Chapter 1. Plot and narrative context of disability in games

The main assumption of this part of the report is an attempt to define the narrative contexts in which disability-related themes appear in video games. The themes should be understood as 1) the presence of people with disabilities, 2) the way of addressing the issue of disability within the game convention (if it is relevant), whereas a narrative context is defined as a) the character’s personal story, b) the selected elements of the setting to which the character is related or those directly influencing him/her. Such an approach to definition facilitates the analysis of how disability is presented in terms of its significance for the character and its impact on their fate, and thus—where it actually signified—on the semantics of the entire game. Surveying the problem of disability in this manner and trying to map it, it is feasible to assess what function a disability really serves in the context of the story told in the game. Is it a functional element that influences the perception of the plot and its shape, or just staffage, which does not have much importance for the reception of the game and story, in practice, only an excuse to initiate, for example, a task for the player, the so-called quest?

Another question raised by the conducted analysis is whether it is attainable to identify any patterns or repetitive regularities related to the content of the plot or its structure in games featuring characters with disabilities. This question is legitimate as it allows us to determine whether characters with disabilities may constitute a separate personological category, or whether this feature does not provide grounds for the creation of a distinct category of characters in video games. The question is decisive for grasping what disability can really be in the game: is it just a character feature of a hero or is it a narrative factor related to the hero, or yet is its role different? Furthermore, in order to properly consider a character’s disability, it is important to explicitly define the boundaries between the disability and the character.

This refers to disabilities occurring in characters in any way interactive in the setting, that is, they meet one of the following conditions:

1. the player can control them

2. the player can interact with them

3. the player can observe their actions and/or listen to their utterances.

Only by analyzing such characters can one discern the meaning of any character feature and this character’s meaning in the story presented in a given medium. Therefore, in relation to the plot, there are three key categories for understanding disability as traits of heroes:

1. representation

2. functionality

3. meaning.

The first is to describe the context in which the character with a disability is portrayed— the narrative but also social (or other, if any) context in the setting. The second concerns functionality in relation to the storyline and gameplay (if it is relevant), also to classic narrative structures such as Joseph Campbell’s monomyth and the male (Campbell 1997) or female character’s journey (Murdock 1990). It also takes into consideration the importance of the character as an element in the story told according to the typology of Vladimir Propp (Propp 1976). The third category concerns the semantics of disability of a given character in the plot and the appearance of this particular character in general—answering whether disability changes something in a given character and its meaning for the player and for the setting shall be crucial for the final conclusions of the report. Nonetheless, it is essential to treat disability as a trait which is understood as a distinguishing element of a given male or female character; its relevance, structure, and role with reference to the storyline become an element of research. In order to conduct such an analysis, it is indispensable to establish more precise defining elements, that is, perception of the characters and the plot in the game.

Methodology of characters research vs. identification and functionality of the category of disability

When determining the definition of a character for the purposes of this research and selecting methodological assumptions, it was presumed that a video game is a coherent narrative text with a protagonist, time and place of action, and a plot (Aarseth 2003/2010), though taking into consideration that each element of the game and its plot can be studied separately from the gameplay or, if necessary, with respect to it (Aarseth p. 19). This departure from the holistic approach to researching video games (Konzack 2002/2008) results from the fact that in the presented analysis, the game has not been considered as a mechanism combining the plot, game components and gameplay and the associated experience into one, but as a story where the gameplay serves the action to “happen.” The character is understood as:

• a set of functions—with regard to the roles which a given character plays in the setting and the story told in the game

• Artificial Intelligence—with regard to non-playable characters, uncontrolled by the player in any way, but that can interact with the player

• representation of players—when the major problem of a given character controlled by a player is the mind-body relationship (Fizek, 2015), in this case, disability.

Such a perspective allows for focusing on the functionality of the feature of disability, and also on its impact on the setting, as well as on how it affects the player’s bonds with the controlled character.

The next step is the identification of a disability itself, which can be indicated in a video game in the following manners:

1. narrative: using dialogues, narration (if there is a narrator in the game), in-game documents, descriptions in the intro or outro, as well as specifications in parts of the game interface, for example, a character window, inventory, etc.

