Video Game Characters. Theory and Analysis

<p class="d04-absatztext-abstract" lang="en-US">This essay develops a method for the analysis of video game characters based on a theoretical understanding of their medium-specific representation and the mental processes involved in their intersubjective construction by video game players. We propose to distinguish, first, between narration, simulation, and communication as three modes of representation particularly salient for contemporary video games and the characters they represent, second, between narrative, ludic, and social experience as three ways in which players perceive video game characters and their representations, and, third, between three dimensions of video game characters as ‘intersubjective constructs’, which usually are to be analyzed not only as fictional beings with certain diegetic properties but also as game pieces with certain ludic properties and, in those cases in which they function as avatars in the social space of a multiplayer game, as representations of other players. Having established these basic distinctions, we proceed to analyze their realization and interrelation by reference to the character of Martin Walker from the third-person shooter <em>Spec Ops: The Line </em>(Yager Development 2012), the highly customizable player-controlled characters from the role-playing game <em>The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim </em>(Bethesda 2011), and the complex multidimensional characters in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game <em>Star Wars: The Old Republic </em>(BioWare 2011-2014).