Death Is Only the Beginning: Mortality in the Roguelike

Death Is Only the Beginning: Mortality in the Roguelike

There are few sensations more familiar to seasoned gamers than death. Since death is a common consequence for failure in play, we consider death and its attendant rebirth a necessary part of the play process. Some of us even revel in our constant flirtation with death: at its peak in 2014, an average of forty-two Dark Souls II player characters died every second. It is through death that we learn how to play games successfully, but many games treat death as a simple rewind: when you fail, your character dies and reappears at a predetermined point in the narrative prior to the death, with no indication that the death ever occurred. Thus, while games are in many ways primed to open a discussion of mortality, most prefer to pretend mortality is a non-issue.
Roguelikes, as a genre, deal very explicitly with death as a central mechanic. There are no save points in most roguelikes, so death puts you back at the very beginning of the game, with your progress and some or all of your upgrades erased. But as with gaming writ large, many roguelikes treat death as a simple mechanic to indicate failure, and neglect its narrative opportunity. But two recent roguelikes have taken the conceit of cyclical, death-based play and baked it into their stories. And from these, a bigger conversation about our attitudes about mortality was born. (more…)

GYGO: More Systemic Labor Issues Revealed

GYGO: More Systemic Labor Issues Revealed

Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week’s GYGO. As my esteemed colleague reported on with last week’s GYGO, the past few weeks of gaming news have been, well, really damn bleak. While those of us who operate at the margins of the games industry have been aware of systemic issues of employee abuse and bigotry for a while, getting tangible information of the suffering of the marginalized is always heartbreaking. So, before we move on with this week’s post, I just want to say that while I won’t go into details here, the included links will likely include some things that may be triggering, so take care of yourself. (more…)

GYGO: More Systemic Labor Issues Revealed

GYGO: Press Events as Far as the Eye Can See

Hey, everyone! This week brought what I suppose could be considered a large amount of news to the gaming community. However, despite there being three major events this week—a Nintendo announcement, a Sony State of Play, and WitcherCon—the lack of bombshells left some gamers with sour tastes in their mouths. Let’s dig into the news, one major event at a time. (more…)

We Don’t Need a Flow State: Intentional Frustration in I Am Bread

We Don’t Need a Flow State: Intentional Frustration in I Am Bread

I first experienced an intentionally frustrating game when someone showed me QWOP in my freshman dorm room. I was relatively new to PC gaming, and some of my boyfriend’s rather unkind friends liked to poke fun at my lack of skill; I was probably presented with QWOP as a joke intended to frustrate me for their amusement. (more…)

GYGO: More Systemic Labor Issues Revealed

GYGO: Hardware, Software, Everywhere

Hey, everybody! This week’s news was populated once more by companies doing Big Corporate Things: some that will positively impact the gaming landscape we all find ourselves in, and some that, well, won’t. So let’s dive in first with a look at the literal circuits and batteries of the thing: (more…)