2. visual: due to visible absence of limbs or their mechanical or synthetic prostheses

3. mechanical: if replacing limbs or parts of the body and organism with prostheses, implants and synthetic substitutes constitute game mechanics, for example, character upgrade and development; if a character’s disability affects the appearance of new mechanics, for example, moving in a wheelchair.

Each of these methods enables a recognition of a character’s disability, that is, focusing attention on this feature. The attention of the recipient, also in the game, stems directly from historical factors: in many cultures and eras, disability did not appear as something normal (Stiker 1999: 3). Nowadays, such a thought pattern in portraying characters in different media also seems to exist; hence various deficits, whether physical or mental, become so distinctive and attract attention.

Simultaneously, the way disability is presented may be the same (and in many cases is) as the function it serves in the case of a given character or a number of characters. How it is put into practice shall be shown later in this chapter, on specific examples of characters. When discussing the function, we cannot forget about the opposite situation—when disability does not really matter, it only serves as an ornament, a kind of artistic staffage which is only to arouse certain emotions in the recipient. Nevertheless, in terms of the plot, events, or the

gameplay, disability changes utterly nothing—everything would be undifferentiated regardless of whether the character is fit or not. This is when we encounter the staffage function.

Can the present research on characters with disabilities be treated as an analysis of the portraits of the social group of people with disabilities created as part of games (Ivory 2013: 41)? As Gałuszka and Żuchowska-Skiba reasonably noted (Gałuszka, Żuchowska-Skiba 2018: 96), earlier such textual analyses or broadly understood content analyses allowed for identification and recognition of gender stereotypes in video games. In the case of mapping disabilities and analyses of characters with this trait, it is problematic to find unequivocal conclusions that the game representations of characters with disabilities actually reflect stereotypes about people with disabilities.

This is also true when it comes to treating disability in games as the so-called narrative prosthesis (Mitchell, Snyder 2000). While it is possible to handle disability as a sign of a difference in the corporeality of the character, and perhaps initially even assume that therapy and rehabilitation are not always the instruments of the story. Nonetheless, the characters have also been studied in this regard.

Convention vs. disability

Considering the conventions in which the plots of the analyzed games take place, they can be divided into the following aesthetics:

1. Real or quasi-real

2. Fantasy

3. Science fiction

4. Combination of fantasy and science fiction

5. Cyberpunk

Disability as a characteristic was least represented in games within fantasy aesthetics. The games within this aesthetics, which favor more classic monomyth stories, do not omit difficult topics in their plots, such as death, loss, violence, etc.; however, the topic of disability appears relatively seldom. Nevertheless, when it does, it mainly relates to the plot and the extensive context byways of the character’s personal story. An example is Theresa, the side female character of the Fable series, a sister of the main protagonist. As a result of an attack on her home village, she is brutally mutilated—one of the game’s antagonists has gouged her

eyes out and abandoned her. In the series, she is presented as a victim of violence; however, the lack of eyes and blindness are replaced by the gift of prophetic dreams, due to which, during rare meetings with the main protagonist, he gets new quests and learns more about his path.

Picture 1. The image of grown-up Theresa

(Alternative description: In the foreground in the middle, there is a woman named Theresa shown from the waist up. She is blindfolded, and her oblong face is bordered by brown hair reaching her neck. She has a tattoo covered with hair on her forehead. She is wearing golden armor with embossed ornaments. In the background, on the left, there is the outline of a large tent; on the right, there is a pennant hanging onto the ground, with an eye sign on it)

Thus, Theresa becomes a kind of an oracle, with her power permanently awakened after she has lost her sight. Therefore, it can be concluded that the gift of dreams (although manifested even before the mutilation) has become compensation for the lack of eyes. The motif of a female character deprived of vision as a result of the injury also appears in The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, in which one of the plot lines (if the player chooses Iorveth’s path) shows a mutilated sorceress Philippa Eilhart, blinded by one of the monarchs in the act of vengeance. The lack of sight is connected with the missions that the player controlling

the witcher needs to perform in order to help the sorceress. The witcher has to complete this quest, not for the sake of compassion, but as a quid pro quo—providing help to Eilhart means that she aids Geralt to disenchanting Iorveth’s beloved, Saskia. After receiving help, in accordance with the femme fatale archetype of the sorceress in the game, she runs away and sends a powerful enemy to the main hero. Her loss of sight is a factor stimulating the plot; however, for the player, it is primarily an expression of the morbid hatred of the monarch punishing Eilhart.

