vydavatel:
The study examines the relationship between the narrative structures of video games, particularly action role playing games, and the processes by which these structures are appropriated and circulated within player communities. Specifically, it analyses the dynamics of interaction between the lore of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, heavily inspired by Norse mythology, and the discourses shared on selected Reddit forums. The findings indicate that elements of Norse mythology within Skyrim primarily function as an open narrative infrastructure, utilised by both designers and players to construct game’s possible worlds. No direct correlation was found between the mythological motifs embedded in the lore and debates regarding contemporary social conflicts; instead, socially relevant themes and ideologies are more frequently articulated in other, less specialised communicative spaces. This pattern accords with an echo chamber model, in which distinct topics reach their audiences in separate performative and discursive contexts. Consequently, game lore may influence ideological formations indirectly, through the migration of discourses across various online scenes, rather than through the direct transmission of socio-political agendas into specialised gaming communities.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Aarseth, Espen J. 1997. Cybertext: Perspectives on ergodic literature. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Bartl, Michael – Kannan, Vijay Kumar – Stockinger. Hanna. 2016. A Review and Analysis of Literature on Netnography Research. International Journal of Technology Marketing 11 (2): 165–196.
Bjørkelo, Kristian A. 2020. „Elves are Jews with Pointy Ears and Gay Magic“: White Nationalist Readings of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Game Studies 20 (3). https://gamestudies.org/2003/articles/bjorkelo
Boccia Artieri, Giovanni. 2023. Tutto ha una fine? Diabolik & Eva Kant: la serialità a fumetti tra ridondanza e varietà. Mediascapes Journal 21 (1): 12–31.
Boccia Artieri, Giovanni – Gemini, Laura – Pasquali, Francesca – Carlo, Simone – Farci, Manola, – Pedroni, Marco. 2018. Fenomenologia dei social network: Presenza, relazioni e consumi mediali degli italiani online. Milano: goWare & Edizioni Angelo Guerini e Associati.
Cooper, Victoria. E. 2016. Fantasies of the North: Medievalism and identity in Skyrim. PhD thesis. Leeds: University of Leeds.
Drislane, Liamog S. 2021. Escapism as Contested Dpace. In: Piero, Mike – Ouellette, Marc A. Being Dragonborn: Critical essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Jefferson: McFarland. 91–104.
Dundes, Alan. 1965. The Study of Folklore. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Eco, Umberto. 1962. Opera aperta: Forma e indeterminazione nelle poetiche contemporanee. Milano: Bompiani.
Eco, Umberto. 1964. Apocalittici e integrati: Comunicazioni di massa e teorie della cultura di massa. Milano: Bompiani.
Eco, Umberto. 1979. Lector in fabula. Milano: Bompiani.
Fefferman, Nina H. – Lofgren, Eric T. 2007. The Untapped Potential of Virtual Game Worlds to Shed Light on Real World Epidemics. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 7 (9): 625–629.
Floridi, Luciano. 2014. The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere Is Reshaping Human Reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Giungato, Luigi – Miggiano, Patrizia. 2022. Narrazioni mediatiche delle emergenze e processi di costruzione di quest: quali possibili analogie? L’incidente del “corrupted blood” in “World of Warcraft”. In: Ciraci, Fabio – Miglietta, Giulia – Gatto, Carola (eds.). AIUCD 2022 - Proceedings. Lecce: Associazione per l’Informatica Umanistica e la Cultura Digitale. 54–58. http://amsacta.unibo.it/id/eprint/6848/
Goffman, Erving. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday.
Gruzd, Anatoliy – Mai, Philip – Vahedi, Zahra. 2020. Studying Anti-Social Behaviour on Reddit with Communalytic. Advance, June 16. http://doi.org/10.31124/advance.12453749.v1
Hawreliak, Jason. 2013. Heroism, Gaming, and the Rhetoric of Immortality. PhD thesis. Waterloo: University of Waterloo.
Hirvonen, Eero. 2017. Improving the Game with User-Generated Content: An Overview of Skyrim mod users. MA thesis. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä.
Honko, Lauri. 1989. Folklore Processes. In: Green, Thomas A (ed.). Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art. New York: Garland Publishing. 206–213.
Huizinga, Johan 2000 (1938). Homo ludens. O původu kultury ve hře. Praha: Dauphin.
Jeacle, Ingrid. 2021. Navigating Netnography: A guide for the accounting researcher. Financial Accountability & Management 37 (1): 88–101. http://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12237
Jedlowski, Paolo. 2022. Storie comuni: La narrazione nella vita quotidiana. Messina: Mesogea. https://doi.org/10.6093/2532-6732/11195
Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
Juul, Jesper. 2005. Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge: MIT Press.
McRae, Catherine Olivia – Bernard, Jean-Grégorie – Cranefield, Jocelyn. 2016. Understanding the Internet Pitchfork Mob: Internal Revolutionary Activity in Self-Regulated Online Communities. In: Proceedings of the 27th Australasian Conference on Information Systems, ACIS 2016 Australasian Conference on Information Systems. Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia: University of Wollongong. 1–11. https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.12910079.v1
Melnic, Vlad. 2018. The Remediation of the Epic in Digital Games: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. American, British and Canadian Studies 30 (1): 153–170. http://doi.org/10.2478/abcsj-2018-0009
Murray, Janet Horowitz. 1997. Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Ong, Walter J. 1982. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. North Yorkshire: Methuen.
Propp, Vladimir. 1928. Morfologija skazki. Leningrad: Academia.
Quattrociocchi, Walter – Vicini, Antonella. 2016. Misinformation: Guida alla società dell’informazione e della credulità. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Quattrociocchi, Walter – Vicini, Antonella. 2023. Polarizzazioni: Informazioni, opinioni e altri demoni nell’infosfera. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Toelken, Barre. 1996. The Dynamics of Folklore. Logan: Utah State University Press.
Van Dijk, Teun A. 2012. Ideology and Discourse: A Multidisciplinary Introduction. Barcelona: Pompeu Fabra University.
Yousefi Nooraie, Reza – Sale, Joanna E. M. – Marin, Alexandra – Ross, Lori E. 2020. Social Network Analysis: An Example of Fusion between Quantitative and Qualitative Methods. Journal of Mixed Methods Research 14 (1): 110–124. http://doi.org/10.1177/1558689818804060
ELEKTRONIC SOURCES:
UESP. 2025. „Skyrim: The Chief of Thirsk Hall.“ The Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages [online] [cit. 23. 3. 2026]. Dostupné z: <https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Chief_of_Thirsk_Hall>.
