Syöpää, sotaa ja masennusta

Ludology, Narratology and Philosophical Hermeneutics

In this article we present the hermeneutic method as a tool for analyzing game studies discourses. We use Markku Eskelinen’s profusely interpreted “The Gaming Situation” (2001) as a case study. Our premise is that whereas the hermeneutic method is academically well-established, its conscious application is not. It is suggested that with conscious application of the hermeneutic method the persistent and problematic questions in game studies, like those related to narrative, definition, and art, gain potential to be treated with increased sophistication. peerReviewed

Narrative Tools for Games : Focalization, Granularity, and the Mode of Narration in Games

This article looks at three narratological concepts—focalization, granularity, and the mode of narration—and explores how these concepts apply to games. It is shown how these concepts can be used as tools for creating meaning-effects, which are understood here as cognitive responses from the player. Focalization is shown to have a hybrid form in games. This article also explores the different types of narrators and granularities in games, and how these three concepts can be used to create meaning-effects. This is done by discussing examples from several games, for example, Assassin’s Creed III, Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, and Civilization.

Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Pepe-sammakko Kiasmassa

Analysoimme artikkelissamme trollauskampanjaa, joka kohdistui nykytaiteen museo Kiasman ARS17-näyttelyssä esillä olleeseen #ALONETOGETHER-taideteokseen keväällä 2017. Poikkeuksellisen suuria tunteita puolesta ja vastaan herättäneen teoksen luona nähtiin kevään aikana innostuneita museokävijöitä, mutta myös teoksen hengen ja normatiivisen galleriakontekstin ulkopuolelle tarkoituksella jättäytyneitä osallistujia.
 Taideteoksen luona Kiasmassa vieraili useita ihmisiä, jotka pyrkivät häiritsemään pääasiassa yhtä taiteilijoista, Shia LaBeoufia, jonka kanssa pystyi kommunikoimaan teoksen välityksellä. Lisäksi häirintä näkyi verkossa, osin teoksen verkottuneen muodon ja osin trollien verkkoku…

Do We Need Real-Time Hermeneutics? Structures of Meaning in Games

Games differ from most other forms of media by being procedural and interactive. These qualities change how games create and transmit meaning to their players. The concept of “real-time hermeneutics” (Aarseth 2003) is analysed in order to understand how temporality affects the understanding of games. Temporal frames (Zagal and Mateas 2010) are introduced as an alternative way of understanding time in games. peerReviewed

Mitä pelit merkitsevät?

Interpretive Challenges in Games

This paper argues that these is a category of challenges often overlooked in game studies. It is here called "interpretive challenges" and it requires players to sort out contextual and ambiguous information.

Turvetta tupaan: faktat, valheet ja affektiivinen vastaanotto Turveinfo-mainoskampanjassa

Turpeen energiakäyttöä lobannut Turveinfo-kampanja näkyi laajasti eri medioissa alkuvuodesta 2017. Se herätti kiivaan ja tunnepitoisen vastareaktion. Kampanjan väitteitä pidettiin yksinkertaistavina, valheellisina ja joiltain osin myös loukkaavina. Tässä artikkelissa analysoimme mainoskampanjan sisältöä ja vastaanottoa sekä sen aiheuttamia reaktioita. Tarkastelemme erityisesti affektiivisuuden ja faktuaalisuuden suhdetta kampanjassa. Miten nykykulttuurissa käyty keskustelu vaihtoehtoisista totuuksista näkyy median moninaista kenttää hyväkseen käyttävän, lobbaajien tilaaman mainoskampanjan tulkinnoissa ja ehkä laajemminkin median tulkitsemisessa? Analyysimme viitekehyksenä toimivat affektite…

Nyrkit turpeessa : Turveinfo-mainoskampanja ja sen aiheuttama kohu yhteiskunnallisena dialogina

Muistamisesta ja unohtamisesta verkossa

Internet on ratkaisevalla tavalla muuttanut tapoja, joilla muistamme, unohdamme ja kuolemme. Italialainen filosofi Davide Sisto kirjoittaa suomeksi käännetyssä esseeteoksessaan erityisesti sosiaalisen median roolista tavoissamme muistaa mennyttä. Teos on harhaileva esitys jossain filosofian ja populaarikulttuurin välillä. nonPeerReviewed

Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools : How to Philosophize with a Digital Hammer by Stefano Gualeni

