Skyrim
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Ok, but seriously. Skyrim is indeed the main topic of my thesis, although not for its own sake. I'm analysing world-building in Skyrim and examining all the zany modding and Wikipedia-editing and stuff that its community does, with an eye towards cultural heritage. So, basically: there are cultures out there that need a lot of assistance in terms of preservation and transmitting to the next generation - particularly various indigenous peoples, like the Aboriginal Australians. The hands-down absolute best way to show a culture in as complete a form as possible and within its environmental context, is absolutely and undeniably an open-world RPG. But how does Skyrim actually work in terms of world-building - which methods that it uses can be replicated, and which ones cannot, given that the game was developed with an $80 million budget that no "serious game" project will ever get even remotely close to? That's one part of what I'm trying to describe in detail. Another part is figuring out how active audiences can be a part of the mix - how you might be able to achieve more by reaching out to modders and the like. So, apart from spending a lot of time analysing Skyrim, I've also done a survey with Skyrim fans, and a bunch of in-depth interviews with cultural heritage experts.
And you know what? I really want my Skyrim back. And Morrowind. I really miss being able to play my favourite games without having to analyse anything.
But yes, of course, in the long term, the very point of doing this is so that I can then go ahead and work on a culture-based RPG, building on what I've learned. That would be different, though, because I wouldn't be working in such blasted isolation.
