discover
the resources of the environment is to push the limits. Within Resident Evil this
may frequently involve unpleasant deaths for Claire, the character
representation of the player. The authors were quite willing to repeatedly
send Claire, shown in Figure 2, into flaming wreckage or zombie-infested
corridors to discover how to find useful objects and overcome obstacles.




Figure 2: Claire Redfield met repeated horrible deaths in Resident Evil -
Code: Veronica X, until the authors discovered she had firepower at her
fingertips (source: www.capcom.com).


In learning terms, Eskelinen (2001) makes a critical distinction between this
sort of risk-based learning and that of engaging in traditional text based
learning. He makes the point that the dominant mode of learning in literature,


                                                                                 10
mainstream theatre, and film is interpretative, while in games and process
drama it is configurative. He says:


       ‘…. in art we might have to configure in order to able to interpret
       whereas in games we have to interpret in order to configure, and
       proceed from the beginning to the winning of some other situation’
       (Eskelinen 2001: 2).


This type of learning is directly applicable to the ergodic learning pathwork
that Aarseth describes in Cybertext (1997). During the process of playing
Resident Evil the researchers/players were engaged in the construction of an
individual and unique screen-based semiotic structure. This consisted of a
selective configuration of the game elements and their own player choices.
The wide ranging variable expression of meaning built into a non-linear game
text should not be confused with the semantic ambiguity of a linear print
based text. The game world of Resident Evil is constructed through an
individual player’s work and hence is an ergodic text as Aarseth defines it.


The playing of Resident Evil demanded strategy and experiential repetition
that was based on the frustration of a difficult interface and a deliberately
confusing scenario. This led to extreme levels of high-risk experiential
learning that exploited the “no penalty” learning zone that death and rebirth
of player characters can provide. Of course, applications of this successful
learning strategy outside the dramatic frame can have far more serious
consequences. There is no penalty free zone in real life social interaction, and
the results are often worse than a bite on the neck from a zombie (although
sometimes that’s what it feels like).


A performance narrative approach to games research


Our research approach was based on playing games in order to observe the
learning mechanisms and discourses in these texts. A fundamental problem is



                                                                                11
apparent when the researcher becomes a participant in the process being
observed. The indeterminancy that Heisenberg so clearly articulated in
relation to quantum physics (see for example
http://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/p01.htm) also applies to the world
of games research.


Norman Denzin asserts that researchers in the human disciplines face a crisis
in both representation and legitimation when it comes to qualitative studies
(1997a: 350). The crisis of representation reflects the inherent
misrepresentation of experience that can occur when a lived experience (e.g.
learning to play a video game) is interpreted through research. Researchers
that stand outside the process itself will have vastly inferior understanding of
the research material, compared to the learner/player. This is the digital
native/digital immigrant gap described earlier. One obvious way to deal with
this is to place the researcher within the learning environment and creatively
interpret this experience as a performance narrative, while interpreting
observation and interview data as a performance text.


For our initial examination of game learning mechanisms we adopted a
process of recording both the onscreen gameplay and the researcher/player
motivations and observations in real-time. This was afforded by the simple
step of connecting the games console hardware to a video tape recorder to
record the screen action, while an audio tape recorder recorded a spoken
commentary. While one researcher played the game, the other was able to
prompt observations by asking questions about the motivation behind player
actions. The observations, assumptions, strategies, and experiences of both
researchers were recorded as a direct stream of consciousness response to the
game. In this manner the authors were creating a performance narrative (the
gameplay) while generating an audiovisual record that could later be
interrogated as a performance text itself (a commentary on the gameplay).




                                                                               12
Within video game research based on the performance text model, two forms
of textual product can be distinguished. One is the complex interpretive
product or the original text produced by the player as they learn to play the
game and attempt to articulate a set of understandings about a particular
cultural product and social process. This text then becomes the site for new
interpretive work by the researcher. The second form is the researchers’ text,
(also a critical/interpretive text) which now inserts itself inside the original
process, offering new interpretations and readings of what has been
presented. When playing Resident Evil as a specific textual video game
experience this produces a multileveled, multi-method approach to
interpretation. The favouring of such an interpretive ethnographic writing
style requires that the project simultaneously question/establish the
credibility of its use of facts and fictions in the story that is both told and
played/performed (Denzin 1997a).


The audiovisual text generated during our first encounter with Resident Evil
demonstrated the multi-level data generated when considering a new game
text. The video of the gameplay shows in real-time how awkward the
gameplay was at first, as the player continually struggled to find the right
button to complete actions. This problem decreases as the controls are learnt,
but then the viewer is struck by the amount of backtracking and aimless
wandering as the researcher/player discovered how to progress through the
game maze by trial and error. If playing the game was at times frustrating and
awkward, watching the video reveals a deeper tedium and a tendency to
repeat actions that have already proven fruitless or fatal. On the other hand,
the video recording of a first attempt at Grand Theft Auto - Vice City illustrates
the speed with which game controls were learnt, and the freedom afforded
the researcher/player to explore the game world. This video reveals the
cinematic quality of the gameplay, and is at times more like watching an
action TV show than a game.




                                                                                   13
The audio commentary adds several layers to the research narrative.
Comments recorded include observations on the design aesthetics, the genre,
the difficulty of gameplay, and the motivations for player actions. The
narrative position constantly toggles between observing researcher and
participatory game player, providing different levels of understanding to be
teased out by later reflection. Watching the gameplay video while listening to
the audio narrative (like listening to a director’s commentary on a DVD
movie) provides yet another level of critical interpretation of the experience.


Reading the social sciences dramaturgically (Denzin 2001; Carlson 2001)
involves understanding that playing video games exist as a continuum of
performances modes that exhibit constantly shifting dramatic role positions
between being a participant through to spectator. Fieldwork can then be seen
as a collaborative undertaking that revolves around the meanings brought to
the videotext, performers and performances (Silko 1981). By moving back and
forth through a narrative collage of gaming experience an unstable
relationship is generated between the investigator, cultural text, ethnographic
text and electronic and archival representations. Rather than turning a story
told into a story analysed (using traditional functionalist narrative methods)
the goal becomes hearing and reading the gameplay as it happens (Trinh
1989; 1991 p.143).


