owvosi2022 16:96, Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games the international journal of volume 15 issue 1 computer game research July 2015 ISSN: 1604-7982 home about archive RSS. — Krista Bonello Rutter iappone Bonello recently ‘completed an AHRC- funded PhD at the University of Kent, Canterbury, and is currently an Assistant Lecturer in the School of Aarts, UKC, Her PhD research comprised a theoretical analysis of the Interrelationship. between ‘alternative’ comedy and punk. She ‘graduated from the University of Matta with BAs in English Literature and Law, and completed anMAin Shakespeare Studies at the Shakespeare Institute (Stratford-upon-Avon). Her current research inchides comedy, Iterary and cultural teory, horror films, and the intersections between Game Studies, critical theory, and performance Contact information: 0362 at kent ac.uke gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Self-Reflexivity and Humor in Adventure Games by Krista Gonello Rutter Gapaone Abstract: ‘his article focuses primarily on the “adventure game” genre, its ‘metafictional humor, and tendency towards self-2arody in both its Tormative stage and its more recent ensuing nostalgic turn, with particular reference to Zork (Infocom, 1980), LucasArts’ Monkey Islané games (1990-2000), and Telltale’ parodic-nostalgic “Realty 2,0" (Sam and Max, 2007), The article highlights a tendency towards parody on the levels of intertextual allusion, metafictional self- reflexivity, and mete-meciality, Parody is discussed in its relation to players’ expectations for the genre, The limitations and possibilities available to the player are discussed in relation to their comic Potential. The comic is considered as providing the basis for moments Where action is interrupted (interaction becoming Interfrupting]action), and an opportunity for digression. This becomes 2 means of playful re-engagement in itself, sometimes in the form of a ‘joke’ on the player. This Is followed by discussion of a more recent “nostalgic turn with the parodic approach intersecting with the nostalgic, Finally, the discussion will consider possible implications of the effects of such comic tactics for player engagement and immersion’, in relation to adventure games. The theoretical Framework Used is indebted to literary and critical theory — particularly theories of parody, and theories which touch upon the comic" element at play. Key Words: Adventure, genre, metafiction, meta-medial, parody, nostalgia, humor, comedy, self-reflexivity, ‘An established medium or genre provokes, as Guillén (1971) notes, the formation of its countergenre — which beth parodies and de- forms, and sets the seal on the parodied text(s). This process tends to take place soon after a genre's “inception”, ané thus has a hand in ‘marking it out as established and codified, as conventions become Identifiably associated with a genre. This article considers the process in relation to adventure games, working towards the suggestion that humor isa frequent and often crucial aspect in the experience of Playing such a game (and a key factor contributing towards thelr replayabllty), Parody is here considered as “countergente’ (with the Implication of a close relation to genre{1] and genre-formation), and ‘metafictional self-reflexivity is considered as both a device for Producing humor and a signal of ‘genre’. Since parody inhabits its target, itis bound to it — this Is the "central paradox of parody” that Linda Hutcheon identifies (1985, p. 26). It therefore tends to be, to some extent, self-referential as well as Intertextual. Thus parody Is here considered as having a metafictional cimension (Shklovsky, 1990; Hutcheon, 1985), as well as @ comic element (Rose, 1993). With games as a popular medium, the process becomes startingly clear; within the course of little more than a generation, it seems we have witnessed a phenomenon that could be described as the "birth of a medium and its development as it took shape, coalescing around distinct genres. This article focuses primarily on the adventure game genre, ts metafictional humor, and tendency towards self-parady, with particular reference to Zork (Infocom, 1980), LucasArts’ Monkey 21owiosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games {sland (MI) games (3990-2000), and Teltale's parodic-nostalgic fith episode of Sem and Max Save the World: "Realty 2.0" (Teale, 2007). The selection of main reference-points is representative of one established line of development, from Infocom’s Interactive Fiction (IF) through LucasArts ecventures (see Black, 2012), which has however had influence beyond this speci Ineage. The strong recognisabilty of the conventions is in itself a relevant factor in considering genre-related parody. Examples of intersections and parocic encounters between text and graphic modes will be considered. Reference will be made to other games for comparative purposes, or where they parodically/nostalgically reference relevant anc