Psychological Processing of Video Games

           We define media as any means of cultivation, conveyance, or expression; essentially, any means by which we communicate. The International Society for Presence Research, ISPR, defines presence as “a psychological state or subjective perception in which even though part or all of an individual’s current experience is generated by and/or filtered through human-made technology, part or all of the individual’s perception fails to accurately acknowledge the role of the technology in the experience” (Lombard, 2018). It is my understanding that this definition refers to presence as a sensation or experience that is felt through media technology, without the sense that the sensation or experience is being mediated. A medium that creates a strong sense of presence would be communicating with its audience in the most direct way possible, as there is no feeling of dissociation or disconnection because the audience cannot perceive any means of conveyance other than direct communication.

            As an avid and passionate video game player, I have always felt that video games were our most impressive and successful form of media technology. I do not like to attribute this perspective to personal bias; when considering the power of video games logically, I can come up with no other form of media technology that includes any and all forms of visual, auditory, and narrative art as well as our most advanced forms of graphic technology and experiential design. Video games are interactive by nature, demanding that their audience be an active participant in their message. I feel as though the interactive element found only in video games, by definition, is a strong part of what makes them the most presence inducing form of digital media available. However, I recognize the irony in saying that the form of media which incorporates all other digital media is also the form which feels the least mediated. I plan to exemplify this claim by examining presence through interactivity in the recent and highly successful video game God of War (2018).   

            The God of War video game series was introduced in 2005 and saw a very successful run of three main line entries and three spin off games spanning through the following six years. All six games took place within the annals of Greek mythos and cast the player as a former Spartan general, and secret son of Zeus, named Kratos. Kratos was tricked by the Olympian Gods on multiple occasions including a specific incident in which Ares tricked him into slaughtering his own wife and daughter in addition to the refusal of the other Olympians to ease the nightmares that such a tragic event would cause. What followed was a series of games in which a man seethed with hatred and despair as he clawed his way to vengeance against the omnipotent beings who toyed with him. Kratos’ anger was consistently expressed not only through in-game cinematics, but through the mechanics and visceral violence that soon became synonymous with the God of War series. In 2018, players both new and old were introduced to a new variance of Kratos. He retained the same awesome strength to oppose divine beings as he had showcased in his previous games but now he had moved to lands that were dominated by the Gods of Norse mythology; and he was now accompanied by his young son who had recently lost his mother.

            I feel as though it is difficult to feel presence in such fantastical settings as God of War without having a narrative understanding of what is going on in the game. It may have always been cathartic for my teenaged self to have Kratos slice the legs of a towering cyclops only to crawl up its back and then gouge out its eye, but the ludonarrative harmony created by Kratos committing such an act because of the anger spurred by events of the story created a world in which it made sense for me to have my specific character commit this action. In God of War (2018), Kratos fights in a distinctly different manner than he did in the past. His rage is still a very important theme of the story, and so it still is very important to combat and interaction, but now that he is older, has a son to think about, and is a stranger in a strange land, he is much more tempered and wizened in the way he fights and interacts with others. In this way, the game communicates spatial, social, and perhaps most significantly, self-presence.

            Tamborini and Skalski define spatial presence as “the sense of being physically located in a virtual environment or interacting with virtual objects as though they have actual, physical properties” (2006). Even without relying on a first person camera perspective or virtual reality, there are many in which God of War (2018) achieves this affect. A primary technique of most modern, big budget video games is to utilize the very best in graphics and audio technology to produce a high production quality product. Every clang of Kratos’ weapons as they strike, his boots stomping into the ground when he runs, the look on his face when he takes or dishes out devastating damage to his enemies, all of these elements were painstakingly considered to the most minute detail in order for the game to exude vividness and provide immersion. This sense of vividness provided by graphic quality and the sense of immersion provided by deep levels of interactivity are considered to be “highly conducive to the sensation of presence” (Tamborini & Skalski, 2006). In God of War (2018), specifically, two of the most significant elements for creating spatial presence would be Kratos’ new weapon, the Leviathan Axe, as well as the brand new technique that the creative director, Cory Barlog, chose to implement. In the previous six God of War games, the developers utilized a fixed camera angle that the player had no control over. When you guided Kratos into a new room or set piece, the camera angle would cut to what the developers assumed would be the best angle for the player to complete their objective. In God of War (2018), the camera takes on a third person perspective behind Kratos’ back and allows the player to freely aim as they see fit. This is a rather common technique in contemporary video games, however, what Barlog chose to do was create the entire game as one seem take. The camera never cuts in God of War (2018), a feat that has never been attempted before in video games. Whether you are supposed to be seeing through Kratos’ eyes, seeing the shock or anger on his son’s face, some story event has completely altered a once familiar environment, or some massive creature is emerging on screen, the player’s perspective remains constantly in the game world and moves with these events instead of cutting to get a better angle on them; this also allowed much more seamless movement back into gameplay as the camera would naturally return to Kratos’ back.

