Lovecraftian Games: The Afterlife of Cthulhu on Valve's Steam Client

IF 2.4 2区 文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION
Prema Arasu
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Abstract

Today, H. P. Lovecraft's popular culture legacy resides in the shared world of the Cthulhu Mythos and in the iconography of its monsters. Rather than attempt to definitively identify what makes something Lovecraftian, this paper takes a reception theory informed approach to investigate the ways in which the user-defined ‘Lovecraftian’ tag is applied on Steam. This paper identifies the recurrence of sanity mechanics, tentacularity, and parody in the games that users have tagged as ‘Lovecraftian’ and discusses how these elements adapt and respond to Lovecraft's mythos and cosmicist philosophy. The Lovecraftian games available on Steam, as they have been identified by their consumers, indicate that the digital game is a worthwhile platform for adaptations of the works of H. P. Lovecraft due to the interactivity offered by the medium. However, many of these games also contain subversive or parodic elements that undermine Lovecraft's cosmicism.
魔兽游戏在 Valve 的 Steam 客户端上体验《Cthulhu 的来世
如今,H. P. 洛夫克拉夫特的大众文化遗产存在于《克苏鲁神话》的共享世界及其怪物图标中。本文并不试图明确指出什么是 "洛夫克拉夫特式",而是从接受理论的角度出发,研究用户定义的 "洛夫克拉夫特式 "标签在 Steam 上的应用方式。本文指出了在用户标记为 "Lovecraftian "的游戏中反复出现的理智机制、腾跃性和戏仿,并讨论了这些元素如何适应和回应洛夫克拉夫特的神话和宇宙主义哲学。Steam平台上的 "洛夫克拉夫特风格 "游戏,正如其消费者所认定的那样,表明数字游戏是一个值得改编H. P. 洛夫克拉夫特作品的平台,因为该媒介提供了互动性。然而,其中许多游戏也包含颠覆性或戏仿元素,破坏了洛夫克拉夫特的宇宙观。
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来源期刊
Games and Culture
Games and Culture Multiple-
CiteScore
7.20
自引率
7.10%
发文量
54
期刊介绍: Games and Culture publishes innovative theoretical and empirical research about games and culture within the context of interactive media. The journal serves as a premiere outlet for groundbreaking and germinal work in the field of game studies. The journal"s scope includes the sociocultural, political, and economic dimensions of gaming from a wide variety of perspectives, including textual analysis, political economy, cultural studies, ethnography, critical race studies, gender studies, media studies, public policy, international relations, and communication studies.
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