Player-avatar Theory | With A Terrible Fate

Podcast: Can Normative Inquiry Become Gaming’s Next “Lore Analysis”?

Could storytellers like Miyazaki push players' motivations beyond crafting timelines—all the way to crafting theories of value?

By Dan Hughes, 8 months ago September 15, 2024

What's the best way to marry "big questions" of morality and player involvement in games with our actual passion for those games?

By Dan Hughes, 10 months ago July 15, 2024

Tales of Hearts R's fairy tale is an activity that bonds all real and fictional entities of the Tales of Series with one source of value.

By Aaron Suduiko, 11 months ago June 5, 2024

By exploring Majora’s Mask through the lens of ego state therapy, we learn how Link overcomes trauma and outgrows the moniker of "Hero of Time."

By Erin Waldram, 1 year ago April 30, 2024

Discussing Lies of P as a "soulslike" fairy tale, the narrative evolution of the Final Fantasy series, and the permeability of fourth walls!

By Dan Hughes, 1 year ago April 18, 2024

A PAX East 2024 postmortem, a defense of "black sheep" like Dark Souls II, and the platinum trophy struggle in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

By Dan Hughes, 1 year ago April 13, 2024

Tales of Destiny and Tales of Vesperia tell two halves of one sword-themed lesson: how to act freely by empowering the stories of others.

By Aaron Suduiko, 2 years ago October 12, 2023

A case study of Regal Bryant casts Kratos Aurion in a new light and shows how Tales of Symphonia's relationship system informs its story.

By Aaron Suduiko, 2 years ago August 11, 2023

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire pushed the series' storytelling in a new direction by inviting its player to reconsider the meaning of rivalry.

By Dan Hughes, 2 years ago June 29, 2023

What happens to our relationships with our favorite childhood video-game series as we grow up and new games continue to be added to those series?

By Dan Hughes, 2 years ago May 29, 2023