{"title":"Artifact Functionality and the Logic of Trash in Videogames","authors":"Erick Verran","doi":"10.1353/pmc.2022.0001","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article works out a logic for trash in videogames through its consideration of the ludic artifact. Defining videogame trash as that which graphically outlives the execution of its ludic function, the essay distinguishes trash from objects that signify as real-world refuse, like Mario Kart’s banana peels, and the merely decorative. It also addresses the correlation between technical capability and a graphic verisimilitude that generates trashscapes. Examining videogames from Super Mario Bros. to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, this article’s philosophical, technical, and art-historical approach departs from narratology and garbage studies to offer a prolegomenon for further inquiry.","PeriodicalId":55953,"journal":{"name":"POSTMODERN CULTURE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"POSTMODERN CULTURE","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/pmc.2022.0001","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Abstract:This article works out a logic for trash in videogames through its consideration of the ludic artifact. Defining videogame trash as that which graphically outlives the execution of its ludic function, the essay distinguishes trash from objects that signify as real-world refuse, like Mario Kart’s banana peels, and the merely decorative. It also addresses the correlation between technical capability and a graphic verisimilitude that generates trashscapes. Examining videogames from Super Mario Bros. to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, this article’s philosophical, technical, and art-historical approach departs from narratology and garbage studies to offer a prolegomenon for further inquiry.
期刊介绍:
Founded in 1990 as a groundbreaking experiment in scholarly publishing on the Internet, Postmodern Culture has become a leading electronic journal of interdisciplinary thought on contemporary culture. PMC offers a forum for commentary, criticism, and theory on subjects ranging from identity politics to the economics of information.