A book review of Stefano Gualeni. Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools: How to Philosophize with a Digital Hammer, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, 194 pp., USD 64.65, ISBN 1137521775 nonPeerReviewed

Why Do Players Misuse Emotes in Hearthstone? : Negotiating the Use of Communicative Affordances in an Online Multiplayer Game

This paper examines player-to-player interaction in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004). The game designers have attempted to limit what they see as negative interaction by forcibly limiting player-to-player social interaction. Based on an analysis of forum discussions, this empirical study illustrates how players utilize Hearthstone's restricted communication affordances for negative and insulting purposes, and how players negotiate their shared symbolic reality concerning this type of interaction, labeled "Bad Manner(s)" or "BM". The continuous debate over an issue which ultimately cannot be solved shows that players care deeply about the game and the surroundin…

Nörttikulttuurin identiteettikriisi

Nörttikulttuuri on identiteettikriisissä. Perinteisesti nörttimäisinä pidetyt käytänteet ja kulttuurituotteet ovat siirtyneet lähemmäs valtavirtaa, mikä on häivyttänyt rajaa nörttien ja muiden median ja teknologian käyttäjien välillä. Nörttikulttuurin sisälle tämä on heijastunut kiistaksi siitä, kuka saa osallistua nörttikulttuurin kuluttamiseen, tuottamiseen ja määrittelyyn, ja millä tavoin. Stereotypia nörttikulttuurista valkoisten heteromiesten maskuliinisena kenttänä ei koskaan ole pitänyt täysin paikkansa, mutta 2000-luvulla väitteen totuudellisuus on murentunut entisestään.
 Tässä artikkelissa tarkastelemme nörttiyden kriisiä kolmen tapaustutkimuksen kautta ja analysoimme, mitä G…

Tero Pasanen (1978–2022)

Blending in Hybrid Games: Understanding Hybrid Games Through Experience

The meaning of what hybrid games are is often fixed to the context in which the term is used. For example, hybrid games have often been defined in relation to recent developments in technology. This creates issues in its usage and limitations in thinking. This paper argues that hybrid games should be understood through conceptual metaphors. Hybridity is the blending of different cognitive domains that are not usually associated together. Hybrid games usually blend domains related to games, for example digital and board games, but can blend also other domains. Through this type of thinking, designers can be more open to exploring how their games can be experienced.

Exploring Features of the Pervasive Game Pokémon GO That Enable Behavior Change: Qualitative Study

BackgroundDigital gaming is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the world. While prior literature concluded that digital games can enable changes in players’ behaviors, there is limited knowledge about different types of behavior changes and the game features driving them. Understanding behavior changes and the game features behind them is important because digital games can motivate players to change their behavior for the better (or worse). ObjectiveThis study investigates the types of behavior changes and their underlying game features within the context of the popular pervasive game Pokémon GO. MethodsWe collected data from 262 respondents with a critical incident techniqu…

Hybrid Social Play Final Report

How to Define Games and Why We Need to

This article provides guidelines on how to make useful game definitions and discusses when that is a worthwhile undertaking. It examines a recent article attempting to define videogames (Bergonse in Comput Games J 6(4):239–255, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40869-017-0045-4), and uses it as an example to discuss game definitions in general. It concludes with reasons why making a final definition of games is not possible and why we need to continue to define games. peerReviewed

Leikki, peli ja pelaaja : näkökulmia pelin ymmärtämiseen

Tässä tutkielmassa esitetään näkökulmia pelien ymmärtämiseen. Tutkimuksen lähtökohtana on Ludwig Wittgensteinin ajatus kielipelistä. Kielipeli käsitetään keinoksi ymmärtää erilaisten kuvaustapojen suhde toisiinsa. Kuvaustavat ovat keskenään vaihtoehtoisia. Kielipelin käsityksiä ei voida arvioida irrallaan käytön kontekstista. Leikki ja peli ovat läheisiä ilmiöitä, eikä niitä monissa kielissä erotella lainkaan toisistaan. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan ensin leikkiä. Leikki on laaja ilmiö, joka ei liity vain lasten toimintaan. Leikki liitetään kommunikaatioon, lajinkehitykselliseen ja yksilölliseen hyötyyn sekä kilpailuun. Osa tavoista ymmärtää leikkiä soveltuu sellaisenaan pelien ymmärtämiseen;…

Real-time hermeneutics : meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games

