Moving between the Spectral and Material Plane

Abstract

As new media, computer games are commonly characterised by interactivity and the levels of immersion they afford their players. In contrast to player-to-player games in which both players can take action in real time without fixed turns, the closed ecosystems of action- adventure console games tend to articulate player-to-game interactivity. Within the context of a longitudinal study into the nature of players' relationships with action-adventure games, a contradiction between design-intent and player-treatment was observed that constituted a natural component of a game's life-cycle. Video footage taken within the social contexts in which play is actualised revealed instances in which participants transformed one-player games into an effective and highly structured social hybrid of game-play. A single case study is provided of a natural occurrence of collaborative play with the console version of the game Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain (Eidos).