Exploring Videogames with Deleuze and Guattari : Towards an Affective Theory of Form

Videogames are a unique artistic form, and to analyse and understand them an equally unique language is required. Cremin turns to Deleuze and Guattari's non-representational philosophy to develop a conceptual toolkit for thinking anew about videogames and our relationship to them. Rather than approach videogames through a language suited to other media forms, Cremin invites us to think in terms of a videogame plane and the compositions of developers and players who bring them to life. According to Cremin, we are not simply playing videogames, we are creating them. We exceed our own bodily limitations by assembling forces with the elements they are made up of. The book develops a critical methodology that can explain what every videogame, irrespective of genre or technology, has in common and proceeds on this basis to analyse their differences. Drawing from a wide range of examples spanning the history of the medium, Cremin discerns the qualities inherent to those regarded as classics and what those qualities enable the player to do. Exploring Videogames with Deleuze and Guattari analyses different aspects of the medium, including the social and cultural context in which videogames are played, to develop a nuanced perspective on gendered narratives, caricatures and glorifications of war. It considers the processes and relationships that have given rise to industrial giants, the spiralling costs of making videogames and the pressure this places developers under to produce standard variations of winning formulas. The book invites the reader to embark on a molecular journey through worlds neither 'virtual' nor 'real' exceeding image, analogy and metaphor. With clear explanations and detailed analysis, Cremin demonstrates the value of a Deleuzian approach to the study of videogames, making it an accessible and valuable resource for students, scholars, developers and enthusiasts. Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 CONTENTS 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 Virtual reality 13 The century of videogames 15 Chapter content 20 1 Videogame plane 23 Into the light 24 Twelve axioms 31 2 The smooth and striated 40 Nintendo land 41 Captured war machine 45 Plane of organisation 50 Videogame industrial complex 56 3 Rhizome-play 63 Common play 64 Videogame chess is not a videogame 68 Arborescent-play 70 Action and affect 72 4 Ludo-diagram 76 Canvas 76 Patchworks of potential 81 Diagrams within diagrams 85 The afterimage 88 5 Artist and apprentice 90 The painter 91 Schema of the force-sign 95 Five varieties of realism 102 6 Molecular Mario 107 Becoming-animal, becoming-Mario 108 Machinic assemblages 111 Timeshift 115 Action-image in fragments 120 2007: friction-image 123 7 Major/minor 130 Significant gameplay 131 Gameplay and schizophrenia 134 Sin and punishment 136 First-person fighting-machines 140 TheTriforce 144 Is there such a thing as a minor videogame? 151 Bibliography 155 Index 162