Gameology 2.0

Art Games is a solo exhibition by Patrick LeMieux, an MFA Candidate in Digital Media Arts in the School of Art and Art History at the University of Florida. The exhibition features custom video games which explore concepts of mark-making, viewer agency, subjectivity, and gameplay as critical entryways into the history and production of art. Each video game locates the figure of a seminal artist within the landscape of their own artwork. Modeled after the juxtaposition of Ad Reinhardt's stark, black monochromes and wry, pedagogical comics, the video games stage imaginary confrontations between the artists and their minimal works--interaction signifying interpretation.

A while back, Zach posted his fantastic game Space Refugees in which one plays from the alternate perspective of the hapless “invaders” being slowly picked off as they attempt to reach the bottom of the screen. This reminded me of a new tourist attraction in Mexico that has recently opened up -- another take on the idea of inhabiting the subject position of the alien/other in gaming. There’s a sort of theme park where you can play the role of a Mexican migrant attempting to cross the US border. For 200 pesos (~19$US) you can be persecuted in the dead of night by men with guns (they shoot blank bullets) while crossing rough, and for one BBC Reporter, actually life-threatening terrain.

Another one of those ‘listening to Mozart makes you smart’ studies has come out but now it isn’t Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, but Super Mario Bros. This study shows that gamers consistently outperform non-gamers on mental tests. The multitasking skills developed through gaming (specifically with video games) provides similar benefits to intelligence as bilingualism which also involves turning parts of your brain on and off when switching between different linguistic codes. The opinion that video games are childish has been floating around for years and in this sense it’s quite literally true—the study suggests that gamers “protect their brains from aging” through these activities that involve switching tasks at high speeds. Does this mean video games are the next fountain of youth?