The click of a button: Video games and the mechanics of speculation

Abstract

Abstract:This article argues that video games have a unique mode of generating speculation within the context of sf. While the formal speculative qualities of written material and films are well known and understood, the techniques of speculation that are unique to games are under-theorised. By looking to two short games whose primary mode of interaction is the click, this article elucidates the moment when video games generate speculation. Speculation is defined here both in the context of sf as a genre and speculation itself as a philosophical act that contemplates being beyond the accepted bounds of reality and empiricism. In conversation with the philosophical work of Quentin Meillassoux, this article concludes that games can offer a speculative mode of thinking that goes beyond empirical projection, and that the speculation provided by a video game can escape contemporary modes of thought and generate new ones.