• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.215-237
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• 2020

This paper is written to introduce and review Shinji Matsunaga's The Aesthetics of Video Games which published in Japan in 2018. Shinji Matsunaga has studied video games from a philosophical and aesthetic perspective. In The Aesthetics of Video Games, he took video games as a hybrid form of traditional games. Shinji Matsunaga particularly notes that video games can design human behaviors and experiences. From this point of view, he tries to construct a theoretical framework that will be able to describe the ways of signification in games and fiction respectively. In previous studies, video games have been mainly discussed in the context of cultural studies and entertainment culture in Japan. The Aesthetics of Video Games is distinguished from the previous studies in the following points. First, The Aesthetics of Video Games pioneered the method of studying video games in art theory. Second, it established various types of relationships with video games and traditional aesthetic concepts. Third, this book connects new concepts that emerged in the age of artificial intelligence to video games as an aesthetic action. Through this work, not only video games were discussed academically, but also the fields of aesthetics and art were expanded. The Aesthetics of Video Game is like a collection of philosophical concepts for video games. Through this book, it can be said that the path for artificial intelligence to approach human secrets is closer than before.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.48
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• pp.85-116
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze conditions that robots depicted in cinematographic works like animations or movies sympathize with and form an attachment with the nuclear person and organize characterizing strategies for emotional sympathetic robots. Along with the development of technology, the areas of artificial intelligence and robots are no longer considered to belong to science fiction but as realistic issues. Therefore, this author assumes that the expressive characteristics of emotional sympathetic robots created by cinematographic works should be used as meaningful factors in expressively embodying human-friendly service robots to be distributed widely afterwards, that is, in establishing the features of characters. To lay the grounds for it, this research has begun. As the subjects of analysis, this researcher has chosen robot characters whose emotional intimacy with the main person is clearly observed among those found in movies and animations produced after the 1920 when robot's contemporary concept was declared. Also, to understand robots' appearance and behavioral tendency, this study (1) has classified robots' external impressions into five types (human-like, cartoon, tool-like, artificial bring, pet or creature) and (2) has classified behavioral tendencies considered to be the outer embodiment of personality by using DiSC, the tool to diagnose behavioral patterns. Meanwhile, it has been observed that robots equipped with high emotional intimacy are all strongly independent about their duties and indicate great emotional acceptance. Therefore, 'influence' and 'Steadiness' types show great emotional acceptance, the influencing type tends to be highly independent, and the 'Conscientiousness' type tends to indicate less emotional acceptance and independency in general. Yet, according to the analysis on external impressions, appearance factors hardly have any significant relationship with emotional sympathy. It implies that regarding the conditions of robots equipped with great emotional sympathy, emotional sympathy grounded on communication exerts more crucial effects than first impression similarly to the process of forming interpersonal relationship in reality. Lastly, to study the characters of robots, it is absolutely needed to have consilient competence embracing different areas widely. This author also has felt that only with design factors or personality factors, it is hard to estimate robot characters and also analyze a vast amount of information demanded in sympathy with humans entirely. However, this researcher will end this thesis as the foundation for it expecting that the general artistic value of animations can be used preciously afterwards in developing robots that have to be studied interdisciplinarily.