Authorship in video game adaptations
Author(s)
Advisor
Kennedy-Karpat, Colleen BevinDate
2021-08Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to examine how authorship of video game adaptations is
handled as a discursive concept. Auteur theory was created and analyzed as a critical
method in the film medium. The thesis researches the adaptability and applicability of
this theory into video games and video game adaptations. The findings from the
literature review are then compared to a survey of players‘ perceptions and
experiences of authorship in video gaming. The survey was conducted in four
subtopics to examine player‘s opinions on their preferences in video games,
transmedia and adaptation, game creators and creative roles, and lastly, impressions of
authorship in video games and adaptations. Another angle on authorship in video
game adaptations is the author-driven genre, with a case study of four different
Lovecraftian video games; Conarium (2017) and Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of
the Earth (2005) as direct and Bloodborne (2015) and Darkest Dungeon (2016) as
heavily inspired video games inspired by the early 20th-century stories of H. P.
Lovecraft. The chapter aims to analyze how literary authorship creates a genre and a
brand of its own in video gaming. Lastly, the thesis analyzes transmedia storytelling
with a case study of authorship in The Witcher franchise, in which the adapted video
games have assumed a more prominent international position than their literary
sources.