The document explores the relationship between games and art, particularly focusing on whether games can be considered art through the lens of metaphor. It discusses various games, such as 'ICO' and 'Octodad', analyzing their narrative elements and potential thematic metaphors, and highlights the challenges of interpreting games as metaphors. The author concludes that while metaphors are an important aspect of art, they are only one component and not all art is metaphorical.

1. GAMES AND METAPHOR
JEREMY PESNER

2. WHAT MAKES A GAME “ART?”
• There will never be a complete answer
• Not going to try and find one here
• Will merely explore one idea/option/component of the
question
• Should hopefully help to understand the lenses
through which we view and understand games
• P.S. I majored in Computer Science, not English lit

3. CERTAIN GAMES ARE
(PROBABLY) ART

4. THE METAPHOR
• A staple of almost every work of fine art
• Arguably responsible for the beauty of life (no big
deal)
• Forms the basis for endless academic pontification
• But how do we understand them in games?

5. PLAYING WITH THE FIGURATIVE
• What are these games about?
• Games are literal with respect to what you’re seeing and
doing (jumping, moving, interacting)…
• But it’s what you don’t see that’s fascinating
• The games aren’t clear - they never provide “the answer”
• Can be frustrating to gamers - we play games to find
answers

6. PROBABLY NOT DESIGNED AS
METAPHORS

7. SOME GAMES HAVE
METAPHORS IN THEIR STORIES

8. BUT…
Which games ARE metaphors (or could be)?
I have some thoughts…

9. ICO/SHADOW OF THE
COLOSSUS
• Almost no dialogue
• Never have a clear sense of ultimate goal
• Significant emphasis on portrayal of the game world
• Few characters

10. OCTODAD
=
• An indie game in which you are a human/octopus creature
• You have a human wife and children
• The challenge of the game is movement-based
• Almost no one realizes you are an octopus
• Perhaps a metaphor for the isolation and difficulty of communicating in
family life?
• Reminds me of another animal father…

11. AN EXERCISE…
WTF is this shit?
• I’m not sure most people took this game literally when it came out
• Confirmed that it heavily borrowed from Alice in Wonderland
• This could be a metaphor for anything (offer your ideas)
• Only later games set this world as the “reality”
• Accompanying theory that SMB3 is a play (ask me if you want to know)

12. HOW TO TELL IF A GAME MAY
BE A METAPHOR
• Minimalist feel
• Little dialogue
• Little backstory (exception: Braid)
• Few characters
• Once the metaphor starts getting too detailed, it
doesn’t work as a metaphor

13. METAPHOR IS ONLY ONE
COMPONENT OF ART
• Plenty of art that is not constructed as a metaphor
• Probably some games taken literally that are
considered art
• Would love to see the Andy Warhol of game art
• Perhaps it’s enough to say that art brings some level
of sophistication to how we see the world