recognisable conventions. The potential for parody is activated with the very formation of genre. The potential for humor and parody is of course present in every game and genre, and in this respect adventure games afford an exemplary case study. Moreaver, the suggestion | put forward here is that humor has enjoyed 2 particular centrality inthis genre from its inception, making it @ particularly rich genre to consider inthis lignt, with the comic coming to characterize gameplay, replayability, and engagement on a more intrinsic level [As Nick Montfort notes, the inaugural Adventure (Crowther and Woods, 1975-6) led into an meta-medial “endgame” mode which led the player character to encounter the other inhabitants of the gameworld as uninitialized variables — thus, "the canonical first work of interactive fiction concludes by violating levels of narrative and simulation” (Montfort, 2005, p. 90), It thereby incorporates a selt- aware ‘parodic’ re-configuration of the terms of interaction with the gamewortd, within a meta-medial/metaficional framework made accessible to the player[2]. This tendency towards self-referential and ‘metafictional commentary would come to characterize the genre (see Lessard, 2012, 9. 126(3)0. ‘Adventure games have received attention as a focus of study — for example: Montfort’s (2005) seminal work on IF; Lessard's (2013) historically contextualising view of the genre's development and transitions; Fernéndez-Vare's (2009) analysis of adventure games in terms of performance. Rather less however has been written on the comic workings of sucn games. Dormann and Biddle (2009) discuss humor in games more generally, through a qualitative study of player experiences, commenting on the cognitive and social potential of humor. Lessard (2012) ciscusses the self-referential humor in Crowther and Woods’ Adventure as an example of "hacker humor", situating It in the context of late 70s’ programming culture, where “ack” indicated a level of technical expertise. Black (2012) analyses The Secret of Monkey Island (SMI) in terms of the relationship between code and screen (the latter being the “representational” level accessible to the player), and suggests that parody often arises from ‘on-screen commentary on the negotiation and possible tension between the two. Identifying particular moments in Zork, Harpold (2007) ciscusses limitations of medium as opportunity for metalepsis[4], which may be recuperated “within the semiatc plane of play” through “recapture” — a device which masks technical limitations By reincorporating them into the gameworld. Harpold does rot focus on the comic potential of such moments, though this may be inferred. Discussion of the comic effect nas therefore tended to be Incidental, and where it has been the primary focus, this has usually been either in terms of more general suggested potential, or emerging in the course of analysing a specific example. Here I take the approach of a more sustained look at the comic (which may include such devices) In relation to genre and player expectations, considering moments which seem to foreground disconnection rather than recapture, While the recognition of conventions plays a key part in the discussion, I do not attempt here to lay out an exhaustive poetics of the ‘adventure’ genre, nor would I claim that itis characterized by entirely self-containing boundaries (exceptions and crossovers are also acknowledged here). My approach Is indebted to critical and iterary theory, particularly theories of comedy and parody, and theories which touch upon the *comic" element at play. I would suggest that a consideration of the comic benefits from an approach which may be applied across disciplines anc media, Shklovsky’s account of parody has focused on the “laying 21owiosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games bare” of devices in the novel (Shklovsky, 1990); while, in a related vein, a similar “demystfying power” has been ascribed to the comic more generally (Flieger, 1991, p. 183; Zupanélé, 2008, pp. 204-5) ‘The comic element wil frst be considered in its relation to players’ expectations for the genre. The limitations and possibilities available to the player, and the opportunity for digression and detour, will be discussed, civing consideration to the reduction in available actions from text to graphic adventure (see Ferndndez Vara 2009, pp. 114-5) Parady is discussed in terms of its ability to ‘halt’ and interrupt play, making the player aware of the manipulation at work through the efariarization or "laying bare" (Shklovsky, 1990) of ‘earned! conventions, the player's positioning, and the player's own expectations, This is considered as a means of playful re-engagement In itself, sometimes in the form of a joke’ on the player. Escape from ‘Monkey Island (LucasArts, 2000) is considered as suggesting 2 turning-poiat in terms of comedic self-referentialty. Ths is followed by discussion of a more recent ‘nostalgic turn, with the parodic approach