Research Symposium

BIO

Kara Crowther is a Sophomore pursuing a dual degree in English: EWM and Sociology, while minoring in Psychology and Child Development; she loves her academic work and is constantly working towards more. She plans on attending law school after graduating in Spring 2028, hoping to focus on family law. She adores interdisciplinary research that merges her interests in vast fields, such as dialect and sociology.

Is it All Jumpscares: Until Dawn

Abstract

The horror video game genre is a niche media form that instills fear in its players. This research discusses and explores the gameplay of Until Dawn to demonstrate the various types of horror that video games utilize to enhance a player’s reactions and feelings towards the media. Specifically, through analysis and content coding of various aspects of Until Dawn, this project examines how specific atmospheric and story choices alter the amount of fear and horror a player feels. The Elaboration Likelihood Model provides a lens for viewing the decision-making process and its effectiveness in horror games. The research facilitators then developed a codebook, following coding analysis standards to ensure inter-coder reliability and consistent coding, and tracked the results in an Excel sheet. Coding guidelines included marking when lore, jumpscares, character dialogue, or decision-making would occur, describing interactions, and including exact timestamps. Results are pending as research and coding are still underway. The results are expected to showcase a wide variety of horror interactions through character choices, environmental elements, and storytelling. However, it is expected to rely on atmospheric fear and decision-making rather than jumpscares to enhance the fear-based encounters. Additionally, it can be inferred that the horror video game setting exerts a greater influence than one might expect, shaping how the genre is viewed.

Keywords: Video Games, Communications, Content Analysis, Content Coding, ELM Theory.