L&M 1 - Retrograde Activism

Hi. I'm David, an indie games developer who has been working semi-professionally for the last five years, and will be using this viewpoint during these posts.

I'm going to focus on two particular talking points from class - the "meta-narrative", and "retrograde activism" - modifying historical works with modern day contexts in mind. First – We discussed the book “Prater Violet”, which focuses on the journey of a screenwriter working with an eccentric film director in producing a notable piece of filmography. I spoke about how sections within the novel that place emphasis on the technical aspects of film-making, in a fictional novel, helps ground it in reality. By exploring logical concepts in illogical settings. Immersive sim games - like ARMA, a military shooter with an emphasis on realism - achieve similar results by implementing game mechanics like bullet drop, intertia, and bleeding wounds. These are features that, not standard to the medium, help immerse the player in combat that feels real and visceral, in a fictional setting. Secondly – we spoke about the concept of modifying historical works – the question having been, should older works be adapted for modern day audiences in terms of themes, language, and so on? I decided it is unethical, as the lessons to be learned can be lost in translation. Older games, less refined than modern-day releases, still provide a record of the industry's expansion, and the development of game design today. Irrevocable modification or eradication would, therefore, put the industry at risk of losing out on valuable concepts to reimagine, whilst also threatening to doom them to repeating the same mistakes.

Works Cited

Isherwood, Christopher, Prater Violet, Random House, 1945

Bohemia Interactive, ARMA: Armed Assault, November 2006