Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Space of Games

When playing Portal 2 (which is incredible by the way, play it ASAP), I noticed something about the world that videogames create.

When looking at a TV while playing games, I noticed that I was always imagining the space outside of the view of my monitor. This obviously rarely happens with film or TV, if at all. It's because the environment of film and TV isn't as important as it is in games. The space your game character inhabits is essential to the experience, and because of the flexibility you have in exploring and viewing it, your perception of the screen in front of you changes.
You look at the TV as a window, rather than a canvas.
To me, this is incredibly important in how you perceive the game emotionally. During the end of Portal 2, I felt like I was INSIDE the environment, especially because it's a first-person game. When you feel like you're inside of the space, you feel more like it's actually happening in real life.
It's obvious why you feel a more tangible connection to the events in a game, when you have control over your experience, it creates the illusion that it's really happening to you. I'm more interested right now in how the perception of space affects that.
Maybe I don't have anything interesting to say about it. Maybe I'm just noticing it.
Why do I have to be so smart all the time? HUH?!
Why can't I just say that I noticed something and then be done with it?! Does the order of the question mark and exclamation point matter!? Does it change the balance of the statement? Is this more of an exclamation than a question!? Is this more of a question than an exclamation?!
I DON'T KNOW!
I'm really freaking out here! Am I going to have a breakdown in front of my lovely audience someday? Probably. Is this it? Probably not!