intersecting with the nostalgic, as anather means of engaging with established conventions which also acknowledges distance. The question of nostalgia leads into a consideration of the “replayabilty” of adventure games, suggesting that this quality may reside in the player's engagement with the humor. Finally, the discussion will consider possible implications of the effects of such comic tactics for player engagement and "immersion, in relation to adventure games, Detours and Delightful Dead Ends On the ane hand, the adventure game Is @ genre immediately so self= referential, it seems to weave a network of texts that refer back to themselves in a way that “establishes” its credentials as genre — on the other, It actively sets up a two-way participatory dynamic, making the player aware of the interplay between the medium’ limitations ang the possiblities they enable. The possibilities for digression within this framework of balancing limitations an¢ possibilities (see Femnéndez-Vera, 2008, pp. 211-3) are here considered in terms of comic function. Drawing upen Blanchot, and folowing on from Freue’s emphasis on “displacement” and “diversion” in joking-techniques (Freud, 2001, p. 51), Jerry Aline Flieger bases her theory of the comic on long circuiting and excess, the comic play residing in "the something left over" (Flieger, 1991, pp. 178-9, 110). Error’ digression, “proliferating objects’, and the capacity for wandering astray interact with repetition to found the comic (Flieger, 1994, pp. 179-180). Even given the punishing deaths and constraints of lexical recognition, Zork’s developers saw the exploration of the useless as one of the ‘most delightful features of the game. Indeed, part of the delight in this respect might stem precisely from finding out the text-parser’s limits, encouraging experimentation: ‘A great deal of the enjoyment of such games is derived by probing their responses in @ sort of informal Turing test: "I wonder what it wil say if T do this?” The players (and designers) celight in clever or unexpected Fesponses to otherwise useless actions, (Lebling, Blank, and Anderson, 1979, p. 52) From the bewildering number of rooms in Zork, and the “punishing” of wrong” cholees by character-death, to MI's narrower range of options and locations, a shift may be seen in the adventure game's balance of limitations and possiblities, with wrong routes becoming increasinoly Unavailable post-M, However, despite the accasional heightened streamlining of choices in sraphic adventures(5], I suggest that this potential for straying, already present in Zork, is not abandoned even within the *narrowTer] range of actions available to players” (Black, 2012, p. 217), and the closing-off of wrong” paths in MI-influenced adventures, In these, certain freedom is enabled by encouraging the player to try out all available dialogue options and click on any object with no fear of fatally compromising progress in the game. This allows paradoxically, {or digressions and incidental cialogue, the only purpose of which is 324owvosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games humorous diversion, unlinked to narrative progression. Indeed, this is more inline with comedy’s tendency to favour situations which incur no fetal or severe consequences (Sypher, 1980, p. 254). One post-MI example is Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (Revolution, 1996), where the player character has the option to talk to any character about any inventory-item — ranging from a used tissue to a “priceless gem" — for @ variety of responses, including "What kind of madman would go around waving 2 priceless gem uncer people's rnoses?”, without fear of actual plot-repercussions, such as accidentally giving i away to (or having it snatched by) the wrong non-player character ‘The attention to detail implied sometimes extends to background, and occasionally rewards the “pixel-hunting” which was rapidly becomming tone of the most notorious sources of frustration in graphic adventures = causing players to search aver details nat just for an item that might be required to advance the game, but also for small items or bits of background that might yield associated humorous descriptions or comments, On the ather hand, there may be clearly visible objects on the screen which cannot be used, but can be interacted with (clicked on) to trigger a sometimes object specific comment on the very nature of their uselessness. I would suggest that this “uselessness” does not entirely dispense with the "ludic’ structure of rewards Calleja Identifies: "without repercussions, actions lose theit meaning, and thus thelr execution generates no excitement” (Calleja, 2011, p. 165) ‘The *reward” here may operate, rather, in the manner of a punch line” In MT, this becomes something to be indulged for its own sake, with “uselessness” becoming a feature of the entire series — for example: the underwater sequence in The Secret of Monkey Island (Lucasfilm Games, 1990); the