Fellow members of the gaming community, I would like to take this moment to reveal a project of mine that has been in the making for a very long time.
For the past several weeks, I’ve been hard at work on a research paper that covers a topic that has been sitting on the back of my mind for nearly a decade!
Now that my paper is done and published online, I can finally share it with y’all! The topic of the paper is:
Japanese influences in Western first-person shooters
This paper takes an extensive look at two Western-made first-person shooters, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division and F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon, which successfully transplant Japanese cultural elements into their design. Shogo manages to capture the essence of mecha anime by seamlessly blending the man-machine bond characteristic of Japanese mechs with the first-person perspective, enabling players to ‘become’ the pilot/robot and fully immerse themselves into an anime experience. F.E.A.R. embodies the mystery and sense of psychological vulnerability of Japanese horror films by making use of dark, dreary environments and chilling sound effects to heighten the atmospheric tension. The author argues that Japanese-influenced first-person shooters can make for riveting and engrossing experiences when Eastern cultural elements and Western game mechanics are harmoniously mixed.
To be perfectly honest, I never thought I’d be able to write this paper, let alone nail it. But thanks to several wonderful individuals (including some well-known game designers) and the support of the gaming community, I was able to deliver a labor of love that I can be truly proud of!
Please let me know what you think of my paper by dropping a reply to this post in the comments section below. I welcome all kinds of feedback!
Looking forward to reading your responses! And thank you again for your support. Without it, I don’t think I would have ever gotten into writing.
NOTE: The paper is 83 pages, so you might want to set some time aside in order to read it. Also, the link to my paper might be updated in the near-future.
Other than that, happy reading!
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