Playing between Opposite Ideologies with Focalization and Agency: A Look at Ideological Perspective in Narrative-driven Games

Huaxin Wei; Teresa H.M. Leung

doi:10.1145/3472538.3472564

Playing between Opposite Ideologies with Focalization and Agency: A Look at Ideological Perspective in Narrative-driven Games

Huaxin Wei
, Teresa H.M. Leung

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceeding › Conference article published in proceeding or book › Academic research › peer-review

Abstract

This paper examines the unique set-up of two concurrent opposite ideologies in narrative-driven games both as a structure and as a technique for game narrative design. Through close analysis of two distinct games - Ghost of Tsushima and Red Dead Redemption 2, both with a strikingly similar dual ideology design, we observe a range of narrative design strategies that allow the player to build her player character's ideology with agency at both local and global levels. Among them focalization, specifically internal focalization, has stood out as a prominent approach. Our analysis contributes to the broader theoretical discussion of how narrative perspective exits in games, with detailed findings on techniques of ideological perspective design and the use of focalization in games.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	FDG '21
Subtitle of host publication	Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games
Editors	Allan Fowler, Johanna Pirker, Alesandro Alessandro Canossa, Ali Ali Arya, Casper Harteveld
Place of Publication	New York, NY, USA
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Number of pages	9
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450384223
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3472538.3472564
Publication status	Published - Aug 2021
Event	16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021 - Virtual, Online, Canada Duration: 2 Aug 2021 → 6 Aug 2021

Conference

Conference	16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Virtual, Online
Period	2/08/21 → 6/08/21

Keywords

Ideology
Perspective
Focalization
Agency
Game narrative design
Game design
Interactive narrative
Ghost of Tsushima
Red Dead Redemption 2

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Networks and Communications
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Software

More information

10.1145/3472538.3472564

http://hdl.handle.net/10397/105013

Cite this

Wei, H., & Leung, T. H. M. (2021). Playing between Opposite Ideologies with Focalization and Agency: A Look at Ideological Perspective in Narrative-driven Games. In A. Fowler, J. Pirker, A. A. Canossa, A. A. Arya, & C. Harteveld (Eds.), FDG '21: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games Article 24 Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3472538.3472564

Wei, Huaxin ; Leung, Teresa H.M. / Playing between Opposite Ideologies with Focalization and Agency : A Look at Ideological Perspective in Narrative-driven Games. FDG '21: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. editor / Allan Fowler ; Johanna Pirker ; Alesandro Alessandro Canossa ; Ali Ali Arya ; Casper Harteveld. New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery, 2021.

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abstract = "This paper examines the unique set-up of two concurrent opposite ideologies in narrative-driven games both as a structure and as a technique for game narrative design. Through close analysis of two distinct games - Ghost of Tsushima and Red Dead Redemption 2, both with a strikingly similar dual ideology design, we observe a range of narrative design strategies that allow the player to build her player character's ideology with agency at both local and global levels. Among them focalization, specifically internal focalization, has stood out as a prominent approach. Our analysis contributes to the broader theoretical discussion of how narrative perspective exits in games, with detailed findings on techniques of ideological perspective design and the use of focalization in games. ",

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author = "Huaxin Wei and Leung, \{Teresa H.M.\}",

note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank the reviewers of this paper and the conference organizers. We also acknowledge the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong for their funding support of this work through the General Research Fund (Project No. 15603619) as well as The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for their general research support. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 ACM.; 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021 ; Conference date: 02-08-2021 Through 06-08-2021",

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doi = "10.1145/3472538.3472564",

language = "English",

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Wei, H & Leung, THM 2021, Playing between Opposite Ideologies with Focalization and Agency: A Look at Ideological Perspective in Narrative-driven Games. in A Fowler, J Pirker, AA Canossa, AA Arya & C Harteveld (eds), FDG '21: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games., 24, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG 2021, Virtual, Online, Canada, 2/08/21. https://doi.org/10.1145/3472538.3472564

Playing between Opposite Ideologies with Focalization and Agency: A Look at Ideological Perspective in Narrative-driven Games. / Wei, Huaxin; Leung, Teresa H.M.
FDG '21: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. ed. / Allan Fowler; Johanna Pirker; Alesandro Alessandro Canossa; Ali Ali Arya; Casper Harteveld. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. 24.

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceeding › Conference article published in proceeding or book › Academic research › peer-review

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N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank the reviewers of this paper and the conference organizers. We also acknowledge the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong for their funding support of this work through the General Research Fund (Project No. 15603619) as well as The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for their general research support. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 ACM.

PY - 2021/8

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N2 - This paper examines the unique set-up of two concurrent opposite ideologies in narrative-driven games both as a structure and as a technique for game narrative design. Through close analysis of two distinct games - Ghost of Tsushima and Red Dead Redemption 2, both with a strikingly similar dual ideology design, we observe a range of narrative design strategies that allow the player to build her player character's ideology with agency at both local and global levels. Among them focalization, specifically internal focalization, has stood out as a prominent approach. Our analysis contributes to the broader theoretical discussion of how narrative perspective exits in games, with detailed findings on techniques of ideological perspective design and the use of focalization in games.

AB - This paper examines the unique set-up of two concurrent opposite ideologies in narrative-driven games both as a structure and as a technique for game narrative design. Through close analysis of two distinct games - Ghost of Tsushima and Red Dead Redemption 2, both with a strikingly similar dual ideology design, we observe a range of narrative design strategies that allow the player to build her player character's ideology with agency at both local and global levels. Among them focalization, specifically internal focalization, has stood out as a prominent approach. Our analysis contributes to the broader theoretical discussion of how narrative perspective exits in games, with detailed findings on techniques of ideological perspective design and the use of focalization in games.

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Wei H, Leung THM. Playing between Opposite Ideologies with Focalization and Agency: A Look at Ideological Perspective in Narrative-driven Games. In Fowler A, Pirker J, Canossa AA, Arya AA, Harteveld C, editors, FDG '21: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery. 2021. 24 doi: 10.1145/3472538.3472564

Playing between Opposite Ideologies with Focalization and Agency: A Look at Ideological Perspective in Narrative-driven Games

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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