excessively “locked and bolted" door in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge (LucasArts, 1991); and the inside-the snake scene in The Curse of Monkey Island (LucasActs, 1997). Excess objects function as a “narrative-derallin” device by provicing red herrings (whose purpose is to de-route) — and where they occur, they are characterized by such over-abundance, that they also, constitute an elaborate sort of prank on the player, playing upon the expectations being established by the genre. Various tematingly Useful implements, including a number of sharp tools and weapons. which seem specifically designed for the task at hand (cutting Guyorush free), litter the ground in the underwater scene in The ‘Secret of Monkey Island (SMI), This puzzle involves resurfacing with the idol holcing Guybrush down — but al items, apart from the idol itself, are out of Guybrush’s reach. There is only one “correct” solution (picking up the idol), but the player is free to click on all the other apparent yet inaccessible options. In this puzzle, as Kerluhati (2013) points out, “the laws of physics are abstracted to serve [the game's core mechanics": thus, the player isin this instance rewarded for having learned the peculianty of M's adventure-game logic which ictates that everything carried by Guybrush becomes weightless. Yet, the player may also reach this conclusion by elimination — after trying ut the ostensibly useful tems which tter the scenery In The Curse of Monkey Island (CMI), a similar situation eccurs when Guybrush is swallowed by a snake. Some valuable-looking items (including a Faberoé egg) and some random “lts-o-stuff” can be picked up within the snake, Assorted items that appear to have more obviously useful potential, such as a cutlass, lie scattered around beyond reach, outside the snake. Moreover, as soon as this puzzle is solved (by mixing a purgative), Guybrush ends up in quicksand, which rapidly “suck{s dawn] all the coal stuff” just found. This trek on the player echoes #12, where the player is robbed of the satisfaction of starting out with a treasure-filed inventory (removing the seemingly promised potential for easy acquisition of necessary items through purchase) — as Guybrush is literally waylaid and robbed, a moment after control has been “ceded! to the player folowing the opening sequence. 424owiosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games The “teasing” comes full circle with the literal red herring in SMI, hich is paradoxically required to solve a puzzle and progress in the game. The red herring, a seeming joking anomaly as a literal representation of diversionary tactics, qualifies as the item of "no real Importance” that a troll character demands as bridge-toll. A similar reversal of expectations also occurs in Revolution’s Beneath a Stee! ‘Sky (1994), where Joey the Robot’s frst body in the game is, Improvised from a pile of cluttered metal framing the scene and marked out only as "junk", an undifferentiated mass with no distinguishable object single out as usable. “The adventure game genre is structured around detours — puzzles Frequently open onto ather puzzles, leading te 2, 3, 4-part (and Upwards) puzzles. In these “concatenated puzzle structures” (see Karhulahti, 2032; Ferndndez-Vara, 2009, p. 13), the tactic “pick up — combine — use” might have to be repeated a number of times in order to obtain the required itern. The valorization of the “useless” and the problematization of the “useful” strikes at the heart of these Item-based puzzles, generating potential for error, as expected value Is sometimes inverted. Single and combined objects are sometimes made to serve many purposes (and often not the most intuitive one, ine genre where associations could be unmade and remade along any line, including wordplay — for example, the monkey wrench puzzle in ‘M12, where "monkey" is literaized). On the other hand, a multitude of objects which are specifically designed to do the trick are occasionally offered and revealed to be comaletely useless — discarded in favour of more indirect routes to solution, eschewing economy and appropriateness in favour of more roundabout routes. In Depania (Daedalic Entertainment, 2012), for example, anything too obviously Useful would be met with RUfus’s retort “who needs fabulous all-round tools anyway?". Alternatively, as in the case of the intimidating and heavily-bolted door in Lechuck's Fortress (M2), the expectation of a puzzle may dissolve, Figure 1, The "Locked" Door in LeChuck's Fortress, LucasArts, (1991). Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. USA: LucasArts. “Bewildering” puzale. There is a self-referential allusion here to the expectations for an adventure game, which would include complex puzzles, and a hint that this may not be one of them, Inter[rupting]Action: *Shudder* Porcelain! Henri Bergson sees the comic as arising from the interruption af the ‘mechanical and the fallure of predictability — the moment where aiference rears its head within repetition, and habitual-mechanical behaviour falls to respond to the specificity ofthat ciference, but rather, continues to apply the learned rules. This learned response is revealed to be inadequate, and to proceed fram “mechanical inelastcty’, as opposed to what Bergson deems a more “natural” fexibility (Bergson, 1980)[6]. We could recall here the formula for parody, invalving both difference and repetition (Bakhtin, 1984, p. 217), both imitation and transformation (Genette, 19973, 9. 5), which also lies more generally behind the "rule of three" in comedy technique (establish — reinforce — overturn; see Double, 2005, ap. 207-8) The heavily-bolted door in M12 invites, then interrupts, the player's customary means of interaction with the genre (the expectation of a puzzle) and might momentarily stump the player. Indeed, it invokes. 521owvosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games wiat Vell-Matti Karhulahti (2013) considers a "classic exemple" of fiction puzzles typical of adventure games, which he describes thus: [the] locked door problem that involves the navigational Puzzle of finding @ key by exploring the storyworld {through the player character, and the object ‘manipulation puzzle of opening the door by unlocking it with the obtained key. The typical route to solution would therefore already involve several stages; yet this moment in 12 actualy mukiplies the epparent obstacles (the locks and bolts) — before causing the apparent obstructions to cissolve. The implied short-circuting (through the “open” command) occurs only after/alongsice the invitation to Uuneconomic excess expenaiture of energy/skill on the part of the player. ‘The assumption of human “agency” in this moment translates into awkwardness, and thus inefficiency. Yet, that awkwardness is lingered ‘on, maved into the centre, where the receiver of the joke is also the dupe — exposing the mediurn's manipulation at work by breaching the relationship of trust. Any awkwardness here would seem to counterintuitively arise from the excess of skil, rather than the lack thereof — whereby adventure-game conventions and the player's familiarity with them become the very targets of the paredic gaze (his puzzle occurs towards the end of the game, so a degree of skill acquisition and honing through repetition could be assumed). The “locked” door’s only "puzzle" thus turns upon the bafflement of the player, turning the awkwardness itself into the focal point — a quasi- Brechtian ¢istancing which provokes a re-thinking of the problem/apparent obstruction, the usual strategles for solution (which ro longer apply), and of the player's role, This may cause even an experienced adventure-gamer to momentarily re-live the newbie's awkwardness during the acquisition of basic skils[7]. In the capacity for being led comically astray, Flieger remarks the part played by hesitation or “dalliance” (Flieger, 1991, pp. 63, 106). Kant’s notlon of surprise and incongrulty In jokes may also apply here — where “the Joke must have something in it capable of momentarily deceiving us, [a] semblance [which] vanishes into nothing” (Kant, 2007, p. 162), ‘An overabundance of useless objects and the interruption of productive action may be considered to be a parodic extension and exaggeration of the adventure-game puzzles which constitute the core-gameplay. These have been perceived as "progress-halting” (Grayson, 2012) and "time-wasting” (Ron Gilbert in Laurel, 1993, p. 96){8], prompting a reconsideration of the relationship between Interaction and interruption, Indeed in one concluding joke on the player, SMF reveals that the player's actions through the whole game have been one huge unnecessary" diversion — with Governor Elaine Marley, seeming damsel in distress, finally declaring that she had it under control all along. Black (2012, p. 230) notes that moments such as these draw Upon the tension between interactive gameplay and “narrative” in a potentially productive way. [Although Sierra On-Line established a formula for graphic adventure along different lines — incorporating scoring-systems, the possibilty of death or failure, and the marked passing of time ~ the rpq- adventure hybrid Quest for Glory 11: Trial by Fire (Sierra, 1990) offers another interesting example of diversion and derailment as @ joke on. ‘the player. This springs from a choice offered to the player, and is, however, more final. It turns into a shor-circutt to a possible early tencing which is nat completion, yet does not involve death — and proceeds from something presented as a triumph rather than failure Upon succeeding at the Wizard Challenges, the hero is given the option of dedicating himself to the Wizare's Institute of Technocery. If chosen, the *hero” simply opts out of adventuring, thereby entirely ceasing to interact with and impact the worle outside the Wizards" Realm. In the SMI case therefore, play is enabled and constituted by ‘that very diversion, which interrupts the