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Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/70681

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Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

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Leadership and Multifaith Program

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Sam Nunn School of International Affairs

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School of Economics

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School of History and Sociology

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School of Literature, Media, and Communication

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https://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/agents/corporate_entities/1132

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10

Monstrous Existence: a critical reading of Night in the Woods through the works of Mark Fisher

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-12-05) Fiorilli, Patrick Oliver

This thesis presents a critical close reading of the 2017 videogame Night in the Woods, developed by independent studio Infinite Fall. Following literary critic Irving Howe's notion of the "political novel," this thesis demonstrates that Night in the Woods exists as a rare and audacious interrogation of Capital and its deleterious fallout in the rural United States. In order to make its case, this thesis heavily incorporates the critical vocabulary of the theorist Mark Fisher, whose notions of "capitalist realism," "the weird," and "the eerie" serve to identify explicitly and categorically much of what the game in question represents implicitly and aesthetically. Structurally, the thesis first explores the themes and political rhetoric of Night in the Woods via an analysis of the places and communities featured in the game's setting. Next, the thesis explores how such themes are internalized by the game's protagonist and thereby rendered to the player. Finally, contrasting the themes of the game to the definition of "horror" outlined by the philosopher Eugene Thacker, the thesis ends with a discussion of how Night in the Woods argues for genuine and political meaning in the face of a meaningless and incomprehensible universe.
Japanese independent game development

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-05-17) Vogel, Michael William

This thesis examines independent game development in Japan, studied through tool-use and through the rhetorics and practices of the two main modes of independent game development in Japan: doujin and indie. I aim to illustrate how a particular technology (game engines) and a particular praxis-based ethos (indie) get deployed in a culturally and locally specific context, and the impact that each of them has, in turn, once integrated into that local context.
Cybernetic autonomy: an analysis and critique of adaptive learning systems

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015-04-27) Madaio, Michael Adam

There has recently been great promise and interest in the use of adaptive learning systems to provide personalized course content, tailored to the ability levels and pace of individual students. Yet, not all the technologies in this space provide the same capabilities. In this thesis I analyze a representative group of adaptive learning providers according to the pedagogical model of their design. Then, I discuss case studies of two systems to analyze their design according to a humanist design philosophy and a more cybernetic design tradition, and I conclude with a set of design guidelines and selection criteria for faculty and administrators interested in evaluating, selecting, and implementing an adaptive learning system that fits their pedagogical values.
The dynamics of the player narrative: how choice shapes videogame literature

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013-04-10) Bryan, Jeffrey Scott

The author narrative and the player narrative are distinct and separate parts that make up the whole of videogame literature. The videogame medium encourages a mixed-media understanding of conventions and the rejection of essentialism that leads to, inspires, and facilitates the player narrative. Videogame literatures require discreet actions that, as part of any possible reading, the player must do-- and in doing the player must make a choice with mind and body that involves a human-to-machine expression of agency within constraints that define the player narrative. So the decision making process in videogame storytelling is that human-to-machine interaction that can be understood as both the means by which the videogame story progresses, and the process by which the player wields his or her narrative within the procedural possibility space. Videogame literary analysis requires understanding how players make those decisions, understanding how the player leverages media conventions in order to wield power over the narrative, and understanding what role the player has in videogame storytelling. The choice dynamics of a videogame narrative are the key narrative elements within videogame literature that provide players and researchers tools for evaluating choice opportunities within videogame literature toward forming a better understanding of the space between and connection to the author narrative and the player narrative. All of these analyses combine to form a picture of decision making processes in videogame literature that are complex and contradictory path making endeavors that define the narrative experience in videogame literature, and the interconnected dynamics of the author and player narrative space.
The interpretive spiral: an analytical rubric for videogame interpretation

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012-04-09) Whitson, Robert Henry

In this work, I propose an analytical rubric called the Interpretive Spiral designed to examine the process through which players create meaning in videogames, by examining their composition in three categories, across four levels of interaction. The most familiar of the categories I propose is the Mechanical, which refers to the rules, logic, software and hardware that composes the core of videogames. My second category, which I call the Thematic, is a combination of Arsenault and Perron's Narrative Spiral of gameplay, proposed in their Magic Cycle of Gameplay model (accounting for embedded text, videos, dialog and voiceovers) and Jason Begy's audio-visual level of his Tripartite Model of gameplay (accounting for graphics, sound effects, music and icons), though it also accounts for oft-neglected features such as interface and menu design. The third category, the Affective, refers to the emotional response and metaphorical parallels inspired by the combination of the other two levels. The first level of interaction I explore actually precedes gameplay, as it is common for players to begin interpreting games before playing them, and is called the Pre-Play Level of interpretation. Next I examine the Fundamental Level of interpretation, which entails the learning phase of gameplay. The Secondary Level of gameplay is the longest level of play and describes the shift from learning the game to informed, self-conscious play. The Third and final, elective level of interpretation, is where the player forms connections between his gameplay experience, and other concepts and experiences that exist outside of the game artifact. To put my model through its paces, I apply the model in its entirety to three influential and critically acclaimed videogames, and in part to several other titles.
Arcade-style game design: postwar pinball and the golden age of coin-op videogames

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012-04-06) DeLeon, Christopher L.

