Jeffries on Space, Design, and Content

L. B. Jeffries wrote an interesting article on Moving Pixels, examining the complex interaction of the concepts of space, design, and content in video games. Jeffries uses Tschumi and Derrida to try to make sense of the layers of objective and subjective inherent in art, from architecture to video games:

Many of [Tschumi’s] points are more rigidly structured and meant to be applied towards physical spaces rather than the awkward semi-omniscient design of a video game. What’s applicable is his attempt to apply post-modernism to a medium like architecture, which constantly juggles the subjective and objective while hiding one behind the other, and his outlining of three core discussions that need to be present—the action, the experience, and the overall structure itself while all of these aspects change in response to each other.

This is rich stuff that gets to some of the basic elements of how games work: what they do to us, what we do to them, etc. There are elements of the piece that I do not agree with, and I look forward to elucidating and exploring those ideas here in the future.

But make no mistake: the issues that Jeffries addresses are extremely difficult to discuss in relation to video games, particularly because games do not yet have a mature theory of space. This is the main reason that I think this article is on the right track: bringing architecture into the discussion is a great move that means good things for the collective discourse.

Thanks to Ben Abraham at Critical Distance for the link.