The Game of Others: Players' perceptions of the experience and performance of games in The Last of Us franchise

Abstract

This article investigates forms of interaction with digital games through the cultural and socioeconomic contexts of players, using The Last of Us franchise as a case study. The analysis focuses on how players from two distinct territories engage and interact with the game, influenced by their social and subjective realities. Supported by Édouard Glissant's concept of Poetics of Relation, we examine how these experiences shape players' performances and decisions. The research compares two player profiles: a casual player from a peripheral context in the Global South and a group of players from the Global North, whose perceptions were analyzed through Metacritic. The article thus highlights differences and similarities in these modes of experience and performance, considering the specificities of the corporeality and territorialities involved.