MELNIC Diana
Analele Ştiinţifice ale Universităţii “Ovidius” Constanţa nr.29 / 2018 vol.2
MELNIC Diana - PLAYING BEYOND ONESELF: AN APPLICATION OF COGNITIVE NARRATOLOGY IN
THE STUDY OF DIGITAL GAMES (pag. 109–111 )
Over the past decade, video game studies have largely ignored or underplayed the role of storytelling in the design and reception of digital games, but the industry itself has taken rather a different turn. Wildly popular titles featuring powerful narrative components have become increasingly frequent, while the academic community has been slow in the development of an appropriate response. As part of a larger project that seeks to reaffirm the importance of storytelling in contemporary digital games, the present paper investigates the possibility of applying a form of cognitive narratology to the study of the new medium. More specifically, my aim is to address the question of whether stories explored in digital games may serve for their players a purpose similar to that of traditional storytelling as defined by cognitive narratologists. I place particular emphasis on the importance of storytelling in building and enhancing the player’s Theory of mind (ToM), as well as their ability to empathise with the other. I then address certain essential differences between the new medium and traditional forms of storytelling in order to ultimately justify the potential use of digital games in a profound, yet intuitive exploration of one’s relationship with alterity.
Analele Ştiinţifice ale Universităţii “Ovidius” Constanţa nr.28 / 2017 vol.2
MELNIC Diana - LIBERTY AND LIMITATION: THE MULTIFACETED REPRESENTATION OF THE SEA IN VIDEO GAMES (pag. 177–185 )
DIANA MELNIC is an MA student of Irish literature at the Faculty of Letters, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She has graduated in English literature and comparative literature, with a BA thesis on the ethics of alterity in Julian Barnes’ 2013 Levels of Life. Her research interests include contemporary Irish and British fiction, digital humanities and game philology.