If video games are performed as ergodic texts then according to Denzin (2001)
this calls for new forms of qualitative research that embrace the performance
interview, performative writing and ethnodrama. Building on the concepts of
the cinematic society (Denzin 1995), where accounts of lived experience are
based on cinematic/televisual/ethnographic representations and an interview
society (Denzin 2001) of spectacle and professional confession, Denzin (2001)
re-theorises a cinematic-interview game society where lived experience is
turned into narrative. Video game narrative is also part of this lived
experience; the personal becomes public, and experience is made a


                                                                                  14
consumable commodity that can be bought and sold in the media and
academic marketplace. (Carroll 2002)


The idea of the reflexive interview in video game research also requires a shift
from a functionalist theoretical perspective to ethnoperformance. For Denzin
the interview is not a mirror of the external world or a window into the inner
life of the gamer, but it functions as a narrative device that allows the
researchers to tell stories about themselves. Reflexive interview texts about
video games selectively reconstruct that world by telling and performing a
story according to their own version of narrative logic (Denzin 2001: 26; Trinh
1989; 1992) built into the ergodic game structure. In these ways both visual
and narrative collage and montage allow the writer/interviewer/performer
to create a meaningful examination of the text.


By going digital native, the reflexive interviews on learning to play video
games reflect the postmodern and post-experimental moments of qualitative
research (Denzin & Lincoln 2000). Writing up interviews as game descriptions
allows for pauses, repetitions, narrative strategies and the rhythms of twitch
and run. By moving between the game role positions of participant and
spectator the players and their projects are located within a newly developing
digital culture (as a set of interpretive practices) as performers within it.


An equally important consideration, and one that follows the crisis of
representation, is one of legitimacy. Denzin (1997b) argues that the validity of
a research project does not rely on a set of external rules and procedures
imposed from the world beyond the research subject, but rather that the text
being studied can assert its own authority over the reader. Thus, use of the
training manuals themselves and the initial experience of playing the game
will shape any study of the learning discourses of video games.




                                                                                   15
In reading contemporary game texts in this way the new ethnography
radically subverts the functionalist agenda, because the real world is no
longer the referent for analysis. Gaming is simultaneously an ergodic text and
an interpretative process (Strine et al 1990: 184) The original textual product,
the unique gameplay becomes the site for new interpretative work, and the
researcher as gamer is now inserted into the ergodic nature of the text and
becomes part of it. Objectivity is never an option; you kill the zombies because
you must - the world is just structured that way.


References


Aarseth, EJ, 1997, Cybertext, Perspectives on Ergodic Literature, Johns Hopkins
     University Press, Baltimore.

Cameron, D, 2003, Giving games a day job: Developing a digital game-based
    journalism training resource, MA (Hons) thesis, University of Wollongong.

Carlson, M, 2001, Performance: A critical introduction, Routledge, New York.

Carroll, J & Cameron, D, 2003, ‘To the Spice Islands’: Interactive process
     drama, Proceedings of the 5th International Digital Arts and Culture
     conference, Melbourne, 2003, <
     http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/dac/papers/Carroll.pdf>.

Carroll, J, 1986, Framing drama: some classroom strategies, National
     Association for Drama in Education Journal, Vol.12. No. 2.

Carroll, J, 2002, The theatre of surveillance: Invisible theatre for invisible
     audiences, in (eds) B Rasmussen and A-L Ostern, Playing Betwixt and
     Between: The IDEA Dialogue 2001IDEA, Bergen, Norway.

Crawford, C, 1982, The art of computer game design, electronic version,
    Washington State University, available online,
    <http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-
    book/Coverpage.html>.

Csikszentmihalyi, M, 1990, Flow: The psychology of the optimal experience,
     Harper, NY.

Denzin, NK, 1995, The cinematic society: The voyeur’s gaze, Sage, London.



                                                                                  16
Denzin, NK, 1997a, Performance texts, in (eds) WG Tierney & YS Lincoln,
    Representation and the text: reframing the narrative voice, SUNY Press, NY.

Denzin, NK, 1997b, Interpretive ethnography: Ethnographic practices for the 21st
    century, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Denzin, NK, & Lincoln, Y.S 2000, The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative
    Research, in (eds) NK Denzin & YS Lincoln, Handbook of Qualitative
    Research, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Denzin, NK, 2001, The reflexive interview and a performative social science,
    Qualitative Research, Vol 1 (1), 23-46.

Denzin, NK & Lincoln, YS (eds), 2002, The qualitative inquiry reader, Sage,
    Thousand Oaks, CA.

Eskelinen, M, 2001, The Gaming situation, The International Journal of Computer
     Games Research, vol.1 No.1, July 2001

Fromme, J, 2001, Computer games as a part of children's culture, viewed July
    2003, <http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/fromme/>.

Gee, JP, 2003, What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy,
     Palgrave, New York, NY.

Goffman, E, 1974, Frame Analysis, Peregrine, Norwich.

Haddon, L, 1999, The development of interactive games, in (eds) H Mackay &
    T O'Sullivan, The media reader: continuity and transformation, Sage,
    London.

Hendrick, A, 1999, Manuals: They can be good, viewed 26 June 2003,
    http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991111/Hendrick_01.shtml>.

Juul, J, 1999, A clash between game and narrative, MA thesis, University of
      Copenhagen, available online, < http://www.jesperjuul.dk/thesis/>.

Katz, J, 2000, Up, up, down, down, viewed September 26,
     <http://www.slashdot.org/features/00/11/27/1648231.shtml>.

Laird, E, 2003, “I’m your teacher, not your Internet service provider”, The
     Education Digest, 68 (1), pp. 41 – 44.

Prensky, M, 2001, Digital game-based learning, McGraw-Hill, New York.




                                                                                   17
Prensky, M, 2002, Designing e-learning for the digital generation. Paper delivered
     online at NET*Working 2002 conference,
     <http://nw2002.flexiblelearning.net.au>.

