The Pleasure of Prohibited Spaces and Action: Playing Student Characters in Video Games

The playability and use of a space in game depends on a variety of elements. Two of the most important are the character and their abilities and the gameplay style required to succeed within the game. This article looks at the use of the school student character within game, focussing upon the contextual use of the educational location and social and cultural mores thereof. Using a curated selection of games which use characters positioned or explicitly stated as 18 or under and where play focusses totally or in strong part on a school setting, this work will consider the use of these prohibited spaces and the ways in which transgressive or taboo play (Stenros, 2018) approaches to action or interaction are encouraged within the games.

The student character, as defined for this work, also asks us to consider the use of child characters within games, and their deployment, playability and the interactions which tend to focus upon their inclusion. Where narratives employ child death as a part of the gameplay or narrative thrust, we can consider the moralities in play for the gamer and also the actions taken by the game designer to limit the responsibility or not of the player.