DIS60304 DESIGN RESEARCH DISSERTATION

BACHELOR OF DESIGN (HONS) IN CREATIVE MEDIA

Submission of

RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION – Draft Dissertation

(Due date: 21 May 2023)

This assignment is prepared for The Design School, Faculty of Innovation and Technology, Taylor's University, in partial fulfilment for The Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media.

Academic Honesty Policy Statement:

I,Leong Jiahui(Student no.0353469), hereby attest that the contents of these attachments are my own work. Referenced work, articles, arts, programs, papers or part thereof are acknowledged at the end of this paper. This includes data excerpted from the Internet, other private networks, other people's disk or computer systems.

Design Research Dissertation (no less than 7,000 words) (not including title, index, and references) - Word

count estimation guide only

Title 

Clearly identify the topic of the dissertation. Use the title page provided

Acknowledgements

Briefly thank those who assisted in compiling the information.

Abstract Summarise the entire dissertation. Include the report's purpose; an outline of your research approach; theories applied; and the most important findings, results,

and conclusions or recommendations. Abstracts are read by researchers to

decide if they hold relevance for their own research.

Table of Contents

List the main sections or headings and the page number.

List of Tables & Illustrations

List any illustrations, graphs, tables, charts etc. and the page number.

Introduction (450 - 500 words)

Provide background and context to the research. Define the purpose, and scope

of the report, how the data was obtained, specific terms or concepts used. Include

a hypothesis statement if relevant.

The researcher, Leong, is a casual gamer that enjoys playing RPG games. Leong

enjoys studying the design of each game she plays. Recently, she has come to

realise that many Japanese game developers have been actively incorporating and

representing Japanese culture in the designs of the games they produce. As a result,

she has been able to learn a lot about Japanese culture and society through all the

Japanese video games she has been playing since a young age.

Japan is well known for many of the largest video game development companies in

the world, like Nintendo, Square Enix, Sega, Bandai Namco, and Capcom, to name

a few. These video games span across various genres and the richness of diversity

of game genres of the media is significant. They should not be solely seen as market

products or entertainment gimmicks but as artistic works and cultural artefacts, that

can teach us a lot about the culture of the place of origin. (Hutchinson, 2019).

These video games put great effort into including and representing Japanese culture

in their games through their character design, environment design as well as

storytelling narrative, which gives gamers a first-hand experience as well as an

insight into Japanese culture. Of course, Japanese video games are not the only

games that have incorporated their own or other cultures. Especially with the

heightened awareness of cultural appropriation and diversity in recent years, various

game developers from all over the world have been actively representing different

cultures in their works through their game characters and world-building for players

to identify with or learn from. Some notable examples are Horizon Forbidden West

(2017), which features an indigenous protagonist, and Genshin Impact(2020), which

bases its in-game regions and characters on different parts of the world. After all,

one of the most unique parts of a video game is how it allows the gamers to have the

ability to put and fully immerse themselves in someone else’s shoes (Bogost, 2011),

and in turn, learn from them.

According to Shapiro (2014), video games have become so common and

widespread that it is now considered one of the most important media for storytelling

and representation. Video games that are once perceived as merely a mindless

source of entertainment, are now featured in big publications like The New Yorker

magazine and The New York Times (Fisher, 2010, as cited by Understanding Media

and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication, 2016).

With that said, video games have also been recognised as one of the essential tools

to encourage the process of learning by both gamers and educators alike(Dickerman

et al, 2008). As Bogost (2011) has suggested in his extensive research on the

gamer’s perspectives on the positive impact of video games, video games that

reflect broader cultural rhetorics and are attentive to the wide array of effects that

have been ascribed to the arts, have a positive impact on gamers.

Therefore, as a person who is always attentive and intrigued by game character

design and learned plenty about the cultural background behind those designs, this

research aims to explore and raise awareness of how cultural representation in video

game character design can teach gamers about the culture of the place of origin,

hence developing intercultural literacy and cultural awareness, especially among

youths, the future pillars our society.

