The Ludophile's Publications

Publications

Arsenault, Dominic and Bernard Perron [forthcoming]. "In the Frame of the Magic Cycle: The Circle(s) of Gameplay", The Video Game Theory Reader 2 (M. Wolf and B. Perron, eds.), Routledge, 2008.

Arsenault, Dominic [2008]. "Guitar Hero: Not Like Playing Guitar At All?", Loading... Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association, Simon Fraser University, Vol. 1, No. 2. [online]

This paper examines the Guitar Hero franchise's ‘simulational’ fidelity in respect to actual guitar-playing. This relationship is often overlooked by many who claim that the game is “not like playing guitar at all”. While there are some significant differences between Guitar Hero and guitar playing, the author takes an in-depth look at the game's controller and interface to argue that these differences are not as important as they may first seem. This paper will argue that game does not perfectly simulate any one dimension of music and guitar playing because it takes another approach toward simulation, favoring breadth over depth. This investigation herein results in a distinction being made between two simulation models for games.

Arsenault, Dominic [2008]. "Paysages 8-bit. Musicalité et spatialité dans le jeu vidéo des années 1985-1990", Inter, art actuel (Quebec city), Espaces sonores, No. 98, winter, p. 9-12.

Arsenault, Dominic [2008].
1) "Company Profile : Nintendo" ;
2) "System Profile : The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)" ;
3) "System Profile : Sony PlayStation" ; et
4) "The Video Game as an Object of Controversy",
in The Video Game Explosion: A History from Pong to PlayStation and Beyond, Mark J.P. Wolf (ed.), Greenwood Press, Wesport, Conn.
[Pre-publication PDF:Nintendo (p. 113-114) / NES (p. 109-114) / PlayStation (p. 177-182) / Controversy (p. 277-281)]

Arsenault, Dominic and Martin Picard [2008]. "Le jeu vidéo entre dépendance et plaisir immersif: les trois formes d'immersion vidéoludique". ACFAS Conference proceedings. HomoLudens. Le jeu vidéo: un phénomène social massivement pratiqué. [en ligne] [PDF]

Arsenault, Dominic [2006]. Narration in the Video Game. Master's thesis (supervised by Bernard Perron), Université de Montréal. [PDF]

Situated in the aftermath of the ludology versus narratology debate that shaped the early years of video game studies at the start of the XXIst century, this thesis erects the foundations of a narratological conception of video games. The author attempts to determine whether narrativity is intrinsic to the video game medium, in what ways it appears, and what its use is in gaming terms. To this end, he presents and amends the definitions of many problematic concepts, such as interactivity, story, narration, and narrative. Inspired by the works of film studies, the author adapts the theories of narratology to take into account the interactive nature of video games.

Arsenault, Dominic and Bernard Perron [2006]. "L'empire vidéoludique : comment les jeux vidéo ont conquis l'univers de Star Wars", in Décadrages(Le monde de Star Wars), edited by Alain Boillat, Lausanne (Switzerland), issues 8-9, Autumn 2006, p. 98-105. [PDF]

Arsenault, Dominic [2006]. "En eaux troubles: lumière sur l'immersion", in dire. La recherche à votre portée, Université de Montréal, (Montréal, Canada), Vol. 16, No. 1, automne 2006, p. 46-49. [PDF]

Arsenault, Dominic [2005]. "Abstract of Dynamic Range: When Game Design and Narratives Unite", DIGRA 2005 International Conference, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver (Canada). [online] [PDF]

As the clash between Game and Narrative rages on, many attempts to unite the two make their way. As heir of this tradition of reconciliation, the Dynamic Range is a tool brought forth to examine how different game systems can give freedom to the players. In its present state, I am going to use it as a compass to pinpoint the close relationship between game design and narratives, and perhaps understand how such a union can be successful.

Arsenault, Dominic [2005]. "Dark Waters: Spotlight on Immersion", in Game On North America 2005 International Conference Proceedings, Eurosis-ETI, Ghent (Belgium), p. 50-52. [PDF]

This paper combines several empirical studies and some theoretical research to shed some light on the dark, undefined waters in which we plunge when we are “immersed”. Immersion, across all media, comes in three different types and in three different degrees, and can be hindered by barriers, such as inaccessibility, or favored by fuel, such as using one’s imagination. The resulting model of immersion can be applied to experiences formed by any type of media object, but is particularly relevant to video games.

Arsenault, Dominic [2005]. "Dynamic Range: measuring player freedom and its narrative possibilities in resource-driven games", 5th Symposium on Art and Multimedia: Metanarrative(s)?, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona (Spain). [online] [PDF]

This paper proposes a tool and methodology for measuring the degree of freedom given to a player in any resource-driven game (that is, any game in which managing resources is an integral part of the gameplay). This concept, which I call the Dynamic Range, can be used namely to evaluate a given game system's potential for developing emergent narratives, as defined by Henry Jenkins in his publication Game Design as Narrative Architecture. While Jenkins places at the heart of the creation of narratives the concept of spatiality, I will argue that narratives can be triggered just as well by a game's very system – the rules that govern that which Janet Murray calls the participatory.