"Locating" the paratext

Today's class discussion really struck upon many interesting facets of what it means for us to be studying video games as a form of textual analysis. In particular, I felt as though the emphasis of the discussion was based around the paratextual world of the gamespace, an idea that is far from novel in this class. But what develops from the focus of the discussion is perhaps an idea that requires further insight and questioning. What is it that makes the gamespace so appealing?

I realize that it would seem that one facet of the appeal is the actual game itself. McKenzie Wark, for example, would say that part of what draws us to the gamespace itself is targeting, or as we saw in the machinima video interview with him, perhaps it is the idea that the gamespace is just that, a space in which we can move into.

Dave Dries, on the other hand, offers a contrasting view of what it is that makes the gamespace so appealing. From what we can see through his video, the gamespace is largely not about the game itself, but rather it is about the atmosphere (where the term "atmosphere" is loosely used to describe the paratextual aspects of the game world). For Dries, the emphasis on the paratext of the game focuses on the physical space that the gamespace exists within. By showing that the arcade exists within a mall, and that when looking out from the arcade you can see a movie theater, a music store (Records and Tapes: talk about the nostalgia!) and also a serene fountain, he extends our understanding of "gamespace" to also incorporate popular culture of the time.

I think that a work like Dries' forces us to look at what it is exactly that we can use to define "paratext". For Dries, paratext, when it is being attributed to video games, is not a simple box that a game comes in, or even the directions and cover art that are inherent in a game box either. The paratext is everything outside of the game itself that gives meaning to that game. It is the people you interact with (at the arcade at least), the setting that the arcade provides as well as the setting that the arcade is located within, it is the ways that we interact with the games (as shown by his panning across various control schemes), as well as the societal norms that are created as a result of the arcade (lining up quarters on the base of the screen to "mark your spot").

Taking the obvious importance of the paratextual world in Dries' depiction of the gamespace, I believe that we must rethink the power it holds in creating that gamespace itself. Perhaps the game is nothing more than an excuse to get together in theses settings. Certainly the popularity of pool halls and bars are evidence to that fact. Why do people pay $3.50 + tip for a beer when a 6-pack only costs a buck or two more? The answer lies in this simple fact: the beer is most likely only an excuse to go out and be immersed in an atmosphere that they feel comfortable in. I believe that video games provide much the same experience. Whether you are playing online or at an arcade, the results are the same: you are immersed in a paratextual world from which you are getting a feeling and sense of belonging, making memories and really, just having a good time.