Una dinamica degli sguardi dall'immaginario creepypasta all'horror videoludico = A dynamics of gazes from the creepypasta imaginary to horror videogames

Over the last decades, immersivity has gained increasing importance in the audiovisual imaginary. In this paper, we propose to take a different route and to explore to what extent the dynamics of gazes – and particularly the direct address – can promote “emersive” strategies that challenge the dominant imaginary, with specific reference to creepypastas and horror video games. First, we trace back the origins of the emersive route to Bertolt Brecht, showing that his theory can be adapted to videogames. Second, we provide a survey of some of the types of gaze that actively involve the player in horror videogames. Then, we focus on creepypastas to demonstrate that the gaze is key to their aim of circumventing the players’ character, in order to get in touch with the players themselves. Finally, we analyze a specific creepypasta-based game: Doki Doki Literature Club!. Based on this analysis, we draw the main lines of what, in our view, represents a key modification of contemporary horror imaginary.