Re: [-empyre-] playthings response

[eugenie <eugenies@onetel.net.uk>]

troy and empyricals...

on 21/10/03 4:04 PM, Troy Innocent at troy@iconica.org wrote:

> 
> Rez uses synaesthesia to great effect, and on a couple of levels
> (players actions, behavior of the various enemies flying about, the
> transitions between game stages). This is the case in all games, really
> (or at least all good games) in that images and sounds are closely
> linked together, and usually occur as a result of the actions of the
> player or other agents in the simulation. I guess this is not linked
> directly with non-perspectival systems of representation, but do you
> think this blurring of the senses assist with the manifestation of
> multiple systems of subjectivity?

what Rez does is invite the subject to engage with some of the more
'affective' aspects of its own subjectivity - sub-rational behaviours,
responses that fall outside the loop of conscious-autonomic response... the
sort of trance state that gets hold of you at a club or a rave.

of course all games do this on some level - falling over sideways in an
effort to get sonic the hedgehog to turn a corner is an example of
sub-rational behaviour in a game environment. as gamers, we can't do much to
prevent such behaviour.

Rez puts this behaviour front and center. i think this is important because
affective or sub-rational perception is very difficult to quantify, and for
this reason it tends to be marginalized in the theoretical domain. you can
theorize most video games until you're blue in the face, without even
mentioning the game interface, and the body/technology relations that
pertain there. it's a lot more difficult to do this in Rez ... and i think
this is a really important point in the study of digital games.

eugenie