La Focalis-action : Des savoirs narratifs aux faires vidéoludiques

• Main Authors: Hugo Montembeault, Bernard Perron
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Laboratoire Experice 2018-05-01
• Series: Sciences du Jeu
• Subjects: focalization; narratology; gameplay; video game; film; literature
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/sdj/897

This essay deals with one of the key concepts in narratology, namely the focalization. It will present a quick overview of the theories in literary and film studies, starting with Gerard Genette who first introduced the notion. It shows how it was used in video game studies in order to underline the weaknesses and narrow interpretations of an application too strongly rooted into a narrative approach. Nuances are then proposed through an emphasis on the player experience, a consideration not only for the point of view and the point of listening, but also for the point of action and, finally, an account of the « modalities of doing » that frame and guide gameplay. In fact, it is fundamental to question the regulation of diegetic information with an action value by the game design, alongside how the player himself uses his own knowledge and know-how. Those phenomenons will be defined in terms of focaliz-action.