The Eroticism of Gameplay
Symposium:
- ISEA2011: 17th International Symposium on Electronic Art
- More presentations from ISEA2011:
Session Title:
- Games Betwixt and Between
Presentation Title:
- The Eroticism of Gameplay
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Panel: Games Betwixt and Between
From the seconds-long scale of a gimme in Farmville to the epic 70-hour hero quest in a massive RPG, games are our culture’s most developed engines for creating and fulfilling desire. And no matter the granularity, the similarity of the pattern across time scales is no coincidence. This cycle of desire and temporary fulfillment is thoroughly familiar to westerners; it pervades our narrative media and our consumptive patterns, and has taken the forefront in nearly every aspect of human expression including music, writing, and film, as well as games. The familiar curve of introduction, rising tension, climax, and denoument is of course strikingly similar to one of the other best-loved sensory cycles in human experience: orgasmic build-up and release. Heather Kelley will make her case for the orgasmic chemical and behavioral cycle as the structural basis for the power of narrative and gameplay. Kelley proposes that linear and interactive media alike are experiental cognates of the biomechanical process of erotic gratification.