Out of Control

I am by no means a gamer of any sort. Button bashing in Tekken is about as far as I go in regards to boy games. My impatience prevents me from memorising any kind of combinations or tactics worth knowing, and basically my fingers will not allow it.

The biggest immersion-killer I face is my inability to hit the correct buttons at the right time. Before I can even begin to engage with the visual properties of the game, I must overcome my controller disabilities. Frustration from focusing on the controller usually prevents me from venturing forwards to where problems like unwanted hypermediacy exist, but when I do get that far, it doesn’t get any easier. For example, when playing Grand Theft Auto III, it is not in my world of concern to know how many bullets I have left and my whereabouts situated on the map. It is in my world of interest to do NOTHING, pretending that I really am cruising round the streets of the New Yorkish city. I can do it for hours and not get bored. Real gangsters don’t need dials and maps to find his way round; they just get in the way.

My experience in Windows 3D Pinball Space Cadet, made in 1996, is a different story. The hypermediacy is contextual because it acts as a control deck for my super spaceship. All of the numbers and words inform me on how my ship is doing as I save the universe or something. I am aware of the game as a media text, and yet I am able to immerse myself in an atmosphere that becomes my own outer space. The basic control system of the pressing of two buttons to move the onscreen flippers creates both diegetic and intra-diegetic immersion, making it an overall experiential game to play.