Problem Statement:

The pandemic has changed a lot in the general sphere of gaming. Hand in hand with

the increasing accessibility of mobile phones in this generation, it is no surprise that

the number of people who plays video games has been on an upward curve since

2015. In fact, video games have become the second most popular online activity

behind streaming videos (Shliakhovchuk & Muñoz, 2020). According to Gough

(2019), it was reported in 2014 that there were 1.82 billion video gamers playing

video games across all kinds of platforms, and the number is expected to rise to over

2.7 billion gamers by 2021. However, due to the global pandemic, the number has

far exceeded its prediction where according to the Global Video Game Consumer

Segmentation report from February 2021 by the DFC Global Video Game Consumer

database (2021), it was published that there were nearly 3.1 billion video game

consumers by the mid-2020. In addition to gaming streamers and YouTubers, the

number of gaming video content (GVC) viewers reached a record 1.2 billion in 2020.

Amongst these increasing numbers, it was stated by Wittek (et al, 2015) that

48%-56% of youths (aged 16-24) play video games regularly. Youths also take up

the highest percentage of internet users who watch live streams of video games worldwide, which is 44% (Clement, 2019). These data confirm Juul’s (2005) claims

that “video games are fast becoming games for everyone.”

In today’s rapidly changing, digitally infused and increasingly complex world, video

games are often viewed as “sophisticated tools inhabiting and disseminating racial,

gender and cultural meaning” and “more so than schools, religion, or other forms of

popular culture are teaching Americans about race, gender, sexuality, class, and

national identity” (Leonard, 2004). According to Shapiro (2014), video games have a

major potential to improve the learning outcomes of students, in such is supported by

the argument by Green and Bavelier (2012) that playing videogames may not only

enhance cognitive and attentive performance but also – a greater extent – facilitate

the learning of new tasks via flexible interaction with a highly motivating environment.

Meanwhile, Granic et al. (2014) have argued that playing video games can help in

fostering cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social benefits.

That being said, popular mainstream video games nowadays like Genshin Impact,

The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and most mainstream AAA games, are not

serious games designed with education as their main objective. These games are

designed for entertainment and often teach us knowledge through their design and

narrative. Sometimes, lessons like cultural knowledge are infused within in a way

that can be absorbed by the subconscious instead of being specially designed to be

taken in by the conscious, logical mind (Koster, 2013). When learning in games, the

process is greatly supported by visual learning techniques based on aesthetically

pleasing and creative characters alongside environment designs. These reinforcing

factors greatly boost interactive skills in the learning experience (Poy & Garcia,

2019)

According to Hutchinson(2019), video games are cultural artefacts that have the

power to teach gamers about the culture of the place of origin where the game is set

in, through its character design, environment design as well as storytelling narrative.

All of these are characteristic elements in video games that allow gamers to identify

with and learn from visual learning (Witteveen,2009, as cited by Poy & Garcia, 2019)

For example, Hutchinson (2019) argues that deep-seated Japanese attitudes and

values are not only visible in the content of many Japanese videogames, but can

also be experienced first-hand by the gamer, giving great insight into Japanese

culture. This is one of the many examples of how gamers can learn and connect with

other cultures around the world as well as their own.

The role of video gaming media has been undeniable in counting the influential

indicators of our lifestyle. It should not be forgotten that the first link and starting point

for most children, adolescents, and young people to the media is video games.

Video gaming is a full-fledged medium that engages the audience more than its

competitors, such as books, movies, or music, because of its highly interactive nature (Alizadeh et al, 2023). According to Kondrat (2015), video games have been

so widespread that it is now considered part of the mass media and a common way

of storytelling and representation. Its impact and influence have increased

tremendously to the point where it has started to be more difficult to identify whether

the younger generations have been learning more from textbooks or from video

games(Greenfield, 2004). But can this incredibly powerful medium be harnessed to

explore cultures from around the world in an authentic and meaningful way? Can the

billions of highly engaged hours spent playing video games be harnessed to connect

gamers with cultures around the world as well as their own culture? After all, as

real-life experience blends with the virtual, the virtual will contribute to how we

experience real life (Penix-Tadsen, 2013). Video games also play an important role

in challenging or reinforcing the player’s existing perspectives on the world (Gee,

2003), hence allowing them to learn the cultural values that the game promotes.

