<p>Loke Carlsson: Spelmusik – Musikens funktioner i tre datorspelsserier</p><p>Denna uppsats handlar om datorspelsmusik och syftet är att ta reda på vilka funktioner denna</p><p>musik har i datorspel. Först presenteras ett antal teorier om filmvetenskap. Med hjälp av dessa</p><p>teorier sammanställer jag sedan en metod för att analysera musiken i några få datorspel. I</p><p>metodkapitlet hittar man också en redogörelse för de grundläggande skillnader mellan</p><p>datorspel och filmer när det gäller musik. Tre olika spelserier analyseras i denna uppsats. I</p><p>analyserna presenteras och beskrivs musiken, varefter den ställs mot de teorier som</p><p>presenterats i teorikapitlet. Resultatet blir att jag kan sluta mig till att datorspelsmusiken i de</p><p>analyserade spelen har fyra viktiga funktioner som stämmer bra överens med flera av</p><p>filmmusikens funktioner.</p>

Loke Carlsson: Spelmusik – Musikens funktioner i tre datorspelsserier Denna uppsats handlar om datorspelsmusik och syftet är att ta reda på vilka funktioner denna musik har i datorspel. Först presenteras ett antal teorier om filmvetenskap. Med hjälp av dessa teorier sammanställer jag sedan en metod för att analysera musiken i några få datorspel. I metodkapitlet hittar man också en redogörelse för de grundläggande skillnader mellan datorspel och filmer när det gäller musik. Tre olika spelserier analyseras i denna uppsats. I analyserna presenteras och beskrivs musiken, varefter den ställs mot de teorier som presenterats i teorikapitlet. Resultatet blir att jag kan sluta mig till att datorspelsmusiken i de analyserade spelen har fyra viktiga funktioner som stämmer bra överens med flera av filmmusikens funktioner.

This thesis explains the process of two researchers conducting a formal analysis of the graphical user interfaces (GUIs), specifically the heads-up displays (HUDs), of the main entries of the two game series The Elder Scrolls (1994 - 2011) and Deus Ex (2000 - 2011). The goal: to see how the evolution of their HUDs over time compare and to analyse them. After playing the games and taking notes about their HUDs, the researchers find that there is a common trend between the two series. The HUDs become more simplified over time, with some non-critical elements of the HUD being removed. They also become more precise at instructing and informing players about how to play the games. While similar additions and changes are made, the timing is different and the researchers conclude that further research is necessary in order to decide if the observed pattern of HUD evolution is unique to the two series or can hold up as a framework for a larger selection of games. As is, this thesis presents the patterns and trends within the heads-up display design of the observed games as well as a library of the observed games’ GUI elements, that future GUI designers and researchers can use to be made aware of past design decisions and revisions that has been common throughout several other games within the genre. / Denna kandidatuppsats går igenom undersökningen utav heads-up displays (Förkortas till HUD, uttalas “hadd”) som en del av de grafiska användargränssnitten tillhörande spelserierna The Elder Scrolls (1994-2011) och Deus Ex (2000-2011). Målet var att se till hur dessa utvecklades med tidens gång. Efter att data hade samlats in från spelen kom författarna fram till att det fanns en gemensam trend för hur HUDar i de två spelserierna utvecklades. Dessa HUDar hade blivit simplifierade med tiden, där icke-kritiska element försvann. De hade också blivit bättre på att instruera och informera spelare i hur de spelar spelen. Samtidigt som liknande tillägg och förändringar skedde för båda spelserierna så skiljde sig tidpunkten för när detta skedde. Författarna kom till slutsatsen att mer forskning är nödvändigt för att det ska kunna fastslås huruvida det observerade mönstret är unikt till de observerade spelserierna eller kan appliceras på andra spelserier också. Denna kandidatuppsats presenterar de mönster, designtrender, samt ett bibliotek av de komponenter, som funnits i datorspelens HUDar och kan användas av gränssnittsdesigners och forskare för att få insikt om tidigare designval och förändringar som har blivit vanligt förekommande genom flera andra spel av samma genre.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka genom hermeneutisk analysprocess hur fornnordisk mytologi, samhälle och kultur har inspirerat The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Uppsatsen börjar med en övergripande genomgång av den historiska epok som kallas för vikingatiden. Här får läsaren en inblick i vikingarnas vardag, som innefattade jordbruk, handel och sjöröveri. Även samhällets uppbyggnad och dess klassindelningar nämns för att läsaren skall få lite av den generella kunskap som behövs för att följa med i analysen som denna uppsats baseras på. Även grundläggande beskrivning av den religiösa kulten tas upp och ett antal av gudarna beskrivs. I analys delen så använder författaren sig av sina förkunskaper för att finna representationer och avvikelser av fornnordisk mytologi och kultur i materialet. Slutsatsen av denna uppsats visar på att det fanns många aspekter av den fornnordiska mytologin representerade i spelet, men även mycket av samhället och kulturen kunde utläsas.

