Who are we in strategy games? An analysis of the imagined and embodied positions of Frostpunk players
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24137/raeic.9.18.6Keywords:
player positioning, enunciation, Frostpunk, game studiesAbstract
“¿Who are we in the gameworld?” has been a common question on game studies. Various studies have proposed phenomenological typologies of our presence in game worlds, as well as presented potential functions of the avatars and enunciative processes shaping the experience and meaning of the game, all of this along with an agency dimension of the players to define in their own terms its virtual presence. Under the assumption that imagined player positioning is important to understand player’s game-practices and the meaning of the videoludic text, this paper aims to analyze the spontaneous references abouts their own virtual position in a strategy-based videogame without avatar (Frostpunk), expressed by various voluntary players. These references will be analyzed following the dimensions of proximity-distance with the game’s political community, the embodied roles, the relationship with the citizens, political legitimacy and ethic gameplay.
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