Abstract

Research concerning video games frequently involves the close examination of the interaction between the player and the game. Often however, the design of the research study does not allow for the examination of the entire traversal of the game, either due to practical time constraints, or more commonly, due to the specificity of the research question explored. This highlights the need for a structured means of segmenting the interaction between the player and the game. Frequently, this procedure relies on predetermined segments of the game, such as levels, or objective means of segmentation, such as time. While functional, these approaches do not focus on the relationships that emerge between the player and the game during engagement. 

Relying on the theory of affordances, as well as concepts from graph theory, the current project proposes a method of segmenting the player game engagement relative to the control that the player and the game exercise on each other via the present game objects. Game situations are conceived as sequential segments whose start and end points are determined by the stability of the network of game objects. The examination of said situation can be further used for the analysis of the player game relationship as a dyadic, non-binary distribution of control.

About the speaker

Miruna Vozaru, PhD Fellow – Making Sense of Games
IT University of Copenhagen

Miruna earned her BA in Psychology from West University of Timisoara, as well as her MSc in Game Design and Analysis from the IT University of Copnehagen. She is interested in player-game relationships and communication, as well as video game segmentation with the goal of creating a game analysis framework situated on the common ground between player studies and game studies.