Abstract
While scholars have often acknowledged the multimodal qualities of videogames – with some even regarding them as functionally essential (e.g. Bateman et al., 2017: 45) – the conversation between multimodality and game studies has not resulted in a comprehensive exploration of the interplay of various semiotic modes in videogames. Situating the book at the intersection of the two fields, Hawreliak sets out to provide a ‘systematized theoretical approach for analysing videogames’ (p. 7) guided by social semiotic and discourse analysis approaches to multimodality and rhetoric. Eminently readable and, for the most part, well-researched, Hawreliak’s volume is a good starting point for any scholar interested in approaching videogames from a multimodal perspective.
The book is organized into three parts. Part 1 outlines some of the challenges inherent in analysing meaning-making in videogames (Chapter 1) and illustrates most common modes encountered in videogames (Chapter 2). Special attention (in the form of an entire dedicated Chapter 3) is paid to a single mode, procedurality (‘the rules, systems, and parameters of a game’ (p. 81)). Hawreliak draws on the work of a number of established scholars in both multimodal and game studies, such as Gunther Kress, Kay O’Halloran, Astrid Esslin and Adrienne Shaw. He illustrates his arguments in favour of multimodality as a paradigm for game analysis with a number of game examples, presenting a multifaceted view of games and their semiotic potentialities. The main takeaway from this section of the book is the second chapter, which serves as an engrossing primer for game semiotics, and stands to be of use to scholars, players and game developers alike.
Part 2 features discussions of multimodal consonance and dissonance – the alignment or misalignment of meaning communicated via multiple modes. The first two chapters in Part 2 deal, respectively, with modal consonance as a resource for ideological and experiential persuasion, and as a means to ‘phenomenologically persuade players to believe they are in “real” environments’ (p. 129). The third and final chapter in this section focuses on dissonance between modes. Here, Hawreliak posits the notion of modal irony to explain instances of meaning discordance experienced during gameplay. The author’s framing of these situations from a semiotic and multimodal perspective is refreshing. The arguments are illustrated with compelling examples from popular video games, which makes a good case for modal irony as an alternative to long-contested and imprecise terms such as ludonarrative dissonance.
The final section of the book turns the attention to players and modding (custom or altered content introduced into a game by members of its player community, rather than the game’s official developers). It serves to highlight some of the unique difficulties in conducting semiotic and rhetorical analyses of videogames. The focus here is on user-generated content, leaving aside – for better or worse – the official updates and changes made to games by the original developers. The chapter covers a lot of ground, with topics ranging from custom rules for board games, to gender modifications in games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD, 2017), to more complete and extensive mods resulting in popular standalone games. The varying discussions are brought together under the umbrella of multimodality, with interesting observations regarding the rhetorical impact of user-made changes to different modes in games. On the whole, though, the chapter takes an illustrative approach, which does little more than hint at (the many) possible avenues of exploration in the world of game modding. Similarly, the concluding chapter, which discusses the future of multimodal game studies, opens with speculations and thought experiments regarding the potentialities of games and multimodal studies involving them. While these make for a curious read, the truly interesting paragraphs here are ultimately those which cite existing, experimental games, as well as one of the author’s empirical studies.
On the whole, the book’s key argument in favour of multimodality as a tool for rhetorical game analyses is strong, although the handling of procedurality leaves a lot to be desired and ultimately leaves many important questions regarding its role as a mode unanswered or outright swept aside. On one hand, through analyses of games such as Mafia III (Hangar 13, 2016) and its treatment of racism on the level of ludic systems, the author makes a valid argument for procedurality being considered as a semiotic mode in its own right in the context of videogames. On the other hand, throughout the book, the reader is left unsure of the ontological status of procedurality within multimodal ensembles found in games Hawreliak labels procedurality as ‘particularly relevant for game analysis’ (p. 11), and echoes Bogost (2006, 2007) claim that it is ‘distinct from other modes of expression’ (p. 83). At the same time, the author follows other multimodal scholars such as Jewitt (2009) in denouncing any form of modal hierarchy. While this may in part be excused by the wide target audience of the book, which necessitates greater explanatory focus on game-specific modes such as procedurality, it nonetheless results in a muddled argument and a confusing positioning of procedurality in relation to other modes.
Compounding the problem is the treatment of the primary sources used in the discussion on procedurality, namely the writings of Janet Murray (1997) and Ian Bogost (2006, 2007), which are for the most part simply adopted by the author. The lack of critical distance on display in this discussion is what prevents the work from fully achieving its author’s ambitions, robbing the concept of procedurality of much needed nuance and the reader of some alternative perspectives (see, for example, Sicart, 2011; Treanor and Mateas, 2013). This framing of procedurality eventually diminishes the impact of Hawreliak’s later analyses, such as that of modal irony in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios, 2011), where the author’s argument relies on presupposing idealized player figures when analysing the final battle in the game (pp. 156–157). What is more, though the author at several points levies a critique towards what is inaccurately called the ‘formalist’ strand of game studies (see Willumsen, 2018) for favouring rules or procedural systems as defining properties of games at the expense of other game components, some of the multimodal analyses present in the book unfortunately end up making a similar claim. One example is the analysis of a mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, where – as pointed out even by the author – multimodal dissonance disappears over time and, crucially, through play. The audience is therefore left with a feeling that procedurality in games does seem to hold some level of meaning-making dominance over other modes, which runs counter to the author’s claim (on p. 6) that no mode is inherently superior to others in a multimodal ensemble.
The dissonances and criticisms mentioned above might, perhaps, also be seen in a different light, as potentialities for further work and exploration of multimodality in videogames, which may eventually be beneficial for both fields of game studies and multimodality studies. As it stands, Jason Hawreliak’s book is a good, and in many ways needed, general introduction to multimodal game analysis, while also providing plenty of points of possible critical departure to inspire other endeavours in this still nascent area of research.