{"id":{"repo_id":"edithcowan","oai_identifier":"oai:ro.ecu.edu.au:theses-1620"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/edithcowan/oai:ro.ecu.edu.au:theses-1620","repository":{"repo_id":"edithcowan","name":"Edith Cowan University","base_url":"https://ro.ecu.edu.au/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Meaning and emotion in Squaresoft's Final Fantasy X: Re-theorising realism and identification in video games","abstract":"This thesis takes the position that traditional theories of \"realism\" and \"identification\" misrepresent the relationships between players and videogames, and that a cross·disciplinary approach is needed. It uses Ed Tan's (1997) and Torben Grodal's (1997) analyses of narrative, cognition, and emotion in film as a basis for interrogating existing research on, and providing a working model of, video gameplay. It develops this model through an extended account of Squaresoft's adventure role-playing game Final Fantasy X (FFX) (2001), whose hybrid narrative and game macrostructures foreground many of the problems associated with video games. The chapters respectively address; existing research on video games; how perceptual qualities of the interface determine the reality status of gameplay; how narrative and game codes regulate or retard interest; FFX's henneneutic coding of reality; the dual narrative and game coding of video game characters; the uses and limits of the psychoanalytic concept of identification when analysing video games; how gameplay promotes empathetic emotions towards characters; how players develop empathetic emotions towards themselves; and how the disjunctive quality of play may have un existential quality.","abstract_html":"This thesis takes the position that traditional theories of "realism" and "identification" misrepresent the relationships between players and videogames, and that a cross·disciplinary approach is needed. It uses Ed Tan's (1997) and Torben Grodal's (1997) analyses of narrative, cognition, and emotion in film as a basis for interrogating existing research on, and providing a working model of, video gameplay. It develops this model through an extended account of Squaresoft's adventure role-playing game Final Fantasy X (FFX) (2001), whose hybrid narrative and game macrostructures foreground many of the problems associated with video games. The chapters respectively address; existing research on video games; how perceptual qualities of the interface determine the reality status of gameplay; how narrative and game codes regulate or retard interest; FFX's henneneutic coding of reality; the dual narrative and game coding of video game characters; the uses and limits of the psychoanalytic concept of identification when analysing video games; how gameplay promotes empathetic emotions towards characters; how players develop empathetic emotions towards themselves; and how the disjunctive quality of play may have un existential quality.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Spoors, Glen R."],"institution":"Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2005,"date_issued":"2005-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2005-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:22:46Z","subjects":["Video games","Psychological aspects","Fantasy games","Role playing.","Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/619","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Spoors, Glen R."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2005-01-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Video games","Psychological aspects","Fantasy games","Role playing.","Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/619","https://ro.ecu.edu.au/context/theses/article/1620/viewcontent/Meaning_and_emotion_in_Squaresofts_Final_Fantasy_X.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["This thesis takes the position that traditional theories of \"realism\" and \"identification\" misrepresent the relationships between players and videogames, and that a cross·disciplinary approach is needed. It uses Ed Tan's (1997) and Torben Grodal's (1997) analyses of narrative, cognition, and emotion in film as a basis for interrogating existing research on, and providing a working model of, video gameplay. It develops this model through an extended account of Squaresoft's adventure role-playing game Final Fantasy X (FFX) (2001), whose hybrid narrative and game macrostructures foreground many of the problems associated with video games. The chapters respectively address; existing research on video games; how perceptual qualities of the interface determine the reality status of gameplay; how narrative and game codes regulate or retard interest; FFX's henneneutic coding of reality; the dual narrative and game coding of video game characters; the uses and limits of the psychoanalytic concept of identification when analysing video games; how gameplay promotes empathetic emotions towards characters; how players develop empathetic emotions towards themselves; and how the disjunctive quality of play may have un existential quality."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Theses: Doctorates and Masters"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Meaning and emotion in Squaresoft's Final Fantasy X: Re-theorising realism and identification in video games"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Spoors, Glen R."],"dc:date":["2005-01-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description":["This thesis takes the position that traditional theories of \"realism\" and \"identification\" misrepresent the relationships between players and videogames, and that a cross·disciplinary approach is needed. It uses Ed Tan's (1997) and Torben Grodal's (1997) analyses of narrative, cognition, and emotion in film as a basis for interrogating existing research on, and providing a working model of, video gameplay. It develops this model through an extended account of Squaresoft's adventure role-playing game Final Fantasy X (FFX) (2001), whose hybrid narrative and game macrostructures foreground many of the problems associated with video games. The chapters respectively address; existing research on video games; how perceptual qualities of the interface determine the reality status of gameplay; how narrative and game codes regulate or retard interest; FFX's henneneutic coding of reality; the dual narrative and game coding of video game characters; the uses and limits of the psychoanalytic concept of identification when analysing video games; how gameplay promotes empathetic emotions towards characters; how players develop empathetic emotions towards themselves; and how the disjunctive quality of play may have un existential quality."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/619","https://ro.ecu.edu.au/context/theses/article/1620/viewcontent/Meaning_and_emotion_in_Squaresofts_Final_Fantasy_X.pdf"],"dc:publisher":["Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia"],"dc:source":["Theses: Doctorates and Masters"],"dc:subject":["Video games","Psychological aspects","Fantasy games","Role playing.","Education"],"dc:title":["Meaning and emotion in Squaresoft's Final Fantasy X: Re-theorising realism and identification in video games"],"dc:type":["thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:22:46Z"}