Jeremy
Jane claims that players create Gesamtkunstwerk. I have cited Wagner’s ‘total work of art’ as a prefiguring notion of cross-media entertainment for a couple of years now. It is something academics and artists understand immediately when I use it to explain the use of multiple media platforms as an artwork. Indeed, I use in my latest paper. Jane, however, is claiming that digital games players create Gesamtkunstwerk (in terms of performance). Performance is Jane’s lens, just as mine is cross-media and cross-arts, and so I see how this relates. I disagree, however, that digital games are the form of Gesamtkunstwerk that Wagner was moving towards. ARGs on the other hand are very close, but there is another cross-media form that is much closer…
Hey Christy! This is a conversation I’d love to pick up in person next time we’re at the same auspicious occasion. I wanted to post a quick note, in the meantime, that my discussion of Wagner is taken from a manifesto for the State of the Art Game conference, which I was asked to keynote with a “bold claim” that would spark discussion about the kinds of art created through games. So I made the boldest claim I could reasonably, if not fully, support– gesamtkunstwerk! But I definitely agree with your post here that it’s not necessarily an argument to take TOO seriously. 🙂 The full text of that manifesto, by the way, is here: http://avantgame.com/McGonigal_preview%20manifesto_The%20State%20of%20the%20Art%20Game_May%202005.pdf
Hello Jane! Ah, cool, I understand now. Thanks for taking the time to come over. I’ll check out your paper and yes, I look forward to chatting with you at some auspicious occasion too! 🙂