Sales, V, 2003, Web Watch: Manga, 21 January 2003,
      <http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?
      layout=article&articleid=CA270603&publication=libraryjournal>.

Silko, L.M, (1981), Storyteller, Seaver, New York.

Strine, M.S, Long, B & Hopkins, M.F, 1990, Research in interpretation and
      performance studies, in (eds) GM Phillips & JT Woods, Speech
      communication: Essays to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the
      Speech Communication Association, Southern Illinois University Press,
      Carbondale.

Tosca, S.P, 2003, Reading Resident Evil – Code: Veronica X, Proceedings of the
     5th International Digital Arts and Culture conference, Melbourne, 2003,
     <http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/dac/papers/Tosca.pdf>.

Trinh, T. M-ha, 1989, Woman, native, other: Writing postcoloniality and feminism,
     Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

Trinh, T. M-ha, 1991, When the moon waxes red: Representation, gender and
     cultural politics, Routledge, New York.

Trinh, T. M-ha, 1992, Framer framed, Routledge, New York.




                                                                                  18

More Related Content

Recently uploaded

How to release an Open Source Dataweave Library
How to release an Open Source Dataweave LibraryHow to release an Open Source Dataweave Library
How to release an Open Source Dataweave Libraryshyamraj55
 
Planetek Italia Srl - Corporate Profile Brochure
Planetek Italia Srl - Corporate Profile BrochurePlanetek Italia Srl - Corporate Profile Brochure
Planetek Italia Srl - Corporate Profile BrochurePlanetek Italia Srl
 
CyberSecurity - Computers In Libraries 2024
CyberSecurity - Computers In Libraries 2024CyberSecurity - Computers In Libraries 2024
CyberSecurity - Computers In Libraries 2024Brian Pichman
 
Webinar: The Art of Prioritizing Your Product Roadmap by AWS Sr PM - Tech
Webinar: The Art of Prioritizing Your Product Roadmap by AWS Sr PM - TechWebinar: The Art of Prioritizing Your Product Roadmap by AWS Sr PM - Tech
Webinar: The Art of Prioritizing Your Product Roadmap by AWS Sr PM - TechProduct School
 
March Patch Tuesday
March Patch TuesdayMarch Patch Tuesday
March Patch TuesdayIvanti
 
IT Service Management (ITSM) Best Practices for Advanced Computing
IT Service Management (ITSM) Best Practices for Advanced ComputingIT Service Management (ITSM) Best Practices for Advanced Computing
IT Service Management (ITSM) Best Practices for Advanced ComputingMAGNIntelligence
 
My key hands-on projects in Quantum, and QAI
My key hands-on projects in Quantum, and QAIMy key hands-on projects in Quantum, and QAI
My key hands-on projects in Quantum, and QAIVijayananda Mohire
 
Stobox 4: Revolutionizing Investment in Real-World Assets Through Tokenization
Stobox 4: Revolutionizing Investment in Real-World Assets Through TokenizationStobox 4: Revolutionizing Investment in Real-World Assets Through Tokenization
Stobox 4: Revolutionizing Investment in Real-World Assets Through TokenizationStobox
 
Graphene Quantum Dots-Based Composites for Biomedical Applications
Graphene Quantum Dots-Based Composites for  Biomedical ApplicationsGraphene Quantum Dots-Based Composites for  Biomedical Applications
Graphene Quantum Dots-Based Composites for Biomedical Applicationsnooralam814309
 
Emil Eifrem at GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - The Art of the Possible.pptx
Emil Eifrem at GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - The Art of the Possible.pptxEmil Eifrem at GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - The Art of the Possible.pptx
Emil Eifrem at GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - The Art of the Possible.pptxNeo4j
 
Flow Control | Block Size | ST Min | First Frame
Flow Control | Block Size | ST Min | First FrameFlow Control | Block Size | ST Min | First Frame
Flow Control | Block Size | ST Min | First FrameKapil Thakar
 
SIM INFORMATION SYSTEM: REVOLUTIONIZING DATA MANAGEMENT
SIM INFORMATION SYSTEM: REVOLUTIONIZING DATA MANAGEMENTSIM INFORMATION SYSTEM: REVOLUTIONIZING DATA MANAGEMENT
SIM INFORMATION SYSTEM: REVOLUTIONIZING DATA MANAGEMENTxtailishbaloch
 
Automation Ops Series: Session 2 - Governance for UiPath projects
Automation Ops Series: Session 2 - Governance for UiPath projectsAutomation Ops Series: Session 2 - Governance for UiPath projects
Automation Ops Series: Session 2 - Governance for UiPath projectsDianaGray10
 
How to become a GDSC Lead GDSC MI AOE.pptx
How to become a GDSC Lead GDSC MI AOE.pptxHow to become a GDSC Lead GDSC MI AOE.pptx
How to become a GDSC Lead GDSC MI AOE.pptxKaustubhBhavsar6
 
Introduction - IPLOOK NETWORKS CO., LTD.
Introduction - IPLOOK NETWORKS CO., LTD.Introduction - IPLOOK NETWORKS CO., LTD.
Introduction - IPLOOK NETWORKS CO., LTD.IPLOOK Networks
 
Where developers are challenged, what developers want and where DevEx is going
Where developers are challenged, what developers want and where DevEx is goingWhere developers are challenged, what developers want and where DevEx is going
Where developers are challenged, what developers want and where DevEx is goingFrancesco Corti
 
20140402 - Smart house demo kit
20140402 - Smart house demo kit20140402 - Smart house demo kit
20140402 - Smart house demo kitJamie (Taka) Wang
 
GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - Neo4j Vision and Roadmap.pptx
GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - Neo4j Vision and Roadmap.pptxGraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - Neo4j Vision and Roadmap.pptx
GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - Neo4j Vision and Roadmap.pptxNeo4j
 
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdf
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfKey Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdf
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
 

Recently uploaded (20)

How to release an Open Source Dataweave Library
How to release an Open Source Dataweave LibraryHow to release an Open Source Dataweave Library
How to release an Open Source Dataweave Library
 
