Zero Gamer- Sometimes we just like to watch

ZERO GAMER
Axel Stockburger 2007
(The devil makes work for idle thumbs )

Save ...
Relax ...
Take a deep breath ...
Now put the controller down and examine your taped up, blistered fingers while you listen to the cutscene. You know that you are back with yourself now and that you have been temporarily ejected from the feedback embrace of the game. Although you enjoy the tiredness that comes with the realisation of your achievements this is not entirely pleasant since it very literally amounts to a break. The flow that emerges from clear action and reaction inside the systemic rhythm of the game is interrupted for now.

It is all too easy to overlook the fact that pauses, breaks and interruptions are such an integral element of digital games that they could be regarded as the backbone of the gameplay experience. The constant movement between interaction and non-interaction introduces a very specific order of time that is characteristic to video and computer games; a unique rhythm establishes itself through the continuous oscillation between sequences of play and pause. Thus, although active physical involvement is rightly considered to be one of the aspects that separate games from other media experiences (such as watching films) one has to consider idleness as a crucial factor of gameplay. The numerous breaks and gaps can be linked to underlying technological paradigms, such as load and save times for sections of the game. In this respect one could argue that these interruptions, which are due to technological limitations, might vanish with innovation. Furthermore, human players need to rest once in a while, simply because of the physical and psychological stress they are subjected to while playing. However, there might be much more at stake, here. Not only are gaps and breaks necessary to structure the rhythm of a game and generate a dynamic whole, they are quite often also the openings where the narrative stream of a game can unleash its full potential. The idle moments among active gameplay are also necessary waypoints for the players that allow them to reflect upon their actions in the gamespace, orientate themselves anew and plan new or different strategies. Why is it necessary to freeze active involvement for a short period of time in order to reflect onand understand the consequences of past actions? One should think that the player of a digital game is capable of intensive multitasking and therefore capable of negotiating such tasks in parallel. Yet, if we accept the fact that one of the most curious qualities of computer game play is the fact that one can get lost in them, that all sense of time and space can be temporarily suspended, this problem might become a bit clearer. Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi (1992) introduced the concept of flow in order to explain how joy or happiness can emerge from certain human activities that entail a loss of time and space perception. Csikzentmihalyi writes: Ò[f]low denotes a holistic sensation present when we act with total involvementÓ and it is Òa state in which action follows action according to an internal logic which seems to need no conscious intervention from our part...we experience it as a unified flowing from one moment to the next, in which we feel in control of our actions, and in which there is little distinction between past, present and futureÓ (in: Turner 1982, 56). The flow experience entails a merging of action and awareness. While a player may be aware of what he or she is doing, he or she cannot be aware of flow itself. In other words, self-consciousness suspends the flow experience because it externalises the player from the rhythm that is necessary for the flow event. Thus a true reflection of action (which depends on a degree of self-consciousness) is not possible during a flow experience because it would interfere with the needs of the moment and arrest the flow. If one considers computer games as systems involving humans and machines that generate meaning on the basis of symbolic operations, a certain degree of reflectivity on behalf of the player is necessary. This is why the flow of a game needs to be interrupted from time to time if it aims to provide a meaningful experience for the player. Different types of games aim for different kinds of reflection; in other words, a simple action game is much less in need of such interruptions than a complex role-playing or strategy game.

In this sense the exhibition ZERO GAMER positions itself as a meaningful interruption of the playing process in order to facilitate a platform for reflection. The works shown all address different aspects of digital gameplay, although they do not take the form of playable games themselvesÑon the contrary. Rather, their purpose is to allow the audience to engage with different crucial issues arising from the hugely complex field of games and gaming, but without actually playing. The artists employ different strategies to enable this, ranging from intervening with mechanics such as artificial intelligence and in-game physics, to removing game tokens and hazards enabling discussions about the meaning of player engagement. ZERO GAMING, does not stand for a return to more traditional forms of aesthetic production. On the contrary, it points in the opposite direction, placing itself as the necessary interstice between gaming cycles. Some of the questions that rise to the surface in such in-between moments are directed towards the perception of games as audiovisual artefacts. Here a game engine can become the source of a stream of generated sounds and images, thereby nodding in the direction of the artistic computer avant gardes of the 20st century who favoured automated processes rooted in indeterminacies over the designated author as a source of artistic production. Throughout modernity one could witness artists picking media systems apart and rearranging them in ways that countered the dominant schemes of representation and function. This approach is even more important in relation to digital games since they do not readily give away how they are constructed. Thus it is very easy to neglect the fact that there exist no neutral simulation systems and that every virtual universe necessarily maintains sets of rules that are submerged in ideological foundations. In other words, simulations are produced according to basic assumptions and with specific goals that are in most cases not transparent for the player. To give an example, the decision of Sim City's designers to demand a certain amount of police stations in a given city in order to support a 'healthy' urban environment is not up for discussion and it is literally part of the fabric of the game's world. Every gameworld also projects a specific worldview. The recent discussion surrounding the use of first person shooter online games as propaganda vehicles (such as for example the immensely successful U.S. military entertainment complex product 'America's Army' in opposition to its Palestinian counterpart game UnderSiege) highlights this issue very well. It is at this point that artists attempt to make the dynamic systems of games more transparent by rearranging the material according to different sets of rules some of which might even make a particular game unplayable in the process. However, what is gained is an important insight in the constructdness of the game universe itself.

While aspects of production and the arrangement of the digital material according to the codes laid out in the game engine is an important issue, it must also be mentioned that digital games are made by human beings for other human beings. Thus it seems sensible, from an artistic point of view to engage with the designers and audiences of games in order to gain a critical perspective of contemporary developments related to gaming culture. Additionally the exhibition ZERO GAMER highlights the problem that contemporary digital games are not often confronted with the critical reflection they need to mature and develop. This might be due to the often problematic relationships between publishing companies and game press that frequently replace criticism with open advertisement. However, this critical ignorance is not only the result of a gaming culture dominated by corporate interests but also of a lack of vision amongst many members of the game community who fail to realise that digital games have the potential to become an important artistic medium beyond mere entertainment. While many games are criticised on the basis of an innovation in a weapon system or the realism of car behaviour on specific tracks, ZERO GAMER invites players, developers and critics who aim higher to stop playing for a bit, enter the discursive platform it provides, and reflect on the current situation. This break is necessary to be able to focus on those issues surrounding games that open novel perspectives on contemporary culture. These can only be addressed properly if one switches from mere instinctive reaction to thoughtful planned action.

Take another deep breath. Now, blow on your fingers and pick up the controller once more. Concentrate on the load sequence. It is time to let yourself slip into the rhythm of the game again.