Denna studie ämnar undersöka bilden av den starka kvinnan som finns i spelet The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, stämmer överens med hur nuvarande forskning ser på förekomsten av den starka kvinnan i fornnordisk tid och mytologi. När det gäller avgränsningar valde vi att i spelet enbart studera kvinnor av rasen Nord. Metoden som applicerades var kvalitativ innehållsanalys som användes av Philipp Mayring, som kombinerades med en förenklad variant av grundad teori, baserad på Barney Glasers version. Material som användes var litteratur om fornnordiska samhällen och fornnordisk mytologi, samt som huvudsakligt studieobjekt, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I resultatet redogörs för utvalda gudinnor inom fornnordisk mytologi, hur kvinnors liv såg ut på fornnordisk tid och hur kvinnor framställs i spelet Skyrim. I analysen och diskussionen jämförs dessa och slutsatsen är att den starka kvinnan fanns i både fornnordiska samhällen och spelet men att de representerades i viss mån på olika vis. Dessa var exempelvis att kvinnan i spelet kunde ha titeln som jarl, vilket skiljde sig mot verkligheten enligt vår undersökning, jämfört med de likheter vi kunnat påvisa, där till exempel prästinna var ett ämbete för kvinnor i både spelet och under fornnordisk tid.

This thesis draws on Michel Foucault's late work on the practices of the self to ask whether the ascetic practices and patterns of action suggested by contemporary computer games, which afford players the opportunities to pursue their own self-set goals, further what might be called a 'wandering' away from ourselves, a 'transformation' or 'transfiguration' of what we are. If self-formation is now a terrain on which power and resistance plays out, it is critical to be able to identify pernicious practices that may bind us to the individualising techniques of power, as opposed to transformative ones that enable us to refuse who we are in the move towards freedom. Broaching this question leads to considerations of the implicit ethical foundations presupposed by Foucault's anti-normative ethico-aesthetics, and the limitations of its appeal to a coherence or style seemingly without rules. These considerations have implications for the way in which we understand the practices of self-constitution in computer games. I question whether there is an isomorphism between the way in which power - understood through Foucault's concept of 'governmentality' - works in the present, and the way in which computer games set the conditions under which player practices take place. We are prompted by both to develop a non-coercive relation to a 'truth' through an impetus that originates from us. Computer games are about our identification with processes, which are strengthened by the feedback loops in the game and by the mode of being we elect to adopt as a hexis. Such a structure, however, is insufficiently rigid for computer games to produce discrete subjectivities, and analyses of them must be sensitive as to whether there are any systematic concatenation of player responses. To this end, I suggest a framework, based on Foucault's orthogonal understanding of power-subject, for uncovering the 'rationalities' within games, which are the conditions under which players' practices of the self take place, and which give rise to certain practices of self-constitution over others. It depends on our being able to find or infer player typologies, which are then analysed for their similar patterns of action. This framework is applied to a case study: levelling-up in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. On the basis of six typologies, a prominent structure of calculative anticipation and deferral emerges, as well as the existence of what is called a super-instrumental approach. In order to disambiguate these findings with respect to their transformative potential, I turn to the transcendental signifiers in Foucault's work and consider the practices of the self as seeking a balance between reason and sense - they are revisited through the lens of Schiller's play drive. This concretises the argument that if the practices of the self are thought capable of moving us towards freedom, we must assume the existence of non-cognitive faculties within us that, when engaged, enable us to be able to distinguish between positive and pernicious self-formation. Given that these judgments cannot be cognitively communicated, we ought to refrain from prescriptivism, yet do have recourse to standards. However, our efforts to cognitively understand this aesthetic interplay between reason and sense are certainly not without importance.

