"Celebrities' Replay Value"
Presentation at Extending Play: The Sequel media studies conference at Rutgers, April 2015
This research explores notions of play, replay, and value in relation to the appearance of celebrities or well-known actors in video games. Sports and music celebrities have routinely appeared in more or less recognizable form in games like Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Guitar Hero, and Madden NFL. Now, with advances in motion capture and photorealistic animation, Hollywood actors create video game characters in their own likenesses, producing a new uncanny valley between caricature and realism. Recent examples include Kevin Spacey in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Ellen Page and Willem Defoe in Beyond: Two Souls, and Aaron Staton (along with other actors from Mad Men) in L.A. Noire.
What does it mean to play as, or alongside, recognizable celebrities in a video game? As star studies has taught us, audiences already have a bifurcated relationship to celebrities in film—responding to them simultaneously as their characters in the fictional diegesis and as performers whose real-life personas we know something about (from press, the tabloids, other roles, etc.). As more and more well-known celebrities appear in video games, a new fragmentation is introduced, as we now face an animated likeness of a real-world celebrity playing a fictional character. Furthermore, a new mutability is introduced in games, like Beyond: Two Souls, where the celebrity character is playable, giving the audience the ability to experiment with what the celebrity does and says. This became a tabloid headline when nude images of (photorealistically animated) Ellen Page showering were found within Beyond: Two Souls’ code.
What is the value of a celebrity in a video game? Although actual salaries typically are not disclosed, it is assumed that stars like Ellen Page, Kevin Spacey, and Sigourney Weaver (who had a small role as Ripley in Alien: Isolation) get hefty paychecks for their ludic roles. Game designers use seasoned performers to elevate the quality of the acting in the games, as well as drawing in additional players who might not be the usual audience. But what is the replay value of a game with a celebrity? Do players replay the game to view multiple iterations of their favorite celebrities performing difference actions? Or, is replay value actually stunted by the appearance of well-known actors, whose performance is more reminiscent of static cinema? Of the games mentioned, only Ellen Page and Aaron Staton (not a celebrity at the time of its release) performed playable characters, and Beyond: Two Souls was critiqued for feeling like an extended series of cut scenes. Does the fact of pre-rendered performances by actors (not new, but newly visible) go against the illusion of the player’s agency? If Kevin Spacey delivers the same lines in the same way each time you play Call of Duty, does it render him even more like a soulless robot? Does his appearance break the magic circle of the game, making clear the limitations of the gamer to determine the outcome of this story? In other words, do celebrities make video games less like games and more like movies?
This research explores notions of play, replay, and value in relation to the appearance of celebrities or well-known actors in video games. Sports and music celebrities have routinely appeared in more or less recognizable form in games like Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Guitar Hero, and Madden NFL. Now, with advances in motion capture and photorealistic animation, Hollywood actors create video game characters in their own likenesses, producing a new uncanny valley between caricature and realism. Recent examples include Kevin Spacey in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Ellen Page and Willem Defoe in Beyond: Two Souls, and Aaron Staton (along with other actors from Mad Men) in L.A. Noire.
What does it mean to play as, or alongside, recognizable celebrities in a video game? As star studies has taught us, audiences already have a bifurcated relationship to celebrities in film—responding to them simultaneously as their characters in the fictional diegesis and as performers whose real-life personas we know something about (from press, the tabloids, other roles, etc.). As more and more well-known celebrities appear in video games, a new fragmentation is introduced, as we now face an animated likeness of a real-world celebrity playing a fictional character. Furthermore, a new mutability is introduced in games, like Beyond: Two Souls, where the celebrity character is playable, giving the audience the ability to experiment with what the celebrity does and says. This became a tabloid headline when nude images of (photorealistically animated) Ellen Page showering were found within Beyond: Two Souls’ code.
What is the value of a celebrity in a video game? Although actual salaries typically are not disclosed, it is assumed that stars like Ellen Page, Kevin Spacey, and Sigourney Weaver (who had a small role as Ripley in Alien: Isolation) get hefty paychecks for their ludic roles. Game designers use seasoned performers to elevate the quality of the acting in the games, as well as drawing in additional players who might not be the usual audience. But what is the replay value of a game with a celebrity? Do players replay the game to view multiple iterations of their favorite celebrities performing difference actions? Or, is replay value actually stunted by the appearance of well-known actors, whose performance is more reminiscent of static cinema? Of the games mentioned, only Ellen Page and Aaron Staton (not a celebrity at the time of its release) performed playable characters, and Beyond: Two Souls was critiqued for feeling like an extended series of cut scenes. Does the fact of pre-rendered performances by actors (not new, but newly visible) go against the illusion of the player’s agency? If Kevin Spacey delivers the same lines in the same way each time you play Call of Duty, does it render him even more like a soulless robot? Does his appearance break the magic circle of the game, making clear the limitations of the gamer to determine the outcome of this story? In other words, do celebrities make video games less like games and more like movies?
