Exploring Uncharted Territory in an Adventure-Diving Game: A Framing Analysis of Subnautica’s Ecological Dead Zone, the Surrounding Online Player Discussions and User-generated Content
First author: BorraYear: 2024
Abstract
The popular underwater-exploration game Subnautica has fostered an active online fan community. The game includes a border-area, called the ecological dead zone. This paper leverages a multimodal framing analysis of Subnautica to examine its potential for communicating the environmental issue of ecological dead zones through this environment. The analysis investigates three key aspects: the game’s design of the dead zone, online player responses and user-generated content focused on this area. While the in-game portrayal of the dead zone is inaccurate and players often neglect it due to the lack of resources, the analysis reveals the potential for Subnautica to spark interest on ecological dead zones within the fan-base. Platforms like Reddit, Wikis and YouTube can become spaces where conversations about environmental phenomena like dead zones emerge. Even though Subnautica circulates around economic ideologies, instead of ecological ones, this analysis highlights the potential of video games to act as foundations for raising environmental awareness, especially when guided by facilitators who encourage critical thinking about environmental themes in games.Details
Language: EnglishCountry of affiliation: Netherlands
Published in: dissertation
Publication type: Dissertation
Source: https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/46402
Games
No Results
Franchises
No Results
Studies
Description: Multimodal framing analysis to study in-game ecological dead zone, players'' online responses to it, and how it is (re)framed via user-generated content
Research type: Non-experimental
Data type: Qualitative
Comparator: none
Control group: no
Pilot study: no
Pre/post measures used: no
Follow-up: no
Sample type: Game(s)
Sample size: 1
Power analysis: no
Sample countries: null
Games studied: Subnautica
Franchises studied: Subnautica (F)
Study outcomes: Reflecting ecological issues, Representing nature