I mean it’s one fictional relationship, what could it cost? — Romantic videogame fanfiction: Exploring desire and self-insertion in players’ reinterpretation of player/videogame character relationships

Holmes, Cosima (2023) I mean it’s one fictional relationship, what could it cost? — Romantic videogame fanfiction: Exploring desire and self-insertion in players’ reinterpretation of player/videogame character relationships. Doctoral thesis, Falmouth University / University of the Arts London.

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Abstract / Summary

This thesis aims to contribute to the field of fanfiction studies with the introduction of
tiefempfunden into the academic lexicon through the combining of fanfiction studies,
videogame theory and romance novel theory. This thesis aims to explore how authorial
desires and fantasies bleed into fics, sometimes without the author consciously including them. This will be shown via the inclusion of certain relationship dynamics, and the descriptions given to characters and their appearance and personality.
The unique aspect that video games give to this thesis is that there is a dichotomy at play, namely that players are supposed to become immersed in a gameworld, and insert themselves into their playable character; whilst, in fanfiction there is a distinct rejection of any form of self-insertion within fics. What will be argued is that tiefempfunden offers an acceptable way of self-insertion in fics via the inclusion of desire and fantasy, given that romantic fanfictions often revolve entirely around desire, both of attractive characters players/authors are emotionally attached to, and of romantic situations and narratives. The fictionality of fics cannot be stated enough, for it is precisely this fictionality that allows space for desires and fantasies to be explored in a context far removed from real-life, and nowhere is this more The unique aspect that video games give to this thesis is that there is a dichotomy at play, namely that players are supposed to become immersed in a gameworld, and insert themselves
into their playable character; whilst, in fanfiction there is a distinct rejection of any form of self-insertion within fics. What will be argued is that tiefempfunden offers an acceptable way of self-insertion in fics via the inclusion of desire and fantasy, given that romantic fanfictions often revolve entirely around desire, both of attractive characters players/authors are emotionally attached to, and of romantic situations and narratives. The fictionality of fics cannot be stated enough, for it is precisely this fictionality that allows space for desires and fantasies to be explored in a context far removed from real-life, and nowhere is this more The unique aspect that video games give to this thesis is that there is a dichotomy at play, namely that players are supposed to become immersed in a gameworld, and insert themselves into their playable character; whilst, in fanfiction there is a distinct rejection of any form of self-insertion within fics. What will be argued is that tiefempfunden offers an acceptable way
of self-insertion in fics via the inclusion of desire and fantasy, given that romantic fanfictions often revolve entirely around desire, both of attractive characters players/authors are emotionally attached to, and of romantic situations and narratives. The fictionality of fics cannot be stated enough, for it is precisely this fictionality that allows space for desires and fantasies to be explored in a context far removed from real-life, and nowhere is this more obvious than within incest-fics.
Tiefempfunden may be a novel concept to academic discourse, but it is something that has existed within fics for a long time, as evidenced by the fact that some fics within this thesis herald from the early 2010s. This thesis is merely giving a name to something that has thus far been unstated and lends to romantic fics the attention and significance they deserve.

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