La dimensión narrativa de los videojuegos first-person shooter (FPS)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Many video games, such as First-Person Shooters (FPS), have a narrative dimension. They can be studied from the point of view of communication, as vehicles for storytelling. Game developers serve as mediators; their products transmit clear values in the shape of behavior guidelines for characters, and also offer justification for the actions performed by the player in the fictional universe. However, the player takes part in a nonlinear storytelling and tends to have the sensation of `agency¿ (feeling of supreme action) which causes an illusion of no mediation. The challenge is finding out how that story works. This doctoral dissertation approaches the object of study from the mediation paradigm, and proposes specific analytical models to reveal how the narrative elements are connected in FPS, particularly characters and their roles. The method is based on content analysis and includes an empirical study of fourteen FPS. Three kinds of conclusions are provided: theoretical, methodological and phenomenological. The analytical models developed can be applied to a wide range of communication products (audiovisual, iconic, written and oral), even if they were nonlinear or interactive. PALABRAS CLAVE: videojuego, narrativa, análisis de contenido, First-Person Shooter, FPS, video game, narrative, content analysis