Monsters and Machines: Reframing Horror Video Games through Representations of Technology

Horror video games are an important site for technological examination. This thesis will explore the specific conjunction between the information medium of video game technology (within the game) and the cultural phenomenon of the representation of technology predicated in games. This thesis will discuss the nature of information dissemination mediated by technology, in relation to both monster and player, in horror video games. Using a qualitative methodological approach from Mia Consalvo and Nathan Dutton, combined with my contribution of understanding horror (power, networks, sensation), this thesis will discuss the perception technology encourages once inundated in horror games. Through this perspective, the significance of technology in horror games contributes to overarching Western cultural ideologies concerning the role of technology. Four games will be discussed as examples; these games will elucidate the relationship between technology, the monster, and the player as a mediated and carefully curated connection.M.I.S