According to Mortara(et al. 2014), one of the barriers preventing video games from

actively being a medium for intercultural, diversity education is due to the lack of

effort and devotion towards the study of the effectiveness and learning gained from

an intercultural perspective. However, researchers have been more aware of the

issue in recent years and have been eagerly studying the potential of video games in

intercultural and diversity education, starting by investigating and analysing the

cultural assumptions about stereotypes in older games from past decades (Near,

2013). Game developers have also been actively diversifying their games in terms of

cultures so gamers can not only identify themselves in them but learn from them too.

Video games are mostly player-driven. They give gamers the ability to step into

different roles (Bogost, 2011), confront complex problems, make meaningful choices

and experience the consequences of various choices and scenarios. With that said,

game character design plays a vital role in cultural representation and identification.

Be it being Non-playable characters (NPCs), protagonists or antagonists, characters

are what gamers interact with most in games, and are what they potentially see

themselves in. They are active, immersive and interactive, hence providing a “safe

space” where gamers can acquire knowledge of a culture and experience different

cultural identities in a virtual environment that mimics real life in a realistic sense

(Zielke et al, 2009).

In this day and age of globalisation, it cannot be denied that our youths are starting

to lose touch with the different cultures of the world, as well as their own. What better

way to raise awareness of developing cultural knowledge and intercultural literacy

among youths than to actively represent them in video game character designs?

After all, around 48%-56% of youths play video games regularly (Wittek et al, 2015).

However, leveraging the unique power of this medium requires careful navigation

and authentic voices to collectively represent a community’s voice in video games so gamers have a reliable and accurate source to learn from. Hence, this research aims

to explore the challenges of integrating intercultural knowledge in video games

through game character design to make sure rich cultures that have sustained

themselves for thousands of years are authentically and evocatively represented

through video games and can act as a bridge for youth gamers to better understand

and learn about other cultures as well as their own.

Literature Review (750 - 850 words)

Summarise the literature relevant to your research to show how your research fits

with current literature.

Working title:

Video Game Design & Cultural Awareness from the Eye of Gen Z

2.0 Introduction

In this digitally infused world, the younger generation is rapidly growing disconnected

from their own culture, and progressively lacking in cultural awareness. This is

alarming as this is a sign that the younger generation is gradually forgetting their

cultural roots and losing their cultural identity. The lack of cultural awareness regarding other cultures can also potentially lead to racial stereotypes and conflicts. This left Leong pondering, how can she help raise cultural awareness among youths. Being the “Net Generation”, video games are no stranger to Gen Z. What better way than to start there?

Bateman and Boon (2006) once stated that a good game design should reflect

its intended audiences’ desires. Like many things in life, to achieve a goal is to first understand it. Thus, in order to raise cultural awareness through video games, game designers and developers do not only need to understand the culture they are going to portray but they also need to be aware of the intended audiences’ preferences, in order to perfectly curate a game that could achieve its intended results.

2.1 Gen Z - the digital natives

Generation Z, more commonly known as Gen Z, describes the group of people born between the early 1990s and early 2000s, more specifically from the year 1997-2012 (McCrindle, 2006).Often referred to as the “digital natives”, this younger generation grew up surrounded by tech and media communication, hence achieving tech fluency (Prensky, 2001).

The DFC Global Consumer database (2021) has recently reported a total of 3.1

billion video game consumers in mid-2020. With the pandemic and the increasing

accessibility to mobile devices in this generation, it is no surprise that the number of

people playing video games has been on an upward curve since 2015. With an

overwhelming amount of 48%-56% of Gen Z actively play video games (Wittek et al, 2015), in which, according to Lenhart (2015) from Pew Research Centre, 81% of Gen Zers own or have access to game consoles. 91% of GenZ boys own game consoles, and 70% of girls own or enjoy access to consoles.

Studies have shown that Gen Zers are eager to learn and make an impact on

society (Johnston, 2018). This encouraging finding has prompted Leong to look into potential ways video games can be used in developing cultural awareness in youth gamers, to counter the alarming phenomenon that the younger generation is gradually forgetting their cultural roots and losing their cultural identity, as well as the consequences of potentially racial stereotypes and conflicts raised due to the lack of cultural awareness regarding other cultures. Coming from an entertainment design background, Leong hopes to focus her study on video game character design.

