Gaming and Vampires

Abstract

The chapter examines the proliferation of diverse vampire video game texts in relation to the hybrid and intertextual qualities that vampires possess as a cultural form, going on to propose that they are metatextual. As an overview of video game vampires, the chapter outlines the inclusion of fantasy vampires in early role-playing-games and demonstrates how from a hierarchical position, the ludic and narrative qualities that the vampires engender have become increasingly sophisticated and unique to the medium. The chapter then considers formations of the video game vampire as a distinct product of vampire franchising, to discuss how external licenses from other media forms have been utilized with varying degrees of success. In comparison to the strategic marketing of the vampire, the chapter goes on to explore two key examples of video game vampires and sexuality, to show how cultural media formations and discourses have shaped their relationship to the vampire text over time. The chapter concludes with an overview of the modern vampire, to show how they differ from the fantasy vampire in their overt replication of contemporary social structures and in their production, engage with equally modern industrial practices.