In what ways could video games be considered post modern with examples

1. VIDEO
GAMES
AND
POMO

2. Old School Games
Though all games could be argued to be
postmodern, a lot of original video games were
no ‘win’, only accumulating points through
harder and harder levels of gameplay.

4. And some interesting trends…
Over a process of years, new more challenging
games were created, moving through to puzzle,
maze, shooter, beat em up, RPG, strategy etc.
An early game that was very PoMo was Monkey
Island. Watch a few minutes of the clip, and
identify two things that are typically PoMo.

5. Games and the PoMo Audience
Audience is the first step to how they are postmodern,
but is not the only reason.
Postmodern audiences do not read the text in the same
way.
Modern audiences seek reassurance from their text.
Postmodern audience is seen to be ‘waning from effect’
(Fredric Jameson) – we are no longer affected by what we
see (or we don’t experience the intended effect)

6. Rules
Video games have sets of rules – they are often not
given to us outright, and we are expected to work
them out as we go, pushing the boundaries of
reality (blurring of reality) in order to discover
them.
In some games (usually online multiplayer) players
can and do create their own rules, e.g. who can die
the best, which guy can sleep with the most
hookers, and how many police cars can I get to
follow me?

7. Meta-reflections
In postmodernist novels, writers wanted to
confront the reader with the fact that they were
reading a book and did this with meta-reflections.
In some texts they told the reader that what they
were reading now was just black ink on a white
piece of paper. This is called a meta-reflection, a
text reflecting on the fact that it’s a text.
In some videogames you can easily find examples of
meta-reflections. Just think of sentences like “game
over”, or “round one fight” that appear in the
screen of the player.

8. GTA 5
For those of you who have not played GTA at all

9. GTA
GTA Vice City - main character is Tommy (voiced by Ray
Liotta).
Ray played Harry Hill in Goodfellas
Vice City is a parallel text – the journey of a young gun
working his way up through a gang.
Blurring of genres – GTA is part adventure game, part role
play, part simulation, part shooter – blurring the genres
of video games.
It is also blurring genres in terms of being a videogame –
at times we are fed cut-scenes (short ‘film-like’ moments,
giving us context) which belong to Film and TV genres.

10. Intertextuality
• Liberty City is based on New York City
• Vice City is a counterpart to Miami
• San Andreas is based on San Francisco
• Capital City is based on Washington DC
• Use of brands (Ferocious cars = Ferrari,
Jugular = Jaguar), (Apple Mac in GTA5)
• Radio stations playing real top 40 hits

11. GTA
Cut scenes also serve to separate micro-narratives,
which create a confusion over time and space.
In GTA 5, you play as three characters, using a
compass (see below) to negotiate. You can switch
to start new missions that can only be initiated
through that character, to use character’s special
abilities, or just for fun.
The bottom quadrant is for your online character.

12. Micro-narratives in GTA
There are multiple micro-narratives in GTA, the
three main characters that you can play as have
separate narratives, as well as narratives that link to
each other. There are many smaller missions and
micro-narratives to explore in GTA.
- Trevor murders a gang who ransacked his trailer
- Franklin rescues Michael from Triad members
There are even smaller ‘side-quests’. Only 20 of
them are needed for 100% completion of the game.

13. GTA
Celebrity obsessed
Ray Liotta, Jenna Jameson, Debby Harry, Ice T
Must have a high degree of pop culture knowledge in
order to ‘get’ these references
Moral Ambiguity
Ray Liotta reminds the player they are inhabiting ‘another
person’ therefore their decision making processes are
perhaps different to reality.
We are given expectations of how to play the game, and
usually fufil these expectations. We release subjectivity.
But Rockstar chose not to use celeb voices in GTA 5.

15. GTA
GTA has gained a reputation for being overtly violent,
bridging on ‘pornoviolence’. Critics of this believe GTA
are following influence from popular films, e.g. Quentin
Tarantino and Francis Ford Coppola.
GTA IV took this conversation INTO the game. On one
in-car radio station in the game, you can listen to
‘republican radio’ dispute the evils of violent gameplay.

16. GTA
GTA San Andreas implies crime is a great choice for
African American males in order to succeed in the
media-saturated material world we live in –
Challenging Dominate Ideology/ Truth/ Meta
Narrative
We are playing as CJ, an anti-hero, he lives a gang
life, exploiting people, killing, drug dealing etc. in
order to achieve the American dream (but isn't this a
Dominate Ideology/ Truth/ Meta Narrative).

18. Audience Interactivity
Fan Art
Game walkthroughs
Level editing
Modding
Cheats

19. Tapped Out – The Simpsons

20. Tapped Out – The Simpsons
• Comments on society
• Is self-aware
• Contains Pastiche/Parody
• Hyper-reality
• Confusion over time/space

21. Bioshock Infinite
Read your ‘fill in the gaps’ handout.
What about Bioshock Infinite is Po Mo?
What argument is central to this reading?
The full narrative

22. PoMo Features in Video Games
We have already talked briefly about …
• Self-reflexivity/self-awareness
• Inter-textuality
• Audience interaction
• Confusion over time/space
• Celebrity obsessed nature
• Micro-narratives
• Mixed genre

23. Your turn
Choose a video game you suspect to be PoMo,
find gameplay online via YouTube and find
ways in which it is PoMo.
You can work in groups but you need to do
different games.