The Hunger Games and Fan Paratextual Participation - Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games - page 126

narration in the novel means that we expect Katniss to survive—but also a
reduction in [the novel's] claustrophobia. Shiting to third person allows us a
few glimpses into the world beyond the arena. 43
In other words, in the novel he Hunger Games Katniss narrates all the events:
we see the world through her eyes and experience her trials vicariously through
her interpretation. M. Keith Booker argues that this makes Katniss “highly
sympathetic” as the topic “is very much centered on her personal feelings and
experiences.” 44 We learn her intimate thoughts and get to know her as a person.
he ilm attempts to mirror this feeling by focusing most scenes around Katniss,
but it also uses alternate points of view to show viewers scenes of other people
talking without Katniss being present.
Similar diferences between the two games lie in the avatar that players choose
during the game play, and the decisions that players can make throughout the
game. In District 12 , the game based on the ilm, players play as Katniss —each
player chooses a playing piece depicting Katniss with a diferent background
color. here are no changing attributes; players simply move their pieces without
making any decisions about the character. From a franchise point of view, this is
a wise choice: the game presents Katniss's character as writ , with little variation in
characteristics. his conirms the character as depicted in the ilm and solidiies
her characteristics as given: without choice, there is stability. As Sara Gwenllian-
Jones notes, fan activity surrounding cult texts hinges on character “latency, with
[fans] reading through the surface semiotics of the diegesis and beyond into the
implied interior and exterior realities of the characters and their world.” 45 By
making everyone Katniss, the game attempts to emulate the ilm's simulation of
the novel's irst-person perspective.
Everything in the game District 12 is designed to mirror Katniss's point
of view. hese multiple Katnisses move around the board, visiting diferent
locations from the ilm version of District 12 . he game board is a single
card with diferent areas of District 12 labeled with images from the ilm
(Figure 6.1).
he Bakery in the top right hand corner of the board has a picture of Peeta,
the baker's son and Katniss's partner in the Hunger Games. he Everdeen house
below the Bakery has images of Katniss's mother and sister. At each of these
locations, players can draw resource cards. here are thirteen rounds (linking
the game symbolically to the thirteen Districts of Panem) and in rounds, 4, 7, 10,
and 13, game players have to discard some or all of these resource cards in order