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Ben Hourigan

Document Type

Article

Abstract

From the mid to late 1990s, popular and academic discourse on video games, particularly in the United States, has focused on their supposed capacity to engender violent and otherwise anti-social behavior in youth. Much like ludologists' recent claims that video games are not a narrative medium, at least one reason for this is that commentators have too narrow an understanding of the diverse range of games that exist. In addition to this, game demonizers have demonstrated an inadequate understanding of the ways games are related to real life. In order to combat these misunderstandings, this chapter analyzes the role of the "novum" and of the social context in video games, paying particular attention to the work of ludologists and "narratologists" engaged in the study of the medium. As a demonstration of a specific mode of reading video games, a generically situated and socially contextualized discussion of Final Fantasy VI-VIII as counterexamples to totalizing discourses on videogames is offered. A historical overview of the series' evolution shows how the Final Fantasy series has developed a sophisticated formal aesthetic, which allows later games in the series to respond to concerns about anti-social behavior in youth by presenting positive models of social behavior. Textual analysis identifies a response to perceived social disintegration, particularly as manifested by youth withdrawal and violence in the three games. They make a critical use of the games' nova to suggest alternative modes of social engagement to those offered by the "group society" model that has dominated public and academic discourse on Japanese society in the past three decades. In addition, this chapter applies Marxist literary theory to the video game medium to show its profound applicability; by situating the study cross-culturally, the author also raises questions regarding globalization and its effects on the game production industry.

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