2.1.1 Gen Z's gaming preferences

The success of a serious game when connecting with the player is largely determined by the quality of visual design and the ability to evoke imaginary worlds where the imaginative role of the player is capable of being projected in an attractive way, often through its character and world designs (Raquel, P and García, M, 2019). The same can be said for entertainment AAA game titles.

Quoting authors, Shliakhovchuk et al.( 2021,p.26), “Gen Zers are looking for meaningful games, games that teach, games that are inclusive, and games which offer a diversity of characters and inter-character relationships.”

Despite the positive motivations from the younger generation, it is important to take into consideration the elements of video game design that fit the aesthetic preferences of the target audience in order to deliver cultural awareness effectively. According to  Shliakhovchuk et al. (2021), the top three features attracting participants to their favourite games were the same for both genders in this study: gameplay, graphics/art/animation, and good storytelling. Hence, this study aims to explore the potential of character design in delivering cultural awareness to youth gamers effectively, while catering to their gaming preferences.

2.2 Video Games: the secret weapon of cultural education

Based on the studies conducted by Shliakhovchuk et. al. (2020) focusing on the impact of video games on players from an intercultural perspective, the potential of video  games for intercultural education as evidenced by the steady number of studies published on the topic during the last two decades.

The biggest charm of utilizing games in cultural education is that they provide a motivating and stress-free environment to learn. To youths, this not only reduces the fear of failure and facing the challenges of learning, but it also helps increase self-confidence (Raquel, P & García, M, 2019) The biggest pro - Its perceived competence and effectiveness. Video games are no doubt a trump card when it comes to cultural education.

2.2.1 Cross-cultural Competence & Cultural Significant Presence

Researchers Gjicali et. al. (2020) believe that cross-cultural competence is a crucial part of cultural education that needs to be taught to youths that are living in an increasingly diverse society, following the effects of globalisation. A game’s immersive and standardized experience is a perfect tool to develop and assess cross-cultural skills.

The design approach of the game, especially with respect to social practices and the simulation technology could be further developed to achieve this particular goal (Johnson, 2010). Character designs are emphasised in this manner as characteristics embodying aspects of the stimulated culture are believed to be effective in raising cross-cultural competence, especially by embedding various characteristics in NPCs that personify various cultural values ( Gjicali et. al.,2020)

Meanwhile, “Cultural significant presence” is a theory proposed by Champion (2020), built from the UNESCO and ICOMOS cultural framework to create both engaging and educational cultural heritage games. In his study to determine how cultural presence could be communicated via single-player RPG games and whether they could succeed as learning tools, he discovered that the core gameplay of a cultural game design could simulate day-to-day activity while the secondary gameplay could convey a more overarching perspective, a cultural framework. Game mechanics and the in-game character designs could not only advance the game state but surprise and change the unconscious behaviour and culturally grounded assumptions of the player.

2.2.2 Visual Learning

Researchers Raquel & García (2019) have brought up that video games are becoming part of the main mass media and gamification techniques for education have been proven effective, especially with effective visual learning through role-playing characters' design aesthetics and interactive skills. They have also brought up how creativity and simulation in video games allow the learning experiences of players to be enhanced. Through visual learning, cultural education can be fulfilled through games that enforce meaningful relationships between the cultural representations of the game and its realistic, practical application in the real world.

Effective visual learning can be achieved through role-playing characters' design aesthetics and interactive skills. Cultural elements introduced into a character design can often become a multiplier element in developing meaningful learning contexts. Champion (2020), also stated that video games can act as curators of culture and tradition, and role-playing allows society to carry forward its goals, values, structure, and messages, which the player can easily pick up through visual learning. Visual language reinforces this ability through its recourse to creative language.

2.2.3 A "Safe Space"

Video games are known for their immersive and interactive nature, providing a virtual simulation of the real world to better facilitate raising cultural awareness among players. Gjicali et.al. (2020) believes that games can act as a “safe space” to engage with people with culturally distinct values from their own and learn how to communicate in culturally appropriate ways. Learning in video games could occur without mistakes leading to potentially serious and negative, high-stakes, real-world ramifications. This point is supported by Zielke et al (2009) that has stated that video games are active, immersive and interactive, hence providing a “safe space” where gamers can acquire cultural knowledge and experience different cultural identities in a virtual environment that mimics real life in a realistic sense.