Planetek Italia Srl - Corporate Profile Brochure
Planetek Italia Srl - Corporate Profile BrochurePlanetek Italia Srl - Corporate Profile Brochure
Planetek Italia Srl - Corporate Profile Brochure
 
SheDev 2024
SheDev 2024SheDev 2024
SheDev 2024
 
CyberSecurity - Computers In Libraries 2024
CyberSecurity - Computers In Libraries 2024CyberSecurity - Computers In Libraries 2024
CyberSecurity - Computers In Libraries 2024
 
Webinar: The Art of Prioritizing Your Product Roadmap by AWS Sr PM - Tech
Webinar: The Art of Prioritizing Your Product Roadmap by AWS Sr PM - TechWebinar: The Art of Prioritizing Your Product Roadmap by AWS Sr PM - Tech
Webinar: The Art of Prioritizing Your Product Roadmap by AWS Sr PM - Tech
 
March Patch Tuesday
March Patch TuesdayMarch Patch Tuesday
March Patch Tuesday
 
IT Service Management (ITSM) Best Practices for Advanced Computing
IT Service Management (ITSM) Best Practices for Advanced ComputingIT Service Management (ITSM) Best Practices for Advanced Computing
IT Service Management (ITSM) Best Practices for Advanced Computing
 
My key hands-on projects in Quantum, and QAI
My key hands-on projects in Quantum, and QAIMy key hands-on projects in Quantum, and QAI
My key hands-on projects in Quantum, and QAI
 
Stobox 4: Revolutionizing Investment in Real-World Assets Through Tokenization
Stobox 4: Revolutionizing Investment in Real-World Assets Through TokenizationStobox 4: Revolutionizing Investment in Real-World Assets Through Tokenization
Stobox 4: Revolutionizing Investment in Real-World Assets Through Tokenization
 
Graphene Quantum Dots-Based Composites for Biomedical Applications
Graphene Quantum Dots-Based Composites for  Biomedical ApplicationsGraphene Quantum Dots-Based Composites for  Biomedical Applications
Graphene Quantum Dots-Based Composites for Biomedical Applications
 
Emil Eifrem at GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - The Art of the Possible.pptx
Emil Eifrem at GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - The Art of the Possible.pptxEmil Eifrem at GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - The Art of the Possible.pptx
Emil Eifrem at GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - The Art of the Possible.pptx
 
Flow Control | Block Size | ST Min | First Frame
Flow Control | Block Size | ST Min | First FrameFlow Control | Block Size | ST Min | First Frame
Flow Control | Block Size | ST Min | First Frame
 
SIM INFORMATION SYSTEM: REVOLUTIONIZING DATA MANAGEMENT
SIM INFORMATION SYSTEM: REVOLUTIONIZING DATA MANAGEMENTSIM INFORMATION SYSTEM: REVOLUTIONIZING DATA MANAGEMENT
SIM INFORMATION SYSTEM: REVOLUTIONIZING DATA MANAGEMENT
 
Automation Ops Series: Session 2 - Governance for UiPath projects
Automation Ops Series: Session 2 - Governance for UiPath projectsAutomation Ops Series: Session 2 - Governance for UiPath projects
Automation Ops Series: Session 2 - Governance for UiPath projects
 
How to become a GDSC Lead GDSC MI AOE.pptx
How to become a GDSC Lead GDSC MI AOE.pptxHow to become a GDSC Lead GDSC MI AOE.pptx
How to become a GDSC Lead GDSC MI AOE.pptx
 
Introduction - IPLOOK NETWORKS CO., LTD.
Introduction - IPLOOK NETWORKS CO., LTD.Introduction - IPLOOK NETWORKS CO., LTD.
Introduction - IPLOOK NETWORKS CO., LTD.
 
Where developers are challenged, what developers want and where DevEx is going
Where developers are challenged, what developers want and where DevEx is goingWhere developers are challenged, what developers want and where DevEx is going
Where developers are challenged, what developers want and where DevEx is going
 
20140402 - Smart house demo kit
20140402 - Smart house demo kit20140402 - Smart house demo kit
20140402 - Smart house demo kit
 
GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - Neo4j Vision and Roadmap.pptx
GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - Neo4j Vision and Roadmap.pptxGraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - Neo4j Vision and Roadmap.pptx
GraphSummit Copenhagen 2024 - Neo4j Vision and Roadmap.pptx
 
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdf
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfKey Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdf
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdf
 

Featured

AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf
AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdfAI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf
AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdfmarketingartwork
 
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024Neil Kimberley
 
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)contently
 
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024Albert Qian
 
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsSocial Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsKurio // The Social Media Age(ncy)
 
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024Search Engine Journal
 
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summarySpeakerHub
 
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd Clark Boyd
 
Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next Tessa Mero
 
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search IntentGoogle's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search IntentLily Ray
 
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity -  Best PracticesTime Management & Productivity -  Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity - Best PracticesVit Horky
 
The six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project managementThe six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project managementMindGenius
 
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...RachelPearson36
 
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...Applitools
 
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at WorkGetSmarter
 

Featured (20)

AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf
AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdfAI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf
AI Trends in Creative Operations 2024 by Artwork Flow.pdf
 
Skeleton Culture Code
Skeleton Culture CodeSkeleton Culture Code
Skeleton Culture Code
 
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
PEPSICO Presentation to CAGNY Conference Feb 2024
 
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
Content Methodology: A Best Practices Report (Webinar)
 
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
How to Prepare For a Successful Job Search for 2024
 
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie InsightsSocial Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
Social Media Marketing Trends 2024 // The Global Indie Insights
 
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
Trends In Paid Search: Navigating The Digital Landscape In 2024
 
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
5 Public speaking tips from TED - Visualized summary
 
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
ChatGPT and the Future of Work - Clark Boyd
 
Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next Getting into the tech field. what next
Getting into the tech field. what next
 
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search IntentGoogle's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
Google's Just Not That Into You: Understanding Core Updates & Search Intent
 
How to have difficult conversations
How to have difficult conversations How to have difficult conversations
How to have difficult conversations
 
Introduction to Data Science
Introduction to Data ScienceIntroduction to Data Science
Introduction to Data Science
 
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity -  Best PracticesTime Management & Productivity -  Best Practices
Time Management & Productivity - Best Practices
 
The six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project managementThe six step guide to practical project management
The six step guide to practical project management
 
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
 
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Testing - A Real-World Look, present...
 
