All Faculty
Dr Benjamin Horn
Lecturer

Dr Benjamin Horn

BA UPenn, MSc SOAS, PhD CityU HK

Contact Information

Phone

3917-5147

Email

bhorn@hku.hk

Profile

Dr. Benjamin Horn received his PhD in Creative Media from the City University of Hong Kong in 2021. A recipient of the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme, his thesis offers a new model for the analysis of narrative games, using The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CDPR 2015) as a case study. His research interests are interdisciplinary, reflecting the multimedia nature of games, and include questions relating to the interpretation of games, the history of games, close analytical readings of ludonarratives, and issues of cultural localization and translation. He has previously worked as chief writer for a Hong Kong independent game studio.

Research Expertise

Digital Games; New Media; Narrative Design; Roleplaying Games; Creative Communications

Courses Taught

ENGL7507 Creative Foundations: Macro Structure and History

ENGL7512 Constructing and Staging Creative Perspective

ENGL7995 Capstone Experience: The Happiness Project

ENGL7603 Ludic Stories: Writing for Digital Narratives

ENGL7604 [Playing with] Digital Media: Navigating the Metaverse

ENGL7605 Playful Creation: Meaningful Game Design

ENGL7607 Roleplaying Games: Performance and Practice

Publications

[Forthcoming] Horn, B. (2025). “All About Food: Genshin Impact and the Aesthetics of Chinese Comestibles”, ToDiGRA, Carnegie Mellon Press.

[Forthcoming] Holopainen, J. and Horn, B. “Player Studies”, Routledge Resources Online, Taylor & Francis.

Horn, B. (2025). “One for the Road: A Cultural Comparison of the Food and Drink in The Witcher 3 and Genshin Impact”, DiGRA 2025 Conference, Malta, June 2025.

Horn, B. (2024). “Have you Eaten Yet? Food as a Narrative Device in Genshin Impact”, Chinese DiGRA 2024 Conference, Hong Kong Baptist University, Sep 2024.

Horn, B. (2022). “Quest”, Encyclopedia of Ludic Terms, European Research Council Advanced-Grant MSG – Making Sense of Games.

Horn, B. (2021). “Deathloop as a Reflection on Ambiguity as a Meaning-Making Tool”, Chinese DiGRA 2021 Conference, Hong Kong Baptist University, Apr 2021.

Horn, B. (2021). Questing as the Witcher: A New Model for the Critical Analysis of Narrative Games (探索巫师 3: 一种叙事游戏评判与研究的新模式), PhD Thesis, City University of Hong Kong.

Horn, B. (2019). “Of Insects, Wisps, and Uncertainty: A Hermeneutical Comparative Analysis of Ori and the Blind Forest and Hollow Knight”, 25th International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA 2019) Conference, Gwangju, Republic of Korea, June 2019.