THE PRESENCEOF ABSENCEObserving the Political in Play Mohini Dutta
@freyadutta
MOHINI DUTTA@freyadutta
MOHINI DUTTA@freyadutta
GAMES
@freyadutta
IT WAS ALL SO NEW TO ME.GAMES COULD DO POTENTIALLYANYTHING. IT WAS INTOXICATING.
GAMES
image/ M.C. Escher: Metamorphose
GAMES PROVIDE
A TERRAIN FROM
WHICH MEANING
CAN EMERGE
@freyadutta GAMES
image/Archigram: Walking Cities
NOT THE NOSTALGIA
I FELT THE LOVE
@freyadutta GAMES
A DARK MORALITY
TALE ABOUT PIECES THAT
DIDN’T FIT IN, AND SO
DESTROYED SOCIETY AS
WE KNOW IT
TETRIS@freyadutta GAMES
@freyadutta GAMES
GAMES FOUND ME AT
WHEREANYTHING GOES
@freyadutta GAMES
SYSTEMS DESIGN OPTIMISES THE CHANCES OF MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN PLAYERS & THE SYSTEMS THEY INHABIT
@freyadutta GAMES
image/Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich.
image/Bottleneck @ CoAP@helloAntidote
@helloAntidote image/Sandwich Shop @ the UN
WE PUSH BOUNDARIES WHEN WE PLAY
@freyadutta GAMES
WE PUSH BOUNDARIES WHEN WE PLAY...HOW IS THAT NOT A POLITICAL ACT?
@freyadutta GAMES
IS PLAY POLITICAL?
@freyadutta GAMES
PLAY DISRUPTS THE WAY WE INTERACT WITH OTHER PEOPLE
image/May Day's Grecian Dance [Postcard 1917]
@freyadutta GAMES
PLAY RE APPROPRIATES
SPACE
@freyadutta GAMES
image/ Painted video game cabinet by Nick Kuszyk @ Babycastles | 3D PacMan
PLAY RE APPROPRIATES
SPACE
@freyadutta GAMES
image/ Painted video game cabinet by Nick Kuszyk @ Babycastles | 3D PacMan
DIGITAL PLAY: CREATING SPACES BY PLACING PARAMETERS TO DEFINE IT
ANALOG PLAY: CHANGING THE RULES AND
BOUNDARIES OF EXISTING SPACES TO ALLOW FOR NEW
INTERACTIONS
@freyadutta GAMES
GAMES CREATE A VIRTUALITY INSPIRED BY A “REAL” BUT DO SO BY BREAKING DOWN & RE-MAKING THE VALUE SYSTEMS OF THE “REAL”
@freyadutta GAMES
A COPY THAT IS MORE REAL
THAN THAT WHICH IT COPIES
SIMULACRA
HYPERREAL
@freyadutta GAMES
GAMES CREATE A VIRTUALITY INSPIRED BY A “REAL” BUT DO SO BY BREAKING DOWN & RE-MAKING THE VALUE SYSTEMS OF THE “REAL”
MORE “REAL” THAN THE “REAL”, ARE GAMES HYPERREAL OBJECTS?
image/ Jean Baudrillard | WoW Funeral Raid
@freyadutta GAMESSIMULACRA OBJECTS NOT BASED IN
A REALITY OR HIDING IT, INSTEAD CONCEALING
THE IRRELEVANCE OF REALITY TO OUR LIVES
SIMULACRA
image/ Gilles Deleuze | Triad & Lesbian Spider Queens of Mars by Anna Anthropy
@freyadutta GAMES
A NEW SPACE WHERE THE ACCEPTED IDEAL CAN BE CHALLENGED & OVERTURNED
@freyadutta GAMES
BAUDRILLARD SEES ENTROPY IN THE SIMULACRA
@freyadutta GAMES
BAUDRILLARD SEES ENTROPY IN THE SIMULACRA
DELEUZE SEES
POTENTIAL
WHAT ABOUT GAMES THEN?