Picture 2. Blinded Philippa Eilhart

(Alternative description: In the foreground in the middle, there is a young woman, Philippa Eilhart, shown from the shoulders up. She has two black braids falling down her shoulders and breasts. She has a high, white, lace collar around her neck. Dark red blood is pouring from the woman’s empty eye sockets. On the left, at the level of her face, there is a brown gloved hand holding a sword pointing at the woman. In the background, there is a stone castle wall)

Nonetheless, there is no question of compensation here because it is not associated with additional power (on the contrary—with its impairment), but it is a form of narrative prosthesis (though to a small extent), where imperfection is linked to degeneration and social aggression towards the sorceress shown by another minor character, that is, the aforementioned monarch.

Games within a real or quasi-real convention, combining, for example, reality with dreamlike themes, approach disability distinctively. In most of them, a character’s disability is only supposed to create the narrative and emotional context, for example, to indicate the difficult

life situation of the characters. One such example is Lucy, the protagonist of Lucid Dream. The girl is in a wheelchair, whereas her mother suffers from severe depression.

Picture 3. The image from “Lucid Dream”

(Alternative description: The picture shows the interior of a dilapidated kitchen. In the background in the middle, there is a woman standing back in a circle of light from a metal lamp on the ceiling. A girl with long, fair hair is sitting in a wheelchair on the left of the woman. Her hand is resting on a wheel. The girl is turned sideways to her mother. Behind the girl, on the left, there is an old tiled stove with metal pots on it. On the right, there is a table covered with a checked tablecloth. There is an old kettle on the table and a window

with curtains above the table. On the right of the table, there is a wooden door.)

The protagonist tries to help her mother at all costs, however, she is unable to do so. Only by flying a kite into a dreamlike world can she perform activities that lift her mother’s spirits. In this world, Lucy can make use of her own legs and, apart from her first journey, when she expresses wonder and joy (it is literally one sentence), she mentions nothing more about her disability. In relation to the storyline or the game mechanics, it does not matter, apart from outlining the context of Lucy’s difficult family situation.

The case differs in games with science fiction elements. In games that combine this genre with fantasy elements, people with disabilities appear as side characters, and disability significantly influences their nature and role in the plot. An example is Malik from Assassin’s Creed, who has lost his hand as a result of an unsuccessful action led by Altair—an assassin

controlled by the player. While Malik has always regarded Altair as selfish and proud, his failure and the limb loss further aroused his resentment against that character. In terms of the plot perspective, there is a story behind this: due to the limb loss at a young age, Malik is removed from typical activities for assassins, namely field actions, and combat. This is a humiliation for him, and assuming the role of a Rafiq, that is, the head of the assassin field office, at first becomes a symbol of his own defeat. Due to the limb loss, he has become useless in combat, which is the main task of his brotherhood. Being a rafiq—a person responsible for infiltrating a given city and assigning tasks to other assassins, he really has to focus on his intellect and overcome his humiliation because this is how he treats his disability initially.

Picture 4. Malik as a Rafiq with the main character of the game, Altair (Alternative description: Two men are standing on opposite sides of a long wooden table. The man on the right (Altaïr), turned sideways, is looking at the map on the table. He is wearing a white robe with a hood and a wide belt, and also high brown boots. He has got a saber. The man on the left (Malik) is wearing a dark coat and a long white robe with a wide decorative belt under it. The man’s left arm is missing from the elbow down. In the background, there are shelves with books.)

This event casts a shadow over Malik’s relationship with the primary protagonist; however, his admiration for Altair grows over time to such a degree that he finally has forgiven him for the recklessness that has made him incapacitated. This situation is to build emotional tension between the player and Malik; a rafiq’s disability is a reminder of the main protag-

onist’s deeds at the beginning of the game. Therefore, its meaning is symbolic, and still, it constitutes one of the main elements of Altair’s relationship with the world.

