I explore how participants experienced socialization into two digital games that they had never played before, World of Warcraft and Portal 2.

This study addresses a lack of research into the socialization experiences of new media technology users. Among these, digital games continue their rise in significance, constituting a visible domain within which people learn and develop specific sets of skills and practices. Finally, I consider the differences between playing and narrating the experience of play, and how the multiple deaths of the avatar tend to be ignored in this situation. Additionally, I consider how the potential for avatar death can bring pleasure to the activity of play. I will also examine the relationship between player and avatar, and how the ever lurking presence of death influences it. Moreover I investigate the quasi obsessive relationship death has with video games, and why it is so present in our minds. Further I will show how death influences the make-believe and the narrative elements of video games, and the ways game designers include it in the plots of their games and how it influences players’ experiences.

Then I will examine the fundamental role that death plays within the design of the game mechanics, how it influences the design of the virtual world, and the way time works. This text starts with a short historical exploration of death and how its mechanics have changed and evolved over time. As such this text will investigate the nature of death in video games. Death, be that of the avatar or of a non player character, is a crucial part of video game design and an integral part of the experience of play. This thesis will approach death in video games as a crossroad where different pathways in the study of games converge.

Absolute best fallout shelter layout