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
12 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work
 
ChatGPT webinar slides
ChatGPT webinar slidesChatGPT webinar slides
ChatGPT webinar slides
 
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike RoutesMore than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
 

The story so far... The researcher as a player in game analysis

  • 1. Cameron, D., & Carroll, J. (2004). The story so far... The researcher as a player in games analysis. Media International Australia, 110, 62-72. DRAFT version. This is a preprint copy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “The story so far …”: the researcher as a player in game analysis David Cameron, John Carroll Charles Sturt University Abstract This article outlines some preliminary research into the learning discourses of computer and video games, as expressed through the printed materials that accompany games, and the instructional elements built into game narratives. This leads to discussion of an interesting methodological dilemma - how does the interpretative ethnographic researcher analyse this content when he or she becomes part of the playing process? How do you analyse the learning mechanisms of games when you are being reflexively engaged in the training materials and systems mapped into the text by the games designers? This article examines this “crisis of representation” in interpretive ethnographic research approaches to games research. Introduction To borrow a sporting truism, this is a paper of two halves. Our initial project was to examine the nature of learning discourses evident in computer and video games, and we start by discussing our preliminary observations in this area. As we progressed in that work we became aware of a fundamental methodological issue – how best to analyse the content of computer and video games when we were part of the playing process? This apparent dilemma in 1
  • 2. the interpretive ethnographic research approach to games forms the second half of this article. Challenge versus failure The ability of computer and video games to capture and maintain player interest - their special ‘holding power or addictive quality’ (Haddon 1999: 319) - seems to stem from a mix of challenge and ability that can easily tip towards boredom and dissatisfaction if the game becomes too hard. Some psychologists refer to “optimal experience”, or more commonly “flow”, as that moment when skill levels allow players to engage with a challenge without feeling too anxious about failure, or too bored with success (Csikszentmihalyi 1990). Clearly an entertainment product like a computer or video game that gets the balance wrong, that frustrates and challenges too much or too early, runs the risk of putting players off. In a multi-billion dollar industry that relies heavily on word-of-mouth to generate sales this could be a disaster. The designers of computer and video games are therefore faced with a fundamental problem: ‘if no one can learn their games, no one will buy them’ (Gee 2003: 114). As a result these products incorporate a range of teaching and information strategies to ensure new players can quickly engage with the game content. These can include:  printed documentation;  in-game help screens;  tutorial modes of play separate to the game itself;  episodic gameplay with simplified or instructive early stages; and  game characters that coach (or inveigle) the player. 2
  • 3. In addition, sources of information external to the game package itself may be available such as telephone support lines, printed or online player guides, cheat lists and walkthroughs. In many cases this supplementary help material is produced or collated by players rather than publishers, and is then distributed via fan networks, specialist magazines, or online games forums and Websites. Going (digital) native Katz argues that new forms of popular culture, mostly involving computers, have developed so quickly that there has evolved ‘perhaps the widest gap - informational, cultural and factual - between the young and the old in human history’ (Katz 2000). Evidence of these changes surfaces in the literature as an expression of frustration from educators about how students use technology. Laird (2003: 42) describes how her online students prefer to randomly access course components rather than follow a sequential order, expect fast information delivery, and demand immediate feedback - all characteristics of the cognitive changes evident in the “games generation” (Prensky 2001). Prensky (2002) also talks of a chasm between a younger generation of “digital natives” who have not known a world without computer games, and an older generation of “digital immigrants” forced to adapt to rapid changes in digital technology. This raises a fundamental problem for would-be games researchers - are you a digital native or a digital immigrant? Prensky (2002) carries the metaphor further to suggest that many educators (and by implication, researchers) are digital immigrants who speak with an “accent” that some natives find difficult to understand. Examples of this accent include not using the Internet at all, or printing out emails before reading them. Prensky claims that this generational chasm manifests itself in education via ten basic cognitive changes as illustrated in Table 1. 3
  • 4. Table 1: Ten learning preferences of Prensky’s “Digital Natives” (from Cameron 2003). Digital natives Traditional Learning implications: prefer: training provides: 1 “Twitch” speed Conventional Students desire faster speed interaction with information (game speed). 2 Parallel processing Linear processing Students desire multitasking, processing multiple data simultaneously. 3 Graphics first Text first Students desire graphic information with a text backup. 4 Random access Step-by-step Students prefer hyperlinking through materials, rather than reading from beginning to end. 5 Connectivity Stand alone Students prefer networking, and high level of electronic communication. 6 Activity Passivity Less tolerance for passive instructional situations - learn by doing. 7 Play Work Students see computers as toys as well as tools; prefer to learn in a fun environment. 8 Payoff Patience Expect immediate and clear feedback or reward in return for efforts. 9 Fantasy Reality Fantasy and play elements are an accepted part of “serious” work, e.g. informal work settings. 1 Technology-as- Technology-as-foe See technology as 0 friend empowering and necessary. This summary of the generational differences between the teaching and learning generations is supported by Fromme (2001: 2), who also argues that ‘parents and teachers tend to address the media cultures of the younger from their own generational perspective’ while ignoring the digital media literacy of children and young adults. Table 1 also clearly illustrates potential pitfalls 4