On the contrary, science fiction aesthetics, which by definition is full of various ideas about the vision of the future, and thus humanity, commonly treats the issue of disability as the cause of the lack—most often a limb or an organ or other body part which can be replaced with a prosthesis. Nonetheless, it is very rarely related to the plot; mainly, these are elements that can be used in the gameplay, as in the case of Holly Summers in No More Heroes. She is a side character with a prosthetic leg with a rocket and laser missile launcher that the protagonist has to fight. From the perspective of the storyline, it does not matter to a great degree; however, due to the setting, it only draws attention to the convention within which the game takes place. Thus, disability is semantically irrelevant, also in terms of the plot, but it is a form of staffage that marks a particular convention.

A specific example of representation of disability in science fiction aesthetics is Cyberpunk 2077, according to the title, based on the literary genre of cyberpunk, in which the key thing apart from cyberspace and internet networks are various body modifications. It is significant because modifications understood as prostheses, implants, and replaceable improvements of the sensory organs are aimed at eliminating disability in general. One of the essential features of this world is overcoming physical barriers and various weaknesses and deficiencies while improving the human body with technology. Nevertheless, in the aforementioned game, the subject of disability is not addressed at all, although the main protagonist has a lot of possibilities to modify the body. Simultaneously, among the characters of enemies, you can often see characters with mechanical limbs. The reasons for these “improvements” are unknown to the player; the plot of the game and the information that belong to the narrative milieu do not mention anything about it, except that the excessive number of improvements may have a negative impact on the human psyche. There is no mention of efficiency itself. Advertisements displayed on the streets of Night City, where the game takes place, show that everything can be improved, and every disease can be overcome. Hence, disability understood as a dysfunction, the lack of a limb or an organ supporting the sense should not function at all. And yet the game features non-playable characters in wheelchairs, whose appearance contradicts the logic of the cyberpunk world. Their presence is not explained in the game; therefore, these characters are only an ornamental element that has become popular in the players’ sphere of memes over time. All because these characters are not programmed as people using wheelchairs, but only sitting in them in one place—like characters sitting on

a bench. When the protagonist approaches them and draws a weapon and points it at them or attacks them, they get out of their wheelchairs and start running away. In this way, disability in Cyberpunk 2077 quickly became the subject of jokes, often exposed when showing bugs in the functioning of CD Projekt RED production (Gabriel MS 2020).

Disability representation in games — types and characters

With respect to video games, one of the most classic forms of narrative use of disability turns out to be extensive disability resulting from an injury or disease. It most often affects the arms and legs, which makes it a narrative background for understanding the character and their personal story, as well as the role of that character in the plot. Disability can also be applied to understand a character’s physicality. The latter is well illustrated in the case of Adam Jensen, the protagonist of Deus EX: Human Revolution. He has lost his limbs in an attack on an industrial building where he was the head of security. As a result of injuries, he fell into a coma, during which he has been “repaired”—in the course of numerous surgeries, he has received biomechanical prostheses of limbs with multiple improvements. Disability and a surgical attempt to combat it explain the hero’s cyborgism, but together create his personal story as a “miraculously saved.”

It should be recalled that the game takes place in the cyberpunk world; therefore, eliminating the problem of disability has a dual function—narrative and aesthetic because it allows Jensen to become a full-fledged hero of a cyberpunk story. Furthermore, it is one of the rare examples of a character whose loss of fitness we witness during the game, and it is not just information from the stories that happened before the storyline comes about.

Situations where disability is associated with a disease are much more connected with the plot, as in the case of Jeff “Joker” Moreau, the pilot of the SSV Normandy in the Mass Effect series. He suffers from Vrolik’s syndrome, which is severe bone fragility, due to which he is virtually confined to the cockpit of a spacecraft. The instance of Joker is special because he can move; however, each move can result in serious and long-lasting fractures. The player obtains this information from the pilot in the first part of the game. The disease is the subject of their dialogues, as well as the main theme of Moreau’s personal story, who proudly emphasizes that he is the best pilot of Alliance (a galactic-wide military organization that defends the interests of mankind), and his medical condition does not hinder his efforts. Although Joker is an important character in the entire series of games, he does not directly participate in the player’s mission but stays in radio contact with them. The disease and the

pilot’s role somewhat explain the fact that he always stays on board. It is worth noting that in the second part of the game, during the attack on SSV Normandy, when the spacecraft breaks up, Joker’s limited fitness and mobility problems become the basis for the mission that the player has to perform—to save the pilot at all costs. This is the only case where disability regarding this character is related to a quest to be performed.