According to Shliakhovchuk et al (2021)’s research, youths play games for a variety of reasons that transcends mere fun. Through real-world simulation in games when it comes to cultural expressions, players can experience the culture first-hand, in turn,  teaching players about said culture. After all, one of the most unique parts of a video game is how it allows the gamers to have the ability to put and fully immerse themselves in someone else’s shoes (Bogost, 2011), and in turn, learn from them.

2.3 Conclusion

Quoting Shliakhovchuk et al (p51, 2020), “It is critically important to carefully critique video games in order to discover the identities and cultural values into which the player is thrust, that intensifies bias and negative perceptions of different others.”

After all, to improve is to critique.

Much has been said about researchers acknowledging that great artistic expression can convey a high sense of cultural specificity if not a cultural sense of inhabitation. This concept heavily applies to character design in video games that provides an environment in which people could engage with culturally distinct values from their own and learn how to communicate in culturally appropriate ways in a “safe space”. In a nutshell, the future of Entertainment AAA games in cultural education is promising, with continuous research to explore how to incorporate cultural elements in an appropriate and educational way.

Research Methods (600 - 650 words)

State the methods used for your investigation. Identify the design of your research

and explain why this method was chosen. Provide enough detail so that someone

else can replicate your research.

Results/Findings (1,000 - 1,500 words)

Objectively report the findings or results. This may include collated results and

statistical analysis. You may append raw data if required.

Discussion (2,000 - 3,500 words)

Interpret and explain the results and indicate how these results fit with current

literature. State if your hypothesis was supported or not and provide explanations.

Acknowledge any limitations of your research. End the discussion with justified

comments on the importance of the findings.

Come up with models & charts diagrams (conceptual framework) on the direction & sectors of the discussion.

Conclusion/s (600 - 650 words)

State conclusions, which you have logically drawn given the evidence of your

results and findings.

Project Design Recommendations (300 - 350 words)

State your project design recommendations. These should relate directly to the

conclusions and provide possible solutions to problems identified in the report.

Reference List Use APA Referencing style:

McCrindle, M (2006). New Generations at Work: Attracting, Recruiting, Training and Retaining, McCrindle Research, New South Wales. http://hdl.voced.edu.au/10707/265131

Bateman, C.M. and Boon, R. (2006) 21st Century Game Design, Charles River Media Game Development Series, Charles River Media.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon. 9(5),1-6. DOI:10.1108/10748120110424816

Lenhart, A. (2015) A Majority of American Teens Report Access to a Computer, Game Console, Smartphone and a Tablet. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/04/09/a-majority-of-american-teens-report-access-to-a-computer-game-console-smartphone-and-a-tablet/

Johnston, R. (2018) Who is Generation Z and How Will They Impact the Future of Associations? https://www.naylor.com/associationadviser/generation-z-future-associations/

Shliakhovchuk, E., Oliynyk, R., & García, A. M. (2021). Gen Zers' video game preferences and learning outcomes: toward designing better games. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 13(2), 208-236. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijtel.2021.114075

DFC Global Consumer database (2022) Global Video Game Consumer

Segmentation.

https://www.dfcint.com/product/video-game-consumer-segmentation-2/

Champion, E. (2020). Culturally Significant Presence in Single-player Computer

Games. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH), 13(4), 1-24.

https://doi.org/10.1145/3414831

Johnson, W. L. (2010). A simulation-based approach to training operational cultural competence. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20100012877/downloads/20100012877.pdf

Zielke, M. A., Evans, M. J., Dufour, F., Christopher, T. V., Donahue, J. K., Johnson, P., Jennings, E. B., Friedman, B. S., Ounekeo, P. L., & Flores, R. (2009). Serious games for immersive cultural training: creating a living world. IEEE computer graphics and applications, 29(2), 49–60. https://doi.org/10.1109/mcg.2009.30

Appendices

Identify these as Appendix A, Appendix B, etc., and only include if they are referred to in the dissertation.

Project Design Recommendations

You must also submit sufficient Project Design recommendations in the forms of story synopsis,