Affective connections: Performance studies, videogames, and digital characters

The focus of my dissertation is to design a theoretical framework for the transferal of existing performance techniques from the theater and cinema studies to the environment of videogames. My main thesis is an assertation that methodologies derived from theatre techniques can become an effective tool to change the affective bond between the game player and a digital character in videogames. The foundation for my argument is drawn from the works of two prominent figures in the history of the theatre: Lee Strasberg and Vsevolod Meyerhold. Meyerhold's performance technique stresses external physicalization, gestures, behavior, and movement to create emotion and authentic characterization in the performer, methods that include his work in biomechanics or physical theater in Russia in the 1890s. The Strasberg performance technique, or method, stresses internalized thoughts, psychological motivations and desires, personal memories, and naturalistic behavior and movement to create authentic emotive characterizations in the performer. The underlying value of both Strasberg's and Meyerhold's methodologies must be seen in their ability to accentuate and increase the emotional interaction between players and their audience. Therefore, their model of increasing the emotional interaction could be translated to the emotional interaction between the player and the digital character in a videogame. That translation responds to the reality that videogame designers have become aware of the game player's increased interest in developing an emotional bond with the digital characters in videogames. It is my interpretive perspective that the affective bond between the game player and the digital character in a game is as vital and essential to the experience of playing the game as the emotional relationship between the performer and the audience in a play or film. The transferal of the performance techniques promoted by Strasberg and Meyerhold should be considered a revitalizing force to respond to the need of videogame designers to reconsider and revitalize the game player's interest in developing a strong emotional bond with the digital characters in videogames. Furthermore, I also explore the value of performance studies for videogame character animators as a model for creating emotionally affective characters built on well-established traditional acting techniques. My dissertation should be considered a first step to link traditional acting techniques to the emerging demand of videogame designers to expand the emotional bond of the player with the digital character in videogames. The theoretical frame outlined in the dissertation should be viewed as a model for the design and implementation of future videogames.