Picture 5. Promotional image showing Adam Jensen with prostheses

(Alternative description: In the foreground on the right, there is a middle-aged man (Adam Jensen) shown from the waist up. He is a brown-haired man with a short-trimmed beard and a mustache and with dark narrow reflective glasses. He is wearing a massive black jumpsuit. He has bionic prostheses resembling real hands and long straight blades protruding from his forearms. In the background on the left, there is an installation made of wires and TV screens of various sizes.)

On the other hand, residual disability is of lesser narrative significance, especially with reference to visual impairment. In games such as Biomutant or the Thief series, the main protagonists of both titles do not have one eye. In the first game, it is of little importance; however, we learn from the flashback that the character used to have both eyes. The cause and the narrative background of the eye loss have not been explained in detail. It is somewhat different in the Thief because there the primary hero, the thief Garret, has lost his eye at the end of the first part of the game—it has been brutally gouged out. Thus, it is a narrative element, which in theory is a key point in Garret’s story because he undergoes a transfor-

mation—he becomes weakened. Nevertheless, from the perspective of the entire series, it proves to be only an excuse—though justified with respect to the plot—to introduce new mechanics in the sequel, which is possible due to a mechanical eye. Synthetic replacement of a sensory organ improves Garret’s visual capacity, allowing him to connect to a camera system and, due to this, better pursue his profession as a thief. Hence, the climax of losing an eye consists in being better at his profession, but it is not an element with the extensive narrative context; it only affects the gameplay and the player’s capabilities. The same relates to General Horace Warfield, the side character of Starcraft 2, who has lost his arm during a war battle. It is quickly replaced with a mechanical arm which can be modified as needed: it can be either an arm or a cannon. Therefore, Warfield has to wear a special suit as his synthetic arm is larger than “usual” prostheses. Although the moment of losing the arm is shown in one of the cutscenes, in terms of storyline, it is explanation for the improvement of Warfield’s statistics—he becomes stronger and has more damage power with a synthetic arm, which in the real-time strategy game like Starcraft 2 is of primary value.

The prior examples of residual or partial disability are closely related to the treatment of disability as a weapon in the game, which most often concerns synthetic prostheses. This function is quite specific and—unless the disability is just an excuse for some mechanics in the game—appears relatively seldom. Nevertheless, examples such as Craftsman from Very Little Nightmares show that despite the condition (the character has abnormally long limbs and has to move in a wheelchair), he can use his disability or disease as a weapon.

Craftsman is one of the adversaries in the game, and one of his advantages is a wheelchair attack. In this way, disability-related equipment, which is designed to facilitate, becomes a lethal weapon.

Any physical reactions shown in contact with the real world by Max, the autistic protagonist of the game Max, an Autistic Journey, also prove to be weapons, though not necessarily lethal. All kinds of reactions, symbolically shown as symptoms of anger, for example, screaming, are the hero’s weapon to deal with the monsters and adversities which appear during the gameplay. Nonetheless, the situation is much more complex here. Most of all, Max’s autism is the primary trait of the protagonist defining him as well as the way he perceives reality. This evidently translates into the game setting, its structure, and plot. Essentially, the protagonist’s everyday life, that is, activities related to functioning at home and at school that Max attends, are presented as a journey and a constant adventure based on elements of the monomyth. The boy’s condition plays a world-creating and plot-shaping role because autism

generates obstacles and enemies that he tames—just like his own disease—with the help of parents and their tips.

Picture 6. The image from the game, Craftsman in the middle

(Alternative description: Top view diagonally. In the middle, there are six rectangular bathtubs filled with liquid. Between them, in the middle, there is a figure with unnaturally long arms and legs in a wheelchair (Craftsman). In the background, by the wall, there is a metal sink, on the right—a wooden table with a canister, a large bottle, and a bowl. At the bottom of the picture, there is a small figure of a child in a yellow coat with a hood on the head.)

