Control-Value Theory

 

Siffrin has experienced a great deal of loss in an otherwise short life. He lost the memorizes of his entire country and culture. Lost his language and above all lost whoever his family was. And there's no finding them. Even trying to remember it's name would be a painful and impossible task, let alone trying to find people you don't remember and who don't remember you. From what we know of their past, they had left home briefly, likey for something entirely petty, it was while on a small boat that this mysterious Event occurred. Regarding control, Siffrin would have felt powerless, so very confused, and afraid. In the months after, he would have had to navigate a country he doesn't know, with effectively no life experience, all while learning a new language. They would have been entirely unmoored, drifting about Vaugarde and pulling together money for food every night. 

Not all was horrible, eventually, however. At some point Siffrin would watch a stage play, being utterly entranced by it, becoming a big fan of the art medium. They would also meet their party during this time. Filling that gap in their life for purpose and connection. They could save the country and go adventuring with their new friends! This period was probably the closest thing Siffrin had come to being at peace since the Event. They had been given the responsibility of taking lead when the party would travel because of how quick and observant he was, building his self-efficacy and - in his mind - justifying his purpose with the group. He kept them all safe.

This newfound balance would change at the end of their journey, with the realization that the group may not stay together after they succeed at their mission of defeating The King. All of his friends have lives to return to, but he has nothing. No one. At least in his mind. In reality, his friends would not have abandoned them as easily as they believe but their low self-esteem makes his hard for them to see that. This lack of control over his present and future would be what causes Siffrin to make his wish, for the group to never separate, unknowingly trapping himself in a time loop upon his first death. Thus begins Siffrin's slow descent with each new loop, learning more and growing stronger, while finding himself more trapped in the loops and explanations and escape plans become more and more unlikely.

Attribution Theory

When considering Siffrin's trials throughout the game and he navigates each new loop, the audience gains a better understanding of Siffrin's internal thoughts. More specifically, we see how Siffrin process and tries to compartmentalize their emotions and how their mind slowly cracks from the stress of the situation, as they slowly disconnect from the reality they are trapped in. One of the most common attributions Siffrin makes about himself is that he's not good enough; that he's a failure. He berates himself for his first death which triggered the time loop, and continues to do so with every mistake they make in the loops, whether it's forgetting something and having to start over a loop or making a mistake that they could never have anticipated, time loops or no time loops. 

Siffrin believes he truly has nothing worthwhile about themself to maintain their new family unit and that something internal is wrong with them. Whatever that something is, they can't change about themself even with the loops. It's a stable part of them, in his mind. And while Siffrin can control and change so much in each loop, what's "wrong" with him can't be a fully controlled factor; eventually he'll "pull a Siffrin" and mess up again. In other words, it's uncontrollable. Given these considerations, Siffrin's attribution patterns are Internal/Stable/Uncontrollable. This causes Siffrin to slowly lose more and more of themself, forgetting their friends names, and slowly growing colder and more distant to the people he wanted to protect in the first place.

Goal Complexes

Siffrin's primary goal throughout the story can be summarized as thus: they don't want to lose their friends (an identified/intrinsic motivation). They love their friends and would do anything, fight anything, to protect them. The trauma of losing their entire country, culture, identity, and any family they once had had left too much of a mark on them and has only exacerbated his self-esteem. As such, he is desperate for the party to stick together and the prospect of them leaving him is far too painful, leading to his wish.

This wish that we learn more about in the latter half of the game, caused the time loop that torments Siffrin, as any path forward, whether its the death of Siffrin or a party member, defeating The King, or a party member becoming wise to Siffrin's weird behavior could (in Siffrin's mind) be the end. To Siffrin, that would be the end of his relationship with his friends. So any time that connection comes into jeopardy, Siffrin "runs away," or loops back. This seems to most closely be an example of mastery-avoidance, where Siffrin refuses to try something truly new in one of his loops and tell a member of the party, out of fear his incompetence to escape on his own or that they would be disgusted by how much he cares about them.