Several major design elements that we often take for granted in early coin-op videogames-including rule automation, real-time button play, and fiction as static theme-originated decades prior as innovations within the pinball industry. These similarities occurred on account of a number of key personnel doing leading work in both industries, convergent evolution around the business model shared by both game forms, and an irreversible trend of coin-op games becoming more differentiated and having better contextualized objectives. Although echoes of these qualities exist in more modern videogames, the relatively pure combination of these traits in early coin-op games resulted in a type of game style unfamiliar, or even off-putting, to players whose gameplay experiences are limited primarily to newer games from the past two decades. Because the coin-op gameplay formula achieved high replay value with little content, and required only minimal instruction, aspects of it have been rediscovered within the modern casual games movement and indie mobile games. Patterns from the historical relationship between pinball and coin-op videogames can serve as a lens for gaining another perspective on more recent issues and trends in the game industry, from the inherent issues with motion control to the rapid industry-changing shift toward social games.
Making it difficult: modernist poetry as applied to game design analysis

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011-04-05) Asad, Mariam

The process of reading a modernist poem is just as much a process of deconstructing it: the language is designed to make meaning through inefficient means, like the aforementioned fragmentation and assemblage. The reader must decode the text. This is what I want to extract as a point of entry to my videogame analysis. The process of reading is not unlike the process of playing. Instead of linguistic structures, a player must navigate a game‟s internal rule system. The pleasure for both the reader and player comes from decoding the poem and game, respectively. I am not making claims that relationships between modernist poetry and videogames are inherent or innate. Similarly, I am not providing a framework to apply one medium to the other. Instead I want to investigate how each medium uses its affordances to take advantage of its potential for creative expression. I do not consider poetry or literature to be superior to videogames, nor am I invoking the argument that videogames should imitate earlier media. My goal is to compare specific modernist poems and videogames to see how each medium makes meaning through its respective processes.
The judgment of procedural rhetoric

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010-04-08) Ferrari, Simon

This thesis establishes a theoretical framework for understanding virtual spaces and roleplaying in relation to Ian Bogost's theory of "procedural rhetoric," the art of persuading through rule systems alone. Bogost characterizes the persuasive power of games as setting up an Aristotelian enthymeme--an incomplete argument--that one completes through play; however, I argue that the dominant rhetoric intended by a team of game designers is subject to manipulation through player choice. Discrete structures within the play experience cause the meaning-making possibilities of a game object to pullulate in a number of directions. Procedural rhetoric is not comprehended or created when reflected back upon after play: we interrogate it, piece it together, and change it through play. If rules are how the designers express themselves through videogames, then the player expresses herself by forming a personal ruleset--a modus operandi or ethical system--in response to the dominant rhetoric. Furthermore, game space is not merely the place where this dialectic occurs; it also embodies a ruleset in the way it organizes objects and directs the flow of play. The thesis proposes a model by which games, which are "half-real" according to theorist Jesper Juul, can be judged intersubjectively--that is, in a way that accounts for the objectivity of their rulesets and the subjectivity of player experience. By fully understanding the dynamic between the three procedural influences of rules, space, and identity, we can learn more about designing persuasive game systems and enhance the possibilities of subversive play.
Place and Digital Media

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-04-12) Klainbaum, Daniel

As interactors we often allude to a sense of presence, of being there, when experiencing interactive artifacts. Digital technologies can create a sense of presence within a synthetic environment, that of being in a technologically mediated space. As a result, ideas of space and place are fundamental to the use of digital media. Related metaphors pervade our language and use of technology; we explore virtual worlds, surf online, and chat in rooms. The field of humanist geography can be used to examine digital media practice across several domains. Exploring the concept of place in relationship to a video game, website, or mixed reality environments question contemporary definitions of presence. As a result, a theoretical foundation for the design of artifacts may create a strong sense of place, and thus enhance our understanding of presence.
Digital Storytelling: Supporting Digital Literacy in Grades 4 - 12

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005-04-18) Banaszewski, Thomas Michael

Digital storytelling, the practice of combining personal narrative with multimedia to produce a short autobiographical movie, continues to expand its creative uses in classrooms around the world. However, teaching the actual story process within digital storytelling presents several challenges for teachers as it demands a combination of creative writing, basic film conventions, visual and media literacy, as well as the technical facility with the technology. Digital storytelling presents a unique opportunity for students to acquire much more than new technology skills. It enables them to represent their voices in a manner rarely addressed by state and district curriculum while practicing the digital literacy skills that will be important to their 21st century futures. Storytelling and multimedia production have rarely been taught, if at all, while the development of students narrative skills has rested on the shoulders of English teachers. This pedagogical disconnect between story literacy and technology literacy is at the heart of the multiliteracies debate. Elliot W. Eisner writes in The Kind of Schools We Need, What we ought to be developing in our schools is not simply a narrow array of literacy skills limited to a restrictive range of meaning systems, but a spectrum of literacies...We need a conception of multiple literacies to serve as a vision of what our schools should seek to achieve (2002). An effective implementation of digital storytelling in schools is a model of the metaliteracy Eisner suggests.