Reading response 6

Principle 6.5 in Artful Design describes how games are reflections of our humanness. It reads, "Games can offer commentary, make a statement, or articulate life as we all know it, enriching it and elevating us to be more authentically ourselves. Games can induce sublimity and strive to be artful. Most games are not this -- nor do they need to be. The ones that are, hold meaning in a way that cannot be expressed in a different medium." I think of this as a direct result of worldbuilding -- the reason that games can reflect our humanness is because in games we create smaller worlds within ours, worlds which we have control over, worlds which we author. When we author them, if we are intentional and, dare I say, artful, about how we go about it, we can call attention to these same attributes of our own world (which we have far less control and authorhsip over), which is how meaning and this allusion to humanness is created. Our world is infinitely vast, chaotic, overwhelming -- by creating a small world, where all factors are designed / engineered / predetermined, designers are able to make sense of a small part of our world either by simulating it or subverting it, and engage in a bit of storytelling. I believe that artful, sublime games are ones which are particularly effective at worldbuilding, either by creating particularly realistic-feeling worlds or by creating thoughtfully unrealistic-feeling ones.

Later in the chapter Ge also describes how all games are played in hyper-1st person, in which the user gains a sense of embodiment through control of an actor in the game universe; that is, that the game cedes control to the player such that it cannot continue without the player. I think the previous idea and this one are highly related -- if we wanted to simply observe a well-crafted world, we could simply watch a movie, or a TV show. What makes games different is that we are able to participate in these worlds, and in doing so feel even more a part of them than we would otherwise. This embodiment is not just about autonomy and control but immersion.

Combining these two ideas, then, we can conclude that the human condition is to have limited autonomy in an all-encompassing world which in many respects is out of your control. Games reflect humanness because our world is fundamentally overwhelming, and so we seek smaller ones to escape into. We are privileged in this real world and also in the game worlds with a small degree of autonomy which allows us to feel a stake in the world we inhabit, real or fictional, and it is this feeling which drives us to play games as well as to live our lives.