Their low hope for a world where his friends would want to stay in his life and his high fear of it all crashing down around him makes Siffrin fit cleanly in the Failure-Avoider category. The amount that Siffrin fears losing his connection to his family causes them to block it wholly out of their memory. They only have one companion through out this time loop journey who clearly knows something but is entirely too coy and tight lipped about their role in everything: Loop. They chose that name for themself on the spot when they first met Siffrin at the Favor Tree in that first loop, so clearly there's some additional meaning in that name for Loop. 

Loop (they/them)

Loop has little regard for the party, or Siffrin's feelings a lot of the time (or at least that's how Loop likes to portray themself), making snide remarks or calling Siffrin outright dumb when suggesting options for exploration in the time loop. Despite this contemp at times, Loop continuing to help Siffrin even when he lashes out at them speaks to a kind of care Loop has for Siffrin; maybe pity. When Siffrin is especially frazzled or overwhelmed, Loop will sometimes take a moment to comfort Siffrin, although slipping back into character afterward. Loop is important when discussing the extent to Siffrin's willful ignorance in understanding what he wished for: after all Loop wished for the same thing. To never have be separated from their family. Doomed to repeat the same day again and again and again and again. 

Loop is helping Siffrin because they are Siffrin, kind of. A Siffrin from another timeline, stuck in their own time loop that they could never escape from. Driven to madness and then despair from the thousands of loops, Loop made a new wish: for someone to help them. This wish planted Loop in a new timeline, with a new Siffrin making the same mistake they once did, now with their guidance and companionship. So every hurtful jab thrown at Siffrin can be recontextualized as an exercise in self-depreciation, in self-hatred.

Self-Determination Theory

 

For my post, I'll be using Cognitive Evalutation Theory to analyze Siffrin's motivation in the game In Stars and Time. What is Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET)? CET is a sub-theory of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), which is a broader framework that studies intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and how people have certain psychological needs for wellness and growth. CET specifically focuses on what elements are needed for peoples' intrinsic motivation. This theory uses SDT's framework in its analysis, including the main three human needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. When these three needs are met, a person could experience intrinsic motivation, or motivation to do an action for that action's sake. Each of the needs can be broken down as such. Competence refers to a person's belief they have skills and can use those skills towards a desired result (i.e. a student knows that unit's content well and can apply that knowledge to get the grade they want on a test). Autonomy refers to a person's feeling of choice or input (you'll feel considerably less motivated to do something if you feel you're being forced to do it). Relatedness refers to having interpersonal relationships (a group project with friends is a lot more tolerable than one with strangers or people you actively dislike).

Throughout the course of the game, we see Siffrin slowly decline as their situation becomes seemingly more helpless, with each repetitive loop bringing them closer to a mental breakdown. At the start, we meet Siffrin at his healthiest and most secure. Granted at this point we were also still learning the game's characters and had not yet been clued in on Siffrin's deeper-seeded insecurities and self-esteem issues. Whilst traveling with the party during their off-screen adventure, culminating with their return to Dormont to face The King, a close-knit dynamic has been established among the party members. The vibes are calm and friendly, with members lightly teasing and joking with each other, referring to inside jokes - like Isabeau continually trying to guess Odile's study of research and reason for being in Vaugarde and coming up with ridiculous ideas- and overall seem very comfortable with one another.

Siffrin can't remember

It's unquestionable that at this point, Siffrin's feeling of relatedness with their party is firm, as is their competence, which in turn strongly motivates them to protect the party to the best of their ability. They're the fastest in the group! In addition to being an expert in finding traps (which makes his surprise death in the first room of the House especially upsetting to him). In an earlier instance while on the road, this intrinsic motivation led to Siffrin sacrificing an eye to keep the youngest of the group, Bonnie, from harm's way. This motivation to protect them for its own sake is also what causes Siffrin to keep quiet about the time loops, even actively trying to mislead his friends and give off the impression all is well and normal. Of, course Siffrin does have other motivations for keeping this secret if we remember: that Siffrin is unintentionally responsible for and controls the time loop, out of fear they could lose their family for the second time. 