            As I mentioned before, the Leviathan Axe is Kratos’ new weapon and one of the player’s most important tools for interacting with the game world. As Weimin Toh asserts, “to describe the player’s emotional experience, we must describe the emotion’s object and the reasons the subject has for relating to the object in the particular way. In gameplay, the player’s emotions are centered on the player’s weapon during its manipulation process due to its ability to fulfil the player’s goal in the game world” (2016). In addition to combat, the axe has several functions for traversal and puzzle solving that the player will discover through their interactions with the game. For example, the axe is a magical weapon that Kratos received from his late wife, and thus it is imbued with runic magic. It has runes that allow it generate frost, and it also has a function in whereby Kratos can throw it; at any time, through any distance or object, the player can have him recall it to his hand with the press of a button. The effects generated from these two functions, as well as the emotional attachment that the player’s avatar - and by extension the player - have to this weapon, create a strong sense of presence in this game.  “I wanted to see if we could focus on just getting the holding of the ax and swinging it—make that feel like it had a different way of connecting with the enemies. Because once you get lost in throwing it and putting all the effects on the screen, you lose track of the close, intimate parts” (Takahashi, 2019). In this quote from a recent interview with Cory Barlog, he outlines the amount of thought that went into getting the most basic actions with the axe to feel right. Every element of this object is communicated to the player in a way that gives it and the things it hits realistic properties. The sound it makes as it whirrs through the air and the animation that plays as Kratos stresses his arm to catch it, making apparent the appropriate size and weight of the weapon. Every enemy that it tears through and the resulting gore emphasize the sharpness of the blade. The crackling of the frost that builds up on its enchanted edge is immediately reminiscent of any object in our world freezing over and accurately shattering after Kratos slams the blade into another enemy. There are even cinematics where characters who are not quite as strong as the demigod protagonist attempt to handle this weapon and their bodies reel and falter under the heft of it; this is also a good example of social presence as these actors exhibit reactions based on realistic physics.

            Social presence is also experienced in the way that the game world reacts to the player. If you do not pay attention to Kratos’ son, Atreus, in combat enemies can get the best of him. It is in the player’s best interest not only to protect Atreus, but to give him commands as well so that he can be helpful in combat and puzzle situations. In addition, Atreus will respond to the player’s actions; he will cry out in fear if you take too much damage, and he can puzzlingly question if his father is attempting to teach him something in the event the player is randomly swinging Kratos’ weapons around practices combo attacks or smashing items in the environment.

            Biocca claims that self-presence is a phenomenon expressed through multiple bodies; these include actual, virtual, and body schema (Biocca, 1997). The body schema refers to the mental mapping of myself onto my virtual avatar. In this case, my virtual avatar would be Kratos; for an example of the body schema I can simply say that I understand that I control the movement of his legs by the direction I choose to push the controller’s left analog stick in. Biocca (1997) also states that “increases in self-presence are correlated with higher levels of cognitive performance, and, possibly, emotional development.” I take this to mean that as I begin to understand my avatar’s emotional journey, my connection to him as my avatar in this virtual world creates a stronger sense of self-presence. My recognition of Kratos’ journey with his son and their reconciliation of the loss of their wife and mother deepens my connection to this avatar. I can see on Kratos’ face, through detailed animation and performance capture, his questioning of his skills as a father, and his apprehension in getting closer to his son as he would rather spare Atreus the traits that have made his father such an efficient killing machine. I also connect strongly with Kratos on a physical level. The last time I played through one of his stories I was 18 years old and now I am 27; it has been quite some time for both of us and it definitely shows. In this new game, Kratos can no longer jump on command and similarly, I had back surgery since the last time Kratos served as my virtual avatar, neither one of us can move as well as a result of aging. While this connection is subjective to myself as the player, and the body schema I already have mapped to Kratos is very familiar to me, I would say that presence – especially self-presence – is a highly subjective sensation. I can see Kratos as my avatar because I can connect with him “leading to an awareness of [myself] as [a] social being inside a virtual environment” (Tamborini & Bowman, 2010). In this way, my ability to interact with the game world through my basic control of Kratos’ actions creates the sensation of self-presence.

                       

Sources

Biocca, F. (1977). The cyborg’s dilemma: Progressive embodiment in virtual environments. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 3(2). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283995961_Presence_in_video_games

Lombard, M. (2018). Presence Past and Future: Reflections on 25 Years of Presence Technology, Scholarship and Community. In Andrea L. Guzman (Ed). Human-Machine Communication: Rethinking Communication, Technology, and Ourselves. Peter Lang Publishing.

Michell, V.A. (2013). Cognition capabilities and the capability affordance model. Business Modelling and Software Design BMSD 13. Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands

Newcombe, J., & Brick, B. (2019). Blending Video Games Into Language Learning. In I. Management Association (Ed.), Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 1652-1668). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-7663-1.ch079

Tamborini, R., & Bowman, N. (2010). Presence in video games. Immersed in Media: Telepresence in Everyday Life (pp. 87-109).

Tamborini, R., & Skalski, P. (2006). The Role of Presence in the Experience of Electronic Games. In P. Vorderer & J. Bryant (Eds.), Playing video games: Motives, responses, and consequences (pp. 225-240). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Takahashi, D. (2019, January 6). God of War full interview — The definitive story behind the crafting of God of War. Venture Beat (San Francisco, California). Retrieved From https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/06/god-of-war-full-interview-the-definitive-story-behind-the-crafting-of-god-of-war/

Toh, W. (2016). Chapter 5 Gamers and Their Weapons An Appraisal Perspective on Weapons Manipulation in Video Games. In S. Y. Tettegah and W. D. Huang (Eds.), Emotions, Technology, and Digital Games (pp. 83 - 113). Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128017388000051