Video Game Characters and Transmedia Storytelling
Title
Video Game Characters and Transmedia Storytelling
Subtitle
The Dynamic Game Character
ISBN
9789048553495
Format
eBook PDF
Number of pages
208
Language
English
Publication date
Dimensions
15.6 x 23.4 cm
Also available as
Hardback - € 104,00
Table of Contents
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A brief note Japanese names and words
Chapter 1: Introducing the dynamic game character
Chapter 2: Characters in contemporary media
Chapter 3: How the dynamic game character develops
Chapter 4: Strategies to control a character’s transtextual identities
Chapter 5: Parasocial relationships with non-playable characters
Chapter 6: The construction of transmedia game characters
Chapter 7: The future of dynamic game characters
Glossary A brief typology on characters
Complete bibliography
Index .

Reviews and Features

''This dive into video game characters explores transmedia characters and their place in, and influence on, culture. [...] Throughout, the book contrasts character creation and consumption across Eurocentric and Japanese cultures, commenting on their interplay. This work, licensed under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND, adds value to studies of Japan, video games, transmedia, and fandom, extending the work of scholars such as Henry Jenkins. The result is a text that can be of value for upper-level researchers.''
- K. Shotick, Choice ,Vol. 62 No. 1, September, 2024

Joleen Blom

Video Game Characters and Transmedia Storytelling

The Dynamic Game Character

Characters are a vital aspect of today’s transmedia practices. Combining theories on fictional persons from Japanese and Euro-American practices, this book discusses video game characters embedded in our popular media culture in which they are constantly produced and re-imagined.

This book introduces the dynamic game character, a type of game character with a development structure that consists of multiple outcomes in a game. Through their actions and choices, players can influence these game characters’ identities and affect their possible destinies.

Games subvert the idea that fictional persons must maintain a coherent identity. This book shows that dynamic game characters challenge strategies of top-down control through close readings of the Mass Effect series, Persona 5, Hades, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and more. It is directed to all scholars interested in the topics of transmedia storytelling, video games, characters, and Japanese narratology.
Author

Joleen Blom

Joleen Blom is a university lecturer at the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies at the Tampere University Game Research Lab. She is the author of Video Game Characters and Transmedia Storytelling published at the Amsterdam University Press. For more, see joleenblom.com