Johdanto: Pelit kulttuurina ja kulttuurissa

publishedVersion Peer reviewed

Leikki digitaalisella aikakaudella

What Does it Mean to be Orlanthi? Hermeneutic Challenge in King of Dragon Pass

The game King of Dragon Pass(A Sharp 1999) portrays what it is like to live as an Orlanthi, a member of the Storm Tribe. In order to successfully play the game, the player must understand the values that guide a tribe of Orlanthi in a hermeneutic process that requires the constant evaluation of the players’ prejudices of how people should live and be governed. This paper examines the hermeneutic process of interpretation the player goes through and shows how meaning works as a game mechanic in King of the Dragon Pass. peerReviewed

Pepe-sammakko Kiasmassa : leikki, trollaaminen ja #ALONETOGETHER-taideteoksen affektiivisuus

#ALONETOGETHER oli yleisön osallistumiseen perustuva taideteos Kiasmassa keväällä 2017. Siihen kohdistui toistuvaa trollausta, joka kumpusi taiteilijoiden aiemmasta poliittisesta toiminnasta ja siitä virinneistä keskusteluista internetin kuvalaudoilla. Analysoimme teoksen ympärillä tapahtunutta trollausta ja osoitamme, miten se on yhdistelmä affekteja, leikkiä ja poliittista toimintaa. peerReviewed

Games as Blends : Understanding Hybrid Games

The meaning of what hybrid games are is often fixed to the context in which the term is used. For example, hybrid games have often been defined in relation to recent developments in technology. This creates issues in the terms usage and limitations in thinking. This paper argues that hybrid games should be understood through conceptual metaphors. Hybridity is the blending of different cognitive domains that are not usually associated together. Hybrid games usually blend domains related to games, for example digital and board games, but can blend also other domains. Through viewing game experiences as blends from different domains, designers can understand the inherent hybridity in various t…

GAMEHIGHED Initial Report : Output 1: Initial Research & Analysis Report. Higher-ed Programmes for Careers in Game Design & Development (2019–2022)

Defining Role-Playing Games as Language-Games

Role-playing games are a diverse phenomenon, ranging from digital games to live action role-playing. Finding a definition that suits them all is hard, but attempts have been many. All of the definitions emphasize some aspects of role-playing games like rules, the role of players or the story. Many definitions do not describe role-playing games as such, but the activity that is role-playing. This paper looks at one of the latest attempts to define role-playing games, by Hitchens and Drachen (2009), and shows some potential problems with it. As an answer to these problems another definition is proposed, consisting of a game world, participants, shared narrative power and interaction. This def…

“Kuka tarvitsee netin sotapelejä?” – Väkivaltaisten pelien diskurssit suomalaisessa verkkomediassa

Julkisessa sanassa digitaalisia pelejä käsitellään varsin usein väkivallan kontekstissa. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan diskurssianalyyttisesti suomalaisessa verkkomediassa käytyä julkista keskustelua pelien ja väkivallan yhteydestä. Aineiston hallitseviksi teemoiksi osoittautuivat joukkosurmia, aggressiivisuutta ja väkivaltaista käytöstä sekä valvontaa ja vastuuta korostavat diskurssielementit. Vaikka aiheen rajaus väkivaltaisiin peleihin nostikin lukumääräisesti esiin enemmän kielteisiä kuin myönteisiä näkökulmia, oli keskustelussa ilmenevien mielipiteiden kirjo yllättävän runsas. In media, digital games are quite often discussed in the context of violence. The present article employs a…

‘Whose were those feelings?’ : Affect and likenessing in Halat hisar live action role-playing game

Halat hisar was a live action role-playing game (larp) organized in Finland in 2016. Halat hisar’s ambition as a larp was to mirror the current situation in Palestine. In larps, participants take on different roles and improvise without the presence of an audience. Larps offer a place where emotions and affectivities are transmitted through the embodiment of characters. Larps offer forms of likenessing, which create new affective states for the players. We conclude that larps can be powerful tools for portraying political alternatives of actual events, and they can serve a role in raising awareness. Larps offer a productive context for studying subjectivities where the focus is on affectiv…

Nörttikulttuurin identiteettikriisi : Gamergate, Comicsgate ja Star Wars poliittisten kiistojen näyttämöinä

