Comments on: Video Games and (Blatant) Intertextuality http://www.facade.fi/2010/06/video-games-and-blatant-intertextuality/ HENRI WEIJO* Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:25:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Pekka Lampinen http://www.facade.fi/2010/06/video-games-and-blatant-intertextuality/comment-page-1/#comment-946 Pekka Lampinen Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:11:14 +0000 http://www.facade.fi/?p=619#comment-946 I'd say the tendency toward excessive familiarity is due to the difficulty of co-creation. At every given moment, the player has to understand on some level just what is happening. If not, the player can't act and the feedback loop breaks. In the case of non-interactive formats like films, the viewer can at least sit through an Ingmar Bergman film and then ponder its meanings afterwards, whereas the game changes profoundly with the actions that follow cognition. It's not required to be thoroughly simple and familiar, though. In Mass Effect, the gamer can still enjoy a sub-quest even if they have lost track of the main plot temporarily. In ways like these, a great story can introduce more original concepts safely. It takes a lot of talent from the designers, of course. My explanation applies to the fundamental intertextuality of the worlds of Mass Effect and Red Dead Redemption better than the detailed references of Alan Wake. The latter are more like tricks used to anchor experiences. I’d say the tendency toward excessive familiarity is due to the difficulty of co-creation. At every given moment, the player has to understand on some level just what is happening. If not, the player can’t act and the feedback loop breaks. In the case of non-interactive formats like films, the viewer can at least sit through an Ingmar Bergman film and then ponder its meanings afterwards, whereas the game changes profoundly with the actions that follow cognition.

It’s not required to be thoroughly simple and familiar, though. In Mass Effect, the gamer can still enjoy a sub-quest even if they have lost track of the main plot temporarily. In ways like these, a great story can introduce more original concepts safely. It takes a lot of talent from the designers, of course.

My explanation applies to the fundamental intertextuality of the worlds of Mass Effect and Red Dead Redemption better than the detailed references of Alan Wake. The latter are more like tricks used to anchor experiences.

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