continuing unfolding of the ‘main plot in cutscenes — while in the case of Quest for Glory II, play Is seemingly halted by this possibilty of radical diversion, paradoxically activated by the player’s choice. In both cases, however, 621owiosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games there is a relationship between Interaction and interruption, entailing an effect of disconnection from the unfolding events within the game. ‘This has implications forthe positioning ofthe player, which also has an impact on the way these moments are experienced, In LucasArts adventures, and adventures following these conventions, the player- character relationship itself tends to be characterized by both connection and disconnection. This is true of games mare generally, as Vella points out: the player acts within the gameworld through the avatar, yet the player character retains distinct characteristics, leading to an “oscillation” ane construction of identity between the two “subject positions” of avatar and player “within’, and "in relation to", the eameworld (Vella, 2013) Guyorush Threepwood, however, Is a third-person protagonist who has his own personality and might even refuse players’ instructions. This resistance offers a particular kind of dynamic, suggesting a further degree of independence. Guybrush would sometimes address the player, and the player was never “Guybrush”, This was inline with the LucasArts "design philosophy": “The old LucasArts schoo! of thought was that we never Used the word "you" in design documents, We never said "you open the door” we always said "Manny [Grimm Fandango} opens the daor” You were not the main character, and that was a big design philosophy we all shared. (Tim Schafer in Pearce, 2003) ‘Though alignment in motivation was aimed at, and to some extent “seamless[ness]", it was not absolute identity — leading to a relationship that could be better described as a haunting or doubling (with the player as the character’ “intuition, in Schafer's words), Reinforcing the impression of disconnection, Guybrush sometimes comments on the impossioility of an action, but other times his refusal is down to "personal" whim, preference or aversion (*Ush! Porcelain”), with no other reason for defying the player. Porcelain Items are nonetheless present in the games, and can be clicked on, ‘though Guybrush will usualy refuse the player's further interaction with ther In Discworld 2: Missing Presumed...? (Perfect Entertainment, 1996), there is a further forking, as voice-actor (Eric Idle) makes his own presence felt in Rincewind's commentary when he seems to take offense at a play on words involving his name, a skeletal idel, and the expression for "lazy": "Bone Idle? I'm not quite sure that I really appreciate that joke! Say ne more!”. Such devices — disconnection ang forking of voices — also serve to interrupt the action; just as direct comments on the player's attempted actions break the circle of Identification In Zork, direct address tended on the other hand to align player with character, Harpold nates that in some instances, the second-person address (*you") indeed interpellates the player as player, rather than simply avatar, for example where the parser warns the player to “respect” the rules. When entering a dark dungeon without a light source, the warning "You are likely to be eaten by a grue” would appear. However, ths is bound up with a simultaneous invitation to recognize (or, paradoxically, "see") the medium and its “limitations” — the grue Is a creature that lurks in darkness — just as the black text- screen could not yet yield up its “secrets”, visually. This is also an instance of the medium’s own myth-spinning. Though the grue was @ creature in Vance's Dying Earth novels, Zork’s "grue" retains no visible physical characteristics (it never ventures into the light), and ‘therefore remains unidentifiable as such. The "examine everything” convention (requiring a light-source, which itself serves to keep the grue at bay) is blocked in this direction, and no cescription or visualization is forthcoming[9]. In the later Zork Nemesis (Zombie LLC, 1996), cespite otherwise seemingly lacking Zork’s customary emphasis on humor, a reference to grues recalls thelr first [nanappearance — a book found in the game contains an ilustration of "the grue in its natural habitat" black within a featureless black 724owvosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games Zork’s text-parser would frequently take on a role as active presence, assuming the identity of "Zork (typing in >Zork would trigger “At your service'"), and adopting @ “first person” voice in relation to the Player's "you" (>eat grue Z: I Gor’t think that the lurking grue woule agree with you). Zork’s designers have anticinated a player's testing ofthe limits of the parser through "bad” language. “Zork” recognizes works Ike "fuck “shit, and “damn”, an responses vary from the gentle reprimand of “Oh dear, Such language from a supposedly