Nörttikulttuuri on identiteettikriisissä. Perinteisesti nörttimäisinä pidetyt käytänteet ja kulttuurituotteet ovat siirtyneet lähemmäs valtavirtaa, mikä on häivyttänyt rajaa nörttien ja muiden median ja teknologian käyttäjien välillä. Nörttikulttuurin sisälle tämä on heijastunut kiistaksi siitä, kuka saa osallistua nörttikulttuurin kuluttamiseen, tuottamiseen ja määrittelyyn, ja millä tavoin. Stereotypia nörttikulttuurista valkoisten heteromiesten maskuliinisena kenttänä ei koskaan ole pitänyt täysin paikkansa, mutta 2000-luvulla väitteen totuudellisuus on murentunut entisestään. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastelemme nörttiyden kriisiä kolmen tapaustutkimuksen kautta ja analysoimme, mitä Gamerga…

Lankoski, Petri ja Staffan Björk, toim. (2015) Game Research Methods: An Overview [Kirja-arvio]

Behavior change types with Pokémon GO

Digital games1 are one of the most popular entertainment media in the world. Teir allure and widespread popularity makes them an interesting and highly potential platform for behavior change atempts. In this paper, we investigate what types of behavior changes Pokémon GO has promoted or induced among its players. Te study is based on an online survey sample of 262 Pokémon GO players, collected using the critical incident technique and analyzed using qualitative methods. Te analysis shows that the behavior changes induced by Pokémon GO are not just restricted to increased physical activity or social behavior but are actually much more multifaceted: players were more social, found their routi…

Immersive gaming as journalism

This chapter discusses immersion and how it may be applied to journalism. It begins by unraveling the concept of immersion itself as a reminder that it is not only connected to virtual reality or augmented reality technologies, but rather that it is a multifaceted concept that may be understood in many ways. The chapter turns specifically to the theorizing done in the context of digital games research, where immersion and some related concepts have been explored in detail over the last decades. This theorizing helps us see how immersion can be understood and in what way the concept may be problematic. The chapter maps out some of the historical precedents for immersion, discusses alternativ…

How are Games Interpreted? Hermeneutics for Game Studies

This paper presents a hermeneutic theory for game studies. It starts by giving an overview of hermeneutics, shows how in understanding games it is useful to divide hermeneutics into two aspects -- real-time hermeneutics and game hermeneutics -- and finishes by detailing complementary approaches to hermeneutics for games. The article builds upon earlier work in the hermeneutics of games and draws from philosophical hermeneutics. peerReviewed

Game Definitions: A Wittgensteinian Approach

Games have been defined and redefined many times over, and there seems to be no end to this continual process or any agreement about the definitions. This article argues that such an agreement is not necessary, and presents a Wittgensteinian approach to discussing game definitions. Instead of the common core approach used in most definitions, this article argues for an approach based on language-games. The common core approach is based on a limited number of shared core attributes, while the language-game approach is based on the idea of family resemblances. The language-game approach sees the cycle of redefinition as a hermeneutic circle that advances our understanding of games. This artic…

Playing the Nonhuman : Alien Experiences in Aliens vs. Predator

What is it like to play a nonhuman character? In his classic essay, philosopher Thomas Nagel (1975) argues that we are fundamentally unable to imagine what it is like to be a bat, because our senses and cognition are structured in a way that is uniquely human – whereas bats’ senses and cognition have a uniquely bat-like configuration. In spite of this, media genres from fantasy to science-fiction routinely strive to imagine and show what it could be like to be something other than human. What is more, different media achieve this effect by different means: literature provides textual descriptions, audio-visual media rely on moving images, and comics employ different kinds of multimodal comp…

Valvontakapitalismin ensimmäiset vuosikymmenet

Arvio teoksesta: Zuboff, Shoshana. 2019. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for the Future at the New Frontier of Power. Lontoo: Profile Books, 704 s.

Defining Role-Playing Games as Language-Games

Role-playing games are a diverse phenomenon, ranging from digital games to live action role-playing. Finding a definition that suits them all is hard, but attempts have been many. All of the definitions emphasize some aspects of role-playing games like rules, the role of players or the story. Many definitions do not describe role-playing games as such, but the activity that is role-playing. This paper looks at one of the latest attempts to define role-playing games, by Hitchens and Drachen (2009), and shows some potential problems with it. As an answer to these problems another definition is proposed, consisting of a game world, participants, shared narrative power and interaction. This def…