Listening to Fear - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 212

(n.d.), in his original definition of the term,
conceptualised the “diégèse” as a “'world'
constructed by representation” (Boillat,
2009, p. 223, freely translated) and, as it is
possible to deduce, which is not necessar-
ily specific to a narrative theory. Following
Souriau's line of thought, “the diegetic level
is characterized not only by 'everything we
take into consideration as being represented
by the film' but also by 'the type of reality
supposed by the signification of the film'”
(cited in Boillat, 2009, p. 222, freely trans-
lated). According to Boillat (2009), Souriau
refined this definition by assimilating the
“diégèse” to “all that belongs, 'in the indi-
gibility' [...] to the story being told, to the
world supposed or proposed by the fiction
of the film” (Boillat p.222, freely translated),
this “all” making reference to three very
important constituents: time, space, and the
character. As it is also highlighted by Boillat,
this second part of the definition is essential
to the concept so as to prevent the “reducing
[of] the 'diégèse', as it was often the case
[...] to only the 'recounted story'” (p. 222,
freely translated). However, in his topic De
la Fiction , French semio-pragmatist Roger
Odin makes a clarification regarding the
dichotomy between the story and the diégèse.
As he explained, the “diégèse” “cannot be
mixed up with the story” but “provides the
descriptive elements the story needs mani-
fest to itself” (cited in Boillat, 2009, p. 234,
freely translated).

of “systemic immersion” (Arsenault &
Picard, 2008), allowing for more levels of
communication between the gamer's world
and the gameworld. On these premises,
whether certain sounds generated within
the “diégèse” seem to address an instance
without it or not, does not hold that much
importance regarding the construction and
integrity of the “diégèse”.
8 I personally prefer to use the adjective extra-
diegetic instead of non-diegetic because I
believe that, for example, survival horror
games' music is tightly linked to the events
that are taking place in the diegetic world.
9 In Hamlet on the Holodeck , Janet Murray
(1997) defines agency as “the satisfying
power to take meaningful action and see
the results of our decisions and choices” (p.
126).
10 For example Jørgensen's (2006; 2008)
response functions, even though they play
an important role in the actual gameplay of
survival horror games are not as important
to the construction of the games' strategies.
For this reason, they will be left out of this
chapter. For more information on sound
function, see Grimshaw, 2008; Jorgensen,
2006 and 2008, and Collins 2008.
11 I think “player character state” would be
more appropriate as the gamers themselves
remain in their living room.
12 Only available in Japan.
13 This allows for the differentiation between
horror computer games, which are a broader
category of the videoludic horror genre, and
survival horror games, which can be referred
to as games that maximize the elements of
a horrific mise en scène.
14 Following William H. Rockett's line of
thoughts.

7

While trying to apply the concept of diégèse
to videogames, one must acknowledge that
it does not function following the require-
ment of fictional films and according to a
pure “fictionalisation process” (Odin, 2000).
The reconstruction of the diegetic stage
works differently based partly on a process