Prelims

Matthew Spokes (York St. John University, UK)

Gaming and the Virtual Sublime: Rhetoric, Awe, Fear, and Death in Contemporary Video Games

ISBN: 978-1-83867-432-8, eISBN: 978-1-83867-431-1

Publication date: 28 August 2020

pdf (3.4 MB) ePub (831 KB)

Citation

Spokes, M. (2020), "Prelims", Gaming and the Virtual Sublime: Rhetoric, Awe, Fear, and Death in Contemporary Video Games, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. i-xiii. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83867-431-120201002

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Half Title

Gaming and the Virtual Sublime

Title Page

Gaming and the Virtual Sublime: Rhetoric, Awe, Fear, and Death in Contemporary Video Games

Matthew Spokes

York St. John University, UK

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83867-432-8 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83867-431-1 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83867-433-5 (Epub)

Abbreviations	ix
Author Biography	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Chapter 1 Introduction: What are Games for?	1
1.1 Peacock Hey!, Byron and the Significance of Skeletons	1
1.2 What are Video Games?	3
1.3 Video Games and Play	5
1.4 Games as Art	9
1.5 The Structure of this Book	11
Chapter 2 The Classical Sublime	15
2.1 Introduction	15
2.2 The Origins of the Sublime in Longinus	16
2.3 The Sublime of Dennis, Baillie and Gerard	19
2.4 The Mathematical, Dynamical and Aesthetically Sublime	24
Chapter 3 The Contemporary Sublime	31
3.1 Introduction	31
3.2 Lyotard’s Lessons on the Sublime	31
3.3 The Sublime Rhythms of Bacon in Deleuze	34
3.4 The Techno-Sublime	37
3.5 The Gamified Sublime	39
Chapter 4 The Affective and the Virtual	43
4.1 Introduction	43
4.2 What is ‘Affect’?	43
4.3 Video Games and Affect	48
4.4 A Critical Pause	52
4.5 What is the ‘Virtual’?	52
4.6 Methodological Approaches	58
Chapter 5 Rhetoric	63
5.1 Introduction	63
5.2 What does Longinus Mean by ‘Rhetoric’? (Slight Return)	64
5.3 Text, Narrative Architecture and the Persuasive Power of Rhetoric	66
5.4 Challenging Forms of Narrative and Storytelling through Video Games	71
5.5 Rhetoric, Temporality and Identity	76
5.6 Rhetoric and the Sublime	80
Chapter 6 Awe	83
6.1 Introduction	83
6.2 Realism and Representation in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey	85
6.3 Beauty and the Sublime in The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt	89
6.4 Representational/Simulational Landscapes in Red Dead Redemption 2	92
6.5 The Importance of Incorporation and Sensation in Super Mario Galaxy	95
6.6 Chaos and the Outer Limits in Elite: Dangerous and Red Dead Online	97
6.7 Awe and the Sublime	101
Chapter 7 Fear	103
7.1 Introduction	103
7.2 Terror, Magnitude and the Kantian Sublime	105
7.3 Fear, Games Design and Agency	108
7.4 Immediate/Visceral Fear (via the Abject)	111
7.5 Uncanny Fear	115
7.6 Structural/External Fear	119
7.7 Fear and the Sublime	122
Chapter 8 Failure, Repetition and Death	125
8.1 Introduction	125
8.2 Failure and Agency	127
8.3 Repetition and Ritual	132
8.4 Death, Dying and Living Again	136
8.5 Failure, Repetition, Death and the Sublime	140
Chapter 9 Towards the Virtual Sublime	145
9.1 Introduction	145
9.2 The Virtual Sublime, and How to Understand it	146
9.3 We Need to Conceptualise ‘The Real’ in a Consistent Way	148
9.4 We Need to be Expansive in Our Use of the Sublime	149
9.5 We Need to Experiment with Conceptual and Practical Applications of Sublime Ideas	150
9.6 We Need to be Responsive to Developments in Interactive Simulational Media	151
References	155
Index	169

Abbreviations

AC:Or	Assassin’s Creed: Origins
E:D	Elite Dangerous
FANF	Five Nights at Freddy’s
GOW	God of War
GTA V	Grand Theft Auto V
Odyssey	Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
PoP:SoT	Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
RDO	Red Dead Online
RDR2	Red Dead Redemption 2
Sekiro	Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
SH2	Silent Hill 2
SMG	Super Mario Galaxy
TDC	That Dragon, Cancer
Isaac	The Binding of Isaac
TWD	The Walking Dead
W3:WH	The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
NPC	Non-player character (an in-game character who is other to your avatar and controlled by the game)

Author Biography

Dr. Matthew Spokes is an Associate Dean for Sociology and Criminology at York St. John University. He has published a number of pieces on video games, including work on structural violence, pro-social behaviour, procedural rhetoric, methodological approaches, and narrative architecture and mortality.

His previous book was Death, Memorialization and Deviant Spaces (Spokes, Denham and Lehmann), published as part of Emerald ‘Death and Culture’ series.

Acknowledgments

My thanks go to a number of colleagues who have supported me with ideas and advice during the writing of this book, including Dr Jack Denham, Dr David Hill, Dr Adam Formby, Professor David Beer and Dr Steven Hirschler (who all chipped in on matters sublime and ludological) and Dr Rosie Smith (who listened to me grumble).

Even more substantive thanks go to my wife and my amazing daughter, both of whom put up with far too many disrupted evenings and weekends.

Book Chapters

Prelims

Chapter 1: Introduction: What are Games for?

Chapter 2: The Classical Sublime

Chapter 3: The Contemporary Sublime

Chapter 4: The Affective and the Virtual

Chapter 5: Rhetoric

Chapter 6: Awe

Chapter 7: Fear

Chapter 8: Failure, Repetition and Death

Chapter 9: Towards the Virtual Sublime

References

Index