Meeples Alone: The importance of materiality and paratextuality for play experience in the solo mode of Resident Evil 3: The Board Game

Abstract

Board game solo play has grown in popularity over the recent years but has received very little scholarly attention. This thesis tests a multidisciplinary theoretical and methodological framework to catalyze future research on the topic, as well as review the suitability of using the framework for studying board game solo play. The thesis is focused on materiality and paratextuality within the solo board gaming context. In this thesis, the object of study is Resident Evil 3: The Board Game, a cooperative game that can be played alone or together according to the official rules. The aim is to compare how certain elements of the game work differently when playing alone or together to form the play experience.

The study combines theory from media and literary studies under the umbrella of game studies and is structured around the concepts of materiality and paratextuality. Materiality is related to the significance of the material components of the board game as a physical artefact. Paratextuality refers to textual elements surrounding the object of study that inform its interpretations. The play sessions conducted for the study show that there are significant differences in how the materiality and paratextuality dictate the gameplay experience when solo and cooperative play are compared.