Immersion Criticism in Games

[Amanda Lange]

Found this piece via This Week in Videogame Blogging and thought it might be an interesting point of discussion.

http://www.vgrevolution.com/2013/04/what-can-room-237-teach-us-about-game-criticism/?ModPagespeed=noscript

Whenever anyone writes "why isn't there X kind of writing about games" I often think "but, *of course* there's X kind of writing about games."  One example of this kind of rewatch-replay obsessiveness is the "Squall is Dead" theory for Final Fantasy 8. And there's probably several pieces about Skyrim that would fit the bill...

Does anyone have any good or favorite examples of the kind of writing this article is talking about? (Do you even think it's clear what it's talking about? I feel slightly unsure.)

[Maddy Myers]

The Mass Effect 3 thread that Price links in his article seems like the exact example that the author wants, and yet he dismisses it because it "feels different" to him ... for reasons that he can't and doesn't explain.

Certainly analyzing a long-form game like Mass Effect requires a much higher devotion of attention on the part of the analyzer than analyzing a shorter game (or a film), but I disagree that it's impossible. The reason why it has been done so well in a forum thread perhaps is because people can divide the "labor" of analyzing pieces of the game, and submit multiple ideas, as a sort of multi-authored theory. The long multi-authored game thus gets a long multi-authored theory, fittingly.

On that note, I also disagree with Price's theory that because games (in particular, AAA games) have multiple authors, critics cannot or should not analyze them, because it is impossible to tell if each of the facets of the game were "intended" by the lead designer of the game. First of all, a film has multiple authors: costumers, tech designers, lighting specialists, post-producers and editors, script writers, and perhaps most obviously, ACTORS ... that isn't even a complete list. All of these people make individual decisions that contribute to the final piece in a way that is not dissimilar to the staff of video game creators. While I am sure that Kubrick had a high level of control over The Shining, he did not -- could not -- have complete control, unless he set up a tripod and filmed himself in a room with a layout that he designed. Obviously there are films made in this way (see: Youtube) and there are even games in this way, sort of (see: Braid, most Twine games, or anything made by just one person). But The Shining is not a good example of a Single Author piece of art. Perhaps if Price had used a book as an example ... ?

Anyway, critics can and do close-read video games. Brendan Keogh's book about Spec Ops springs to mind, but there are other shorter examples, of course. If I find some cool short-form "immersive" games criticism, I'll put it here ... I feel like I read stuff like this a lot (for example, a writer deep-reading a very specific scene in a game and its context, since analyzing an entire game deserves a book, or at least a VERY long forum thread).

I feel like there have been some pretty cool close-reads of Portal, but I can't remember what any of them were. I remember liking this one, although it may not fit Price's standards for what a "close" or "immersive" reading means, but it does draw on a lot of weird small details that I didn't notice while playing in order to make its points: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/140585-her-name-is-caroline-naming-the-misbehaving-woman-in-portal-2/. If you ever talk to a die-hard Portal fan, it's only a matter of time before they go off on a tangent about Chell's science project and potatoes and "if you pause the game here, blah blah happens, which means blah blah!" So, uh, yeah, that's happening and people are totally writing it down.

I would agree with Price the length of the game (rather than the number of "authors" of a game) makes it easier to do analysis on a higher level, because a shorter game means less to analyze. This may be why Portal has proven to be a good piece for analysis. But that's true of books and movies as well; if it's a short story, you're going to have an easier time re-reading the crap out of it so you can write a thesis on it. If it's a WHOLE BOOK? Good luck, have fun with that.

[Sparky]

Maybe Marc isn't looking in the right places. I mean, look, Room 237 gathers together a bunch of weird little theories about the film that have been exhaustively worked out by people who are seeing, to some extent, what they want to see. But this isn't popular film criticism, or even academic film criticism. In fact, looking at the theories (I haven't seen the film), the thing that strikes me most about them is their resemblance to forum discussions about game plots or symbolism that get ridiculously detailed through the power of nerd synergy. I think Indoctrination theory actually came about this way, and I know I ran across some stuff like this trying to explain what happened in Hotline Miami when I was looking at sources for Reality is Chosen (which, itself, might qualify as the sort of immersion criticism he's after). Granted, forum rants aren't exactly mainstream game criticism, but the theories of Room 237 don't strike me as particularly mainstream for film criticism either.

[Amanda Lange]

Yeah, I agree that the "Games have multiple authors, unlike film" argument is a little strange. Even "bigger" games often have one person that can be pointed to as a director or creative lead on the project. Sure, some games are "faceless," but I'm not sure how someone could watch SWERY talk about Deadly Premonition and not see authorial intent. (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/180098/Video_Creating_unforgettable_characters_the_Deadly_Premonition_way.php). If someone analyses a single puzzle/scene in that game such as http://gangles.ca/2011/04/25/the-squirrel-keys/

A bit of Portal trivia I remember is where people have picked it apart looking for Greek mythology references http://www.giantbomb.com/portal-2/3030-21662/forums/portal-2-and-greek-mythology-492683/  And a lot of this seems to be focused on a series of weird little lines spoken by the "different turret."

I remember reading an article really frustrated by that reading and in fact that approach to criticism in general, but I can't find it now.