“3-1, shut your flash” : How shooter games convey agency

Abstract: This study aims to understand how games teach the player how to enact agency within them. Agency refers to the ability of the player to actively interact with the world around them, and understand the circumstances and results of those actions. Three games of the shooter sub-genre were selected: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), Cuphead, and Red Dead Redemption 2. These were chosen as they are modern representations of three of the most popular genres within the shooter mantle: First-Person Shooter, Run and Gun, and Third-Person Shooter, respectively. Each game’s first level was analyzed to see how they introduce the selected definition of agency. Each element that was found to convey agency was categorized according to it being diegetic (existing within the story) or non-diegetic (existing outside the story), explicit or implicit, and by the level of agency play it represented, these being Agency Relationship (the relationship between the user agency and system agency), Agency Scope (the impact the player’s actions will have on the narrative), Agency Dynamics (changes in agency through time, or more accurately, in different circumstances) and User Input Direction (what controls can be pressed to perform certain direct actions). These elements and their respective categories have been represented in a cell document, followed by which categories they belong to. Furthermore, for each game, the categories and which elements represent them are displayed as well, for a more identifiable examination of each category’s representation in each game, and to allow for comparison between them. Each level was described in accordance with the elements that conveyed agency, in their order of appearance. The elements or instances were described, and what categories they belong to were noted as well. In addition, explanations for why they belong to those specific categories were expressed if necessary. Conclusively, the games were shown to contain certain similarities among them, such as agency relationship being conveyed through the positioning of certain elements in connection to their environment and the player. However, the differences between the games were more prominent than their similarities. With each game having a particularly noticeable way in which they presented a great deal of the elements. In Modern Warfare, the game tried to use as few non-diegetic and as many diegetic elements as possible. In Cuphead, the game presented agency exclusively through enemy and object placement in relation to the level to teach the player about how certain mechanics functioned. And in Red Dead Redemption 2, the game tries to teach the player about game mechanics by juxtaposing the narrative, non-diegetic explanations, and diegetic instances, to accustom players to a fusion of elements trying to communicate the same message.