The purpose of this essay is an attempt to create a “first basis” of reliability for religious content in computes games, and its value in academic studies. While not researching it in depth, this essay will also give a suggestion of computer games’ potential as a didactic medium. A quantitative comparative analysis has been performed, to present several common religious themes and their occurrence in the computer game respectively. While researching the game, an abundance of religious themes have been found, documented and presented. Through this, it is concluded that computer games not only have the capability of presenting religious themes; they are found to be capable mediums of presentation. The content itself is of high varsity and of great interest to any religious scholar.

This essay will try to examine the breakthrough of symphonic game music by following my hypothesis of the actual breakthrough in late 90s through early 2000s. The method of the essay is a hermeneutic approach which will find different interpretations that in the later part of the essay will lead to an analysis and discussion. This approach is a way for later scholars to examine the subject further. A central part of the essay is to define the term symphonic game music which never before in broader terms have been defined, though the terms dynamic music and orchestral music has been used by scholars such as Collins. Central figures i write about are Nobuo Uematsu and Winifred Phillips, whose contributions to the field of game music are extraordinary, and they also bring forth their own theories. I write more about theories, among others Karen Collins and Koji Kondo, to broaden the discussions. The delimitations in this essay are very important to narrow the types of games studied, and they are for the most part video games and computer games. In the actual examination i refer to among others the scholars Donnelly, Phillips and Collins to map the time of breakthrough and how it actually happened. The games I examine in more detail are Final Fantasy and The Elder Scrolls because I argue in my hypothesis that these two game series are important for the actual breakthrough. Tables and notes from Final Fantasy are used to clarify the subject studied. In the end of the essay I conclude with different perspectives and evaluation of the subject.

This thesis examines key examples of materially experimental writing (B.S. Johnson’s The Unfortunates, Marc Saporta’s Composition No. 1, and Julio Cortázar’s Hopscotch), hypertext fiction (Geoff Ryman’s 253, in both the online and print versions), and video games (Catherine, L.A. Noire, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Phantasmagoria), and asks what new critical understanding of these ‘interactive’ texts, and their broader significance, can be developed by considering the examples as part of a textual continuum. Chapter one focuses on materially experimental writing as part of the textual continuum that is discussed throughout this thesis. It examines the form, function, and reception of key texts, and unpicks emerging issues surrounding truth and realism, the idea of the ostensibly ‘infinite’ text in relation to multicursality and potentiality, and the significance of the presence of authorial instructions that explain to readers how to interact with the texts. The discussions of chapter two centre on hypertext fiction, and examine the significance of new technologies to the acts of reading and writing. This chapter addresses hypertext fiction as part of the continuum on which materially experimental writing and video games are placed, and explores reciprocal concerns of reader agency, multicursality, and the idea of the ‘naturalness’ of hypertext as a method of reading and writing. Chapter three examines video games as part of the continuum, exploring the relationship between print textuality and digital textuality. This chapter draws together the discussions of reciprocity that are ongoing throughout the thesis, examines the significance of open world gaming environments to player agency, and unpicks the idea of empowerment in players and readers. This chapter concludes with a discussion of possible cultural reasons behind what I argue is the reader’s/player’s desire for a high level of perceived agency. The significance of this thesis, then, lies in how it establishes the existence of several reciprocal concerns in these texts including multicursality/potentiality, realism and the accurate representation of truth and, in particular, player and reader agency, which allow the texts to be placed on a textual continuum. This enables cross-media discussions of the reciprocal concerns raised in the texts, which ultimately reveals the ways in which our experiences with these interactive texts are deeply connected to our anxieties about agency in a cultural context in which individualism is encouraged, but our actual individual agency is highly limited.