This Master thesis has conducted a research centring around freedom in videogames. Via means of Ubisoft’s action-adventure videogame Assassin’s Creed II (2009) this thesis aims to determine the...Show moreThis Master thesis has conducted a research centring around freedom in videogames. Via means of Ubisoft’s action-adventure videogame Assassin’s Creed II (2009) this thesis aims to determine the extent in which the player is free and able to experience freedom in both Assassin’s Creed II individually, as well as compared to three videogames to provide a contextualised framework specifically for Assassin’s Creed II as is used in the methodological framework of this thesis. The three compared videogames being Minecraft (2011), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011), and Halo Wars (2009) have worked towards providing a contextualised answer in discussed modes of freedom as depicted and present in Assassin’s Creed II. Via both surface layer narrative and underlying structural algorithmic build of videogames, Assassin’s Creed II has been analysed using a philosophical approach via theories and debates on freedom, as well as via the use of algorithmic models and the potential dangers algorithms pose in regards to the player-experience of freedom in videogames. Ultimately, this thesis uncovered the potential dangers of algorithms within Assassin’s Creed II, and thereupon via the compared videogames the potential controlling-tendencies of the use of algorithms in the digital environment.Show less
Film theory is focussed on (dis-)identification however new media and (video) games changed film by introducing new aesthetics and conventions, which means new analythical methods are also needed.
