"Uncanniness On Ultra". An analysis of the notion of the Uncanny within Built Environments in contemporary Video Games

Abstract

As videogames have become an increasingly popular medium and the business has overtaken many former major markets, it is a medium worth studying. In this Thesis a focus is laid on the concepts of the "Uncanny" and the "Uncanny Valley" within the built environments of the video games: Grand Theft Auto V, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Escape from Tarkov. “A focus was laid upon visual, auditory and gameplay analysis, in three respective chapters, the case studies were discussed along these terms. The theory of the Uncanny Valley as well as Baudrillard’s notions of simulacrum and simulacra and the hyperreal, were the driving forces behind the analysis. Freud’s term of ‘The Uncanny’ and general game-design techniques and technologies were also extensively discussed”(Gerritsen 28).