User:Alessia/poetry and games

Intro

The social aspect of videogames, society and play

The beauty of video games, as an ever evolving medium, lies in their complexity and the plenty of ways they can be interpreted in terms of their social role, meaning, and use. I believe video games are a complete medium, including so much within them. They are a part of almost everyone's lives, with many of us growing up with a favourite game. Video games are eclectic and constantly evolving, applying themselves to various spheres of social and personal life. As technology advances, play is becoming more integrated into our daily lives. The boundaries between play and reality are blurring, with gamification influencing various aspects of work, education, and social interaction. In the future, play could become even more immersive and pervasive, potentially reshaping our understanding of reality and our experiences within it.

Playing as an adult is no longer considered bad. In fact, adult games now generate the most money for the industry. At the same time, it seems that playing and games are becoming less about targeting specific age groups. The industry aims to make everyone happy, easing the game experience while trying to bring deep and “adult” themes on the table. This got me wondering about what it even means to play. My research could then go into the concept of play itself and how it changed during human history, considering the roles of rituality, ritual spaces, liminality and gamification of reality in it. What does it mean to play now compared to the past, and what could it become in the future? What's interesting is that I would say the same thing about any artistic medium. For me, the best part of art lies in its ability to explore reality along a parallel line, capturing details in unique ways while simultaneously reflecting society and reality. Whether or not we consciously recognise it, art serves as a mirror to our world, offering insights into what reality and society truly are.

I am tracing parallel lines here to connect contemporary art and the videogame industry, to explore the difference between the interactive art pieces placed in museum and videogames played by people on their personal screens. At the same time examine why art galleries often contribute to the perception of art as elitist, while the accessibility of video games might lead to their being perceived as “less” artistic worthy. Is the videogame industry even elitist?

In my research I would like to explore video games as a medium for human experience and emotion, examining its intersection with contemporary art. With a background in visual arts I am intrigued by the blurred boundaries between digital art forms, where to place video games within this spectrum.

• The concept of Play
• Gamification of reality, productivity, mental health, meditation, spirituality and other piece of the puzzle
• Adult engagement with videogames, nostalgia, PEGI, sexuality and violence
• Art mirroring society, obsession with interactivity

Games narrative, poetic, little games

Gaming to me offers moments of detachment, but not a total disconnection from self or reality. Gaming is exploring reality in a different way so to find out about the world from a different perspective, this is something I could apply to any medium isn’t it? But videogames stand out because of the level of involvement they demand. The mental focus, muscle movements, and direct interaction make the experience more immediate and profound.

For me, gaming is about exploring the human experience. It's about enjoying moments and reflecting on themes through mechanics, aesthetics, and emotions. This is why I have a deep appreciation for indie games, those crafted by small teams or even a single passionate creator. These games inspire me and speak to me in unique and meaningful ways, making each moment spent with them truly valuable.

I plan to investigate the “indie” industry, what does it even mean to be independent, considering the attraction to small creators to the appeal of open source tools and media, and understanding how these elements contribute to the distinctiveness of indie games. Exploring the nuances between small, poetic, and often experimental video game projects and the expansive, industry AAA titles. I want to examine how imperfection these different scales and approaches affect creativity, narrative innovation, and player experience, and how each contributes to the broader landscape of video game art and culture.

One of the main focuses should be narration, exploring how storytelling is crafted through art and video game development. I will examine linear and nonlinear narrative structures, poetic language, and the creation of purpose within games. Additionally, I intend to explore how games evoke emotions such as horror and fear, and other affective experiences.

• Narration and storytelling
• Expressive computation and interactive media
• Little games and the indie industry, faking the small aiming for the big
• Game poems

Poetry

Notes from Magnuson book

I come across Jordan Magnuson and his research on the poetics inherent in video games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1UepnhRFOk

It got me really interested, surely about his desire to challenge traditional gameplay while exploring unexpected themes. The narrative dimensions is one of the focus here.

Magnuson book > https://www.gamepoemsbook.com/ His games > https://www.necessarygames.com/

Immediately the reference to ritual space pops out, and some points in my research that I almost thought were lost in oblivion reappear.

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Passage1 by Jason Rohrer http://passage.toolness.org/ https://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/

I am mesmerised by Jason Rohrer's Passage, the use of graphics, music, metaphor. A short, intense, linear game. I wonder how important interactivity is in products like this. What is the difference between a gameplay video of this game, which might as well be video art hanging in some bleached white room of any temporary art installation, and the experience of the game itself?

This game is from the 2007, made with mtPaint to make the pixel art, it uses the SDL Library and MinGW to build the game for Windows, it’s 2 mb. It was created for the Kokoromi Gamma 256 event in 2006, curated for the game Summit in Montreal. Kokoromi is a group that promotes video games as experimental art forms ( consists of independent videogame creators and curators Damien Quartz, Phil Fish, Heather Kelley, and Cindy Poremba). Games launched at Gamma included Passage from Rohrer, Faraway from Thirion, B.U.T.T.O.N from the Copenhagen Game collective and Kokoromi’s SuperHyperCube. Its source code is in the public domain.

I met Thijs and remembered the book Relational Aesthetics by Nicolas Bourriaud, read for the last special issue last year. I had read it more as a memoir, as an extremely divisive book in so many ways. I remember the interactivity, the observation of how interactivity is now an integral part of contemporary art, a bit like the pepper you add to any dish to make it taste better, that extra pinch of salt. Is it really essential to add interactive details to make the artwork more interesting and appreciated by the public? Does the art that becomes an object to be touched become part of us? Do we feel part of that art?

https://www.necessarygames.com/my-games/loneliness

With its very simple game mechanics, and its strong abstraction, Loneliness is able to speak loud and clear. The narrative is undeniably the focus here, no words no game mechanics.

