Real|Unreal: Crafting Actuality in the Documentary Videogame Cynthia Katherine Poremba A Thesis In the Doctoral Humanities Program Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada 1 ii Abstract Real|Unreal: Crafting Actuality in the Documentary Videogame Cindy Poremba, PhD, Concordia University, 2011 Real|Unreal examines the emerging phenomenon of documentary videogames— specifically, how gamemakers might craft a stronger understanding of actuality in these works. To do so, gamemakers must first find ways of reclaiming indexicality within a digital medium, and second understand how games work as expressive, meaning-making frames. Using a framework based on theoretical work primarily drawn from documentary and game studies, Real|Unreal presents an analysis of three documentary videogames that pick up key aspects of the indexical/expressive relationship: JFK Reloaded, which uses an algorithm as the indexical grounding in a re-engagement of a well-known archive; games in the commercial Brothers in Arms series which, by juxtaposing extensive archival and making-of documentation with third-person gameplay, create a phenomenological shift in which we view the later as-real; and Escape from Woomera, which enables an experience-centered performative inquiry within a re-created environment. In conjunction with these three analytic case studies, it presents a fourth practice-based case consisting of topical design sketches within the context of an original documentary videogame, with a goal of moving beyond known methods and exposing practical challenges of documentary game creation. By interweaving framework, analysis and creation, Real|Unreal gives documentary videogame creators the theoretical, analytic, creative and pragmatic support needed to further exploration of the genre. iii Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. VIII 01 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................1 01.1 What is a documentary? ........................................................................................................ 3 Why videogame documentary? ........................................................................................................................ 6 01.2 Interactive documentary ....................................................................................................... 9 Games and non-fiction interactive art ....................................................................................................... 13 A brief history of documentary videogames ............................................................................................ 15 01.3 Theorizing documentary games ...................................................................................... 20 01.4 Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 24 General outline ...................................................................................................................................................... 24 Justification of practice based research .................................................................................................... 25 Action case method ............................................................................................................................................. 27 Reflective practice as a supporting method ............................................................................................ 28 Adapting action case methods to practice-based arts research .................................................... 29 Relationship between design experiments and case studies ............................................................ 29 01.5 Practice overview.................................................................................................................. 30 iv Overview of the Grime container project .................................................................................................. 30 Outline of the design experiments ................................................................................................................ 30 Evaluation criteria for practice..................................................................................................................... 32 02 DOCUMENTARY VIDEOGAMES, REAL AND TRUE............................................................... 33 Game form and artifice ..................................................................................................................................... 40 02.1 The indexicality gap ............................................................................................................. 41 Indexicality and the problem of the digital.............................................................................................. 44 Edges of indexicality ........................................................................................................................................... 48 Crafting indexicality in digital media ......................................................................................................... 51 Indexicality and expressive framing as pre-conditions for documentary videogames ....... 57 03 GAMES AND THE REAL ..................................................................................................... 59 03.1 The tenuous actuality of rules .......................................................................................... 60 03. 2 Games and “real” action ..................................................................................................... 72 Exploring specific cases ..................................................................................................................................... 77 04 EXAMINING INDEXICALITY IN JFK RELOADED .................................................................... 79 04.1 Simulations as index and expressive frame ................................................................ 81 Actualizing algorithms ...................................................................................................................................... 83 v Framing the situation ........................................................................................................................................ 85 04.2 Use of analog indexicality .................................................................................................. 87 04.3 Challenges in game design ................................................................................................. 89 04.4 Indexical design sketches .................................................................................................. 94 Sketches: Integrating Media ........................................................................................................................... 95 Sketches: Playing with Data............................................................................................................................ 98 05 PHENOMENOLOGICAL SHIFT IN BROTHERS IN ARMS ...................................................... 103 05.1 As-real: the phenomenological shift ............................................................................ 109 Familiar faces: juxtaposition and shift in Brothers in Arms ......................................................... 114 05.2 Design sketches for phenomenological shift ............................................................ 118 Sketches: Becoming Real ............................................................................................................................... 119 Sketch: Rotoscoping ......................................................................................................................................... 122 06 ESCAPE FROM WOOMERA: PERFORMATIVE INQUIRY AND THE SUBLIME ........................ 125 06.1 Really there?: longing for transparency ..................................................................... 128 06.2 Re-creation and enaction ................................................................................................. 132 The ludic (re) enactor: re-creation as performative inquiry ........................................................ 136 vi 06.3 Documentary as sublime third space .......................................................................... 140 There is no way to escape: return to Woomera .................................................................................. 142 06.4 Performative inquiry design sketches ........................................................................ 146 Sketches: Using touch to vivify content ................................................................................................... 147 07 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 152 Index, Shift, Perform: revisited .................................................................................................................... 152 Real|Unreal: A Summary ............................................................................................................................... 155 07.1 Final reflections on design sketches for documentary videogames ..............