Papa Louie’s Ghosteria

Papa Louie’s Ghosteria is a comic-like fan fiction written by Ada, Irmak and Boyana.

Following the discussions we had about the texts ‘Notes on Deconstructing The Popular’ by Stuart Hall and ‘Game Modding: Cross-Over Mutation and Unwelcome Gifts’ from The Player’s Power to Change the Game by Anne-Marie Schleiner, we split into groups and started dissecting the ideology behind games some of us have played as children. To do that, we utilised several prompts to help us examine the ideology that two popular video games enforce through their narrative and gameplay. The list of questions we needed to answer while playing the game includes: What are the win conditions? If the game is quest based, what types of quests are you asked to complete? What is the gameplay? What is the narrative? How much space is there for alternative ways of playing this game? What is missing? What type of relationships are you allowed to form? What is the role of non-player characters? What are the requirements for surviving the game? Which behaviours are rewarded? What real-world values are reproduced in the game you are playing? How are you situated in the hierarchy of the game? What change in status is promised? What are you being trained for? What fantasies are lived out or explored?

Our team, Irmak, Ada and Boyana, worked on the famous Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack. Soon after we started investigating the game, its elements and modifications, we discovered that other people already have done numerous fan fiction about it. We were bewitched by this the multitude of stories fans have written and the really good memes they have created about Papa and his businesses. Yes, plural. Freezeria. Sushiria. Donuteria. Burgeria. PanCakeria. CupCakeria. Taco Mia. You name it.

After spending some time analysing the ideology behind the game, we discovered a few elements that reinforce the capitalist narrative, such as the need to fight to survive and collect coins to purchase weapons. In response, we decided to create a new version of the game with a storyline that focuses on healing and coping with grief and loss, rather than violence. Also, to link the new storyline to SI20’s topic we felt like adding somehow ritualistic elements as actions during the gameplay.

What we decided to change was the topic, purpose and outcome of the game. Papa no longer fights to save his customers, but he deals with his own loss and grief over what happened. Our version is promoting rest and rituals for healing instead of revenge-seeking, violence and toxic pizzeria culture.

We started by putting some keywords and suggestions on a blackboard about “How To Cope With Grief” and “How to Use Rituals and Ceremonies to Overcome Grief” to define what Papa Louie lost and what rituals could help him heal.

We also liked the idea of making a comic-like storyboard that visualises the new narrative for Papa Louie’s Ghosteria. To create a few scenes depicting some of the 5 levels we outlined earlier, we used an app called Papa Louie Pals. The images turned out pretty nice! Playing around with the app was fun mainly because it allowed us to materialise our idea in just a couple of hours.

The gameplay revolves around things Papa lost and the needs he needs to fulfil. Different types of losses are organised into five levels of the game: 1. loss of safety (innocence, physical safety) 2. loss of community (clients, belonging) 3. loss of future (hope, dreams) 4. loss of identity (dignity, making things himself) 5. loss of labour (money, time, effort, pizza)

To cope with grief, Papa Louie performs various rituals to unlock a new stage in his grieving process and heal from that loss. Rituals are the actions players need to execute at each level.

And so our story goes like this: The Onion ring mafia kidnapped Papà Louie’s clients, and he lost his Pizzeria. However, along with this external change, he lost his identity as a pizza owner/maker. He is full of grief and seeks ways to cope with grief and ease himself. He tries different rituals throughout this process, builds his new identity and overcomes his troubles.