![]() ![]() Thinking of video games through the lens of the Denkbild allows us to understand the diversity, conditionality, and incommensurability of video game as a form without reducing it to separate pieces to be examined within their respective disciplines too quickly. ![]() A poetic mode of writing, the Denkbild takes literary snapshots of philosophical, political, and cultural insights that interrupt and challenge the enigmatic form of traditional philosophical thinking. To examine the aesthetics of video games, this paper proposes to consider video games as a contemporary multi-media version of the so-called "Denkbild," or "thought-image," an experimental genre of philosophical writing employed by members of the Frankfurt School. By presenting two snapshots of video game players, the collector and the glitcher, this paper argues that the concept of Denkbild allows us to better understand the relationships between game, gamers, and the socio-political context in terms of unexpected bonds, accidental breakthroughs, and moments of absolute freedom. While previous scholarship tends to examine the aesthetics of video game as a homogenous, self-contained genre that can be clearly defined and understood within the framework of a variety of dichotomies, thinking of video game through the lens of the Denkbild allows us to understand the diversity, conditionality, and incommensurability of game as a multimedia aesthetic object. To examine the aesthetics of video games, this paper proposes to consider games as a contemporary multi-media version of the so-called “Denkbild,” or “thought-image,” an experimental genre of philosophical writing employed by members of the Frankfurt School that takes literary snapshots of philosophical, political, and cultural insights that interrupt and challenge the enigmatic form of traditional philosophical thinking. And so, the offer to,‘Join legendary hero Link as he journeys across Hyrule, and even through time,to thwart the plans of Ganondorf.’ (Nintendo 2017), is recast as a breakneckdash to the closing credits sequence evading and avoiding all but the essentialmoments of gameplay. Compared with the game’s narrative, the connectivity of itsspaces, and the complex but clearly mapped passage of time as set out inNintendo’s officially-endorsed ‘Strategy Guides’ (see Buchanan et al 1998 Hollinger et al 1998 Loe and Guess 1998), the OoT speedrun constructs analtogether different game with vastly altered priorities. ![]() Assuch, what would otherwise class as crucial moments in the storyline, keycharacter development and even locales, are not only raced through but areactively skipped. Speedrunning performances are creative because theyinvolve astonishingly detailed investigations of the minutiae of game behaviors.They are transformative because they disrupt and even invert much-vauntedaspects of the game as sequences that slow down progress are circumvented. In particular, it exploresthe often unexpectedly creative and wholly transformative ways in the game isplayed by ‘speedrunners.’ Seeking to race through the game as quickly aspossible, speedrunners play in a distinctive way that combines mastery ofperformance execution with a deep knowledge of the game’s operation and how itssystems may be exploited. This article focuses on Nintendo’s influential and much-celebrated 1998 videogameThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (hereafter OoT). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |