[
    {
        "id": "fsp-810",
        "type": "paper-conference",
        "title": "Bonding with Horses and Other Animals in Breath of the Wild",
        "author": [
            {
                "family": "Seraphine",
                "given": "Frederic"
            }
        ],
        "issued": {
            "date-parts": [
                [
                    2018
                ]
            ]
        },
        "container-title": "Abstract Proceedings of DiGRA 2018 Conference: The Game is the Message",
        "DOI": "10.26503/dl.v2018i2.998",
        "URL": "https://www.fredericseraphine.com/publications/bonding-with-horses-breath-of-the-wild/",
        "language": "en",
        "abstract": "In the game Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, 2017), systems were put in place to incentivize players to bond with wild animals, with a special emphasis on horse taming. In a franchise where wildlife used to be considered as an adversary to beat, this paper considers the role played by behavioral mechanics to bring life to this open world game. Through a semiotic analysis of the possible interactions with animals in Breath of the Wild, this paper proposes that variable and identifiable behaviors are favorizing bonding with players while the more generic and repetitive mechanics are desubjectifying the animal object and reveal their artificiality. With the horse-taming feature, Breath of the Wild is trying to find balance between a system based on free-play, designed for evoking emotions and emergent storytelling and a useful transportation method. For the latter, the system suffers the comparison with other transportation mechanics present in the game. On the other hand, the livelihood of the open world in Breath of the Wild is very tied to the conduct of the wildlife of Hyrule and its way to interact with Link. In conclusion, this paper will propose ways to push further attachment with artificial agents with mechanics favorizing emergent play.",
        "keyword": "Non-human, Artificial Intelligence, bonding, attachment, subjectification, emergent storytelling"
    }
]