Life, Death and Dreams.
This week I purchased 'Dark Souls II', the sequel to a game that celebrated it's own difficulty and it's selling point was the constant cycle of death you would inevitably face. Normally, I like to complete a game fully before writing about them on here, but in this particular case that proved too hard a feat to do within the space of a working week. Instead I will discuss some of the processes that come into play whilst playing 'Dark Souls II', in particular the multiplayer aspects of the single player experience.
Upon the start of a new game players find themselves stood within a vast expanse, the most striking feature here - that also rang true within 'Dark Souls' - is that shadowy figures of other new-coming players fade in and out around you as they too explore this new land for the first time. This does not stop here, and throughout your journey these shadowy figures form and fade. 'Dark Souls II' is formatively a single player game (if you overlook the co-op/invade aspects) but through this feature a collective of gamers form together as one, experiencing and learning the steep curves of the game through their individual and external influences. If other players die within their game at a point you're currently at, the player is given the opportunity to witness their last moments in hopes of avoiding a similar fate. Alongside this, messages can be left across players' worlds, messages that can either provide aid through helpful advice or warnings. There are also those who prefer to 'troll' others into jumping of cliffs, potentially losing souls gained for levelling up in the process ('Dark Souls' take on survival of the fittest).
Upon the start of a new game players find themselves stood within a vast expanse, the most striking feature here - that also rang true within 'Dark Souls' - is that shadowy figures of other new-coming players fade in and out around you as they too explore this new land for the first time. This does not stop here, and throughout your journey these shadowy figures form and fade. 'Dark Souls II' is formatively a single player game (if you overlook the co-op/invade aspects) but through this feature a collective of gamers form together as one, experiencing and learning the steep curves of the game through their individual and external influences. If other players die within their game at a point you're currently at, the player is given the opportunity to witness their last moments in hopes of avoiding a similar fate. Alongside this, messages can be left across players' worlds, messages that can either provide aid through helpful advice or warnings. There are also those who prefer to 'troll' others into jumping of cliffs, potentially losing souls gained for levelling up in the process ('Dark Souls' take on survival of the fittest).
As I stated within Video Game Nostalgia: A Link to the Past I spent the vast majority of my childhood playing videogames. Through them, a form of psychologically based entertainment is created that gives players the ability to do what reality often forbids (programming permitted). And if you did P.E with me in high school you'd know that for me, reality forbid quite a lot. Thank god for badminton. The body still plays it's part through button pressing, yet this function inevitably submits to an automaton role as controller based inputs become routinely performed. The player focuses primarily on the images in front of them, experiencing the illusion of 'movement' within the screen (unless you're still playing on the Wii and your limbs are flailing around awkwardly). Through this feeling of 'movement', players can at times feel very 'real' experiences of vertigo or other such phobias. These fears presented to the player are superficial and non existent, but the experience can feel so realistic that it questions the extent to which we actually experience such emotions. The concept of the mind and body being two separate forms whilst playing videogames permits for an idea of duality within the gameplay process. Like videogames, dreams separate the subject from their body whilst allowing them to perceive vivid experiences within the mind. REM sleep (linked to lucid dreaming), switches the functions of the body off as the mind becomes wholly engaged. This to me, is a perfect example of the similarities between the processes of dreams and game playing. Often whilst sleeping I find myself within a state of lucid dreaming, able to control my actions within the dream or at the very least recognise the fact I am dreaming and become conscious. There have been numerous occasions where I could recount nightmares or stressful situations within dreams where I have actively 'Paused', before 'Loading' up a new scenario that now lacks the form of conflict that once was present. Clearly a video game centric way of coping. | Forgive me for this outdated recommendation -"Hey guys have you heard of this film?! - but if by any chance you happen to own the two disc special edition of 'Inception' I strongly recommend you to view the extras feature 'Dreams Cinema of the Subconscious'. Before watching this documentary I had been aware of the way my dreams shared certain characteristics with those of videogames, but it was not until I watched this documentary (specifically Jayne Gackenbach's studies of videogames) that I had considered the implications of constantly jumping between two realities. She discusses how gamers who play games for long hours/long duration of their lives are so used to going into a meditative like state it results in them more frequently experiencing lucid dreams. The constant need to overcome difficult enemies within the abstract space of the video game environment is so similar to that of dreams that the mantra of one imparts to the other. It seems apparent to me that within personal experiences, processes within videogames have altered the way my thoughts function and how I problem solve within times of deep sleep. Obviously this research is something that not everyone will relate to, it serves to instead provide another way of considering the effects of videogames. But to consider the topic in another way, have you ever dreamt you were within a film or tv show that you had recently seen? There is a level of passivity within those two examples where audience belief suspends to the images on the screen, the difference with games however is the level of direct participation that is required. For videogames to have an affect on dreams, then the way we register surroundings within the two must be at least similar. Videogames are not so completely abstract that we must learn every part of our surroundings. Both players (and dreamers) know that in the sea they are likely to float, fire will harm them and falling from great heights is hazardous for their health. Essentially, the subject bases their own perceptions of their own external reality within the game or dream itself. But despite this we must constantly test the surroundings, in 'Dark Souls II' you are unable to swim which is unlike most games of this decade, therefore there is a factor of uncertainty and these factors may at times change. This creates a process of trial and error, which as stated earlier 'Dark Souls' celebrates. Like video games, dreams too have the capacity to repeat a situation until they subjectively 'work' for the individual and the dream can progress. |
What is perceived through dreams can be creative in their form, just as they can be grounded in the subjective reality of the individual. People or places that have cropped up at some point within a person's day are often portrayed, no matter how minimal that interaction may have been during that particular day. As stated earlier, this could also be through a film, television programme or video game. There is a level of subconsciousness that transpires in our sleep, we dream about what we are aware of, whether we are aware of it or not. Frustratingly however dreams almost always fade cognitively to the point they cannot be conveyed with others, no matter how much the person may wish to explain them, they fall short of their audiences understanding.
This is where videogames differ. The shadowy figures that represent the other players experiencing the world of 'Dark Souls II' are within the abstract world with you, experiencing similar events. And whilst players take preconceived knowledge into the game, similarly to the way they do with dreams, the game also imparts new information for players to take from the experience. Interestingly this knowledge does not necessarily have to be 'real' to exist at some level. There have been times within my social interactions (it happens) where I have discussed games with friends or those I have just met. We can talk in great detail about characters or locations from a particular game. We have never 'visited' these places physically, but in some strange way these experiences happened to us. In this sense, the real lives we live (or the body mentioned earlier) can take the abstract as a way of forming bonds with others grounded in our own realities. Whilst we sculpt our false realities within our dreams and the games we play, in both processes it is not necessarily the veracity that is important, but the way these experiences make us feel that matters most.
This is where videogames differ. The shadowy figures that represent the other players experiencing the world of 'Dark Souls II' are within the abstract world with you, experiencing similar events. And whilst players take preconceived knowledge into the game, similarly to the way they do with dreams, the game also imparts new information for players to take from the experience. Interestingly this knowledge does not necessarily have to be 'real' to exist at some level. There have been times within my social interactions (it happens) where I have discussed games with friends or those I have just met. We can talk in great detail about characters or locations from a particular game. We have never 'visited' these places physically, but in some strange way these experiences happened to us. In this sense, the real lives we live (or the body mentioned earlier) can take the abstract as a way of forming bonds with others grounded in our own realities. Whilst we sculpt our false realities within our dreams and the games we play, in both processes it is not necessarily the veracity that is important, but the way these experiences make us feel that matters most.
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