Lee, Min. “China Limits Teenage Internet Gaming.” 3-RX Health Encyclopedia. 17 July 2007. 21 May 2009.
Geoff Park’s retracing of the birth of Western scenic tourism through New Zealand gives us an interesting historical platform on which to consider the practice of modern tourism but also the way we frame and experience reality. The Claude Glass and its use in particular interest me in relation to the technology of still and video photography as used by tourists but also the widespread playing of video games.
The Claude Glass, a tinted convex mirror named after the painter Claude Lorrain whose paintings the reflected images in the Glass resembled, is the device Park describes as bringing scenic tourism to New Zealand and transforming land into landscape (Park, 113). By turning away from the chosen “scene” the user of the Glass effectively turns away from reality directly and experiences the landscape as reflected light whose characteristics have changed, via the mirror, to resemble a constructed ideal of reality. When put in these terms hints of Baudrillard’s simulacra come to mind which I won’t go into here but do feed into the relationship that the use of the Claude Glass has with video games.
Fundamentally the constructed space of video games, from quite abstract to naturalistic interpretations of space, functions in a similar way to the Claude Glass in that it requires the user to turn away from direct experience and engage with an idealized or constructed image of reality. Our compulsion to frame experience in this manner is interesting to consider.
While the Claude Glass was developed to frame visual phenomena for both artists and travelers providing ideal visual experiences specific to a period of painting, video games offer a similar interpretation of reality but are not an image. Rather they are entirely constructed offering goal based gameplay and deep interactivity. The psychological desires involved in the pleasure seeking of both activities are different but also similar in that they privilege an image or construction of reality over direct experience.
The issue of video game addiction confirms the power of this desire, particularly in the case of MMORPG’s (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). There are many factors, including social interaction and acceptance, which make the environment and act of online gaming addictive. The recent example of the Chinese government placing restrictions, via compulsory software, on players in MMORPG’s under the age of 18 is interesting to consider in terms of how widespread gaming addiction is in China but also how the implementation works within the rule-set and mechanics of the games. After 3 hours of consecutive play experience points earned in game are halved and after 5 hours they are reduced to zero (http://www.3-rx.com).
Geoff Park quotes Christopher Hussey when he says that the desire for pleasure in the traveler, and I will include the video gamer here, “is in every variety of degree, to satisfy this craving for the ideal, or to drug his craving by the belief that it is being satisfied… It is the expectation of new scenes, perhaps the ideal scene, that sets him off and keeps him going” (Park, 117)
I saw the essay from the point of view that the Claude Glass was a device in the colonisation of the landscape into a tourist commodity. It was something that was introduced to not only disengage the viewer in reality (one has to turn their back to the view in order to see it), but to also increase they satifaction and pleasure of the experience. Your comparison of the Claude Glass to that of virtual gaming was interesting. I was just wondering if one can say that digital media, like the Claude Glass, in a way is colonising our experience of the world. We take pleasure in texting each other rather than have face to face contact, virtual gaming disengages our physical experience with the real world,etc. In a way it engages us in a pleasurable experience at the expense of the real. Once it is in full swing upon us, we wonder, did we ask for this, did we want this, and is there anyway of going back. Like colonisation of the landscape, once the trees are felled, roads are built, etc. there is no way to reclaim the land.
ReplyDeleteAnna, I think you are completely correct in saying that digital media is taking over the reality of experiencing the world. As Andrew discusses it already is an epidemic in China. By turning our backs on reality, and facing the screen we are entering a world that is virtual, that does not exist. It is much easier, faster, and more stimulating (for some) than the real world. However, how far will this take us? A recent lecture on cyber-space informed me that these types of games will not last forever, that they are doomed to fail. They don't fulfill every need. So when will this occur? And what will happen next? Just as the lecturer didn't know, neither do we. We will just have to wait and observe.
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