winning adventurer'’, to the sneering comeback "Tough shit, asshole” Lebling (2014) comments on the design intention for the game to both seem to be "omniscient", and to have "personality, fashioned after a Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master. As tne examples suggest, the responses are rarely neutral or toneless. They are, however, pointedly inconsistent in terms of personality — this lends itself to the impression that "Zork’s” first-person position is Ubiquitous, a gameworld, rather than a centred "I". This also means however that, despite the player's increasing familiarity with the rules ang availble possibilities, the "game" retains the ability to ‘manipulate, surprise, and challenge predictability. For example, in similar manner to Guybrush’s porcelain aversion, the blocking of certain paths in Zork seems deliberately whimsical, wif, oF vexing — arbitrary, rather than “logial” or otherwise justified: 2: A dark chimney leads down, >4, Z: Only Sante Claus climbs down chimneys. “Thus, “Zork” suggests what would appear to be an avallable direction, Using the appropriate syntax a player would recognize as indicating this. A degree of predictability is one of the principles for “interactivity” itself, according to Ryan (3994): "The user must be able to foresee to some extent the result of his gestures, otherwise they would be pure movernents and not intent-driven actions”. Zork’s interruption of movement in the downward direction works against expectations after invoking them, and in so doing exposes the game's ‘manipulation of the player, and provides an opportunity for a memorable punch-line Telitale's Sam and Max: "Realty 2.0", locating itself in the IF- LucasArts lineage as successar to Sam and Max hits the Road (LucasArts, 1993), ends with @ graphic adventure "realty" disintegrating into a text adventure, The selection of comman¢s in the text-adventure climax of Teltale’s Sam and Max: "Reality 2.0” is still limited, with tne protagonists’ voice-overs and a point-and-click graphic adventure inter‘ace intersecting and sometimes conflicting with the text adventure, There are available dialogue choices, as in the game's graphic-adventure mode, yet the “text-parser” stil falls to “understand” certain words within Max and Sam’s colourful ‘vocabulary, such as “go ballistic". The text-parser sometimes intervenes, making its presence felt. There is a marked note of exasperation and Implied tone, for example, Ifthe player attempts to perform an action that would take the characters back to the beginning of the process: 0k, you COULD give the Respect for Living Things BACK to the Corporate Presence, but then it would just eat It again and you'd have to run all over the place getting 2 new Bosco's store, dipping itn the lake, etc, etc. So W's just say you did al that ané now you have the Respect fer Living Things again, ok? The princiale of predictability is here exaggerated, parodically highlighted, and commented upon. The same things would happen all over again, and the player should have learned this. This however, provides the ground for its (unpredictable) Interruption, with repetition being here re-routed into comedy. The “limitation” which blocks this useless path functions as yet another opportunity for a ‘metafitional joke on the player, as Sam comments on the highlighted ‘manipulation: “I feel my agency being deniec” Nostalgia and Parody In the more recent examples of adventure games considered here, ‘the humor is retained. "Reality 2.0", for example, works with recognisable conventions from within this established tradition. a1owiosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games Conventions are drawn attention to, and parody becomes @ means of engaging wthtin] that tradition. In their partially-retrospective approach (conventions may be evoked, then playfully reworked), the Implied tone and attitude also tend to Suggest 2 degree of nostalgia. [At first sight, parody and nostalgia — as two approaches to re- constructing a "past" — seem add bedfellows. Nostalgia derived from “nostes — return heme, and algia — longing” (Beym, 2001, p. xii), would seem to desire rapprochement, while parody would tend to emphasize incongruity. Fredric Jameson indeed sees them as mutually exclusive, favouring the challenging playfulness of parody, while being heavily crtical of nostalgia (Jameson, 1991, p. 19; 1998, pp. 4-5). Linda Hutcheon on the ather hand finds @ way to reconcile the twa, by distinguishing between “contemporary revivalism” and “postmodernism’s” more “ironic” use of the past (Hutcheon, 1998) ‘After al, parody itself evokes the genre/text it targets — this is the “eantral paradox of parady" as Hutcheon points out: "its transgression Is always authorized. In imitating, even with ertical difference, parody reinforces" (Hutcheon, 1985, 9. 