Furthermore, autism, initially giving an impression of the hero’s weakness, becomes his superpower as the game progresses. It is not only a basis for a storyline, a kind of filter imposed on the world, but also the ground for creating mechanics in the game. The specificity of this game stems primarily from the fact that it is an independent production, the purpose of which is to show the problems faced by autistic children on a daily basis. It is similar in other productions with such a mission, for example, That Dragon, Cancer, where the player

takes care of a son dying of cancer. The disease is the core of the plot and the source of mechanics and visual and technical solutions. Comparably to Max, an Autistic Journey, this is an independent production5, the aim of which is to show a certain problem; it is not just pure entertainment as it is the case with most commercial games.

Picture 7. The image showing the gameplay interface

(Alternative description: A game screen. In the lower left-hand corner, there is a smiling boy shown from the waist up (Max). He is wearing a blue T-shirt. On the right of him, there is a writing on a gray background saying: The “King of Monsters” and his friends took my schoolbag hostage!! On the left, there is a pictogram of a backpack, and on the right—a green pictogram of a boy. Next to it, there is a colorful vertical energy bar. In the background, there is a shot from above of three rooms: a common room on the left, a bathroom in the middle, and a boy’s room on the right. In the room, there is a small silhouette of a boy surrounded by a green monster and his little light green helpers.)

Max’s instance has one more function: his disorder is aimed at emotional strengthening of the story. This procedure, strongly focused on interpretation, appears quite often in games in connection with the disease and disability; however, it frequently happens in a narrative form and does not always have a noticeable impact on the gameplay. This is the case with Carl, the protagonist of The Last Day of June. In the aftermath of a car accident in which his wife and

5 More about indie games see: Juul (2019).

unborn child died, the hero moves in a wheelchair. His disability is primarily to remind the player what happened, not to let the consequences of this tragic event be forgotten. As the player observes Carl’s accident, it is an emotional shock, as well as Carl’s subsequent attempts to move, controlled by the player. The character has to struggle with limitations for people in wheelchairs—this applies to the blocked entrances, which he cannot get through while in a wheelchair, or items placed high. These elements appear mainly at the beginning of the game, right after Carl’s accident, to strengthen the emotional nature of the events that have happened.

The emotional nature of the plot and characters’ problems is one of the principal elements of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, in which the main female protagonist struggles with psychosis and trauma after the Vikings killed the inhabitants of her village and her loved ones. Senua’s mental problems and feelings for her beloved, whose soul she wants to save from the Nordic Helheim, constitute the core of the whole adventure. As the game progresses, we learn more about the character’s medical condition and that she was isolated from the world by her strict father because of her problems, as well as about her relationship with her dear one, Dillion. The heroine’s illness takes its toll, and its symptoms are intensely recurring voices Senua hears in her head. They depreciate and insult her and constantly comment on her actions, referring to her love and bond with her family. In this way, the female protagonist, wandering thorough consecutive lands and fighting against adversaries to retrieve the soul of her beloved, overcomes her own illness and limitations and weaknesses resulting from it, which only intensifies the emotional message of the game. Furthermore, it should be noted that the illness enables us to understand Senua’s character, her way of thinking, fears, and motivations. This is a function that disability sometimes serves in games—it allows for understanding the character of the protagonist and their actions.

The examples of this phenomenon are Dunban (Xenoblade Chronicles) and Rahm Kota (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II). The first has a right arm paralyzed in the aftermath of using the weapon with which Dunban has saved humankind in a clash with the race of machines. However, saving many lives was associated with paralysis of the nervous system and numerous injuries to the right hand. Since the arm is crippled, the character covers it with a cape, protecting it from damage. As a side character (also partially playable), he seems to be defined by his disability; it is the result of a noble and admirable action, but the price is extremely high. Sacrifice in the name of humankind, noble as it is, has caused the character to become disabled, leaving him worried about his sister, Fiora. Dunban, as her guardian, feels responsible for her; hence their dialogues or contacts shown in the

game are quite melancholic, and the man himself exhibits anxiety that being disabled, he is not able to fully protect his sibling. While a disability somewhat ennobles Dunban, in fact, due to it, players discover the true face of the hero—caring, melancholic and concerned.

