The Effect of the Non-Human on the Generation of Narrative and Space in Digital Games

Gislam, Charlotte Ann (2024) The Effect of the Non-Human on the Generation of Narrative and Space in Digital Games. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This thesis investigates entanglements between digital game narratives and non-human matter through a framework of game space which draws on theories of spatial production and non-human agency as well as insights from the Gothic. The framework proposed in this thesis positions non-human matter as both space and narrative co-constructors, existing alongside, and working with, players, and developers. By way of this framework the project contributes significantly to the understanding of how game space, narrative, and players intersect, highlighting the ways in which these identities emerge from their relations. Through a close reading of three Gothic game texts The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth + (Nicalis, 2017), Bloodborne (From Software, 2015), and Death Stranding (Kojima Productions, 2019), the research explores the ways in which non-human matter, specifically procedural content generation, non-player characters, and game space, are agentive aspects working alongside the human player in the generation of narrative. As such, this thesis identifies games as sites of collaboration between the human and the non-human. The thesis is structured to trace the entanglements between player and game steadily outwards, beginning in the intra-story world of the game, leading, ultimately, to the imbrication of games with the wider phenomena of the climate crisis. Each chapter is connected through the problematising of human-centred notions of space and finds that in their co-construction of narrative and space, digital games illuminate current anxieties surrounding consumption and the environment. By the conclusion the thesis finds that digital games are not only part of the entanglements which form what we understand as the climate crisis but are also folded into the crisis themselves, from their development, shipment, and consumption to how they reinforce harmful notions of nature as a hub of resources open for extraction. As a result, the findings of my research contribute to emerging scholarship in game studies that seeks to recentre the non-human in explorations of space and narrative.