The habituated gamer diverged: A qualitative research into the relation between the procedural rhetoric of gameplay and the habituated schemata of video game players

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to gain an understanding of gaming conventions and the gameplay that today’s ‘video game natives’ are familiar with. A large part of society has come in contact with video games and is therefore able to quickly pick up new games when they come in contact with them. This is why we are exploring elements in video games that go against these gamer’s conventions. The games DEFAULT DAN and THE STANLEY PARABLE are analyzed on how they go against a gamer’s familiarity. It is proposed that habituation is present with video gamers and that they are able to play new games easily because of the connections they make through schema theory. Using this theory as its framework and building upon theories of procedural rhetoric, this study has conducted a textual analysis of the elements and processes present in DEFAULT DAN and THE STANLEY PARABLE. Together with an autoethnography, it is found how a player reflects upon these themes and how it is related to one's own culture. It is shown how DEFAULT DAN and THE STANLEY PARABLE use different connotations, role reversal and the corruption of authority, to convey the diverging from habituation and schemata of players. This is put into perspective with the current gaming industry, the players and its developers.