Equally noble motives are associated with the acquisition of disability by Rahm Kota, the hero of one of the games in the Star Wars universe. Comparably to Dunban, his health problems have occurred before the plot of the game, but they affect the reception and nature of this character. During Kota’s stay in one of the Empire’s stations, a Sith attack took place. The character wanted to help and distract the commander of the attackers—Darth Vader. However, he was unable to implement the plan because he met Vader’s apprentice—Galen Marek. He severely beat Kota and blinded him. The only thing that saved the man was the efficient use of the Force. The Force comforts him and helps him in his life. Though blind, the Force and skillful use of it allow him to replace his sense of sight. And even though there is a kind of sensory organ replacement here, the key importance of the character’s blindness is related to how it affects him: it makes him persistent, trusting in the Force and its nature, which becomes his main feature.

People with disabilities are also portrayed in games as extremely talented and determined and as outstanding professionals in their field. In a way, their disability limits them in one aspect, but they achieve mastery of another as narrative compensation. This is the way to describe Lester Crest (Grand Theft Auto series) and Barbara Gordon (Batman: Arkham Knight). Crest is one of the regular principals and a deuteragonist in Grand Theft Auto V. He suffers from an unidentified disease that weakens his body, making it difficult for him to move around. Thus, we see him walking with a stick or moving in a wheelchair. Disability and physical mobility problems are compensated by Crest’s incredible analytical, leadership, criminal action planning, and hacking skills. Therefore, he is present as a person who plans and supports numerous actions of the player.

His intelligence seems to conceal his health problems. It is similar in relation to Barbara Gordon, who supports Batman with her hacking skills. She is IT support for the hero and performs tasks essential for his actions. And like Crest, she cannot take part in them directly. While the disabilities of Crest and Gordon do not play a major role in the plot, it can be noted that there is a pattern related to people who experience problems with movement and mobility. Like Joker in the Mass Effect series, they fulfill important logistic and navigation tasks for the player, which he/she is unable to perform because the character controlled does not have appropriate competences. Although disability cannot be described only as staffage, it can be considered a feature whose role is to display the character’s other qualifications, in the case of Crest and Gordon: intellectual and hacking skills.

Picture 8. Lester Crest while assigning one of the missions to the player

(Alternative description: In the middle, there is a balding man with glasses (Lester Crest). He is sitting in a wheelchair. He is wearing a checked shirt and jeans. In the background, there is a computer, recording devices, and screens.)

An interesting case of disability in games or dysfunction of one of the senses is presented in the game Moss, intended for VR. The player moves around a mysterious world accompanied by Quill, a mouse that is unable to communicate by means of speech. It is a mouse, so communication difficulties could be natural; however, in games, it is not a normative issue because animals are often anthropomorphized and communicate by voice with the main protagonists. Quill travels with the player and expresses its emotions, and gives clues to logic puzzles using the American version of sign language. This form of communication does not have strictly narrative meaning, but it results in establishing a relationship with Quill, which, through its reactions, tells us its attitude to the player’s actions. Labeling a communication barrier as a dysfunction, a disorder, or a disability seems to be a significant misuse; however, problems with communication with the mouse are an impediment for both Quill and the player. Therefore, this “barrier” should be treated as an accepted disorder.

Another type of representation in games in connection with the plot is demonstrating disability as a consequence of the player’s actions. It is quite a complex situation and mainly has a strong emotional background, as it makes the player aware that a character’s disability is somewhat their fault. By contrast, the narrative use of such an action may be different—it

may be the climax of a certain part of the plot, as well as an element initiating subsequent tasks, for example, related to reversing the situation or immediate help to the injured character. Such a case occurs in Life is Strange, where the main female protagonist sees the future in one of her visions and her friend Chloe paralyzed from the neck down in the aftermath of a car accident. Since this moment occurs later in the game and is the consequence of one of the possible choices, it is an emotionally charged sight when the player knows about the girls’ friendship.

Picture 9. Image from the game depicting Chloe in a wheelchair

(Alternative description: In the foreground, there is a young woman in an electric wheelchair (Chloe). Her torso and arms are strapped to the wheelchair. The girl’s head is supported with a stabilizer. There is a tube of a ventilator visible on her neck. The girl is riding along the corridor of the apartment.)

