Enacted Sociality in Single-Player Play

This paper, "Enacted Sociality in Single-Player Play," argues that sociality can be actively constructed during solitary gameplay, challenging the assumption that single-player games are inherently non-social. Drawing on transformative learning theory (Illeris) and the philosophy of play (Sicart), the author proposes the term "enacted sociality" to describe how players draw on their existing social codes and apply them within a fictional gameworld, shaping their behaviour and decision-making in the process.

The empirical basis is a follow-up analysis of video-elicited interviews with five first-time players of Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare 2009), a Danish sample aged 22 to 35. Participants reviewed their own gameplay footage, focused on moments of conflict, pause, and radical action, particularly ethical dilemmas in dialogue. Each interview lasted about 75 minutes and covered five to six video situations. The sample is small and qualitative, so the findings are interpretive rather than statistically generalizable.

The analysis finds that sociality develops progressively as players co-construct the game's narrative, with interactions with non-player characters growing more complex as players internalize the story and face morally questionable choices. Participants experienced companions and NPCs as full persons with motivations and feelings, and rarely reflected on their computational nature during play, though they recognized it when prompted afterward. Primary and secondary socialization served as emotional compasses guiding decisions toward outcomes the players could sustain personally.

The author notes that not all single-player games are likely to elicit such engagement, and that the effect appears tied to the characteristics of the particular game. The paper suggests that further research should examine preconceptions of sociality, prosociality, and transgression across a wider range of single-player titles.