GAMES AND METAPHORJEREMY PESNER

WHAT MAKES A GAME “ART?”

• There will never be a complete answer

• Not going to try and find one here

• Will merely explore one idea/option/component of the question

• Should hopefully help to understand the lenses through which we view and understand games

• P.S. I majored in Computer Science, not English lit

CERTAIN GAMES ARE (PROBABLY) ART

THE METAPHOR

• A staple of almost every work of fine art

• Arguably responsible for the beauty of life (no big deal)

• Forms the basis for endless academic pontification

• But how do we understand them in games?

PLAYING WITH THE FIGURATIVE

• What are these games about?

• Games are literal with respect to what you’re seeing and doing (jumping, moving, interacting)…

• But it’s what you don’t see that’s fascinating

• The games aren’t clear - they never provide “the answer”

• Can be frustrating to gamers - we play games to find answers

PROBABLY NOT DESIGNED AS METAPHORS

SOME GAMES HAVE METAPHORS IN THEIR

STORIES

BUT…

Which games ARE metaphors (or could be)?

I have some thoughts…

ICO/SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS

• Almost no dialogue• Never have a clear sense of ultimate goal• Significant emphasis on portrayal of the game world• Few characters

OCTODAD

=

• An indie game in which you are a human/octopus creature• You have a human wife and children• The challenge of the game is movement-based• Almost no one realizes you are an octopus• Perhaps a metaphor for the isolation and difficulty of

communicating in family life?• Reminds me of another animal father…

AN EXERCISE…

WTF is this shit?

• I’m not sure most people took this game literally when it came out

• Confirmed that it heavily borrowed from Alice in Wonderland• This could be a metaphor for anything (offer your ideas)• Only later games set this world as the “reality”• Accompanying theory that SMB3 is a play (ask me if you want

to know)

HOW TO TELL IF A GAME MAY BE A METAPHOR

• Minimalist feel

• Little dialogue

• Little backstory (exception: Braid)

• Few characters

• Once the metaphor starts getting too detailed, it doesn’t work as a metaphor

METAPHOR IS ONLY ONE COMPONENT OF ART

• Plenty of art that is not constructed as a metaphor

• Probably some games taken literally that are considered art

• Would love to see the Andy Warhol of game art

• Perhaps it’s enough to say that art brings some level of sophistication to how we see the world