Nonetheless, in terms of a storyline, it is crucial what disability brings to Chloe herself. Remarkably, previously a rebel girl, affected by alcohol problems, drugs and cigarette addiction, calms down due to her disability. She steps back from everything and gains inner peace. From the perspective of the events in the game, it is difficult to state whether this serenity is the effect of resignation after the accident or a form of relief.

The aforementioned examples of representation of disability in games involve assigning disability some meaning—with reference to the plot of the game, the setting, or understanding of the hero: their character, motivation, or specificity. Sometimes it is also difficult to

unequivocally determine whether a given feature is a disability, a dysfunction, a disease or something else. Yet, regardless of the name, it has narrative or personological meaning. This does not mean that only such examples of representation of characters with disabilities can be found in video games. Many of these representations do not have any narrative connotations, and disability is not relevant concerning the story told. Examples of such characters include Sir Alistair Hammerlock from the Borderlands series, who has numerous synthetic prostheses. Although his disability can be considered a weakness due to his inaction and mobility problems, he is a quest giver and an ally; therefore, his health has minor narrative significance. It also applies to Gazi, a character with a mental disability from Harran, a city in Dying Light, who, as a side character, assigns quests to the player. Despite the fact that they are quite trivial (it is about bringing a certain item to Gazi), the character’s condition does not have much of an impact on the nature of the task. However, it becomes meaningful, though marginally from the viewpoint of the plot, only during the exploration of Gazi’s house, where the player can see an effigy that the man treats as his mother. This peculiarity is related to the nature of the setting, not to the story itself. There is also no way to learn more about Gazi in order to determine whether his medical condition affected his perception of the world or distorted his judgment in any way. It is rather a form of staffage, insignificant in connection with the plot, like disabilities of characters, for example, in fights, where they do not affect the storyline (usually told in story mode, for example, in the Mortal Combat series); it is similar in the case of arcade or cooperative games, for example, in Overcoocked where one of the characters, a raccoon, moves in a wheelchair. Nevertheless, it does not have any plot significance and is only a form of ornament.

It can be argued that the most substantial problem with presenting disability in video games is that frequently it performs a marginal, even ornamental function. In many instances, it is only staffage focused on making the characters visually more attractive, placing them more strongly in the aesthetics in which the game is played. Most of the disability representations in the studied games turned out to be irrelevant in terms of the narrative or the plot. Independent games aimed at making people aware of a problem—a disease, a dysfunction, or a disability—are somewhat in complete opposition. In these titles, which are not preoccupied with commercial success, the health condition is the main narrative motif, and the game’s

narrative structure is focused around it, or the structure of, for example, the monomyth is adjusted to the reality of a given disease or other problem. This way, a disability or a medical condition also becomes a considerable element of the game design process—the specificity of limitations and possibilities, for example, related to movement or reacting to stimuli, becomes the basis for successive events (written by the scriptwriter) or proves to be the genesis of various mechanics implemented in a game (created by the designer).

Nevertheless, the majority of games display disability as a functional element, where showing a disabled character has a specific task whether in connection with shaping player’s emotions or in the context of the hero’s moment of transition—transformation into a cyborg character typical to the aesthetics of a given game. The last example is most often associated with the presentation of the moment of loss of limbs or a sensory or another organ. This function of showing disability combines the initiation of a new part of the plot, that is, the story “after” receiving prostheses, and the emergence of new mechanics for the characters, and thus, it increases their capabilities and statistics as a kind of prosthesis of the basic gameplay.

Less frequent but occurring cases concern representation of disabilities that bear real narrative or emotional significance for the player, indicate the consequences of certain events or become the core of events leading to acquiring knowledge of the game setting and its characters. Becoming acquainted with these characters, their motivations, and the impact of disability or disease on their life and psyche is the area with the most significant narrative representations of disability in big-budget games.

These conclusions unequivocally indicate that it is unfeasible to talk about the polarization of narrative representations of disability in games. In fact, we can refer to the contrasting process, namely the atomization of this trend, though taking into consideration the majority of pure staffage representations. Nonetheless, the assessment of this situation as atomized is primarily the result of large discrepancies between how disability is shown in games with different budgets and other parameters: mechanics, genre, or even the narrative status of the character affected by a disability—ranging from the primary protagonist, an ally (that is, side characters) to minor characters, such as task givers.