Hi everyone,
This week we had a discussion about simulations and strategy games. What does it mean to avoid simulating critique of empire and imperial systems of oppression in strategy games, as Mukherjee argued that Age of Empires did? How do certain games attempt to model the decay of empire? In Rome: Total War, overpopulation and overextension cause empire-wide riots, and your economy can suddenly collapse due to mismanagement and an overreliance on your imperial war machine as you clash against rival empires.And are there any games that do legitimately attempt to resist the common language of strategy games: expansion and dominance? Even games that allow you to play as the colonized in history ask that you perform those imperialistic tasks, but in reverse, against the actual-world oppressor. It is an interesting thought exercise to consider civilization-building as no longer reliant on dominance and destruction; how do we simulate new ways of thinking?
This week, thanks to Maddie, we played through Kitty Horrorshow’s Anatomy, a haunted suburban house that analyzes the importance of the house, and the inherent monstrosity present within spaces. It was great to play through for me, as it fed into ideas of ruin and discomfort being generated by decay. We also played through Barbotine, which attempts a similar thing, but relates it more to anxiety and a lack of confidence in one’s own body image. Even if it isn’t as effective as Anatomy, it is a fun companion piece.
Next week, I’ve selected a reading from Joleen Blom’s book Video Game Characters and Transmedia Storytelling: The Dynamic Game Character about the potential to form parasocial relationships that exists between video game players and video game characters. Can we feel anything for these characters? Do relationships extend beyond actually playing the game?