The Presence of Absence: Observing the Political in Play

@freyadutta
THE PRESENCE
OF ABSENCE
Observing the Political in Play Mohini Dutta

MOHINI DUTTA
@freyadutta
GAMES

@freyadutta
IT WAS ALL SO NEW TO ME.
GAMES COULD DO POTENTIALLY
ANYTHING. IT WAS
INTOXICATING.
GAMES
image/ M.C. Escher: Metamorphose

GAMES
PROVIDE
A TERRAIN
FROM
WHICH
MEANING
CAN
EMERGE
@freyadutta GAMES
image/Archigram: Walking Cities

I FELT THE LOVE
NOT THE NOSTALGIA
@freyadutta GAMES

TETRIS @freyadutta GAMES
A DARK
MORALITY
TALE ABOUT
PIECES THAT
DIDN’T FIT
IN, AND SO
DESTROYED
SOCIETY AS
WE KNOW IT

@freyadutta GAMES
GAMES
FOUND
ME AT

@freyadutta GAMES
WHERE
ANYTHING GOES

@freyadutta GAMES
SYSTEMS DESIGN
OPTIMISES THE
CHANCES OF
MEANINGFUL
ENGAGEMENT
BETWEEN PLAYERS &
THE SYSTEMS THEY
INHABIT
image/Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich.

@helloAntidote image/Bottleneck @ CoAP

@helloAntidote image/Sandwich Shop @ the UN

@freyadutta GAMES
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]

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
PLAY
RE APPROPRIATES
SPACE
@freyadutta GAMES
ANALOG PLAY:
CHANGING THE RULES AND
BOUNDARIES OF EXISTING
SPACES TO ALLOW FOR NEW
INTERACTIONS
image/ Painted video game cabinet by Nick Kuszyk @ Babycastles | 3D PacMan

@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
SIMULACRA
A COPY THAT IS MORE REAL
THAN THAT WHICH IT COPIES
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?

SIMULACRA @freyadutta GAMES
OBJECTS NOT BASED IN
A REALITY OR HIDING IT,
INSTEAD CONCEALING
image/ Jean Baudrillard | WoW Funeral Raid
THE IRRELEVANCE OF
REALITY TO OUR LIVES

SIMULACRA
@freyadutta GAMES
image/ Gilles Deleuze | Triad & Lesbian
Spider Queens of Mars by Anna Anthropy
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

@freyadutta GAMES
WHAT ABOUT GAMES THEN?

@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

@freyadutta GAMES
GAMES MIGHT EXIST OUTSIDE OF A
POPULAR POLITICAL SPECTRUM

@freyadutta GAMES
THEY MIGHT EVEN HAVE A POLITICS THAT IS
NOT ESTABLISHED YET

@freyadutta GAMES
THEY MIGHT EVEN HAVE A POLITICS THAT IS
NOT ESTABLISHED YET
BUT THEY CANNOT EXIST OUTSIDE OF
POLITICS

@freyadutta GAMES
image+ quote / Elizabeth Grosz | Illustration by Tom Leytham
“BODIES ARE ABSENT IN
ARCHITECTURE, BUT
THEY REMAIN
ARCHITECTURE'S
UNSPOKEN CONDITION”

@freyadutta GAMES
THE ABSENCE OF SOMETHING IS
ANOTHER FORM OF PRESENCE

@freyadutta GAMES
THE ABSENCE OF THE
POLITICAL IN
POPULAR GAMES
CULTURE REVEALS
THE PRESENCE OF A
DEEPLY CHARGED
POLITICS

@freyadutta GAMES
“THE GENERATION OF
MODELS OF A REAL
WITHOUT ORIGIN OR
REALITY”
image + quote / Jean Baudrillard
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

@freyadutta GAMES
WHAT POLITICS
CARRY FORWARD
INTO A COMMUNITY
BORN OUT OF &
SUSTAINED BY A
COMMODIFIED
ENVIRONMENT?
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

“The “possible” is an already @freyadutta GAMES
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.

WILL THE @freyadutta GAMES
POTENTIAL OF
GAMES SURVIVE
THEIR CRUTCH OF
STATICITY?
OR WILL ENTROPY
CONSUME OUR
MEDIUM TOO?

MOHINI DUTTA
@freyadutta
@helloAntidote

The Presence of Absence: Observing the Political in Play

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The Presence of Absence: Observing the Political in Play