Loneliness challenges the concept of medium. So, is videogame a medium? What even is a medium?

In the middle position, condition, a channel or system of communication, information or entertainment, a mode of expression (Merriam Webster). Mass medium is a medium of communication, like radio or television, that is designed to reach as many people as possible. In the art world Medium can refer to the type of art that is being examined (e.g. sculpture, painting…) or the materials that were involved in the making of an artwork (Tate). With the expansion of media we got the new media, a new type of medium, distinct from traditional media. Medium is referred to a particular type of media, while media is indeed the name to name a collective form of mediums.

In general, a medium positions itself in the middle, in a middle ground between two protagonists, the medium creates the connection, but is not the end of an art piece most of the time, a medium is the material, the blob to be shaped.

After considering this, I would say videogame can be positioned within the broader category of mediums, alongside painting, poetry, and writing. Video games are a complex medium, as they encompass a multitude of other artistic tools and forms, blurring the lines with what is often termed "mixed media."

This raises the question of what distinguishes a mixed media interactive art piece from a video game. Is the difference just cultural? I would use the terms interchangeably, there remains a significant distinction in the level of interaction involved. Looking back at the covid pandemic time, we witnessed the rise of numerous mixed media projects created and experienced by individuals on their personal computers. Despite their interactive core, these works were still classified as art pieces rather than video games. This suggests that the distinction may lie not only in the cultural context but also in the intent and framing of the work, with video games often being recognized more for their entertainment value, whereas mixed media art pieces are typically positioned within the fine arts context.

The relationship between poetry and videogames is often overlooked. Poetry has been surely studied in relation to other popular media forms like film, concepts like “film poem” are quite established, but this cannot be said still for videogames. Huzinga compares poetry and play through an analysis of the structures that poetry uses, rhymes, constructions, everything recall a form of play. (Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens (Routledge, 1949), 132.!!!!)

What I don’t understand is why not applying the same thought to any type of media then. The discourse around videogames often overlook the poetic dimension, focusing just on the entertainment value. Could it be that the emergence of video game as a “serious topic” is relatively recent? Probably At the end everything made by a creative process can be in fact a game. Me and Johan Huizinga have anyway a beef ongoing about the meaning of play.

Few projects that Magnuson recall and that are similar to his own Loneliness.

Here Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn from Tale of Tales https://tale-of-tales.com/index.php Then, Nina freeman http://ninasays.so/

Other game designer cited by the author are Daniel Benmergui, Ian Bogost and Nathan Altice I wish I were the moon is from Daniel Benmergui, a little wonderful piece of art. https://danielben.itch.io/i-wish-i-were-the-moon Ian Bogost https://bogost.com/games/ Nathan Altice http://metopal.com/about/

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Little games I played

I tried How do you do it?

It makes me extremely sad that this game has been taken directly as a game of paedophilia. Maybe that’s the spark that got it even famous in the first place, which is bittersweet. Who are all these people who commented? Have any of them experienced their own childhood? It is absurd and frightening that there are so many people who do not understand the irony behind this game and who clearly won't talk to their children about sexuality at all, most importantly about its dangers, and prefer shame and to conceal it.

Amanita Design, Samorost and Machinarium (documentary film by Amanita design) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W3kXEGy_GQ www.amanita-design.net

I love the fact Amanita design is a Czech studio.
It was really nice to get a tour into Adolf Lachman’s and Tomáš Dvořák’s personal studios.
What I really liked about machinarium was the balance between the handcrafted looks and the puzzle mechanics and movements of the various characters. Really nice to know that Lachman drew the environments with his left hand, to give them a shaky quality.

The games feels human, with a really unique aesthetic.
The music is amazing, the houby :)

Other project by artists from this team I explored:

Little Buddy Move (interactive music video) by Jan Chlup and Ainslie Henderson https://littlebuddymove.amanita-design.net/ https://hidden-orchestra.itch.io/
Floex Zorya album by Tomáš Dvořák https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT-nqKwq3eo
Kooky movie and illustrations by Jan Svěrák and Jakub Dvorský https://www.kukysevraci.cz/
DVA - Nunovó Tango https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMoXnZpYgFk

Watched this game developers sessions where Blin and Lachman show their graphic and animation processes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y1F6IUptHo

Triennale game collections Vol I
https://triennale.org/en/events/game-collection-1
Curated by Pietro Righi Riva on the occasion of the 21st International Exhibition in 2016. It includes games created by Mario von Rickenbach and Christian Etter (Il filo conduttore), Tale of Tales (L.O.C.K.), Tamas Kemenczy and Ben Bannit from Cardboard Computer (Neighbor), Pol Clarissou(A Glass Room) and Everest Pipkin (The Worm Room). Each artist shows a unique approach to storytelling, puzzles, and interactive exploration in game.

Vol II
Always curated by Pietro Righi Riva, produced by Triennale Milano and Santa Ragione, for the 23rd International Exhibition. The themes this time is the Unknown Unknows.
The volume includes games created by Nina Freeman (Nonno’s Legend), Optillusion (WADE), Fern Goldfarb-Ramallo (We Are Poems), Akwasi Bediako Afrane (MINE) and Llaura McGee (Contact).