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The art of failure

An experiential art

Video games invite us to engage in different experiences through our identification with our avatar in the game. They are an experiential art that encompasses the actions shown on screen and the skills the gamer needs to employ in order to progress in the game
One of players’ most characteristic emotional experiences of videogaming is dealing with numerous defeats. The theorist Jesper Juul defined the experience of playing video games as “the art of failure”. Some games take this experience to the limit or even subvert it by increasing the levels of frustration and the cruelty suffered in defeat, as in Getting Over it, developed by Bennett Foddy, or by simply making it impossible to win, such as the tragic ending of the Shadow of the Colossus or Sisyphus, developed by Pippin Barr.

Script: Óliver Pérez
Editing: Toni Curcó

Related to Gameplay

18 December 2019