@freyadutta GAMES
@freyadutta GAMES
THE OUTSIDE IS NOT A SPACE ONE CAN OCCUPY TO BE OUTSIDE SOMETHING IS TO OCCUPY SOMETHING ELSE FROM WITHIN
image/ Elizabeth Grosz
GAMES MIGHT EXIST OUTSIDE OF A POPULAR POLITICAL SPECTRUM
@freyadutta GAMES
GAMES MIGHT EXIST OUTSIDE OF A POPULAR POLITICAL SPECTRUMTHEY MIGHT EVEN HAVE A POLITICS THAT IS NOT ESTABLISHED YET
@freyadutta GAMES
GAMES MIGHT EXIST OUTSIDE OF A POPULAR POLITICAL SPECTRUMTHEY MIGHT EVEN HAVE A POLITICS THAT IS NOT ESTABLISHED YET
BUT THEY CANNOT EXIST OUTSIDE OF POLITICS
@freyadutta GAMES
@freyadutta GAMES
image+ quote / Elizabeth Grosz | Illustration by Tom Leytham
“BODIES ARE ABSENT IN ARCHITECTURE, BUT THEY REMAIN ARCHITECTURE'S UNSPOKEN CONDITION”
THE ABSENCE OF SOMETHING IS ANOTHER FORM OF PRESENCE
@freyadutta GAMES
@freyadutta GAMES
THE ABSENCE OF THE POLITICAL IN POPULAR GAMES CULTURE REVEALS THE PRESENCE OF A DEEPLY CHARGED POLITICS
@freyadutta GAMES
image + quote / Jean Baudrillard
“THE GENERATION OF MODELS OF A REAL WITHOUT ORIGIN OR REALITY”
GAMES CREATE A WORLD WHERE REALITY IS REPRESENTED AS AN UNREALISTICALLY PERFECT IDEAL
@freyadutta GAMES
DO OUR CHOICES IN GAMES MATTER?WE ARE TOLD THEY DO...
SUPER-HONED FEEDBACK LOOPS
REASSURE US WHEN IN DOUBT.
@freyadutta GAMES
OVERSTIMULATION IS A REPLACEMENT FOR EMPATHY
@freyadutta GAMES
GAMES DO NOT NEED TO PARSE KNOWLEDGE, BUT MUST PERPETUALLY ADD DATA TO THE SYSTEM TO EXIST
image / Twine tech tree
@freyadutta GAMES
THE COMMUNITY AROUND A COMMODITY IS ALWAYS A CAPITALISTIC ENTITY
image + quote / Jean Baudrillard
WHAT POLITICS CARRY FORWARD
INTO A COMMUNITY BORN OUT OF & SUSTAINED BY A
COMMODIFIED ENVIRONMENT?
@freyadutta GAMES
image / GTA V release queues in Walsall
@freyadutta GAMES
THE FORM OF GAMES IMPACTS THE NATURE OF GAMES [AND THEIR INHABITANTS]
@freyadutta GAMES
AS LONG AS GAMES ARE LIMITED TO A SINGULARITY OF FORM, THE COMMUNITIES AROUND IT WILL REMAIN STATIC
@freyadutta GAMES
DECLARING UNIQUENESS IS NOT THE SAME AS BEING UNIQUE
@freyadutta GAMES
GAMES ARE NOT UNIQUE, AND NEITHER ARE THEIR PROBLEMS
@freyadutta GAMES
THE TRUTH OF GAMES IS LIMITED TO WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN
@freyadutta GAMES“The “possible” is an already performed version of the real while the “virtual” promises something different to the actual it produces; and always contains in it, the potential for something other than the actual.”
image + quote / Elizabeth Grosz
@freyadutta GAMES
GAMES CAN BE SO MUCH MORE ...ONLY IF WE DEMAND MORE
IT IS INTOXICATING.
@freyadutta GAMESWILL THE POTENTIAL OF GAMES SURVIVE THEIR CRUTCH OF STATICITY?
OR WILL ENTROPY CONSUME OUR MEDIUM TOO?
MOHINI DUTTA
@helloAntidote
@freyadutta
