<b>Ecomods: An Ecocritical Approach to Game Modification</b> // <i>Ecomods</i>: Una aproximación ecocrítica a la modificación de los videojuegos

Authors

  • Kyle Matthew Bohunicky University of Florida

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2017.8.2.1352

Keywords:

Digital games, mods, ecomedia, ecocriticism // Juegos digitales, ecocrítica

Abstract

      As systems that model complex relationships, digital games encourage players to enact Morton's "ecological thought" through the actions players perform within the game world. Yet these representations, as Alenda Chang (2011) has noted, "commit at least one if not all of the following missteps in their realization of in-game environments: relegating environment to background scenery, relying on stereotyped landscapes, and predicating player success on extraction and use of natural resources" (58). In other words, the flora and fauna players find are often reduced to non-interactive set pieces, thereby stripping actions of the ecological and environmental impact they could have. Despite these problems, ecocritical approaches to digital games have sought to re-assert the significance of connections between game ecologies and their environmental representations by tracing cultural associations (Bianchi, Barton), and by investigating problems with materiality and waste (Apperley and Jayemanne). This essay builds on these approaches by considering “modding,” short for “modifications,” as an area for ecocritical intervention in the flattening of games' environmental representations. Specifically, this essay examines the thriving environmental modding communities around Bethesda Softworks’ The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Although some of the mods released for Skyrim emphasize visual enhancements, others re-connect players to the game’s ecology and environment in meaningful ways.

 

Resumen

      Como los sistemas que modelan las relaciones complejas, los juegos digitales animan a los jugadores a restablecer el “pensamiento ecológico” de Morton por medio de las acciones que los jugadores llevan a cabo dentro del mundo del juego. Pero estas representaciones, como Alenda Chang (2011) comenta, “cometen al menos uno de los errores en sus realizaciones de los entornos dentro del juego: relegando al medio ambiente al escenario del fondo, dependiendo de paisajes estereotipados, y afirmando el éxito del jugador en la extracción y uso de recursos naturales” (58). En otras palabras, la flora y fauna que se encuentran los jugadores a menudo quedan reducidas a piezas establecidas no-interactivas, de esta forma desmontando de las acciones el impacto ecológico y medioambiental que podrían tener. A pesar de estos problemas, el enfoque ecocrítico a los juegos digitales ha buscado reafirmar la importancia de las conexiones entre las ecologías del juego y sus representaciones medioambientales trazando asociaciones culturales (Bianchi, Varton); e investigando los problemas sobre materialidad y basura (Apperley and Jayemanne). Este ensayo surge de estos enfoques considerando el “modding”, abreviatura de “modificaciones”, como una zona para intervención ecocrítica en la simplificación de las representaciones medioambientales de los juegos.  En concreto, este ensayo examina las florecientes comunidades de modding medioambientales en torno a The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim de Bethesda Softworks. Aunque algunos de los mods lanzados enfatizan las mejoras visuales, otros reconectan a los jugadores con la ecología y medioambiente del juego de formas significativas.

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Author Biography

Kyle Matthew Bohunicky, University of Florida

Kyle Bohunicky is a PhD candidate in the University of Florida’s Department of English. His research interests include digital game studies, writing studies, media studies, and ecocriticism with essays appearing in 100 Greatest Videogame Characters (2017), Green Letters (2014), and Computer Games and Technical Communication (2014). Kyle’s dissertation theorizes digital game play as a form of writing and analyzes how and what players author through their gameplay. He teaches graduate and undergraduate media studies and composition courses on digital games, writing, and ecomedia.

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Published

2017-10-31

Issue

Section

Articles: Green Computer and Video Games