  • 5. for games researchers who do not account for generational differences in changing media cultures. From manuals to manga Traditionally, most computer and video game products are shipped with an external player guide or manual. These can range in complexity from a brief printed insert designed to slip into a CD-ROM jewel case, to an expanded version with gameplay tips and background narrative, perhaps reaching the level of a substantial book with dozens of pages explaining complex controls and screen features (Hendrick, 1999). Some budget-conscious titles dispense with printed material completely, but provide an electronic version of the document that can be viewed or printed by the user. Possibly like most software support products, these instruction manuals ‘are frequently given short shrift by just about everybody associated with computer games’ (Crawford, 1982). Hendrick (1999) suggests that manuals written too early or too late in the production process, or produced by inexperienced writers, result in texts that are ‘frequently reviled as overblown, badly worded, uninformative dross that provide little or no help.’ However part of the reason instruction manuals may be ignored until a problem arises is that ‘they do not make a lot of sense unless one has already experienced and lived in the game world for a while’ (Gee 102: 102). Experienced players may be able to recognise or make educated guesses about controls and goals, particularly if the game falls into a familiar genre. In this way many players prefer to start playing after only a cursory glance at the instructions, and then return to a manual or help system only when they become stuck, frustrated or want to see if they’ve missed any game features. The tendency for people to jump into new software before reading the instructions is reflected in a common acronym found in responses to new 5
  • 6. users’ questions posted to online message boards and forums - “RTFM” (“Read The Fucking Manual”). Printed materials that accompany games can stretch beyond technical instructions to be narrative texts in their own right. Hendrick (1999) notes that this can simply be the result of a lazy writer opting to produce ‘bad fiction’ instead of a useful manual. Yet most games have a suggested narrative frame: ‘a story on the package, in the manual, or somewhere else, placing the game in a larger story’ (Juul 1999: 40). Some of these texts are an interesting narrative supplement to the games they support, moving beyond a simple “the story so far” account of narrative background. The PlayStation 2 version of Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty for example eschews the model of a training manual, and explicitly adopts the title of “Training Manga”. Game controls and tactics are described in the Japanese manga comic-book form. Interestingly although generally thought of by Western observers as entertainment, nearly one in every three books published in Japan is a manga and can cover a broad spectrum including technical manuals and educational content (Sales 2003). Nevertheless, the images within the “Training Manga” produce an emotional orientation to the game and its stealth strategy rather than providing explicit instructions. Clearly, a games researcher must decide whether to consider the accompanying instructions as part of the game being studied. Our interest in the instructional elements of games suggested that the manuals should be part of the research subject, but should we read them before, during, or after tackling the software itself? How would this impact on our understanding of the game? 6
  • 7. For example, one of the authors starting playing Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto: Vice City without reference to the paper manual. Although familiar with the game milieu (organised crime in a Miami-like city) from reviews, word-of- mouth and the opening credits of the game itself, he had not seen or played the game before. He was able to determine by trial and error the basic mechanics of moving his character around and interacting with the game world (primarily fighting and driving skills). Within a few minutes he was armed with a handgun and on the prowl, as illustrated in Figure 1. Soon he was involved in street fights, shootouts with criminal gangs and police, car theft, and even a joyflight in a stolen helicopter. Figure 1: Loud guns, and even louder shirts, are basic tools of the trade in Grand Theft Auto - Vice City (source: www.rockstargames.com). 7
  • 8. He spent the best part of two hours enjoying a chaotic rampage through Vice City before even realising there were specific goals and missions built into the game. At that point the manual, framed as a tourist pamphlet and blending game instructions with “facts” about the world within the game, became required reading. Learn to play / play to learn Learning strategies are often an implicit part of the game narrative. Non- player characters may be positioned as coaches. There may be a “boot camp” or training scenario separate to the game, or early levels of a game can be designed to introduce players to basic skills and functions within the game realm. For example, the authors starting playing Capcom’s Resident Evil - Code: Veronica X without recourse to the manual. After a lengthy cinematic introductory sequence the player character, named Claire Redfield, regained consciousness in a darkened cellblock. The following text appeared on the screen: “If I were equipped with a lighter, I could see outside…” Taking that internal monologue as a clue to our next step, an experimental press of control buttons soon brought up a control screen that indicated that Claire was in possession of a lighter, and this was quickly brought into use. The control screen also included a rudimentary help system to describe basic functions, a map to show the location of key game features as we progressed, and tactics for solving puzzles in the games. The internal monologue cue system appeared again as we progressed into the next room of the game maze and discovered a manual typewriter: “An old typewriter. I could save my progress if I had an ink ribbon.” 8
  • 9. Thus we were introduced to the game’s mechanism for saving progress at key checkpoints in the game maze. The language of the monologue also illustrates the curious blend between story and game mechanics that occurs when instructive elements are introduced into a narrative. Not only is the Claire character describing her surroundings (“an old typewriter”), but also she is explicitly aware of progressing through a game maze (“I could save my progress”). Clearly there is learning happening here, but just what is being learnt is the issue if players are ignoring the manuals designed to introduce them to the game. Obviously there is learning based on the computer game concept of mastery of the interface, such as the onscreen help and the internal monologue clues in Resident Evil. But by initially ignoring the manuals most players appear to have a learning experience that closely mirrors the process of experiential learning that occurs in role based process drama (Carroll & Cameron 2003). Of particular interest is how the learning concepts drawn from process drama such as understanding role distance and dramatic protection (Carroll 1986) apply to games learning. For example, while under the control of novice researchers/players the main character in Resident Evil was continually being killed before they worked out how to defend against the zombie attackers; yet their avatar Claire Redfield existed in a penalty-free learning zone with nothing to lose. This allows the players to indulge in high-risk behaviour while at the same time being protected by their role distance from deep identification with the character so that her potential danger becomes a learning experience. Describing her experience playing the same game, Tosca notes: ‘actual gameplay is full of trial and error actions, specially at the beginning of the game when we are not familiar with the interface or the story’ (Tosca 2003: 202). 9
