Game-centric transmedia audience experiences : case of Quantum Break and Defiance
Wiik, Elisa (2018)
2018
Informaatiotutkimuksen ja interaktiivisen median tutkinto-ohjelma - Degree Programme in Information Studies and Interactive Media
Viestintätieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2018-11-19
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201811262882
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201811262882
Tiivistelmä
Transmedia research has in the past been mainly interested in defining transmedia and examining transmedia franchises that have their starting point in movies and TV-series. However, there are multiple transmedia constellations that have a game as their starting point, or as a core. In this thesis, I suggest that there is a need for a game-centric transmedia research.
The survey data from two examples of game-centric transmedia, Defiance (Trion Worlds, 2013) and Quantum Break (Remedy Entertainment, 2016), were analyzed by using grounded theory-informed approach. This was done in order to find out what motivates an audience to consume or avoid game-centric transmedia and what kind of experiences does the integrated transmedia style of Quantum Break offer compared to the separate transmedia style of Defiance.
The results of this study show that if the developers of game-centric transmedia are aiming for an accessible and cinematic experience, integrated transmedia might be the better choice. The motivations to consume game-centric transmedia had a strong focus on narrative aspects and there were several mentions of immersion and identifying with the characters in the data. The results differ from earlier transmedia audience studies and suggest the need for more game-centric transmedia audience studies, where the core text is a game instead of a television show.
The survey data from two examples of game-centric transmedia, Defiance (Trion Worlds, 2013) and Quantum Break (Remedy Entertainment, 2016), were analyzed by using grounded theory-informed approach. This was done in order to find out what motivates an audience to consume or avoid game-centric transmedia and what kind of experiences does the integrated transmedia style of Quantum Break offer compared to the separate transmedia style of Defiance.
The results of this study show that if the developers of game-centric transmedia are aiming for an accessible and cinematic experience, integrated transmedia might be the better choice. The motivations to consume game-centric transmedia had a strong focus on narrative aspects and there were several mentions of immersion and identifying with the characters in the data. The results differ from earlier transmedia audience studies and suggest the need for more game-centric transmedia audience studies, where the core text is a game instead of a television show.