GAME TIME: REVISITING LUDIC LINGUISTICS FOR VIDEO GAME ANALYSIS

SF. Luthfie Arguby Purnomo, Nababan Nababan, Riyadi Santosa, Diah Kristina

Abstract

Ludic linguistics, coined by David Crystal, roots from language play for humorous purposes. The concept of patterns and preferences introduced in ludic linguistics is open for a wide variety of language based analysis in ludic contexts. This paper attempts to propose a systematic technique to apply the concept of patterns and preferences for a video game analysis. Three video game franchises reflecting the narrative-gameplay driven game genre namely Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, and Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed were purposively selected to analyze. Examining the three titles, the researchers revealed that language roles in the patterns and preferences in video games are of significance. In analyzing those roles in video game analysis, first, diegetic and non-diegetic game assets are analyzed. Second, the ideologies of influence of anamorphosis and metamorphosis, introduced by Aarseth, are analyzed. Third, the assets and ideologies are compared to construct the patterns and preferences of the analyzed game. Applying these steps, the structures of the patterns and preferences of the game would become visible. Departing from revealing this structure, researchers are able to apply them for linguistics related interdisciplinary researches, translation studies, for instance. In the perspectives of translation studies, for instance, researches could trace the structure shift of patterns and preferences in video games from source language to target language.

 

Key words: Ludic Linguistics, Video Games, Patterns, Preferences, Textonomy

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20961/pras.v0i0.1650

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