  • 10. Drawing on Goffman’s (1974) explication of Frame Analysis - this concept of the dramatic frame, where the player is operating “as if” the situation is real - there are a range of conventions that can be engaged that vary the levels of protection required within the game. In the initial stages of playing Resident Evil the role distance for the player is a long way from being an involved participant in the event. It is distanced from identification with the central character, and instead becomes the observer/learner who needs to know how to navigate within the new environment. The one obvious way to discover the resources of the environment is to push the limits. Within Resident Evil this may frequently involve unpleasant deaths for Claire, the character representation of the player. The authors were quite willing to repeatedly send Claire, shown in Figure 2, into flaming wreckage or zombie-infested corridors to discover how to find useful objects and overcome obstacles. Figure 2: Claire Redfield met repeated horrible deaths in Resident Evil - Code: Veronica X, until the authors discovered she had firepower at her fingertips (source: www.capcom.com). In learning terms, Eskelinen (2001) makes a critical distinction between this sort of risk-based learning and that of engaging in traditional text based learning. He makes the point that the dominant mode of learning in literature, 10
  • 11. mainstream theatre, and film is interpretative, while in games and process drama it is configurative. He says: ‘…. in art we might have to configure in order to able to interpret whereas in games we have to interpret in order to configure, and proceed from the beginning to the winning of some other situation’ (Eskelinen 2001: 2). This type of learning is directly applicable to the ergodic learning pathwork that Aarseth describes in Cybertext (1997). During the process of playing Resident Evil the researchers/players were engaged in the construction of an individual and unique screen-based semiotic structure. This consisted of a selective configuration of the game elements and their own player choices. The wide ranging variable expression of meaning built into a non-linear game text should not be confused with the semantic ambiguity of a linear print based text. The game world of Resident Evil is constructed through an individual player’s work and hence is an ergodic text as Aarseth defines it. The playing of Resident Evil demanded strategy and experiential repetition that was based on the frustration of a difficult interface and a deliberately confusing scenario. This led to extreme levels of high-risk experiential learning that exploited the “no penalty” learning zone that death and rebirth of player characters can provide. Of course, applications of this successful learning strategy outside the dramatic frame can have far more serious consequences. There is no penalty free zone in real life social interaction, and the results are often worse than a bite on the neck from a zombie (although sometimes that’s what it feels like). A performance narrative approach to games research Our research approach was based on playing games in order to observe the learning mechanisms and discourses in these texts. A fundamental problem is 11
  • 12. apparent when the researcher becomes a participant in the process being observed. The indeterminancy that Heisenberg so clearly articulated in relation to quantum physics (see for example http://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/p01.htm) also applies to the world of games research. Norman Denzin asserts that researchers in the human disciplines face a crisis in both representation and legitimation when it comes to qualitative studies (1997a: 350). The crisis of representation reflects the inherent misrepresentation of experience that can occur when a lived experience (e.g. learning to play a video game) is interpreted through research. Researchers that stand outside the process itself will have vastly inferior understanding of the research material, compared to the learner/player. This is the digital native/digital immigrant gap described earlier. One obvious way to deal with this is to place the researcher within the learning environment and creatively interpret this experience as a performance narrative, while interpreting observation and interview data as a performance text. For our initial examination of game learning mechanisms we adopted a process of recording both the onscreen gameplay and the researcher/player motivations and observations in real-time. This was afforded by the simple step of connecting the games console hardware to a video tape recorder to record the screen action, while an audio tape recorder recorded a spoken commentary. While one researcher played the game, the other was able to prompt observations by asking questions about the motivation behind player actions. The observations, assumptions, strategies, and experiences of both researchers were recorded as a direct stream of consciousness response to the game. In this manner the authors were creating a performance narrative (the gameplay) while generating an audiovisual record that could later be interrogated as a performance text itself (a commentary on the gameplay). 12
  • 13. Within video game research based on the performance text model, two forms of textual product can be distinguished. One is the complex interpretive product or the original text produced by the player as they learn to play the game and attempt to articulate a set of understandings about a particular cultural product and social process. This text then becomes the site for new interpretive work by the researcher. The second form is the researchers’ text, (also a critical/interpretive text) which now inserts itself inside the original process, offering new interpretations and readings of what has been presented. When playing Resident Evil as a specific textual video game experience this produces a multileveled, multi-method approach to interpretation. The favouring of such an interpretive ethnographic writing style requires that the project simultaneously question/establish the credibility of its use of facts and fictions in the story that is both told and played/performed (Denzin 1997a). The audiovisual text generated during our first encounter with Resident Evil demonstrated the multi-level data generated when considering a new game text. The video of the gameplay shows in real-time how awkward the gameplay was at first, as the player continually struggled to find the right button to complete actions. This problem decreases as the controls are learnt, but then the viewer is struck by the amount of backtracking and aimless wandering as the researcher/player discovered how to progress through the game maze by trial and error. If playing the game was at times frustrating and awkward, watching the video reveals a deeper tedium and a tendency to repeat actions that have already proven fruitless or fatal. On the other hand, the video recording of a first attempt at Grand Theft Auto - Vice City illustrates the speed with which game controls were learnt, and the freedom afforded the researcher/player to explore the game world. This video reveals the cinematic quality of the gameplay, and is at times more like watching an action TV show than a game. 13
  • 14. The audio commentary adds several layers to the research narrative. Comments recorded include observations on the design aesthetics, the genre, the difficulty of gameplay, and the motivations for player actions. The narrative position constantly toggles between observing researcher and participatory game player, providing different levels of understanding to be teased out by later reflection. Watching the gameplay video while listening to the audio narrative (like listening to a director’s commentary on a DVD movie) provides yet another level of critical interpretation of the experience. Reading the social sciences dramaturgically (Denzin 2001; Carlson 2001) involves understanding that playing video games exist as a continuum of performances modes that exhibit constantly shifting dramatic role positions between being a participant through to spectator. Fieldwork can then be seen as a collaborative undertaking that revolves around the meanings brought to the videotext, performers and performances (Silko 1981). By moving back and forth through a narrative collage of gaming experience an unstable relationship is generated between the investigator, cultural text, ethnographic text and electronic and archival representations. Rather than turning a story told into a story analysed (using traditional functionalist narrative methods) the goal becomes hearing and reading the gameplay as it happens (Trinh 1989; 1991 p.143). If video games are performed as ergodic texts then according to Denzin (2001) this calls for new forms of qualitative research that embrace the performance interview, performative writing and ethnodrama. Building on the concepts of the cinematic society (Denzin 1995), where accounts of lived experience are based on cinematic/televisual/ethnographic representations and an interview society (Denzin 2001) of spectacle and professional confession, Denzin (2001) re-theorises a cinematic-interview game society where lived experience is turned into narrative. Video game narrative is also part of this lived experience; the personal becomes public, and experience is made a 14
