Doki Doki Literature Club: A Gameplay Reflection
Do Graphic Topics in Interactive Fiction Have a Place in the Classroom?
Doki Doki Literature Club is an interactive fiction / horror genre video game available free online. In this video gameplay reflection, I explore the themes and learning merits of the game, questioning whether or not a game with such graphic content that purposely supports strong social-change goals and philosophy through a well crafted narrative has a place within the classroom environment.
Trigger Warning:
The video gameplay reflection contains graphic visual and verbal content regarding mental health and self-abuse. Please be aware before playing.
General Overview:
Serious games, or games created with an intention outside of pure entertainment, are undergoing a bit of an evolution. The line between commercial off the shelf games and serious games are blurring due to the widespread availability of indie games - thank you world wide web and thank you to distribution sites like GameJolt and Steam.
One particular genre of indi games that is doing it’s due diligence at blurring those boundaries would be interactive fiction. Games like The Beginners Guide, That Dragon Cancer, Radiant One and The Stanley Parable are just a few that use emotionally and psychologically rich storylines to pull players through existential journeys of self reflection and discovery while infusing purposeful learning opportunities both social and practical.
Currently, the state of DGBL (Digital Game Based Learning) has a stronger focus on more practical sides of learning outcomes through game play while utilizing commercial off the shelf games, such second language learning, though I haven't come across as much exploration of DBGL regarding the use of interactive fiction alongside classic literature within the English learning realm.
I actually see interactive fiction video games to have a style and meaning akin to classic literature - like the works of Dostoevsky, Austen, or Kafka interactive fiction dances on that line between entertainment and philosophy , but some, like Doki Doki Literature Club seems to hop around that line willy nilly and stomp the shit out of it with all it’s might.
Though many would place Doki Doki in the Horror genre, I’d place it squarely in the serious game / interactive fiction arena. Mainly because I believe it’s objectives are that of teaching two very distinct yet intermingling topics. One of which is very overt (social philosophy) in the gameplay and the other, though right out in the open, seems a bit more subtle (literary appreciation).
Sources & Inspirations:
Thor, a former student of mine who recommended this game to me and introduced me to interactive fiction.
Barab, S. A., Sadler, T. D., Heiselt, C., Hickey, D., & Zuiker, S. (2007). Relating narrative, inquiry, and inscriptions: Supporting consequential play. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 16(1), 59-82. DOI: 10.1007/s10956-006-9033-3
Yolanda A. Rankin, McKenzie McNeal, Marcus W. Shute, and Bruce Gooch. 2008. User centered game design: evaluating massive multiplayer online role playing games for second language acquisition. In Proceedings of the 2008 ACM SIGGRAPH symposium on Video games (Sandbox '08). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 43-49. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1401843.140185
Ute Ritterfeld, Michael Cody, and Peter Vorderer. 2009. Serious games mechanisms and effects, Hoboken: Taylor & Francis.
The Superforge. 2018. Things You Missed in Doki Doki Literature Club. Youtube Video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxuNrcTNoxY