International history of videogames (HACS)
Under the supervision of Carl Therrien. Co-investigators: Laureline Chiapello (École NAD), Jonathan Lessard (Université Concordia), Simon Dor (UQAT), Gabrielle Trépanier Jobin (UQAM)
This project seeks to create a better understanding of international videogame historical trends in a way that speaks to the community at large, including game enthusiasts, journalists, and game designers. It is based on HACS (Historical-Analytical Comparative System). The international development of these tools encompass eleven regions on four continents. A corpus of 2000 games selected by a wide commitee of experts will be analysed, along with an inspection of target audiences constructed through marketing in each region. These tools will allow us to achieve an unparalleled comparative understanding of videogame culture and its evolution.
International corpus selection committee
Collaborators
Alexis Blanchet (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), Kazufumi Fukuda (Université Ritsumeikan, Kyoto), Greta Hoffmann (Université des sciences appliquées de Karlsruhe), Mikael Jakobsson (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge), Gabriela Birnfeld Kurtz (Université ponctificale catholique de Rio Grande do Sul), Tomasz Majkowski (Université Jagellon, Cracovie), Souvik Mukherjee (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta, Calcutta), Farzad Parsayi (Monash University, Melbourne), Jaakko Suominen (Université de Turku), Jaroslav Svelch (Université Charles, Prague), Alex Wade (Université de la ville de Birmingham), Lars de Wildt (KU Leuven)
Videogame historians are working hard to synthesize one of the most astonishing cultural developments in modern history. Popular accounts of this history focus on “winners” to a large extent; from the great innovators that we interview to the most commonly cited games, technological breakthroughs and commercial success act as an implicit selection criteria. As more innovations and blockbusters are released, parts of videogame culture that don’t fit this bias are getting even less visible in the history of the medium. This is especially true in the context of a rising awareness for international and local videogame histories.
This project seeks to create a better understanding of international videogame historical trends by building tools and expertise in a way that speaks to the community at large, including game enthusiasts, journalists, and game designers. It is based on HACS (Historical-Analytical Comparative System), a set of analytical methods developed in the course of a FRQSC funded grant (2014-2017) The international development of HACS will allow us to achieve an unparalleled comparative understanding of videogame culture and its evolution, thanks to expansive datasets exploring both gameplay and the encompassing culture created through marketing. HACS features a visualization interface that allows us to navigate datasets in a way that facilitates pattern recognition and comparative studies between cultures. Thousands of videogames and printed adverts will be analyzed, emerging from ten different regions where game studies are implemented or currently flourishing: Benelux, Turtle island / North America, Czech Republic, Finland, French (Western Europe), India, Iran, Japan, Poland, English (Western Europe).
The tools developed in the course of this project were designed keeping in mind some overarching questions in game studies. Does the videogame experience integrate more natural interfaces over time? How can we map the ongoing hybridization of game genres? In terms or marketing, at what time were target audiences framed with heteronormative power fantasies, and which contexts led to more diversity in customer address? What are the regional differences in the development of these power fantasies? Does marketing have an influence on the way we frame videogame history and its significant periods? The project will allow us to shed some light on these aspects, along many other underexplored facets of videogame culture throughout history.
Insight grant (SSHRH): “Towards a visualization-assisted international history of videogame culture” (2020-2025)
Nouveau chercheur grant (FRQSC): “Beyond the technological and industrial considerations: for a cultural history of the video game experience” (2013-2017)
Subvention Savoir (CRSH): “Towards a visualization-assisted international history of videogame culture” (2020-2025)
Subvention Nouveau chercheur (FRQSC): “Beyond the technological and industrial considerations: for a cultural history of the video game experience” (2013-2017)
Research assistants
- Dany Guay-Bélanger (coordination)
- Samuel Poirier-Poulin (analyse marketing)
- Laïla Courchesne (analyse marketing)
- Assia Doumiri (programmation)
- Rhodelyr Jean (programmation)
- Jean-Charles Ray (coordination)
- Laurie Mei Ross-Dionne (analyse jouabilité)
- Fabienne Sacy (analyse jouabilité)
- Anthony Colpron
- Simon Dor
- Mikaël Julien
- Isabelle Lefebvre
- Adam Lefloic Lebel
- Alexandre Poirier
- Guillaume Roux-Girard
Data visualisation: Marketing evolution
Data visualisation: Gameplay evolution
Therrien, Carl. 2019. The Media Snatcher: PC/CORE/TURBO/ENGINE/GRAFX/16/CDROM2/SUPER/DUO/ARCADE/RX. Cambridge : MIT Press. [En ligne]
Therrien, Carl, Isabelle Lefebvre et Jean-Charles Ray. 2019. « Toward a Visualization of Video Game Cultural History: Grasping the French Touch ». Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media. [En ligne seulement]
Therrien, Carl. 2018. « La mise au jeu mise en récit ». Sciences du jeu. [En ligne]
Therrien, Carl. 2017. « From Video Games to Virtual Reality (and Back). Introducing HACS (Historical-Analytical Comparative System) for the Documentation of Experiential Configurations in Gaming History ». DiGRA ’17, vol. 14, n° 1. Actes du colloque « 2017 DiGRA International Conference » (juillet), Melbourne : Digital Games Research Association. [En ligne]
Therrien, Carl, et Isabelle Lefebvre. 2017. « Now You’re Playing with Adverts: A Repertoire of Frames for the Historical Study of Marketing Discourse ». Kinephanos, vol. 7, n° 1. [En ligne]
Therrien, Carl. 2015. « Inspecting Video Game Historiography Through Critical Lens: Etymology of the First-Person Shooter Genre ». Game Studies, vol. 15, n° 2 (Décembre). [En ligne]
Therrien, Carl, et Martin Picard. 2015. « Enter the bit wars. A study of video game marketing and platform crafting in the wake of the TurboGrafx-16 launch ». New Media & Society, vol. 18, n° 10 (avril). [En ligne]
Therrien, Carl. 2014. « From the deceptively simple to the pleasurably complex. The rise of the cooperative address in video game design ». Dans Harry Agius et Marios Angelides (dir.), The Handbook of Digital Games, p. 548-572. Piscataway : IEEE Press. [PDF]
Therrien, Carl. 2014. « Interface ». Dans Lori Emerson, Marie-Laure Ryan et Benjamin Robertson (dir.), The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media, p. 305-09. Baltimore : The John Hopkins University Press.
