Date of Award

Summer 2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Program/Concentration

English

Committee Director

Kevin Moberly

Committee Member

Rochelle Rodrigo

Committee Member

David Roh

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E64 P89 2013

Abstract

The field of serious game studies, while growing, is still working through the variables that create the conditions for a discernible effect towards real-world player behavior. One branch of serious games I refer to as outreach games aim at informing and prompting the player to take further real-world action. However, a significant impediment to this appeal is the relationship between the player and the game. Referring to the role of the flaneur in post-colonial literature, I describe how the relationship between whom I refer to as the gameur and the outreach game is similar to the urban wanderer, eavesdropping on another class of life. One thoroughly researched method of circumventing this difference is through the rhetorical appeal to empathy. After an evaluation of research in empathy, and its use in computer games, I demonstrate how empathy is impacted by representation and characterization within these persuasive texts. Finally, I conduct a small case study of Prisoners of War, an award-winning outreach game wherein I demonstrate how representation and characterization affect the gameur and the variety of impacts that affect her ability to consubstantiate with the in-game situations.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/stae-y022

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