Enjoying the Unpleasant : An Autoethnography of Bloodborne

Abstract

This thesis expands on existing literature about difficult digital/video games and enjoying hard difficulty via an autoethnography of Bloodborne (Sony Computer Entertainment, 2015), with the aim to discover what makes difficult games enjoyable. It highlights gaps in current studies of game enjoyment about the enjoyability of difficult games. In critiquing these common game enjoyment concepts, this thesis argues for the need for interdisciplinary approaches to difficult games and draws on theoretical viewpoints from horror scholarship to expand understanding of the topic. Using personal experiences gathered through an autoethnography of playing Bloodborne contrasted with relevant literature, this thesis creates a framework for enjoying difficult games and suggests an application for wider unpleasant experiences. The proposed framework presents that enjoyment of difficult games and other unpleasant experiences consists of aspects of the experience, personality characteristics, rewards that may be gained from the experience, and the inherent paradoxical nature of how people experience enjoyment. The framework presents a starting point for understanding the enjoyability of unpleasantness, informed by interdisciplinary knowledge on games and horror, and detailed autoethnographic experience. This thesis also argues for the usefulness of autoethnography when researching games and the need for further research on difficult games overall, including possible expansions on the proposed framework.