Miruna Vozaru

IT University of Copenhagen

Miruna earned her BA in Psychology from West University of Timisoara, as well as her MSc in Game Design and Analysis from the IT University of Copnehagen. She is currently a PhD candidate at the IT University of Copenhagen, as a member of the  Making Sense of Games project. Her current research project focuses on the possibility of creating an emergent game analysis framework aimed at application in the area of quantitative player studies. Her main areas of interest include psychology, game analysis methods and methodology and quantitative player analysis.

All Sessions by Miruna Vozaru

  • 19. Nov | Conference Opening

    The conference kick-off will include the opening keynote as well as the Young Academics Workshop

  • 10:25  - 10:50
    The portrayal of the mental health and state of videogame characters has a long history, from gamified sanity meters, to more recent, mature approaches that explore the experiences of neuroatypical individuals in a responsible and instructive manner. This evolution brings about several questions regarding the portrayal of the mental state of an entity lacking autonomy, found predominantly under player control. For a genuine portrayal of matters concerning mental health, characters must surpass their role of mechanical and informational conduits and assume autonomy within the mechanical layer of the game, as doing so will not only individualize them within the context of the game’s heterocosm, but also in the game situation (Eskelinen, 2001). To gage the possibility of this metamorphosis, I have qualitatively analysed the video game The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the island of memories (White Owls Inc., 2018) guided by the proposal made by Actor-Network Theory that non-humans can exert an undirected agency over the status quo (Latour, 2008, p. 70-86). It follows that both sources of direct and indirect action as well as modifiers, enablers, and constrainers of action have been coded and examined. The resulting analysis grants an overview of the diffusion of action control through the network enabling both the analysis of the centrality of participants in the diffusion of agency, as well as the roles that the player character takes in the game situation. Through the study, the emergence of the player character as a parallel agent, functioning alongside the player, in the player-game relationship becomes discernable as we witness J.J. accepting herself, and assuming control over herself, and away from external sources. Within the game situation, this translates to taking control over a central mechanic, regeneration, which has so far been under the player’s control. With this, her understanding of her mental state, and retaking of control is contextualized in her emergence as an individual, not only within the bounds of the game heterocosm, but also within the game situation.
    19. Nov | Young Academics Workshop
    Where
    room 204

  • 11:15  - 11:30
    Panel 1 - Representation
    19. Nov | Young Academics Workshop
    Where
    room 204




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Miruna Vozaru