Blips: Hidden Fortress

Source: Dwarf Fortress NYC: ASCII Wallpaper, Conceptual Maps and The Landscape Of The Museum
Author: Eron Rauch
Site: Video Game Tourism

I've written about the video games in MoMA's Applied Design exhibition before, but where I focused on the interaction implementation of the playable games on display, there were other games that couldn't be touched. The way MoMA installed different kinds of controls with different games came off as experimental, and the same adjective could be applied to their strategy with the non-interactive games. A Let's Play video of The Sims, plays in place of live code, while EVE Online gets an original dual monitor video display that explains how the game functions and its immense scope. No two games seem to be given the exact same treatment, which is a bit odd considering the dry, uniform manner in which the games have been installed.

In all this, Dwarf Fortress seems to get short shrift. The ASCII mountain colony simulation game is, quite honestly, beyond me. I've watched players stumble though it, read harrowing accounts of thrilling moments from diehard players, and been "introduced" to the game through several articles aimed at the general non-gamer populace, but never had the desire to actually play it. And I think it's safe to assume that most museum visitors haven't played it either. So, the fact that the game sits in the back room as a short, audioless video loop with a bit of accompanying wall text doesn't seem to do it justice. I find it hard to imagine that anyone who hasn't played Dwarf Fortress will walk away with an appreciation for what the game does, and even less so, a desrie to go home and try it for themselves.

In the link I sourced at the top of this post, Eron Rauch dissects why he was disappointed in the installation of Dwarf Fortress in Applied Design, and offers a few suggestions for how it could be done better by taking advice from another MoMA exhibition (irony!). Even though I follow the logic of curator Paola Antonelli's decision for a sparse installation, free of material nostalgia outside of the games (code) themselves, for those unplayable displays, something else needs to exist to fill in the gaps. While this seems to have been taken into account for The Sims and EVE, Dwarf Fortress has been left to fend for itself, when we all know it's incomprehensible without a guide and a whole lot of spare time. It feels like MoMA has the answers to the questions about displaying such an unruly game, they just didn't follow though on them.

One could make the argument for the current Dwarf Fortress display at MoMA as one that avoids heavy-handed curatorial voice in favor of the work speaking for itself. After all, this is the same treatment given to the majority of works in the museum: a painting hangs on the wall with a bit of supplemental text to its side. To visitors not already in the know, this kind of display is a puzzle, it's own kind of game in a way, where the sentences, dates, imagery, materials, and everything else is taken into account as evidence in support of an eventual interpretation that the viewer can call their own (lest they be plagued by trying to figure out what the artist meant). The problem with this approach in Dwarf Fortress is that, given its unplayable display form, the amount of information the viewer has to work with is incomplete, and not enough has been done to make up the deficit.

Blips: Oldies All Day

Source: Play MoMA's Latest Video Game Acquisitions Online
Author: Mostafa Heddaya
Site: Hyperallergic

The Museum of Modern Art is proceeding further with their video game acquisitions, now picking u a handful of early classics along with Minecraft. I'm a little embarassed to admit that I've never played some of these revered titles, even though I'm well aware of their legacies. Thankfully, Mostafa Heddaya over at Hyperallergic has compiled a list of sites where you can play these games online. Sure, it's no the same as using the true original controllers and arcade cabinets, but at least you can hold onto your quarters.

I love the sound design in these old games. They make such great use of different kinds of noise to intense effect. Vector graphics pioneer Tempest is probably my favorite of the group. When you complete a level, the camera zooms in through the opening in the center of the stage with this great, building whoosh sound. Yars Revenge has amazing noise-y sounds too. They also serve as an audible complement to the scrambled rainbow of pixelated mess that acts as a kind of force-field dividing the screen. Next time I'm given the chance to play these games on original hardware, I'll definitely take advantage of the opportunity. Until then, at least they're freely accessible as Flash games.

Blips: The Game Designer is Present

Source: The Artist is Present on Skype
Author: Pippin Barr

Have you played Pippin Barr's The Artist is Present? It's an adventure game centered around a performance/installation of the same name by Marina Abramovic at the Museum of Modern Art. In the game you can experience the artwork in simulated form with your character sitting across the table from the artist herself, staring at one another. Of course you have to play the game during museum hours, or else you won't be able to enter the building!

The Artist is Present (the game) was made a couple years ago, but just recently Marina Abramovic actually got in touch with Barr, said she had played the game, and wanted him to be a part of a new project. Details are slim for the time being, but it sounds like a cool collaboration that is as crazy as it is awesome. Can't wait to see what comes out of this.

Blips: A Dwarf Fortress Surprise

Source: The Minds Behind Dwarf Fortress
Author: Patrick Klepek
Site: Giant Bomb

I've only watched videos of ASCII fantasy-sim Dwarf Fortress in action; I've never played it myself. It's one of those games that I greatly admire, and am glad exists, but have very little interest in playing. That said, I was eager to hear what the minds behind the game, Tarn and Zach Adams, had to say about their interminable development process (10+ years and counting) and what it's like to have Dwarf Fortress acquired and on exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Giant Bomb's Patrick Klepek caught up with the brothers at EVE Fanfest a couple weeks ago in Iceland where they proceeded to shed some light on Dwarf Fortresses dark corners. It's cool to hear opinions on contemporary game design from developers that have been so dedicated to one game for so long.

