the presence of absence: observing the political in play

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