Ascobol on 30/9/2014 at 14:47
Hey all,
I'm working on a school project that involves Deus Ex: The Conspiracy/GOTY/DX1. I'm going to be conducting a semiotic analysis of DX before comparing it to another game.
Can anyone reccomend any resources that analyse (or at least begin to examine) elements of symbolism and other aspects of Deus Ex?
Many reviews of Deus Ex begin to address these subjects but I can never find any in-depth analyses on the subject.
Ascobol on 30/9/2014 at 20:26
Heya,
Been there, done Google. Since Human Revolution came out that's just about the only thing you can get results for. Using advanced Google search options like -Revolution - Human Revolution -DXHR -DX:HR doesn't get you much farther either. All I'm working from at the moment is interviews which only sort of help because they only inform on the direction the devs wanted to take.
I'm looking for something a little more helpful than a "go google it" response since I'm not involved in the DX community and don't really know where to begin looking.
faetal on 1/10/2014 at 08:19
Try contacting the person who started the thread just below this one. They sound like they might be able to help.
heywood on 1/10/2014 at 16:14
Are you looking to analyze it as a game, focusing more on game design, or are you looking to analyze the story like a work of literary fiction?
The former has been done to death, and you should be able to find plenty of source material by searching. The latter is more difficult, but potentially a lot more interesting. Most of the press reviews focus more on the gameplay, and most professional reviewers can't allocate enough time, attention, and word space to tackle a story as rich as DX1. Not to mention they are not in the business of being literary critics. A lot of people just dismiss the story as a mashup of cyberpunk with every conspiracy theory, which is a shame IMO. I've had some interesting discussions about it over the years, but haven't seen anyone put down similar thoughts in a format you could reference in a paper.
Where are you trying to go with you analysis?
Ascobol on 1/10/2014 at 23:59
I'm looking to analyze the content of Deus Ex, not so much the game-play. The focus needs to be on how the content in the game ties in to the story. I can touch on how it's used to affect and change game-play but I need to keep the focus elsewhere.
I also have to compare Deus Ex it to BioShock. I have the compare and contrast how each game uses its symbols and signifier (which can be visual or auditory) to inform the player about the game world.
I feel like my explanation isn't clear though I'm not sure how to strengthen it.
Aerothorn on 3/10/2014 at 15:56
Quote Posted by Ascobol
I'm looking to analyze the
content of Deus Ex, not so much the game-play. The focus needs to be on how the content in the game ties in to the story. I can touch on how it's used to affect and change game-play but I need to keep the focus elsewhere.
I also have to compare Deus Ex it to BioShock. I have the compare and contrast how each game uses its symbols and signifier (which can be visual or auditory) to inform the player about the game world.
I feel like my explanation isn't clear though I'm not sure how to strengthen it.
Hey Ascobol - hopefully I'm not too late on this.
I don't think there has been much work on semiotics per se, though there has been writing done on both the contents of Deus Ex and Bioshock itself (including in my own book, A Mind Forever Voyaging: A History of Storytelling in Video Games - email me at [email]aerothorn@gmail.com[/email] and I can send you a PDF of the Deus Ex chapter and bibliography).
Until I get that to you, I'd recommend these works. Note that few of these deal with the narrative-as-divorced-from-gameplay, as in Deus Ex so much of it is about the narrative the player creates.
1. Rock Paper Shotgun's "Deus Ex" anniversary content - See (
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/deus-ex/page/3/) and (
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/deus-ex/page/2/).
2. Warren Spector's postmortem of the game on Gamasutra: http://
(
www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3114/postmortem_ion_storms_deus_)
ex.php?print=1
3. Kieron Gillen's original Deus Ex review: gillen.cream.
org/wordpress_html/?page_id=16
4. Tom Francis' "Taking Liberties": (
http://www.pcgamer.com/taking-liberties/)
And on Bioshock, Matthew Weise' "Bioshock: A Critical Historical Perspective." (
http://www.eludamos).
org/index.php/eludamos/article/view/34/65
I poked around for some more formally academic stuff but it is, sadly, largely non-existent, based on a quick WorldCat search. Let me know if you find anything!
