Using the ZMET methid to understand individual meanings created by video game players through the player-super Mario Avatar relationship.

• Author: Clark, Bradley
• Position: Report

1. INTRODUCTION

   Nolan Bushnell, sometimes referred to as the father of the video game industry, once described early reactions to the idea of a video game as, "What? You want to put a computer inside a box and [have] people put quarters in it?" (Demaria & Wilson, 2004, p. 21). Yet, in 1972 Bushnell's newly developed company Atari released a simple ball and paddle game, called Pong, into the video game arcades and a new medium was born. Although there were earlier efforts to create commercially successful video games, such as Ralph Baer's attempt to market a home video game console, it was not until the release of the arcade game Pong that video games were recognized as a commercially sound investment. As Bushnell stated "Pong was a runaway smash hit in the coin-op amusement business. . . . Pong was the biggest success anyone had seen" (Demaria & Wilson, 2004, p.21). More than three decades later, video games have become a $7 billion a year industry according to the Entertainment Software Association. In 2004, combined computer and video game sales topped $7.3 billion, nearly matching the $9.5 billion generated by the movie box office (ESA, 2005; NATO, 2006). In the United States, almost three quarters of children and teens aged two to 18 have video game systems in their homes, and they spend an average of 20 minutes playing it each day (Scharrer, 2004; Roberts, Foehr, Rideout & Brodie, 1999). Originally researchers primarily studied audience effects of video games, such as violence and social interaction. The majority of video game research tended to be quantitative, focusing on impact on children, violence, and stereotypes, usually with psychological or social-psychological perspectives (Loftus and Loftus 1983; Greenfield 1984). Such studies tended to be focused on the community instead of individuals, and intent on questions such as game addiction and violence. As video games have become a more accepted medium for analysis, new approaches to game studies or "ludology," from the Latin word for "game," and "narratology" are slowly becoming accepted in academic circles (Wadhams, 2004). Many of the new directions that researchers have recently begun to explore are qualitative, incorporating ideas such as textual analysis, interviews, and narrative, with most researchers basing their research on similarities between video games and other media including television and cinema, or creating new tools tailored for interactive media (Brooker, 2001; Dutton & Consalvo, 2006; Gonzalo, 1999; Greenfield, 1984; Kinder, 1991; Konzack, 2002). Yet ludology remains in its infancy, and many questions remain concerning the significance of gaming media and how video game research should be conducted. Questions concerning whether video games and other interactive texts can be studied using traditional textual analysis, which elements should be included, and if video games can be considered a narrative are currently under consideration (Wadhams, 2004). This research addressed the changing focus of video game researchers from the "producers," or sender of the video game, to the "audience" or receiver. This change in focus allows researchers to ask important questions such as: Do individuals receive the video game messages that the sender meant to relay? If not, how does the message change? What do individuals understand about the character or characters they are playing? How do individuals interact with an electronic world? What is the nature of the individual relationship formed between a player and their onscreen character? Do players see themselves as playing a role? How does an avatar's image impact the message? Does a player simply consider a game's character to be a tool used to accomplish an end goal? These research questions are addressed in this thesis by exploring meanings created by individuals while "role-playing" in an electronic world as an on-screen video game avatar, defined as a "graphic icon representing users in three dimensional (3D) or virtual reality games and chat rooms" (Chung, Shearman, & Lee, 2003, p. 3). This study used the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET), to gather a deeper understanding of how players are interpreting the video game creators' intended message.

