A complexidade da diversão nos videogames: um estudo ecossistêmico dos modos de sentir na relação jogo-jogador em Celeste

Abstract

Video games are products in which knowledge from different areas has been grouped. Over time, this evolution was fueled by the human factor in its role as a player, moving the industry by its playful behavior. This dissertation aims to explore the potential of fun in the variety of experiences in a playful interaction, which consists of the relationship between player and video game. The notion that fun is an exclusive property of the video game is deconstructed, functioning solely as a source of pleasure for human consumption and not a joint creation through playful interaction. From a bibliographic review, we sought to understand the conceptual bases of play as an interactive activity: a journey from informal play to its digitalization, encapsulated as a product. Pleasure was investigated, a term that would best describe the human interest in games, evaluating how this feeling is related to the concept of game. With the special support of Koster (2013), fun is investigated in this process, beyond common sense. Subsequently, the playful interaction is examined through the perspective of Communicational Ecosystems, the area of concentration of the Graduate Program in Communication Sciences. This procedure helps to observe the variables present in the relationship between player and video game, the way that fun nourishes the communicative processes. Based on the theoretical development built, a specific game, “Celeste” (Matt Makes Games, 2018) is analyzed. Considering the diversity of possible perceptions in the same experience, interviews were conducted with players of different profiles. In this way, it is clear how fun is a concept that is poorly reflected, but that would be linked to human engagements. Fun, therefore, consists of an optimistic state of perceiving opportunities for interaction, generating new possibilities and building a cycle. The playful activity in video games provides a perspective of the dynamics of this cycle, the way it could serve as a basis and which covers human sensitivities, particularly enjoyed in human behavior while the role of player is performed.