Comments on: When We’re Done with a Game http://gameculturejournal.com/blog/2008/09/when-were-done-with-a-game/ Thoughts on Games from a Scholar in Training Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:28:03 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Kevin http://gameculturejournal.com/blog/2008/09/when-were-done-with-a-game/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Kevin Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:57:46 +0000 http://www.gameculturejournal.com/blog/?p=23#comment-5 My take is a bit more linguistic and etymological. This is the sort of stuff that nobody consciously thinks about when they tell their friends that they recently achieved things in a game, but as with a lot of what is written, said, and shown, there are meanings beneath the meanings. If you have "beat" a game, it is implied that you were in some sort of violent struggle with it. The game might have done a bit of lashing out at you, but you flogged it right back and pummeled it out of contention. That AI, level design, and trap placement was no match for you! This is the most violent, gladiatorial way to tell somebody that you have seen the ending of a game. I have also heard extensions of this phrase ("I layed the smack-down on that game; I gave that game a beatdown," etc...) To say "completed" belies a structured take on a game text. I have looked at what is possible in a game and, given how it is designed and what can be understood as the possible ends of action and narrative, I have done all that was asked and have finally made it to the end credits. Ordered, structured players see things as "complete." The game was a mysterious assemblage of user-input commands, sprites, and dialog boxes, but I put it all together and wrapped it up. I think that to say that you "completed" something also speaks to how readily we want to understand our game narratives as finite, Aristotelian, and tidy. But to have "finished" a game means that it is "done." Sure, you can say that you have "finished with" GTA 4 after 30 hours and no real narrative progress. But even to say that you have finished GTA 4 in the sense that the narrative is over and the story complete is to imply that your entry into that virtual world is over. I recently finished DIABLO 2 in both senses. I am sick of that game and its interface, I destroyed the final boss, and I will likely avoid the game for the rest of my life. "Finished," again, implies "finite." But can we finish MMORPGS? By reaching the level cap? Getting the best armor? Simply canceling our subscriptions? My take is a bit more linguistic and etymological. This is the sort of stuff that nobody consciously thinks about when they tell their friends that they recently achieved things in a game, but as with a lot of what is written, said, and shown, there are meanings beneath the meanings.

If you have “beat” a game, it is implied that you were in some sort of violent struggle with it. The game might have done a bit of lashing out at you, but you flogged it right back and pummeled it out of contention. That AI, level design, and trap placement was no match for you! This is the most violent, gladiatorial way to tell somebody that you have seen the ending of a game. I have also heard extensions of this phrase (“I layed the smack-down on that game; I gave that game a beatdown,” etc…)

To say “completed” belies a structured take on a game text. I have looked at what is possible in a game and, given how it is designed and what can be understood as the possible ends of action and narrative, I have done all that was asked and have finally made it to the end credits. Ordered, structured players see things as “complete.” The game was a mysterious assemblage of user-input commands, sprites, and dialog boxes, but I put it all together and wrapped it up. I think that to say that you “completed” something also speaks to how readily we want to understand our game narratives as finite, Aristotelian, and tidy.

But to have “finished” a game means that it is “done.” Sure, you can say that you have “finished with” GTA 4 after 30 hours and no real narrative progress. But even to say that you have finished GTA 4 in the sense that the narrative is over and the story complete is to imply that your entry into that virtual world is over. I recently finished DIABLO 2 in both senses. I am sick of that game and its interface, I destroyed the final boss, and I will likely avoid the game for the rest of my life. “Finished,” again, implies “finite.” But can we finish MMORPGS? By reaching the level cap? Getting the best armor? Simply canceling our subscriptions?

]]> By: Michael Abbott http://gameculturejournal.com/blog/2008/09/when-were-done-with-a-game/comment-page-1/#comment-4 Michael Abbott Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:24:26 +0000 http://www.gameculturejournal.com/blog/?p=23#comment-4 Hi Bobby. I enjoyed your analysis of this discussion, and I appreciate you taking the time to consider the issues related to this question. Words do matter, as you say, because they reflect how we see and makes sense of things. I never expected to receive so many comments from readers on this post. Clearly, many of us agree it's a question worth exploring, even though we will obviously never answer it. Thanks, too, for posting your own views, which were most helpful. Walking away more confused than when you entered is often a sign of a thoughtful conversation. :-) Hi Bobby. I enjoyed your analysis of this discussion, and I appreciate you taking the time to consider the issues related to this question. Words do matter, as you say, because they reflect how we see and makes sense of things. I never expected to receive so many comments from readers on this post. Clearly, many of us agree it’s a question worth exploring, even though we will obviously never answer it. Thanks, too, for posting your own views, which were most helpful. Walking away more confused than when you entered is often a sign of a thoughtful conversation. :-)

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