   To address the question of the meanings created by a player in a video game, this study would focus primarily on the relationships formed between a player and their onscreen character. This player-avatar relationship was chosen as a focus because the title avatar is the primary aspect of each game that a player most closely controls, and the player can therefore relate to. Also, this ability to control the avatar is the player's primary way to interact with each on-screen world, directly influencing each message created. To address the question of the messages created through the player-avatar relationship; this study will take a qualitative look at Super Mario Bros, a game franchise that has greatly impacted the video game industry from the beginning. This franchise was chosen for a number of reasons: its historical impact on how players interact with on-screen avatars, it was the first game to include a story line, and the first to include a fully humanoid character (King, 2002, p.77). Unlike arcade games before it "original characters, their looks, and their motivation were created first, and then the game play was crafted with them in mind" (Kohler, 2005, p. 38). This meant that Donkey Kong, the first in the franchise, was the earliest game in which players could not only relate to their avatar but were given a distinctly unique character role and story line to follow. Also, unlike any other franchise, the Super Mario franchise has been successful in almost all video game genres, with Super Mario having appeared in everything from side-scrolling and racing games to role playing games (RPG's) since his introduction in 1981. This versatility, history, and popularity have combined to make Super Mario the most recognized video game avatar in the world. Beginning with a short history of Super Mario Bros and its impact on the video game industry, this thesis uses the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, a personal interview method developed by Gerald Zaltman, to gain an understanding of the message created between the Super Mario character and the player. These interviews will focus primarily on a player's understanding of the character-avatar relationships (including role-playing, avatar usage, and avatar meaning), how each individual interprets his or her interaction with an electronic world, and each player's interpretation of the sender's original message.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

   "The word Avatar is comprised of two Sanskrit words: 'Ava,' which means 'descend' or 'pass,' and 'terr,' which means 'beneath' or 'earth.' In ancient India, it meant that a god incarnates to come down from heaven, or an incarnation in human form, or an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person (Merriam-Webster, 2000; Chung, Shearman, & Lee, 2003, p. 3). However, with the invention of the Internet, the idea of an avatar has come to define a "graphic icon representing users in three dimensional (3D) or virtual reality games and chat rooms" (Nowak, 2000; Chung, Shearman, & Lee, 2003, p. 3). Often used interchangeably with the word "character" to describe a player's on screen physical representation in console-based video game worlds, avatars traditionally differ from the console based video game idea of a "character" because they are not stagnant or fixed, but can be modified and changed according to each users preference. Originally researchers suggested that each "character" was the audience's vehicle to move onto a "gaming stage," in effect becoming a digital actor, allowing each gamer to role-play the title "character" (Laurel, 1991). However, contemporary researchers have begun to suggest that each "character" should instead be considered simply a suite of characteristics or equipment which a controlling player utilizes as a type of tool to accomplish end goals (Newman, 2002).

   Original player-character relationship research often suggested that each gamer participates in a type of role-playing fantasy when interacting with an on-screen character. Indeed, even the video game industry itself builds games with the opinion that every player wants to role-play as their on-screen character. Many games and characters are tailored to attract a desired audience. Kinder (1993) pointed to an early Nintendo marketing tactic of creating four, uniquely different, player-selectable characters in the video game Super Mario Bros 2 as a means to create a connection with each player (Kinder, 1993). Kinder suggested that males 7-14 can more easily relate to "Mario" and "Luigi", while younger children have the character "Toad," and girls have their token female character "Princess Toadstool" (Kinder, 1993). A whole video game genre has become known as "role-playing" games. The second body of research suggests that each character should be seen as "a bundle of semiotic resources, or affordances for the player's engagement with the game's system, equipped to move them through the game's link and nodes, landscapes and events" (Burn & Schott, 2004, p. 221). Often referring to earlier "great games" with poor visuals, suggesting that "an entire generation of players grew up with blips of light, @ signs, and even text-only games," each character does not depend on its appearance but instead their abilities (Newman, 2002, p. 8).

3. RESEARCH METHOD

   3.1 Past methods: Many video game researchers have noted the lack of agreement on methodologies of critical analysis in video games (Aarseth, 2003; Brooker, 2001; Konzack, 2002; Dutton & Consalvo, 2006). Past textual analyses of the media of television and cinema have often been used to develop approaches to analyzing videogame text (Kirkland, 2005; Krzywinska, 2003). This is partly because video games...