Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference 14-17th December 2016 Program Index

8W
Games: Interactivity and immersion (Chair, Mahli-Ann Butt)
Markus Wiemker
Escape Rooms or the (New) Desire for the Analog
It is often assumed that our coming (gaming) culture will be only virtual or digital - and certainly this will be a
big part of our future society. But there is also a counter trend, a growing interest of people to play analog or
hybrid games. More and more individuals (or groups) play board games, collect smart toys or Live Action
Games. Especially the business of Escape Room Games grows extremely fast. In Escape Rooms players have
to discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to achieve a specific
goal, usually escaping from the room, in a team (cf. Nicholson, Scott: 2015). So this paper tries to explore
what Escape Rooms really are, which connections they have to other genres, explore why people are
fascinated and motivated so much and which specific elements of the gameplay are resonating to them.
Hanna Wirman* & Rhys Jones
“Boxed Experiences” in East Asian Megacities
This paper looks at the emergence of “boxed experiences”, such as room escape games and private karaoke
rooms, in overpopulated East Asian cities. Focusing on one city, Hong Kong is home to countless karaoke
rooms and five room escape companies. Even though karaoke boxes have existed for years, the popularity of
spatially limited experiences continues to increase and new experiences such as VR rooms have been
invented more recently. We discuss the significance of commodified limitations to one’s aerial surroundings
in a highly populous city that already drastically limits the everyday space of its inhabitants – with the
average per capita living space being just 47.8 ft2. Their timed use, too, contributes to unique experiences,
and it is in the confines of new space-time configurations that participants find their “own” space.
Comparing room escape games with VR and karaoke rooms, we explore the popularity and attraction of such
experiences.
Antranig Sarian “Mapping the Rhizome” The Practical Problems of Interactive Narrative
This paper examines both the structural and existential problems surrounding the existence of narrative in
digital games through the lens of two meta-fictional deconstructions of interactivity: Shelley Jackson’s
Patchwork Girl (1995) and Davey Wreden’s The Stanley Parable (2013). Many modern video games have
arisen to a strong demand for interactive narrative. Game developers Bioware and Telltale have both made
the creation of interactive stories in a gaming space central to their design philosophies. The gaming industry
is rife with myriad experiments in interactive narrative and storytelling in the digital space, from Gone Home
(2013) to Life is Strange (2015). But is it working? Experiments like Gone Home (2013) and Everybody’s Gone
to the Rapture (2015) are often derided in mainstream discourse as “walking simulators” while both Telltale
and Bioware respectively are criticised for exaggerating the diversity of consequences their digital narratives
offer. This paper will examine and explore the practical problems of interactivity in digital games on both a
practical and theoretical level. This includes charting the games’ myriad branching narrative formats, and
exploring the value that interactive narrative can bring to gaming environments.
8X
Sweet, Soft, and Social: Japanese drinks and snacks consumption culture (Chair, Timothy Kazuo Steains)
Rebecca Suter Drink Sokenbicha! Comparing Japanese and Australian Soft Drinks Consumption Cultures
The consumption of sugared soft drinks and its impact on health have been the object of much scholarly and
media debate over the past twenty years. Interestingly, one element that is assumed to be unvarying in
these discussions is taste: people like sweet. Looking at different consumption cultures, however, can help
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