Videogames and Agency

<p><em>Videogames and Agency</em> explores the trend in videogames and their marketing to offer a player higher volumes, or even more distinct kinds, of player freedom. The book offers a new conceptual framework that helps us understand how this freedom to act is discussed by designers, and how that in turn reflects in their design principles.</p><p>What can we learn from existing theories around agency? How do paratextual materials reflect design intention with regards to what the player can and cannot do in a videogame? How does game design shape the possibility space for player action? Through these questions and selected case studies that include AAA and independent games alike, the book presents a unique approach to studying agency that combines game design, game studies, and game developer discourse. By doing so, the book examines what discourses around player action, as well as a game’s design can reveal about the nature of agency and videogame aesthetics.</p><p>This book will appeal to readers specifically interested in videogames, such as game studies scholars or game designers, but also to media studies students and media and screen studies scholars less familiar with digital games.</p><p>The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.</p> <p><em>Acknowledgements</em>; Introduction; 1. Understanding Agency; Agency in Game Studies; Agency in Game Design; Toward a Conceptualisation of Agency; 2. A Multidimensional Heuristic Framework for Analysing Player Agency; Agency Afforded in Space: The Spatial-Explorative Dimension; Agency Afforded in Time: The Temporal-Ergodic Dimension; Agency Over the Avatar and its Surroundings: The Configurative-Constructive Dimension; Agency and Narrativity: The Narrative-Dramatic Dimension; 3. An “Active Cinematic Experience”: Naughty Dog’s <em>Uncharted</em> Series; Naughty Dog and the <em>Uncharted</em> Franchise; Developing <em>Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End</em>; Agency and a “Cinematic Feel”; 4. “A Compelling Story with Choices That Matter”: BioWare’s <em>Mass Effect</em> Series; BioWare and the <em>Mass Effect</em> Franchise; Developing <em>Mass Effect: Andromeda</em>; Narrativity, Eventfulness, and Agency; 5. “The World is Your Play-Doh”: System Era Softworks and <em>Astroneer</em>; Independent Games: Definitions and Trends<br>Developing <em>Astroneer</em>; Agency and Playfulness; Conclusion; <em>Index</em></p>