Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
his sort of identiication is crucial to understanding why people play games
at all: Sutton-Smith argues that “the most important identity for players is
typically the role they are playing” in the game. 25 As I described in Chapter 3,
James Paul Gee's notion of the projective identity in video games, “the interface
between—the interactions between—the real-world person and the virtual
character,” is relevant to the afective relationship between character and text
in board games. 26 For Gee, the more a player embodies a character, the more
developed the projective identity can be. As players continue to play the game,
to become invested in a particular character, the player's “real-world” identity
imbricates the play with his or her persona. At the same time, the “virtual”
identity of the character that is in the game manifests through the work of that
player. 27 Although Gee is describing long-term characters in role-playing games,
his work applies to how both Hunger Games games appropriate characteristics of
participatory culture in order to develop their paratextual connections.
Playing he Hunger Games
Paratextual board games oten develop scenes from the primary text that are
underexplored using characters and narrative actions to build connections. As we
have seen, he Lord of the Rings: he Complete Trilogy allows players to develop
new narratives in Middle-earth, and Star Trek: Fleet Captains encompasses all
Star Trek space and time to facilitate fan play within that franchise universe.
Both Hunger Games paratextual board games ask the player to take on the role of
a fan—to explore aspects of a media storyworld by cocreating stories and illing
in gaps of a hyperdiegetic narrative. Character attributes in Training Days allow
imaginative play with the novel; narrative development in District 12 augments
the player's understanding of the ilm . District 12 ofers snapshots of life within
Katniss's District not shown in the ilm. But by giving players fewer choices, the
game locks a particular reading of the narrative into place, closing of player
interpretation. While it may expand the larger Hunger Games narrative through
fan-like rereadings of the franchise text, District 12 does not facilitate players'
creation of their own rereading of the game's rereading. hat is, players seem to
be expected to experience the narrative as given , even though that narrative is
already expanding a world of which the players are probably fans. One cannot
“play” outside the authorized text, for instance, taking Katniss to a location not
in the ilm.
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