The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games (Playful Thinking)

Jesper Juul

  • 出版商: MIT
  • 出版日期: 2016-09-02
  • 售價: $940
  • 貴賓價: 9.5$893
  • 語言: 英文
  • 頁數: 176
  • 裝訂: Paperback
  • ISBN: 0262529955
  • ISBN-13: 9780262529952
  • 無法訂購

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商品描述

We may think of video games as being "fun," but in The Art of Failure, Jesper Juul claims that this is almost entirely mistaken. When we play video games, our facial expressions are rarely those of happiness or bliss. Instead, we frown, grimace, and shout in frustration as we lose, or die, or fail to advance to the next level. Humans may have a fundamental desire to succeed and feel competent, but game players choose to engage in an activity in which they are nearly certain to fail and feel incompetent. So why do we play video games even though they make us unhappy? Juul examines this paradox.

In video games, as in tragic works of art, literature, theater, and cinema, it seems that we want to experience unpleasantness even if we also dislike it. Reader or audience reaction to tragedy is often explained as catharsis, as a purging of negative emotions. But, Juul points out, this doesn't seem to be the case for video game players. Games do not purge us of unpleasant emotions; they produce them in the first place. What, then, does failure in video game playing do?

Juul argues that failure in a game is unique in that when you fail in a game, you (not a character) are in some way inadequate. Yet games also motivate us to play more, in order to escape that inadequacy, and the feeling of escaping failure (often by improving skills) is a central enjoyment of games. Games, writes Juul, are the art of failure: the singular art form that sets us up for failure and allows us to experience it and experiment with it.

The Art of Failure is essential reading for anyone interested in video games, whether as entertainment, art, or education.

商品描述(中文翻譯)

我們可能會認為電子遊戲是「有趣的」,但在《失敗的藝術》中,Jesper Juul聲稱這幾乎完全是錯誤的。當我們玩電子遊戲時,我們的面部表情很少是快樂或幸福的。相反,我們會皺眉、做鬼臉,並因為失敗、死亡或無法進入下一關而感到沮喪地大喊。人類可能有一種基本的成功和感到勝任的渴望,但遊戲玩家卻選擇參與一項幾乎肯定會失敗並感到無能的活動。那么,為什麼我們還是玩電子遊戲,即使它們讓我們不快樂?Juul探討了這一矛盾。

在電子遊戲中,正如在悲劇藝術、文學、戲劇和電影中,我們似乎想要體驗不愉快的感受,即使我們也不喜歡它。讀者或觀眾對悲劇的反應通常被解釋為宣洩,作為負面情緒的淨化。但Juul指出,這似乎不適用於電子遊戲玩家。遊戲並不會讓我們擺脫不愉快的情緒;它們首先就會產生這些情緒。那么,電子遊戲中的失敗究竟有什麼作用?

Juul認為,遊戲中的失敗是獨特的,因為當你在遊戲中失敗時,你(而不是角色)在某種程度上是無能的。然而,遊戲也激勵我們更多地參與,以逃避這種無能,而逃避失敗的感覺(通常是通過提升技能)是遊戲的核心樂趣。Juul寫道,遊戲是失敗的藝術:這種獨特的藝術形式讓我們面對失敗,並使我們能夠體驗和實驗它。

《失敗的藝術》是任何對電子遊戲感興趣的人必讀的書籍,無論是作為娛樂、藝術還是教育。