passage

The other day in class we had a discussion about genre. Most of the discussion focused it seemed on books. There was much debate about what makes literature fiction and genre fiction. I’m guessing that literature is simply what the wise academics in there ivory towers decide is literature; while genre fiction (westerns, romance, horror) appear to be less “distinguished” and follow a specific pattern. While I don’t necessarily prescribe to this thinking or parameters, for arguments sake, lets just assume that this crude interpretation is correct.  read more »

I mentioned kill screens of class arcade games in class today because it was something that I didn't know about until recently watching the documentary "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," a documentary that follows two arcade gaming champions in the quest to hold the world's record score in Donkey Kong. It's a fascinating documentary.

Here's a 1-minute clip from it that explains and shows images of kill screens:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-wY1dkCKZ7Q

I've always played video games, but I've never been the type that needs to explore every nook and cranny and complete every level and aspect of the game. When I was little, I think I always assumed that all games had an end - and that's probably because by the time I was old enough to really play games (born in 1985.. even though I briefly had an Atari, I probably only watched my older sister and parents play) the games probably *had* endings. I remember having "Game Genie" (actually, I still have it) that allowed me to explore this by giving Mario the nifty ability to fly through levels unscathed until I reached the end.  read more »

(I apologize if a similar entry has already been posted – I have not been able to keep up with the blog lately. That should be remedied in the near future.)

I try to approach unconventional media with no assumptions about how it should be experienced, and I like to think that I do a fairly good job of remaining objective and accepting of all manner of weirdness. In theory, this works well and allows me to better appreciate games like Passage or game, game, game, and again game than I would if I expected them to conform to some commonly accepted standard of what a video game is. Unfortunately, it also makes it rather difficult to judge whether or not I am experiencing it the way it was meant to be experienced.  read more »

When I found out that our first assignment would be to play a video game, I was pretty excited. About a minute or two into "Passage", however, I felt a little cheated. The graphics were blurry, there didn't seem to be any advantage to picking up the bookcase/treasure chests, and there wasn't a clearly defined objective. The symbolism and amount of ideas that could be "read out" of the game were interesting, but as a mainstream video game review might say, it has very little replay value. As an interactive narrative, I think that "Passage" works great. One of the main things I didn't like about it as a "game" was the fact that choices made by the player don't have that much effect on how the game ends, other than where on the map the character takes a dirt nap. As a medium for the discourse of a story, however, this works fine, because there is always a beginning and an ending to a story. As Chatman would say, or does say, there are infinite possibilities for what could be included in the story, but the act of selection by the author of where to begin and where to end gives each narrative text a finite quality.  read more »

The Passage allows the viewers to insert themselves in the narrative discourse because the characters shown lack individuality. If two actual people were portrayed instead of cartoon images, the viewers would struggle to place themselves into the story line. When viewing Passage, the viewers can identify either with the man or women which makes this medium different from other types.

As discussed in Story and Discourse, the medium may concentrate on certain narrative effects while lacking others. For example, a movie must include all physical details of the character, such as their clothes, hair color, face structure, and more, yet often does not disclose any of their internal thoughts. Passage’s strength as a game and as a place where we can understand the course of life comes from its ability to ignore the physical details such as elaborate setting or clothing, and allow us to become a part of life’s journey.

As we discussed in class, it is evident that the video game Passage, is about life's journey. Well, to me the game was quite boring at first, until the wife died and I got mad. I thought she had died from me running into a wall, but after playing the game a second time I realized that, that was not the case. After reflecting on the game it was obvious that there was more to it than watching a poorly animated character run to the other side my the screen. To me Passage represents life and death. No matter what one does with his or her life, in the end you will die (gasp!). But before your time comes, we all have choices, as we do in real life. Your character can have a wife, explore to find treasures, and earn "life points". Depending on what you do your points will vary, and I think thats the message of Passage. I believe the point is not where you start or where you end, but what you do in-between. All in all, the game's moral was deeper and more clear than what really meets the eye (literally and figuratively).

Well, although this game is supposed to reflect the passage of life I sure find myself hoping that it doesn't represent how I live my life. The first time I played the game I acquired the wife by pure chance and started rushing till the end. I explored a couple of boxes but after getting no rewards for my troubles I simply continued on. I didn't notice that I was getting older till my wife died and I still didn't know what was going on. I only took a second to look at my wife's tombstone, explore it for treasure and then move on rushing towards the end. I was shocked when I died, I was so utterly sure that something else was going on.  read more »

The discussion on passage was really interesting. After playing the game, I realized that I played the game very similar to how I actually live. It was a little unnerving when I sat down and realized how little I actually see. After racing towards the end several times only to die it became apparent that I was missing the overall point. Life, on and off the game obviously becomes better when you slow down and enjoy what is taking place rather than what you think should be taking place.
The symbolism which was brought to my attention in the discussion solidified my initial feelings. It was fascinating to hear how different prospectives contributed to the overall meaning and enjoyment of "life".

