How Videogames Express Ideas
Open accessAbstract
What are the exact aspects of the videogame medium, the precise features or combinations of features that lend themselves to expressing ideas and meaning? To chart this out, I begin with an American legal case that serves as a foundation for the basic issues involved and then move on to show how this relates to some of the broader attitudes the world of videogame discourse. Based on this, I break down the expressive strategies of videogames into three aspects—non-playable sequences, rule-based systems, and the relationship between the two—which I then illustrate with examples proving that videogames can indeed be an expressive medium.
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In Fallout 2, all of Mr. Bird's silly responses are actual statements made by Vice-President Dan Quayle during his time in office.
“The real gag, however, is that all Mr. Bird's silly responses are actual statements made by Vice-President Quayle during his time in office.”
From Real-time hermeneutics: meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games (2018) · cites this paper as Weise (2003, pp. 10-11)
Weise describes a situation in Fallout 2 that shows the unique rhetorical effect of the rhetoric of failure.
“Weise (2003, pp. 10-11) describes such a situation in Fallout 2 , simultaneously showing the unique rhetorical effect this has:”
From Real-time hermeneutics: meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games (2018) · cites this paper as Weise (2003, pp. 10-11)
In Fallout 2, the conversation with Vice-President Bird is a game that is impossible to win.
“The joke is that trying to have an intelligent conversation with Mr. Bird is itself a game… a game that's impossible to win.”
From Real-time hermeneutics: meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games (2018) · cites this paper as Weise (2003, pp. 10-11)
In Fallout 2, the fact that the player can only discover this via interacting with the Vice-President makes the social commentary unique to videogames.
“Of course, the fact that the player can only discover this via interacting with the Vice-President ads the finishing touch which makes this social commentary unique to videogames.”
From Real-time hermeneutics: meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games (2018) · cites this paper as Weise (2003, pp. 10-11)
In Fallout 2, the designers made a 'Dan Quayle AI' that the player would discover was a raving loon unfit for political office.
“In other words, what the designers of Fallout 2 did was make a 'Dan Quayle AI' which, the player would inevitably discover, was a raving loon unfit for any sort of political office.”
From Real-time hermeneutics: meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games (2018) · cites this paper as Weise (2003, pp. 10-11)
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Real-time hermeneutics: meaning-making in ludonarrative digital games
Arjoranta, J. (2018) · doi:10.31237/osf.io/uep74 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
- Authors
- Weise, M.
- Affiliations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Weise, Matthew
- Venue
- DiGRA Digital Library
- Published
- 2003-01-01
- Volume
- 2
- ISSN
- 2342-9666
- OpenAlex
- W30298999
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2022: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Digital Games Research Association Conference
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Visual Arts and Performing Arts › Visual Culture and Art Theory
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Keywords
- video games, rule-based systems, game design, expressive strategies
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