Moving Hands

Recently, Roger Ebert wrote a follow-up post, “Okay, kids, play on my lawn” to his prior blog post that argued that video games are not art. If I may say so, his entry is absurd: “Which do you value more: Huckleberry Finn or a great video game?” Umm… What the hell kind of question is that? I continue to be disappointed in Ebert’s lack of imagination.

One thing that I noticed, though, is that Ebert speaks of games as a time drain; he doesn’t want to spend twenty hours playing a video game. Well, most of the experimental games that pushed me to rethink the meaning of video games as “art” were actually very, very, short video games. I don’t think any of them took me longer than ten minutes to play.

So, without further ado, here is a list of some short games that caused me to re-evaluate the meaning of games. I have included links to download or, if applicable, to play the games online. There are definitely many more games that deeply impacted me, but this is just a starting point for my readers.

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9:05 by Adam Cadre: This game is interactive fiction.
The basic plot is: You wake up in a bed, and the phone rings. When you pick up the phone, a man demands to know where you are: you are late for work! You must leave as soon as possible! There is a counter on the upper righthand corner of the game, constantly reminding you that you are late. The parser is slightly dumb, but not frustratingly so. (Note: in interactive fiction, the parser is the “narrator” that interprets your commands.)
But then there is a twist.
It encourages the player to replay the game and take the less-obvious paths through the story, then sit back and admire how Cadre skillfully manipulates the player into taking certain actions during the first run-through. (I even think he made the parser slightly stubborn on purpose.)
After a bit of googling, I found that this game is available online thanks to some developers who are creating an online Z Machine interpreter using javascript. Give 9:05 a spin; it’s finely suited for beginners and experts alike.

Passage by Jason Rohrer: This game is a metaphor for life, and it’s intended to be a memento mori game. It’s difficult to explain it without ruining the experience, so just download it. The basic idea is that, as you move, you age. You can walk down to find treasures, or you can spend your life with your mate.
I’d encourage you to play the game for yourself and see if you can mine any meaning from it. Then read the supplementary material that Jason Rohrer has provided on his website.
Note: There is a lot of debate as to whether this could be defined as a “game.” I include this because I do think it’s a game: the player can alter the outcome of the storyline.

Brain Damage by Stephen Lavelle: I hesitate to post this game because, honestly, it is so freaking disturbing. If anybody doubts the ability of a game to affect one emotionally, this game certainly will prove him or her wrong – for days or weeks or months afterwards.
This game seems to be based upon Jeffery Dahmer, the famous serial killer. I’m going to hide the review under a cut because… well.
Trigger warning: contains descriptions of violence and murder. (Also contains spoilers)

As the game opens, you see a young African-American man. (Dahmer was infamous for targeting mostly African-American and Asian victims.) The beginning is strictly cinematic: you do not actually play the game yet. You simply watch it unfold onscreen, like a movie.
At some point, the man finds himself in a stranger’s home. His thoughts fill the space around him: “Where am I? What are you DOING to me?”
Then, finally, you take control of the game.
You see the man’s head from an aerial view, with a drill and acid next to him.
Most gamers, if presented with an inexplicable situation, try every possible action. And this is exactly what Stephen Lavelle steers his players into doing: the next step is to drill a hole into the man’s skull and pour some acid into his head. (Again, some background from Jeffrey Damhmer: At some point in his killing spree, he got the idea into his head that he could create “zombies” from his victims by drilling holes into their skulls and injecting hydrochloric acid into their brains.)
Then you are presented with the image of the young man with a line of spittle coming from his mouth.
Words appear onscreen: “No, no, that’s not right!”

Then the game starts again, presumably to find another victim to attempt to make him into a zombie.

Okay.
I’d like to begin my analysis by pointing to the comments section on the game page. Usually, comments are worthless and I don’t bother reading them. This page isn’t immune from trolling, but I found the comments here more worthwhile than usual.
Excerpts from the comments page:
“I almost want to hate you for doing this to me, but I did this myself, which I suppose is the point of video games a a medium. To see the content, you have to be an active participant in it, which is something a creator can really take advantage of.” -Stephen
“While I can barely stand to call this a game, I get the impression that I would ‘win’ if I drilled and possibly poured acid into the correct part of a given victim’s head. Am I correct in assuming this? I don’t want to play the game any longer to find out.” -Tagonte

My personal interpretation: It is impossible to win the game. (If it is, I most empathetically do not want to find out.) Besides, the goal is to make a zombie. This raises the question: Do you really want to “win” by reducing an innocent man into a zombie?
In my view, the whole point of the game is to make the player realize that he or she has been manipulated by the creator to murder a man. Death in this game is treated very differently than in a conventional game: one death has far more emotional impact in this case than a million deaths of a million orcs. It strongly evokes the emotions of both parties: the victim’s pleas are the very definition of pathos and it turns out that the killer is trapped in a loop of insanity and obsession.

Well, I hope that this was a good starting point for all of you. Upon writing this entry, I realized that I haven’t been keeping up with the indie game scene nearly enough. If you will excuse me, I am going to play bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk by Stephen Lavelle and Terry Cavanagh now.

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Notes:

-I would recommend bookmarking Play This Thing! if you are interested in more indie/experimental games.

-Many pieces of interactive fiction, including 9:05, use a piece of software known as a Z Machine interpreter. This website has a list of Z Machine interpreters for every imaginable OS out there. If you are interested in interactive fiction, I’d recommend downloading a Z machine interpreter – interactive fiction provides hours and hours of free entertainment. If you enjoyed 9:05, I would recommend playing Photopia next – it is Adam Cadre’s best-known work, and it’s incredibly touching. It also is really interesting narratively because it’s a non-linear narrative.
I should stop here, or I will ramble about interactive fiction forever. There is a database of interactive fiction, and many games are available for download there.

-My previous post, Video Games as Art: Part One can be found here.