Play time: 4:00- 5:00pm

I happened to play with a friend looking at the screen over my shoulder. I had no idea how this would affect me. But boy did it! I seemed to be self-conscious of what moves I would make. And at the same time, I felt really empowered because I was navigating the game that my friend had no clue how to walk through. All while having that little voice over my shoulder saying “This seems really frustrating” or “Did you die again?”. It really did not help when I reached the maze for the first time ever (and proceeded to get a little lost), and my friend was watching and laughing hysterically until I was eventually killed by a troll. Again.

With all of these comments from my friend watching me play, I started to question whether her comments could be considered a part of the diegesis of video games. While Galloway (2006) emphasizes that a games diegesis is the game world’s total narrative including on and off screen moments (p. 7), for a game like Zork, would this include any conversations regarding the game between player and player or player and observer? Does having a lack of visual or auditory ques and clues for the player modify the concept of diegesis for a text-based video game?

Having an audience for the first time in playing any of the games for the class has made me start to consider if there should be an additional consideration for the gaming mechanism outside of the computer or machine and the operator or player. Could we also include an external audience? With the many videos and websites of people playing games and tournaments with an active audience watching the players, there is a growing community of ‘watchers’ that can contribute to the overall experience of gaming. All I have concluded from this experience is that I do not want to have someone watch me play until I feel much more confident in what I am doing within the game world.

Galloway, A. R. 2006. “Gamic Action, Four Moments”. In Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 1- 38.