Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:59 01 October 2016 EXPLORING VIDEOGAMES WITH DELEUZE AND GUATTARI 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 glorifi- cations 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, Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:59 01 October 2016 scholars, developers and enthusiasts. Colin Cremin lectures in sociology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is the author of Capitalism’s New Clothes: Enterprise, Ethics and Enjoyment inTimes of Crisis published with Pluto Press in 2011, iCommunism published with Zer0 Books in 2012 and Totalled: Salvaging the Future from the Wreckage of Capitalism published with Pluto Press in 2015. His interests are in critical theory, particularly the work of Marx, Lacan, Frankfurt School, Žižek and Deleuze and Guattari, and the utilising of concepts to examine recent developments in political economy, culture and society. This book makes the bold prophecy that the 21st century will be the century of videogames. It then offers a dynamic toolkit of concepts drawn from the work of Deleuze and Guattari to think in new ways about videogames. Importantly, Cremin debunks the idea that videogames are virtual, meaning confined to the depths of their digital origins. Instead he shows us that they consist of actual processes of becoming that reach out from the console into every corner of life. This is an exciting and necessary book. Ian Buchanan, Director, Institute for Social Transformation Research, University of Wollongong,Australia Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:59 01 October 2016 EXPLORING VIDEOGAMES WITH DELEUZE AND GUATTARI Towards an affective theory of form Colin Cremin Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:59 01 October 2016 First published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park,Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York,NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 Colin Cremin The right of Colin Cremin to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-92552-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-92553-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-68371-3 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by FiSH Books Ltd, Enfield Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:59 01 October 2016 CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Virtual reality 4 The century of videogames 6 Chapter content 11 1 Videogame plane 14 Into the light 15 Twelve axioms 22 2 The smooth and striated 31 Nintendo land 32 Captured war machine 36 Plane of organisation 41 Videogame industrial complex 47 Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:59 01 October 2016 3 Rhizome-play 54 Common play 55 Videogame chess is not a videogame 59 Arborescent-play 61 Action and affect 63 4 Ludo-diagram 67 Canvas 67 Patchworks of potential 72 vi Contents Diagrams within diagrams 76 The afterimage 79 5 Artist and apprentice 81 The painter 82 Schema of the force-sign 86 Five varieties of realism 93 6 Molecular Mario 98 Becoming-animal, becoming-Mario 99 Machinic assemblages 102 Timeshift 106 Action-image in fragments 111 2007: friction-image 114 7 Major/minor 121 Significant gameplay 122 Gameplay and schizophrenia 125 Sin and punishment 127 First-person fighting-machines 131 The Triforce 135 Is there such a thing as a minor videogame? 142 Bibliography 146 Index 153 Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:59 01 October 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’d like to thank Alyson Claffey, Gerhard Boomgaarden and all the people at Routledge for the work they have put into making this happen. I’d like to thank Janet McAllister for her proofreading of the first draft and invaluable recommen- dations. Also, my gratitude to friends and colleagues at Auckland University where, in spite of everything, it’s still possible to find the time to write books such as these. I thank the students I have taught on the Advanced Social Theory course who through their fine essays have helped me to gain a fuller bearing on Deleuze and Guattari’s work. This is especially the case with Mediya Rangi and Juliet Perano who under my supervision produced exceptional MA dissertations that utilised Deleuzian concepts. My gratitude to Eli Boulton who produced fine essays on videogames for my courses and also co-authored with me a piece on videogames for an edited collection. I thank Tanya Krzywinska and Sage for permission to use extracts from my two articles, published in Games and Culture, for this book. Thanks to all the friends, some lost but never forgotten, who, whether in cooperation or competition on more videogames than I care to remember, have helped enrich my gaming experience over the years. And to Akiko, in love and simulated war, who, for all her determination, is still unable to beat me at Mario Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:59 01 October 2016 Kart 8 (except when I’m tired). This page intentionally left blank Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:59 01 October 2016 INTRODUCTION Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s,visits to my local arcade were like journeys into the future. A showcase of innovation in technology and gameplay,the arcade was a laboratory in which new strains of the species were tested on eager volunteers with pockets full of coins. Missile Command impressed me so much that I phoned Atari to ask whether a version was planned for the VCS;they answered yes and provided the details. But by the 1990s, the most advanced and innovative videogames were bypassing the arcades and going straight to PC and console. I can trace my own life through this evolution, and wonder what the child I was might have made of, say, Kid Icarus Uprising, a frenetic over-the-shoulders shooter that plays in simulated 3D on a device that fits into a pocket. To that child, videogames today would be something alien, even magical. Between then and now are hundreds of games on many different consoles,handhelds and computers. Those that stand out for me have one thing in common, and it is not the technology, graphics or narrative complexities, but something that defies the language of representation. Like the Force said to flow through the Star Wars universe, there is a force flowing through every great videogame from Space Invaders to Portal. The medium is form in motion: force, affect and intensity are Downloaded by [New York University] at 05:59 01 October 2016 distilled in the simplified gameplay of early arcade games and saturate the colours, soundtracks and gravitational-themed levels of modern masterpieces such as Super Mario Galaxy. The force explodes on Robotron 2084, leaving an after-image in Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, and multiplies in Platinum Games’ hybrid Vanquish. As we will see,the common aesthetic of such diverse examples spanning the medium’s not-so-short history is itself timeless. In this book we hop, skip and jump from one platform to another, from one world to another, embarking on a molecular journey through worlds neither ‘virtual’ nor ‘real’. A third place? No, not a place: a becoming. A becoming that exceeds image, analogy and metaphor. This is a book about the videogame using concepts borrowed and adapted from 2 Introduction the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari to create a new plane of thought appropriate to the form.