ABSTRACT. We present preliminary insights from an analysis of verb usage across 23,131 videogame walkthroughs extracted from the website GameFAQs. Specifically, we employ a hybrid approach (adapted from Zagal and Tomuro, 2010) that combines two modes of clustering analysis—one automated (using machine learning) and the other manual (using grounded theory)—to produce a preliminary hierarchical typology of game verbs that is based in the copious descriptive language of thousands of videogame enthusiasts. Additionally, we have built an explorable visualization of this typology, which we link to in the paper. We hope that our typology may be of interest and use to game scholars (as an analytical starting point), and to game designers as well.

ABSTRACT. While Japanese video games are of undeniable importance in the gaming industry, their specificities as cultural products from Japan are still largely misunderstood. Some see in Japanese video games a proper "essence" characterized by the specific culture of Japan, while others perceive them as exotic, different or even weird. Regardless of the foundations behind this differentiating gaze, a lack of awareness of what “Japan” could be can create problematic interpretations of their games. For this panel, we seek to avoid these misconceptions by rigorously examine Japanese video games’ contents and experiences in light of knowledge about the history, as well as the cultural and economic policies of Japan, especially regarding how Japanese history and the different “images” of Japan are represented and, consequently, how it contributes to different versions of  “Japan”. We are interested in analyzing how Japanese culture and history was built in the social imaginary and how this imaginary is represented, repeated, reinterpreted, and revised in video games. For this examination of the role of video games in the construction, conservation, and contestation of the social, historical and political sphere of Japan, we will tackle questions such as: What do video games represent (of the history, the society or the culture of Japan)? What do they try to communicate? What do they offer to the player to act upon? What could or should they bring to the public discourse? What are their place as a fictional media within the larger contents industry in Japan? This focus will help us to better understand Japanese video games, not only in their specificities as products from a certain territory, but also through their bonds with national, cultural, and political issues.

From Meiji to Modern Age: Orientalism as Soft Power in Cool Japan
Douglas Schules, Rikkyo University

Douglas Schules will analyze the role Japanese soft political discourses play in constructing Japanese video games as a categorical object. Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) have often been identified in terms of their aesthetic and ludic elements. To identify a JRPG, according to many (Western) fan sources and industry publications, one need merely to point to its narrative structure or use of anime-like characters. As rhetorical and cultural studies scholars note, however, the discourse about an object plays an equally important role in defining its borders. From this vantage, it is interesting to note that the tropes associated with Japanese games frequently exist in opposition to those from the West. After a brief discussion of how Western fan and industry publications approach the medium, the paper draws from the Cool Japan initiative to argue that the country's soft political strategy embraces the processes of Orientalism described by Edward Said. It then argues that this process of re-purposing Western discourse is nothing novel, as a similar strategy can be seen in the Meiji period regarding Japan's adoption of the medium of photography. In advancing these arguments, the paper draws from contemporary governmental publications and primary texts from the Meiji period.

Playful networks of history: the circulation of historical contents in Japanese video games
Martin Picard, Leipzig University

Martin Picard will focus on the socio-political aspects of interacting with Japanese historical games. Japanese history has for a long time been a favorite topic in popular media as well as video games. Historical narratives, strongly linked to nationalism and political ideology, has been crucial in building the ‘imagined community’ that is Japan today. Thus, Japanese video game developers have proposed to players narratives that promote or reinvent the myths and facts of Japanese history. For example, the Sengoku Basara series (Capcom 2005-) offers an entertaining interactive experience in embodying legendary historical figures and reviving the most decisive battles of Japanese history. The popularity of the series has led to the emergence of an active fandom, up to the point that many have developed a new interest in the history of Japan and went to visit famous historical places represented in the games. The link between contents tourism, government policies, and the entertaining business was strengthened by the recent success of the online game Touken ranbu (DMM 2015). Targeting young girls’ interest in Japanese history (rekijô), the players can use legendary swords (katana), which are anthropomorphized as beautiful young men (bishônen). This concept is similar to another popular web browser game, Kantai Collection (DMM 2013), which this time involves World War II warships depicted as beautiful young girls (bishôjo). In this case, it is not only history that is being associated with otaku consumption, but also the nationalist and militarist agenda of the actual Japanese government.

Fukasaku and Kojima replay Hiroshima: atomic imagery in games and film
Rachael Hutchinson, University of Delaware

Rachael Hutchinson will compare the use of still photography and news footage of Hiroshima and the atomic explosion in Japanese games and film, arguing that the game medium is highly effective for political and social critique. The famed opening sequence of Fukasaku Kinji’s film Battles Without Honor or Humanity (1973) employs photographic stills of the mushroom cloud, burnt-out ruins, and the black market to set the explosive violence of yakuza gangs against the political and military violence of the USA. Kojima Hideo’s game Metal Gear Solid (Konami 1998) uses photographic stills of the atomic bombing in a strikingly similar way, including footage of nuclear waste facilities and weapons manufacturing. Both texts position Japan as a victim, and Hiroshima is a symbolic shorthand for the American abuse of technology and power. This positioning of Japan is interesting in terms of the action genre to which both texts belong. However, Fukasaku’s antiheroes are unable to achieve agency against oppressive external forces, while Kojima’s main character Snake is an efficient military hero. The element of agency in Kojima’s text allows the player to negotiate and reshape the memory of Hiroshima in their own individual experience, performing the anti-nuclear critique through their own actions.

Haptic History
Martin Roth, Leipzig University

Martin Roth is interested in the haptic quality of historical versions of Japan in video games. Video games do not merely represent their content, they also offer various ways to configure game world representation, navigate space, and act upon them. Their experience is thus cognitive and visual, but also haptic both in touching the controller and in feeling one’s way through their spaces. Considering historical games like the Dynasty Warriors (Sangoku Musō) series (Koei 1997-) or the Nobunaga’s Ambition (Nobunaga no Yabō) series (Koei, 1983-), this paper asks how the contingent, haptic exploration of their worlds is related to the written or visual representation of history they offer. Is there a sense in which we can speak of “haptic histories” in a game? And if so, what versions of Japan do they offer to the engaging player?

Confirmed speakers (with areas of expertise): Douglas Schules, Assistant Professor, Rikkyo University, Tokyo (impact of new media on creative media ecologies; anime fandom); Martin Picard, Visiting Lecturer and Researcher, Leipzig University (Japanese video games and cinema, with historical and aesthetic perspectives); Rachael Hutchinson, Associate Professor of Japanese Studies, University of Delaware (representation and identity in Japanese literature, film, and manga); Martin Roth, Juniorprofessor (Assistant Professor) of Japanese Studies, Leipzig University (digital media and video games).