Therrien, Carl, et Martin Picard. 2014. « Techno-industrial celebration, misinformation echo chambers, and the distortion cycle ». Introduction. Actes du colloque « History of Games international conference » (Montréal, 27-29 juin 2013), Université de Montréal. [En ligne]
Therrien, Carl. 2014. « Broken Beyond Repair: An Interview with Warren Spector ». InMedia, n° 4. [En ligne]
Therrien, Carl. 2014. « Réapprendre à voir, réapprendre à agir. L’immersion vidéoludique entre concrétisation et irréalisation ». Figures de l’immersion, cahier « Remix ». Montréal : Observatoire de l’imaginaire contemporain. [En ligne]
Therrien, Carl. 2013. « La présence vidéoludique : de l’illusion à la projection dans l’ecosystème affectif de la fiction ». Dans Louise Poissant et Renée Bourassa (dir.), Avatars, personnages et acteurs virtuels, p. 37-60. Montréal : Les éditions de l’Université du Québec à Montréal.
Therrien, Carl. 2013. « Immersion ». Dans Bernard Perron et Mark J. P. Wolf (dir.), The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies, p. 451-458. New York : Routledge.
Autres publications pertinentes
Perron, Bernard, et Simon Dor. 2014. « Addressing the Preservation of Gameplaying: Archiving Actional Modalities (Execution,Resolution, and Strategy) ». Dans Bernard Perron et Federico Giordano (dir.), The Archives: Post-Cinema and Video Game Between Memory and the Image of the Present, p.117-200. Milan : Mimesis International.
Therrien, Carl. 2012. « Interfaces »; « Help Function »; « Videotopia ». Dans Mark J.P. Wolf (dir.), Encyclopedia of Video Games, p. 288-290; 324-326; 674-675. Westport : Greenwood / ABC Clio Press.
Therrien, Carl. 2011. « ‘To Get Help, Please Press X’. The Rise of the Assistance Paradigm in Video Game Design ». Actes du colloque « DIGRA 2011, Think Design Play » (Utrecht, 14-17 septembre 2011). [En ligne]
Arsenault, Dominic, et Bernard Perron. 2008. « In the Frame of the Magic Cycle: The Circle(s) of Gameplay ». Dans Bernard Perron et Mark J. P. Wolf (dir.), The Video Game Theory Reader 2, p. 109-131. New York et Londres: Routledge.
Therrien, Carl, et Bernard Perron. 2007. « >>Pointez-et-cliquez ici<< Les figures d’interactivité dans le cinéma interactif des premiers temps ». Lo stile cinematografico/Film Style, p. 395-403. Actes du colloque « 13ème colloque international d’études cinématographiques », Udine : Forum.
Therrien, Carl. 2005. « L’appel de la simulation. Deux approches du design vidéoludique ». Dans Sébastien Genvo (dir.), Le game design de jeux vidéo. Approches de l’expression vidéo-ludique, p. 175-194. Paris : L’Harmattan.
History of Games international conference
1st edition: construire, raconter, et travailler avec l’histoire
Game History annual symposium, Montréal [Website]
Selected Conference Papers
Therrien, Carl. “Inspecting Video Game History. Misinformation Echo Chambers, Techno-industrial Glorification, and the Distortion Cycle” (keynote speaker, “best paper award”). Canadian Game Studies Association (CGSA) National Conference, Brock University, St-Catharines, May 27-28, 2014.
Therrien, Carl. “The Hunt for the First-Person Shooter. Video Game Historiography through the Lens of a Critical Etymology”. Games and Literary Theory 2nd annual conference, University of Amsterdam, November 20-21, 2014.
Goggin, Joyce, and Carl Therrien. “Constructing Bodies: Welcome to the Dollhouse”. ColloqueFrom ‘Traditional’ Games to Digital Games, Nancy, November 26-28, 2014.
Roux-Girard, Guillaume, and Carl Therrien. “Tracing the Evolution of Gameplay”. Pressing Restart: Discussions on Video Game Preservation, New York University Game Center, September 28, 2013.
Therrien, Carl. “From the Deceptively Simple to the Pleasurably Complex. The Rise of the Cooperative Address in Video Game Design”. History of Games International Conference, Grande bibliothèque de Montréal, June 21-23, 2013.
Therrien, Carl. “Living in the Edge, or the Mapping Situation. The illusion of Symbiosis and the Six Types of Mapping in Video Game Interface Design”. Canadian Game Studies Association National Conference, University of Victoria, June 4-5, 2013.