So evidently I'm not as deep as I thought.
I understood that the game was supposed to parallel life, but when we discussed it in class everyone pointed out a lot of symbolism and stuff that went completely over my head when I was playing it. Like how everything was blurry in front of you when you start playing and blurry behind when you reached the end--I just thought that was bad graphics, but it was revealed to represent the uncertainty of the future when young and the loss of memory when old. It makes sense now, but I didn't notice it at the time.
I didn't even notice that the characters were subtly aging until they got really gray and balding. I just kept trucking along the map and trying to get to the end. It was around then that I got the idea that the game paralleled life. Then the wife died, and I was kind of upset. I hung around her grave for a while before continuing on, thinking that there was some end point I was supposed to reach. Then I died, and well...  read more »

So I think that after playing passage and discussing it in class, we all can come to the same conclusion that it is essentially a game about life. How you choose to play the game determines how you live your “life” in the game. You can get a spouse, move quickly through, move slower and explore, search for treasure, or just keep on moving. What impressed me most about passage was its simplicity, from the graphics to its game play. I believe that it is passages’ simplicity that really creates its effect.

If the graphics were too detailed people couldn’t relate to the game. If the game play was difficult and full of objectives the purpose would be lost. It is the simplicity that makes the game, but you can not mistake simplicity for not making you think. This game is so simple. It reduces your life to five minutes. No matter what you do you die, no matter how you live your life you die. Overall it is somewhat depressing, casting a light of triviality and futility on life, qualities that are not seen in many other games, where, when you die, you simply come back to life.  read more »

Can life possibly be as boring as passage seemed to be when we played it; side-scrolling until we eventually expire after five measly minutes? Why, yes it can! the basic principles of passage got down to the nitty gritty point of life, which is just getting through it. Yes, nothing really in-depth happened...our two "heroes" (and "heroine", if you so choose) never had a kid, and in the case you chose to be a bachelor, you died a virgin, but is this really what life is about? in a biological sense, we live to reproduce, but humans aren't as primal as animals and some go through life just fine without children. No, passage passes all of the hype of life, making us all (maybe) see how fast life goes by and how simple it actually is. i believe that passage really gets the importance of life across well- even though there are obstacles in the way, you need to live life the best you can, and get as far to the right as possible before the timer hits 5.

Sort of. Passage is a game by the barest definition: You play it. You have one single, generic character that you navigate along a linear path with some limited room for maneuvering. There's one music track, one non-player-character, and exactly one (depressing, or cathartic, or anticlimactic, depending on how you look at it) ending.

The digital "game" is just the medium of Passage. Personally, I think of Passage as more of an artistic expression than a traditional game. Some artists use prose, and others use canvas. Passage happens to be a digital game. I don't mean to sound pretentious though. The idea of something being a 'work of art' has connotes a status of importance that transcends what many would consider the ultimate goal of any given video game: mundane entertainment. Personally I didn't think Passage was so groundbreaking and brilliant to be a "work of art" (but, some people break down into tears upon seeing a Rothko painting, so what do I know?), but it is artistic. Here's why.  read more »

One of my first thoughts after playing Passage was "Wait, why did the girl die first?! Everyone knows that the lifespan of the average human female is longer than that of the average human male! Blasphemy! Ridiculous! [Assorted sounds]!" Well... something like that, at any rate. Which brings me to the point that 'video games aren't real life'. Which is an obvious point. Which is thus easy to overlook. But necessary to make.

This game isn't a substitution for actual reality - that much is made clear by the graphics alone. I know that I'm not some thing comprised of a very small and limited number of pixels, and so I'm not confused as to whether I'm the wonderful and amazing creature poking at the directional arrows on my laptop keyboard or if I'm the little pixel people on the screen. But what about games that -are- striving for a much higher degree of realism? It'd be a bit easier to accidentally/unconsciously read those games more literally. I guess that's where you can find some validity in the arguments of those lovely individuals who are quite concerned about violence in video games. (Think of the children!)  read more »

To be fair, I didn't actually cry when playing Passage either, but that's as catchy a blog title as I've got. Still, it's odd to be emotionally affected by a video game and not be a 12 year-old.

I first played Passage alone after checking the definition of "Alternate Reality Game" on Wiki to make sure I wasn't in store for rousing matches of Dungeons & Dragons or WoW or anything, at which point I decided I wouldn't drop the class after all. I probably had the same experience as anyone else who played the game (is this broken? why is there nothing to kill? huh, this game is kind of sad) and after sitting in thought for a minute or twelve I called my girlfriend in to share the experience. I'll just call her "Sophie" to make this all less impersonal.  read more »

So here we are, Blog entry number one.

I may very well be the first person in our class to make the digital leap and post my writings/ramblings on this site, so I hope this is a worthwhile entry into the realm that will be our home for many assignments, present and future.

I understand that we may craft our first writings around the game/story of "Passage", so I shall do that. Upon starting up the game, I believed that there was something wrong with my computer, as everyone by now is familiar with the blurry video that is associated with the "future" of your character's lifespan. After having firmly decided that the game was a pile of crap and a malfunctioning pile of crap at that, I closed the program out promptly having decided that my time was better spent putting on my Beatles' "White Album" LP on my turntable.

Allow me to say it first: I was wrong.  read more »