VIDEOGAMES ARE A MESS Ian Bogost WHAT IS A GAME? Is a game a - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

VIDEOGAMES ARE A MESS Ian Bogost

WHAT IS A GAME?

Is a game a system of rules, or is a game a kind of narrative?

LUDOLOGY vs. NARRATOLOGY

Is a game a system of rules, or is a game a kind of narrative?

Is a game a system of rules, like a story is a system of narration?

(Yes.)

MOVE 1: An ontology of form

NARRATIVISM

“...video games are two rather different things at the same time: video games are real in that they are made of real rules that players actually interact with; that winning or losing a game is a real event. However, when winning a game by slaying a dragon, the dragon is not a real dragon, but a fictional one. To play a video game is therefore to interact with real rules while imagining a fictional world and a video game is a set of rules as well a fictional world.”

Whatever a game is, some part of it is more real than another.

IDEALISM vs. REALISM

Mechanics Dynamics Aesthetics

Operational Logics (Mateas & Wardrip-Fruin)

MOVE 2: Games exist on multiple levels, but some are more real than others

SEGREGATIONIST vs. INTEGRATIONIST

MOVE 3: Players enact rules in contexts to create games.

PLATFORM STUDIES

MOVE 4: ?

Being is for Subjects

“No—he will simply add—perhaps only to himself, but add it he will—something like a simple codicil, always the same one, which he will discreetly append to the end of the phrase: event Y occured X number of years before the emergence of humans—for humans (or even, for the human scientist).”

Speculative Realism

“The human/world relation is just a special case of the relation between any two entities whatsoever.”

FLAT ONTOLOGY

Interpretive ! Fiction ! ! Player !! Reception Formal ! ! ! Rules ! ! Game ! ! Material !!

Interpretive Fiction Player Reception Form Rules Game Material

AD F8 FF 4C 7F BC A2 04 85 02 B5 95 A8 B9 00 BC 95 20 29 0F A8 88 10 FD 95 10 CA 10 EB 85 02 85 2A 68 85 96 AA BD 00 BC 85 D5 4C AB BC A5 E2 10 09 29 7F 85 80 20 E3 BA 46 E2 24 EB 30 06 A5 80 C9 08 D0 03 4C 38 B4 A5 80 C9 07 D0 03 4C 38 B4 24 E3 10 1B 50 19 A5 A1 10 15 A2 01 86 A1 20 90 BE A9 0E 85 A3 A5 80 85 A6 A9 05 85 A9 85 AC 24 94 10 03 4C 53 B1 24 37 10 F9 A6 A1 10 03 4C 39 B1 B5 A2 30 EE 8A D0 1E A2 02 B5 CA 30 09 CA 10 F9 A9 0A 85 D2 D0 08 A5 81 29 0F 09 20 95 CA A9 9C 85 8A 4C 30 B1 E0 02 D0 12 A5 91 09 40 85 91 26 A2 38 66 A2 26 A3 38 66 A3 D0 74 A9 8C 85 8A 24 E3 10 25 A4 E5 10 0B 26 E4 38 66 E4 20 AA BF 4C 38 B4 C6 E5 A2 15 A0 00 20 8E BF 84 8C 84 E3 88 84 A1 84 A6 84 A3 D0 47 A2 00 A9 10 24 CA D0 0A E8 24 CB D0 05 E8 24 CC F0 06 A9 80 95 CA D0 2F A5 D2 4A 4A 4A 4A F0 27 18 65 DD 85 DD A5 D2 C9 90 90 16 A2 02 A9 F0 24 CC F0 0A CA 24 CB F0 05 CA 24 CA D0 04 A9 10 95 CA A5 D2 29 0F 85 D2 A6 A1 36 A2 38 76 A2 30 1A E0 86 B0 16 A9 8D 85 8A 8A 29 0F 38 E9 03 AA C9 03 B0 07 A9 80 95 CA 0A 85 8C A5 80 C9 04 90 03 4C E8 B1 24 91 70 F9 24 33 30 06 A9 00 85 D9 F0 EF 24 94 30 EB A5 9C 85 D7 A5 96 85 D6 A0 00 A6 80 86 D8 F0 20 CA F0 39 CA F0 04 A2 0C D0 02 A2 08 86 83 C9 3B 90 01 C8 A5 9C C9 21 90 02 C8 C8 98 05 83 D0 41 C9 29 B0 04 A9 01 D0 39 C9 51 90 04 A9 02 D0 31 A5 9C C9 1D A9 00 90 29 A9 03 D0 25 A6 9C E0 13 90 06 E0 28 90 13 A0 03 C9 20 90 09 C9 60 B0 05 98 09 04 D0 0C A9 FF D0 08 C8 C9 40 90 F2 C8 D0 EF 85 DA A9 06 85 80 20 E3 BA A5 81 29 03 C9 03 F0 54 AA B5 A5 10 29 B5 A2 30 4B A9 05 20 80 BF B0 44 95 A5 BD 95 BD 95 AB BD 92 BD 95 A8 A9 0B 95 A2 A9 05 C5 80 D0 2E 86 A1 20 90 BE 4C 44 B2 0A 0A 0A 85 83 B5 A2 10 05 A9 05 18 90 06 A5 80 C9 06 B0 12 65 83 A8 B9 FC BD 30 0A 85 83 B5 A2 29 F0

IMBROGLIO

VIDEOGAMES ARE A MESS

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