Clint Hocking, an influential game designer, was quoted in the New Yorker in 2011 as saying,
| Clink Hocking's online avatar |
Like my suggestion in my post, he was talking about how the mechanics of the game could enhance the art of the author and designer. However, in a post on his blog he altered this quote ever-so-slightly but importantly to say,
"Finding a way to make the dynamics of play support the creative expression of players—to me that’s the only question that matters."
A lot of the art of theatre comes from actors coming up with new interpretations for characters, or in the subtle differences a certain actor gives to a script by the way they he or she plays it. Why can't it be the same with video games? Taking that same scenario from above, a player could choose to try and avoid enslaving Caliban, or that same player could enslave Caliban the second he/she meets him, before the reasons to enslave him are even clear. Just like an actor or actress, the gamer could "play" Prospero however he/she chooses.
That's good art.
hey, you might also want to consider looking at Shakespeare through a somewhat broader lens - look at how the plays change through different mediums. I was living in India for a while so I'm kind of partial, but there have been a few bollywood adaptations of Shakepseare:http://www.bollywood.com/shakespeare-gets-his-due-bollywood
ReplyDeleteobviously I'm not saying you need to write about Bollywood or anything, but it might give you some insight with the video game thing if you look at how Shakespeare transforms going to different mediums holistically.
I'm a bit confused about this post. It sounds pretty speculative, and, though this might be my own conservative bent, I feel like the discussion of choice in the Tempest hypothetical video game was a little too casual. I'm confused about what kind of approach your paper is going to take exactly, but I am interested in hearing more about it.
ReplyDeleteOn a completely different note, if you're using a PC, if you want to paste text without formatting, the shortcut key is Ctrl+Shift+V. That might make future posts with culled quotes more readable.
http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/2013/03/04/staging-shakespeare-first-festival-video-game - Paul, I just found this article through the Shakespeare Forum group on facebook about people getting points for staging a Shakespeare scene from a play.
ReplyDeleteIt could be that the videogame foregrounds the issue of choice (and of course the themes of control, magic, and generally the use of power). I'm wondering if your discussion about video games is only in terms of possible adaptations of the plays to a video game, when in fact the more important connections may be thematic or cultural. For example, how does one conditioned to playing video games respond to a play such at the Tempest? Or, how are the common ways of interpreting the Tempest (colonialism, etc.) relevant to our participatory media culture?
ReplyDeleteWow, this was totally just a casual musing kind of post, but thanks for all the comments, guys! Nyssa, that might be why I seemed to casual. Sorry about that. And thanks for the formatting tip! (I hope it looks better now.)
ReplyDeleteRachel--I found that same story the other day! Totally cool.
Mikaela--I like that angle. Thanks for the idea.
Prof. Burton--yeah, I was at first going for a more thematic view with my original idea of Shakespeare as a game designer, but once everyone jumped more on my idea of theater and games informing one another, I tried to go after those specific ties more. Your questions are goods ones and I'll have to think about them more.