I’m realizing as I type this that my sense of decorum tends to waver whenever I’m in a less than mood, but I suppose that is likely not uncommon in any vocational standard, job or otherwise. I’m guessing money and or accountability is usually what keeps people on the straight and narrow, though I’d argue that a lot of different fields offer coverage, defense, or apathy to accommodate for anyone who steps wildly out of line in any number of ways, but I digress.

Due to a combination of both a lack of time and mood, I don’t have much energy in me to spare for a full fledged article, so both stylistically and content wise, this is going to come up short. C’est la vie, as the alternative is just throwing up my hands and sitting here huffing like a fireless dragon for the next half hour, so at least there is some reasonable effort I’m affording to productivity in this regard.

I think initially, I was going to do some kind of minor write-up on Quakecon, and catch up on some bits from the event that I may have missed, but I ended up pivoting at the last second to talk about an idea I’ve been kicking around for awhile now, one which I will likely only provide a meager germination to the seed of an idea here today, but one that will bloom in a brilliant way down the line (I hope…I imagine time and distance will help build on it in reference to other articles that greatly expand upon the rather raw idea, perfecting the premise in question with more promise and pizzaz, upon further rexamination).

My idea is essentially related to the same notion that comes with the territory related to the phrase “Death of the Author”, which basically boils down to the notion that the authors interpretation on the story is not the final say in terms of what the text means. Interesting topic of conversation to be sure, and I think one that relates to video games, as well. However, I’m not necessarily referencing the notion of the story in video games, but more so the gameplay, as how the mechanics work in any game, how the systems play off each other, etc. In a not so absurdist moment. I think that all of these movements and working parts of gameplay possess a narrative in and of themselves, so to speak. I know that gets a bit abstract, but I’ve detailed in the past about my fixation on the “metaphysicality” of video games, and the importance of the ideas that make up both the hard numbers and soft concepts of what tie them together. In fact, I’m always baffled by people who focus more on the stories and characters of games in a weird way, as they are more basically designed, well tread territory. I mean, I get why people do focus on those things for a lot of reasons, though I do find it interesting that RPGs can have totally shit combat systems, and people will totally excuse them in the name of character and story. I wonder if there are any great examples of a movie having a comparable pass from movie goers, where the plot or acting isn’t that great, but the cinematography and directing is top notch?

I digress again, to refocus on the idea of “Death of the Author” in relation to gaming, obviously making it more “Death of the Developer”, as it seems a bit more complicated. More so in the way that, games can be updated, so prior ways video games could be played before, can’t really be played again. That’s not completely the case of course, as games on the PC can be modified greatly, and games on consoles, while not having the same tool set availability and or options present, at least have the option to uninstall and play the vanilla version, as long as one doesn’t connect to the internet…*if* the game allows that, of course.

Lots of caveats to all of this, and as I said, an idea that still needs time to grow, as there are a lot of ins and outs (and what have yous) to it, but a worthwhile investigation to be had. I guess it’s worth mentioning the catalyst that prompted me to at least start the genesis of the idea for the “Death of the Dev” article, which was an update for Doom: The Dark Ages, and how it completely fucked the balance the campaign had that I was playing through at the time. The game felt great, and I was working my way through the back 9 on Nightmare, when a forced update changed how everything worked , and completely ruined what was an otherwise thrilling experience. The reasons this was particularly upsetting, was because it was one of the few games I was still playing that I was getting enjoyment out of, during a particularly sour mood. To then be blindsided out of nowhere by a forced update I had no idea would so upend the balance of what I was playing, and ultimately couldn’t undo after the fact, meant I was stuck with this new reality.

My initial irritation was that the devs changed what had essentially become my campaign, and as someone who payed them to deliver said single player to me, it was no longer there’s to change, it was mine to enjoy. It’s a good thing my play through wasn’t on one of the permadeath modes, where once I died, that was the end of that. Imagine an update that would put the kibosh on several hours of effort, with no real way to practice it on the fly, and having that end due to rebalancing issues? I would have been livid, not just disappointed.

To use a super imperfect analogy that will hopefully more immediately encapsulate my feelings on the matter, I imagine it’s what it felt like with hardcore Star Wars, and the initial visceral reaction that fans had, when they eventually saw a recut version of the movie that George Lucas re-edited, changing the pivotal scene in New Hope, so that Greedo ended up shooting first instead of Han. Maybe not as extreme as the zeitgeist surrounding that event, but I feel as if the disappointed vibes are the same, as in you grow to love the ebb and flow of something, and then its just totally changed out of nowhere, to your total and horrible surprise. Now imagine if those kinds of edits could happen at a moments notice and on the fly, and you get the same notion as to just how easily an enjoyable video game campaign is, one that a gamer might consider “theirs”, for X,Y,or Z reasons, being changed out of nowhere, with no chance of them ever getting it back, and one they thoroughly enjoyed that specific iteration of? Cold as ice, I tell you.

I wish I had more time to elaborate, edit, perfect this article and idea, but that will have to wait for another day. Thanks for stopping by.

-Pashford