If you like that video, you'll probably also enjoy some other videos and write-ups on Giant Bomb from this year's EVE Fanfest. I particularly got a kick out of their travelogue video where they document their week in Iceland, highlighting some very unique local cuisine. Iceland wasn't on my must-visit list, but it is now.

Blips: Shameless Plug

Source: Completely Hands-On
Author: Dan Solberg
Site: Unwinnable

No one ever said I couldn't use this blog to promote my own work. Heck, that's pretty much what it's for anyway. So, I'd like to draw your attention to my first piece for Unwinnable, a look at the video game controllers installed as part of the Applied Design exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. The controllers aren't the subject of the show, the games are, but the museum made some interesting curatorial decisions with the controllers in an attempt to amplify viewer focus on "interaction design."

The results are a bit experimental, but largely successful. MoMA strikes a balance between staying true to how you would expect the games to control and altering interfaces to meet the needs of the exhibition. Of course, if you want to full details, I'm just going to direct you to the link above. Don't worry, I'll return to talking about other people's work tomorrow.

Interaction Design: The Fine Print of MoMA's Video Game Acquisition

There was a lot of fuss a couple weeks ago when the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City announced they would add games to their collection. The video game community was pumped to see another instance of cultural recognition for their beloved medium. The announcement, penned by Senior Architecture and Design Curator Paola Antonelli, was also viewed as another step forward for the acceptance of video games as a proper art form, with visions of Tetris seated next to Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Amidst this excitement, a crucial detail of the announcement was largely being overlooked. Video games are not being added to MoMA's permanent collection as artworks, but as design objects, specifically for their "interaction design." Mario and Picasso might not be roommates after all.

From a typical gamer's perspective, the inclusion of video games in MoMA says enough to satisfy on its own, but from an art world perspective, the distinction between art and design is a contentious rift, and labeling a new category of works as one or the other matters a great deal. Reading into the politics of a precedent-setting institution making such a decision about video games, one wonders how the balance of traditionalist push-back and compromise played out to ultimately label games as "design," or if that was the idea all along. Language used for these categorical purposes is always carefully curated, aiming to please as many demographics as possible. With these video game acquisitions, MoMA is looking for the common ground where gamers and art patrons overlap.

The Smithsonian walked the same line last year with The Art of Video Games at the American Art Museum. The main feature of that exhibition was a showcase of console hardware and software, representing 4 distinct game genres across time. The Art of Video Games acted as a display of historical artifacts with explanatory statements justifying each game's inclusion in the exhibition. The blunt title of the show alluded to art, but without directly stating that games are art. In fact, usually when the phrase "the art of" is employed, it's to discuss craftsmanship, a quality that could be attributed to proficiency in most labor requiring a degree of delicacy. The MoMA announcement presented the same mixed message brought forth in The Art of Video Games –a prestigious art institution is willing to use "art" and "video games" in the same breath to draw attention from the game community, but stops short of an actual art exhibition of video games.

It's true that MoMA begins their announcement with the blunt statement that video games are art, but the rest of the blog post runs counter, leaning heavily on explanation of the design criteria and technicalities of acquisition. For an art museum like MoMA to simply state that games are art seeks a kinship with the gaming public. It's saying "we all know games are art so let's just move on now." Yet, the issue of whether video games are art is as heated as ever, turning up just about everywhere that a forum for discussing games exists. The avoidance of the debate about whether games can be considered art is reinforced by breaking them down into architectural design elements. These components could be used as the basis for artistic interpretation, but here they are presented as bullet points for the means to a solution, solutions being a core tenant of great design.

The argument for games as art comes down to interactivity being the distinctive factor that both separates it from other expressive media while also showing the conceptual depth and artistry present in great painting and sculpture. MoMA understands this, but chooses to frame video game interactivity as design, not art, categorizing it in the same realm as furniture, tools, and advertisements. This framing actually suits games quite easily, seeing as game development teams, if job titles are to be believed, are led by designers, not artists. "Game Design" is a field in which one can earn a college degree, and the Lead Artist on a game development team is primarily concerned with aesthetics, not interactivity, though the two are inextricably related. MoMA is merely using the predominant language that already exists for discussing games –one of design.

In many ways, design is the great unifier of video games where even the word "game" itself has become a misnomer at times. A lot of interactive things are termed "games" that behave in wildly different ways than one would typically understand a game to function. If chess and baseball are used as barometers for what constitutes a game, then the episodic exploration and choice-driven conversations of Kentucky Route Zero seem to put it in another category, closer to visual novels, but still uniquely interactive. The term "game" has evolved beyond chess and baseball to include the likes of text adventures and World of Warcraft, but conversely rendering it less useful as a classification. All successful video games display outstanding design though, and that's both a much easier pill to swallow and a convenient safeguard in the event that a great taxonomical dispersion in the future that renders "video game" obsolete.

MoMA's decision to acquire specific video games as examples of superb "interaction design" is less a bold statement claiming video games to be works of art and more a logical next step for a cultural institution looking to expand patronage and continue relevance. That said, final judgements about whether MoMA's initial video game venture shifts the balance in the "games as art" dialogue should be withheld until Applied Design, the exhibition featuring their initial 14 acquired games, opens in March.