However, this intrinsic motivation slowly changes over time, in contrast with the never-changing nature of the loops. As Siffrin continues to loop again and again and again, he has moments where he...cannot remember his family's names. It's a terrifying and stressful moment, but it represents a moment of his motivations in the game slowly shifting from intrinsically motivated love for his friends, to an extrinsic force (the game, the player, the circumstances) forcing Siffrin to continue to try to escape. To cope, Siffrin slowly begins to view the repeating day like a stage play, with the "characters" having their clear and unchanging roles and lines, to the point that deviations from that "script" would throw him off at many points. There's even a game mechanic that lets you - as the player - skip over repeated dialogue, explained as Siffrin "zoning out" because he knows what they'll say, and he can just say what he needs to when he's "on cue."

Friend Picnic!

There's a point where Siffrin goes out of his way to help each of their friends with the respective problem that had been plaguing them that day in Dormont, and so he does, resulting in an adorable moment where they all sit together and watch the stars the night before going to the House. Siffrin wanted to help his friends and learn more about them. And he so very much did! We learn and view these characters in new lights as they open up to Siffrin and it really makes the party feel like a close-knit family: this is when the change occurs and Siffrin begins to refer to them as such. Each member of the party even gets super powerful abilities as a result of these bonding moments with Siffrin. But...if he dies or gets frozen in time when they go to the House, Siffrin loops back to the start of the day, and everything is undone. 

Now Siffrin could go through the motions, do all these nice things for his friends again, he did it the first time after all. And they'd get those so useful abilities that could help them in the House! But now, their motivation to help their friends is anything but intrinsic. They get something out of it now, and they at times feel so distant from the people they dearly love. Their relatedness to their friends slowly withers away as with their motivation after each new loop; slowly losing their mind. Each successive failure makes Siffrin descent more into self-criticism and negativity, unable to give themself any credit for their achievements and growingly frustrated with their seeming lack of progress in escaping the loops. Siffrin begins losing any sense of autonomy or control over the situation, unknowing that he's the only one with that control; maybe just unwilling to face it.

It reaches a breaking point after so many loops when he tries to force their friends through their "friendquests" to get their special abilities, but their disconnection from the group and impatience causes Siffrin to lash out at all of his friends, in turn getting slapped (by Mirabelle), screamed at in turn for being mean (Bonnie), and otherwise told off and distanced from (Odile and Isabeau). When Siffrin goes to the clocktower to sleep with the party like normal...they're all discussing the day's events, hurt by Siffrin's actions, but especially concerned. All Siffrin hears is that they want to abandon them and fight The King without them. Angry, more than a little manic, and much much much stronger than just about anything in the House after so many loops, Siffrin stomps off to fight The King himself.

Siffrin eavesdropping on the party

Value: Motivation

 

 

First and foremost, a central value to Siffrin's character is his connection to his friends and the bonds they've all formed together. Throughout their off-screen journey, the party becomes their family, with an important milestone in the game being when Siffrin stops referring to their party members as such and begins referring to them as his family members after a heartfelt conversation with his friends during a loop. Earlier in their journey, Siffrin lost an eye in a scuffle with one of The King's sadness, protecting the youngest, Bonnie. Their primary goal is to keep their family members safe. This self-sacrificial tendency makes itself known frequently in the game and can be prominently observed by the way he keeps the loops a secret from them, in part with the desire to save his friends but also to not let them get too close and realize what (or who) is causing the loops. Siffrin's connection to his friends can be analyzed through people's need for affiliation, otherwise described in the textbook as establishing and maintaining positive relationships with others. 