  • 15. consumable commodity that can be bought and sold in the media and academic marketplace. (Carroll 2002) The idea of the reflexive interview in video game research also requires a shift from a functionalist theoretical perspective to ethnoperformance. For Denzin the interview is not a mirror of the external world or a window into the inner life of the gamer, but it functions as a narrative device that allows the researchers to tell stories about themselves. Reflexive interview texts about video games selectively reconstruct that world by telling and performing a story according to their own version of narrative logic (Denzin 2001: 26; Trinh 1989; 1992) built into the ergodic game structure. In these ways both visual and narrative collage and montage allow the writer/interviewer/performer to create a meaningful examination of the text. By going digital native, the reflexive interviews on learning to play video games reflect the postmodern and post-experimental moments of qualitative research (Denzin & Lincoln 2000). Writing up interviews as game descriptions allows for pauses, repetitions, narrative strategies and the rhythms of twitch and run. By moving between the game role positions of participant and spectator the players and their projects are located within a newly developing digital culture (as a set of interpretive practices) as performers within it. An equally important consideration, and one that follows the crisis of representation, is one of legitimacy. Denzin (1997b) argues that the validity of a research project does not rely on a set of external rules and procedures imposed from the world beyond the research subject, but rather that the text being studied can assert its own authority over the reader. Thus, use of the training manuals themselves and the initial experience of playing the game will shape any study of the learning discourses of video games. 15
  • 16. In reading contemporary game texts in this way the new ethnography radically subverts the functionalist agenda, because the real world is no longer the referent for analysis. Gaming is simultaneously an ergodic text and an interpretative process (Strine et al 1990: 184) The original textual product, the unique gameplay becomes the site for new interpretative work, and the researcher as gamer is now inserted into the ergodic nature of the text and becomes part of it. Objectivity is never an option; you kill the zombies because you must - the world is just structured that way. References Aarseth, EJ, 1997, Cybertext, Perspectives on Ergodic Literature, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. Cameron, D, 2003, Giving games a day job: Developing a digital game-based journalism training resource, MA (Hons) thesis, University of Wollongong. Carlson, M, 2001, Performance: A critical introduction, Routledge, New York. Carroll, J & Cameron, D, 2003, ‘To the Spice Islands’: Interactive process drama, Proceedings of the 5th International Digital Arts and Culture conference, Melbourne, 2003, < http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/dac/papers/Carroll.pdf>. Carroll, J, 1986, Framing drama: some classroom strategies, National Association for Drama in Education Journal, Vol.12. No. 2. Carroll, J, 2002, The theatre of surveillance: Invisible theatre for invisible audiences, in (eds) B Rasmussen and A-L Ostern, Playing Betwixt and Between: The IDEA Dialogue 2001IDEA, Bergen, Norway. Crawford, C, 1982, The art of computer game design, electronic version, Washington State University, available online, <http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game- book/Coverpage.html>. Csikszentmihalyi, M, 1990, Flow: The psychology of the optimal experience, Harper, NY. Denzin, NK, 1995, The cinematic society: The voyeur’s gaze, Sage, London. 16
  • 17. Denzin, NK, 1997a, Performance texts, in (eds) WG Tierney & YS Lincoln, Representation and the text: reframing the narrative voice, SUNY Press, NY. Denzin, NK, 1997b, Interpretive ethnography: Ethnographic practices for the 21st century, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Denzin, NK, & Lincoln, Y.S 2000, The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research, in (eds) NK Denzin & YS Lincoln, Handbook of Qualitative Research, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Denzin, NK, 2001, The reflexive interview and a performative social science, Qualitative Research, Vol 1 (1), 23-46. Denzin, NK & Lincoln, YS (eds), 2002, The qualitative inquiry reader, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Eskelinen, M, 2001, The Gaming situation, The International Journal of Computer Games Research, vol.1 No.1, July 2001 Fromme, J, 2001, Computer games as a part of children's culture, viewed July 2003, <http://www.gamestudies.org/0301/fromme/>. Gee, JP, 2003, What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy, Palgrave, New York, NY. Goffman, E, 1974, Frame Analysis, Peregrine, Norwich. Haddon, L, 1999, The development of interactive games, in (eds) H Mackay & T O'Sullivan, The media reader: continuity and transformation, Sage, London. Hendrick, A, 1999, Manuals: They can be good, viewed 26 June 2003, http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991111/Hendrick_01.shtml>. Juul, J, 1999, A clash between game and narrative, MA thesis, University of Copenhagen, available online, < http://www.jesperjuul.dk/thesis/>. Katz, J, 2000, Up, up, down, down, viewed September 26, <http://www.slashdot.org/features/00/11/27/1648231.shtml>. Laird, E, 2003, “I’m your teacher, not your Internet service provider”, The Education Digest, 68 (1), pp. 41 – 44. Prensky, M, 2001, Digital game-based learning, McGraw-Hill, New York. 17
  • 18. Prensky, M, 2002, Designing e-learning for the digital generation. Paper delivered online at NET*Working 2002 conference, <http://nw2002.flexiblelearning.net.au>. Sales, V, 2003, Web Watch: Manga, 21 January 2003, <http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp? layout=article&articleid=CA270603&publication=libraryjournal>. Silko, L.M, (1981), Storyteller, Seaver, New York. Strine, M.S, Long, B & Hopkins, M.F, 1990, Research in interpretation and performance studies, in (eds) GM Phillips & JT Woods, Speech communication: Essays to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Speech Communication Association, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. Tosca, S.P, 2003, Reading Resident Evil – Code: Veronica X, Proceedings of the 5th International Digital Arts and Culture conference, Melbourne, 2003, <http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/dac/papers/Tosca.pdf>. Trinh, T. M-ha, 1989, Woman, native, other: Writing postcoloniality and feminism, Indiana University Press, Bloomington. Trinh, T. M-ha, 1991, When the moon waxes red: Representation, gender and cultural politics, Routledge, New York. Trinh, T. M-ha, 1992, Framer framed, Routledge, New York. 18