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Phil Horlacher - Research Report

Page history last edited by philhorlacher@yahoo.com 10 years, 4 months ago

 

Stalking "Let's Plays":

Evaluating Constants and Variation in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. via perochialjoe's "Let's Play: STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl" Series

 

By Phil Horlacher , Into the Zone: A Study of Adaptations

 

Abstract

     The resource being explored is YouTube user perochialjoe’s  Let's Play: STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl part 1, which was posted to YouTube on March 16, 2012 and is a part of a larger “Let’s Play” series (I will allude to examples up to part 4). The video consists of the user moving through the video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl from the opening scene whilst providing expert commentary and criticism intended to inform the viewer of in-game lore, design features, plot decisions, and perochialjoe’s opinions.


 

Commentary

     Perochialjoe’s “Let’s Play” series is a critical playthrough of the 2007 first person shooter survival horror game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (commonly referred to as “Stalker”). The game is an adaptation of both the 1971 novel Roadside Picnic, by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, and the 1979 Andrei Tarkovsky film, Stalker, which is itself an adaptation of the Strugatsky brothers’ novel. The novel and film deal with the the ramifications of a brief extraterrestrial visitation which results in the creation of “the zone”, a dangerous militarized area where military violence and almost supernatural occurrences stand as obstacles for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, hired mercenaries who scour the zone on behalf of institutions and private collectors for valuable “artifacts” that have been left behind by the alien visitors. Stalker the game allows the user to play through missions in the zone as an amnesiac S.T.A.L.K.E.R.; however, the game departs from the extraterrestrial subplot of the novel and film, instead setting the narrative in the fallout of a second Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

 

     Perochialjoe’s display of Stalker falls into the larger gaming subgenre of “Let’s Play” videos, which are made readily available via YouTube. The object of “Let’s Play”  videos is to provide gamers, game enthusiasts, and critics an avenue by which they may watch game footage without themselves experiencing gameplay in the manner which the designers intended.  “Let’s Play”s can contain humorous commentary that is intended to entertain viewers, walkthrough elements designed to aid gamers seeking advice, or commentary aimed at critiquing game features for the benefit of scholars or potential buyers. The  “Let’s Play” can also be produced by an individual whose knowledge of the game, or games in general, may qualify the producer as an expert; however, many  “Let’s Play”s are produced by amateurs or enthusiasts, and do not necessarily need to contain commentary of any kind by the producer.  

 

     Perochialjoe’s “Let's Play: STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl part 1” falls into the subcategory of a “Let’s Play” that has been produced by an expert and contains commentary. Perochialjoe plays through the main plot of the game, explaining elements of gameplay ranging from controls, to lore and story development. This aspect of the “Let’s Play” is meant to be instructional and provide context to viewers that may not be familiar with the game. One example of this lies in perochialjoe’s explanation of the Chernobyl disaster in relation to the game premise (see Example A).

 

He also makes a point to casually comment on why he makes certain gameplay decisions, often pointing to hidden bonus objects, such as artifacts or weapons, and explaining why elements of gameplay will be significant as the story progresses (see Example B). Finally, perochialjoe frequently makes critical remarks about the game. Although much of the commentary is positive, perochialjoe also points out various shortcomings and glitches (see example C).

   Example A (fastforward to 1:00)                                                                Example B (fastforward to 5:50)                        

 

 

 Example C (fastforward to 11:05)


 

Relevance

     Perochialjoe’s “Let’s Play” bears most significance in regards to understanding the gaming portion in regards to any attempts to analyze the process of adaptation across media. The video series is valuable in its ability to provide scholars with greater context and an expert analysis of Stalker, as well as a means of evaluating what an “average” playing experience entails emotionally and from a narrative standpoint verses aspects of gameplay that tend to vary depending on a player’s skill level and in-game knowledge.

 

     The most obvious benefit of the “Let’s Play” is that by watching perochialjoe play through the quest and provide commentary, one may derive a more accurate and complete understanding of the Stalker world. Perochialjoe largely achieves this by playing through levels at quick paces and by commenting on the significance of various moments in the game in relation to the work as a whole. This speedy education is crucial for cultivating a larger understanding of the Stalker work. When I played through what perochialjoe covered in the first twenty minute “Let’s Play”, it took a good hour to orient myself, explore, and search for the proper course of action. As the story progressed, I also died often, spent tons of time establishing borders, and made firefights extensive ordeals. Although playing the game is necessary to properly evaluate its qualities in an academic context, the “Let’s Play” can allow any persons researching Stalker to become much better read on the subject without having to pour many weeks of gameplay into basic research.

 

     A more subtle, but equally important benefit of experiencing the “Let’s Play” has been cultivating an understanding of what entails an “average” experience in relation to what features of gameplay are reserved for experts or beginners. This can be achieved primarily by comparing one's psychological and narrative experience to that of perochialjoe’s. Seeing as one of the main components of adaptation that the team has focused on has been the psychological aspects involved in a given work, it is important to understand how consistently a work elicits a given reaction from multiple participants. While the psychological evaluations of those testing the media can perhaps paint an idea of what emotions are evoked in beginners by Stalker, perochialjoe’s experience provides a more complete version of the emotional longevity certain aspects of the game have, since he consistently provides commentary on the situations presented to him. Similarly, it is beneficial to understand how significantly two player’s narrative experiences can differ. One example of these two notions are the lasting impact of horror. As I played through, I found that most of the horror elements tended to diminish in potency after the first twenty minutes or so of gameplay, shifting my focus primarily to FPS action. Similarly, perochialjoe seemed completely unphased by horror elements, focusing almost exclusively on gathering weapons and clearing opponents. We were both confronted by the same creatures and fight sequences; however, the variation that did exist seemed to be limited mostly to the amount of time it took for us to move through levels, which tended to make my experience slightly more tense. These comparisons are significant in validating a singular range of emotions and quests that one can expect to experience by playing through Stalker. Without this range, it is not possible to compare the emotional effects and narrative properties of the game to those of the book and film.

 

     The glaring limitation presented by this resource is that it can not provide the group with any information regarding adaptation in it of itself. This resource is not intended to illustrate common or differing properties of the Stalker texts; rather, this resource is primarily meant to ground the gaming portion of this project in a consistent and reliable representation of the Stalker game so that it can be accurately evaluated in relation to other texts.


 

Further Readings

 

1. perochialjoe. “Let's Play: STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl part 1” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 16 March 2012. Web. 1 November 2013

 

a. Perochialjoe’s User Page, YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/perochialjoe

 

2. Clevver Games. “What Makes a Good Survival Horror Game” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 26 April 2012. Web. 5 November 2013


3. Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, official cite. “Stalker:Shadow of Chernobyl” Website. http://www.stalker-game.com/. 14 January 2011. Web. 16 November 2013

 

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