Before meeting the party, Siffrin traveled the continent on their own; effectively wandering, loosely flapping in the wind. No friends, no family... no home, no country... no memories... of anything or anyone in their life. No memories of their country or culture. Throughout the course of the game, we learn that one random day everyone forgot a country. Suddenly, no one could say its name, or anything about the people who lived there, only that it was an island north of Vaugarde. No one could remember friends that they had who lived there; absolutely nothing. Simply trying to remember the country's name would give someone a migraine, an effect used as a practical joke by Bonnie on Isabeau in the story. And Siffrin is one of that country's lost people, who woke up one day not even remembering the language of his people, or anything else from their life. So, they wandered, making money where they could and adjusting to a world with a massive blank space in it. Until he met his friends, first Odile, then Mirabelle and Isabeau, and finally Bonnie. 

They made friends and created a new family. Imagine the trauma of forgetting everything even tangentially connected to your home, never being able to find your family because you can't remember them, and having to start over; then you find new people you consider family. Imagine the terror and anxiety that would come from disappointing them; the fear of losing them in a fight or because they simply didn't like you. You may even come to feel as if you need to put on a sort of performance, keeping yourself useful. This way your family will stay with you. Maybe try to fix your friends' problems if you had all the time in the world, able to repeat the day and make it perfect for those friends. This response can be used as an example of instrumentality, wherein if a person performs well they'll receive a desired outcome or reward. While it's usually applied to employees in other examples, the emphasis of performance begetting a reward fits the above description of why Siffrin is so desperately attached to their friends.

Expectancy: Self-Efficacy

What is self-efficacy? Simply put, it's a person's belief in their ability to achieve a certain goal, and how that belief shapes their decisions. If a person has a high level of self-efficacy and has to study for a test, that self-efficacy may lead them to set goals to study for the exam and do well, taking time to achieve mastery of the content.

As you may recall from previous posts, Siffrin does not have a high level of self-esteem, or self-efficacy for that matter. They do their best to portray a confident "funnyjokespun" persona to his friends, but they struggles with making mistake, especially mistakes that lead to his or the party's death/setback, leading to a new loop. While he keeps his goal of getting themself out of the time loop and saving his friends in the front of his mind, each successive loop builds the growing frustration and ever present insecurity that they're never going to free themself. Ideally, they get closer to their goal with every loop, learning the hidden secrets of the House to eventually help the party defeat The King but every new development (for instance, learning beating the King isn't enough and something bigger is wrong) slowly drains at Siffrin's motivation and their sanity. 

In some regards, Siffrin demonstrates both a fixed and a growth mindset. For clarification, a growth mindset is the belief that you can develop your abilities/skills through hard work, and a fixed mindset being the belief that abilities are unchangeable or innate. Siffrin and their whole party can grow stronger and accrue new skills by exploring the House, which Siffrin acknowledges help them and the party, but has a fixed mindset on them as a person, thinking themself to be a bad person their friends haven't realized is a bad person yet and a failure who can't figure out how to save their friends on their own. Siffrin has no inclination to believe he can improve through the journey, attributing any successes to being lucky they have the time loop to bail them out of bad situations. To a degree, as Siffrin progresses through each loop, he gains some feelings of helplessness in his situation, or learned helplessness; the belief that a person cannot control or change their situation no matter what they do. Siffrin never stops trying to escape the time loops, and continues to try time and time again, but fails to recognize the true core of the issue. Siffrin is stuck because he doesn't want to leave the time loop. 

 Leaving the time loop, beating The King, would mean the journey is over. All of his friends have been telling him their plans for after the win, and it would mean the group goes their separate ways. Siffrin would lose his friends. Lose his family. Again. At least a family that they remember...Siffrin can't imagine a world where their friends still want him around after the journey's end; that they would want him around with no use for them. Maybe only they think so fondly of their friends and none of the party reciprocates. Siffrin is wrong of course, but he doesn't know that. Loop's, the mysterious helper, whole role is to help Siffrin come to this realization, to finally relinquish control of the loops and be free from this never ending performance. But Siffrin doesn't want to, deep down. So he ignores it, and becomes totally blind to it.

(Post originally for Week 5: written post Hurricane Helene)