{"id":16119,"date":"2025-01-17T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T10:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/?p=16119"},"modified":"2025-01-18T10:04:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-18T08:04:18","slug":"eldritch-horrors-and-tentacles-defining-what-lovecraftian-is-in-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/eldritch-horrors-and-tentacles-defining-what-lovecraftian-is-in-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Eldritch horrors and tentacles – Defining what \u201cLovecraftian\u201d is in games"},"content":{"rendered":"

The video game digital distribution service Steam has hundreds of user-defined tags, which are keywords that people can use to find certain types of games from the platform. The tags can be added by all steam users from players to developers and one fairly popular tag is \u201cLovecraftian\u201d. When searching the store tab in Steam today, there are over 1200 games tagged Lovecraftian.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Screencap<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

What does \u201cLovecraftian\u201d actually mean or what is it? Prema Arasu, postdoctoral research fellow in University of Western Australia attempts to define the term focusing on how it is applied in consumerism. They also discuss how the term is used in practical processes of marketing, selling, buying, communicating and archiving. The term \u201cLovecraftian\u201d stems from the legacy of H.P. Lovecraft, american writer of weird, science, fantasy and horror fiction, who created the \u201cCthulhu mythos\u201d. The term refers to cosmic or eldritch horrors and weird monsters that appeared in some form in the texts of H.P. Lovecraft and in the texts that originated or were inspired by his works. Lovecraft usually wrote how these horrors were indescribable and seeing or experiencing these horrors would drive any person insane. Lovecraftian also usually refers to the most famous monster from Lovecraft\u2019s works, Cthulhu, the tentacular monstrosity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Monster<\/a>
“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The games on Steam tagged as Lovecraftian and just the existence of the tag and the popularity of it indicate that the term has created its own subgenre. The amount of Lovecraftian games on Steam also suggest digital games are excellent platforms adapting the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The term Lovecraftian is an umbrella term for anything that falls under weird, cosmic or eldritch horror. Common thing related to Lovecraftian games is the use of sanity effects that affect the gameplay. If for example, the player encounters a monster and their sanity is depleted, it may affect the gameplay negatively. There are various ways of how the effects are implemented in games. Sometimes a little bit of insanity goes a long way. Some game developers try to distance themselves from using the term because of political views and xenophobia by Lovecraft, using the term eldritch instead. To the general audience however, the term eldritch is synonymous to the term Lovecraftian. Usually the term also indicates that there is a high chance to see tentacles, which are considered iconical figures to Lovecraftian mediums. Funny thing is that there are actually only a few tentacled monsters in Lovecraft\u2019s works and Cthulhu is the only humanoid monster described to have features of an octopus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the popular belief however, Lovecraftian does not always imply that the game is horror. Many games that adapt Lovecraft\u2019s works are parodies that portray the elements of the Cthulhu mythos with varying amounts of comedy that undermines the seriousness of the horror. Take for example \u201cSucker for Love\u201d. The game is a dating sim, a subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements, often synonymous with visual novels. In the game the player\u2019s possible love interests are portrayed as anthropomorphic cute anime-styled depictions of Cthulhu and other Lovecraftian monsters. There are two sides or definitions of what Lovecraftian is. Incomprehensive cosmic horror that trifles with sanity or silly tentacular monsters and playful undermining of the term\u2019s pessimistic origins.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cartoon<\/a>
What could go wrong while doing the ritual?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arasu chose to focus on Steam in their research because of the platform\u2019s legacy and its user-focused metadata system. What is also significant for their research is that in 2014 Steam started to regulate user-defined tagging and started to clean and sort their archives. During the process Steam made the decision to confirm \u201cLovecraftian\u201d as a pre-existing category over \u201ccosmic horror\u201d or \u201celdritch horror\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Basic information:<\/b><\/p>\n

Published In:<\/b> Games and Culture<\/span><\/p>\n

Article: <\/b>Lovecraftian Games: The Afterlife of Cthulhu on Valve’s Steam Client, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/15554120231217538<\/span><\/p>\n

Author:<\/b> Prema Asaru<\/span><\/p>\n

Publish Date:<\/b> December 12, 2023<\/span><\/p>\n

Pictures:<\/b> Promo pictures from Steam (Call of Cthulhu, Cthulhu saves christmas, Dredge, Sucker for Love), Screenshot by me from Steam store, Black&White octopus from pixabay (CC)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H.P. Lovecrafts legacy lives today in the shared world of Cthulhu Mythos and its iconic monsters. Prema Arasu defines the meaning of \u201cLovecraftian\u201d and what it means to consumers through investigating Steam users applying the Lovecraftian tag. #Lovecraftian #Steam #Games #Culture<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":16124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[237],"tags":[1163,241,273,401],"class_list":["post-16119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-research-highlights","tag-game-research-highlight","tag-horror","tag-lovecraft","tag-steam","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16119"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16267,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16119\/revisions\/16267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}