26). However, the critical or ironic distance suggested by Hutcheon’s notion of postmodern” parody is not alone sufficient to explain the Interrelationship between nostalgia and parody here, In some Instances indeec, nostalgia seems to be uppermost, Jack Keane (Oecki3 Interactive, 2007), for example, seems almost to be reverentially celebrating “dead” genre, while appearing to revive it. [At one point, the player enters a room full of adventurers’ debris — which includes — in evident tribute to MI — Jolly Roger flags, anc other pirte paraphernalia, These are set out in a manner that suggests untouchable museum pieces, with which the player cannot Interact beyond looking. In many other cases however, the approach involves playful irreverence, combining *revivalism” and parody, and coming closer to Margaret Rose's notion of parody striking a “comic” (rather than predominantly “ironic") note (Rose, 1993, p. 52) Escape from Monkey Island (LucasArts, 2000) was the last LucasArts adventure game to be released, and its as humorously sel referential as the other games in the series. Yet itis difficult to shake the feeling that the self-amareness exhibited in this particular game drives home the closing-in of the genre (and thus appears to further entrench playet-expectations in relation to It). Though parody has the ability “to create new works from old” (Rose, 1993, p. 98), the game seems reluctant to offer a "new" direction. Expectations are of course stil played with. In the instance of "Monkey Kombat’, the game's variant of insult-swordfighting, parody is implied in the substitution of elaborate witty insults with monosyllabic sounds. This is, however, rather 2 case of conventions stripped bare yet falthfully followed, without the turnaround of a punct-line. The learned monosyllabic sound combinations in "Monkey Kombat” forego the appearance of intuitive swashbuckling repartee, The crucial ‘boss’ insult-swordfights In previous games (the Sword Master In SMI ang Captain Rottingham In CM), had involved applying learned responses In novel combinations, with part of the satisfaction in these fights stemming ‘ram the feeling that one has intuited correctly, and to some extent proven one’s wit along with Guybrush. Escape’s Monkey Kombat variation on this, however, denies the place of wit, and reduces the Insulttrading by stripping it down to sounds emptied of "meaning’ This brings it down to memorising or taking note of the accepted, yet seemingly arbitrary, patterns and combinations — frustrating the player's attempts to read them in a manner that would construct ‘meaning, With even the illusion of "natural language” denied, this combat makes it clear that this Is not a matter of the player's selection, 50 much as the application of learned arbitrary rules, requiring only mechanically Ieerned input from the player. This does of course serve to parodically expose the underpinaing conventions at work in the earlier games, and may demystify the player’s sense of satisfaction as a participating agent in selecting correctly: there would, in fact, always be one correct pairing of insult-riposte, and the player has always been applying an acquired regertoire of learned responses. However, though the rules shift forthe final battle, in accentuating the grind, Monkey Kombat reinforces "mechanical Inelasticty” without quite challenging it 921‘0406/2022 16:26 ‘gamestusies.org/150"/articlesibonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games ‘The game seemed moreover to enact the death of the genre, playfully ang alittle cynically, by re-presenting the entire franchise as @ repackaged commercial enterprise. It returned to M's “theme park” origins{10] and spun the myth into a satire of American consumerism, offering a further level of relied fictions with locations Ike Starbuccaneer’s Coffee™ and PlanetThreepwood™. This reproduces anc develops the series’ recurring “TM” in-joke in a more sustained way, and the metafictional aspect here refers to the wider production process, demystiying its tendency to spawn franchises, merchandise, spin-offs that exceed the games themselves, as well as the consumerism surrounding the non-independent games industry (and thus the consumers — the fans and players themselves). Guybrush “Threepwooe™ has become a commodity within his own world. Escape ‘rom Monkey Island thus seems to signal its own status as a “redundant” adcition, @ post-script which reframes the prior entries in the series in a "postmodern” fashion that precludes both over- reverential monumentalising, and the sentimentalzation associated with @ more conservative-preservationist strand of nostalgia{ 13). Figure 2. Starbuccaneer's™ Coffee. LucasArts. (2000). Escape from ‘Monkey Island. USA: LucasArts. "Home of expensive espressos and ‘gentrified java” — combining parodic self-reflexivity towards medium anc merchandise. ‘The adventure game “revival” of recent years responds to this with a heightened self-awareness, The kind of nostalgia more frequently encountered here is one more ja line with what terms “reflective nostalgia", which does not seek to deny distance and Indeed “cherishes” it (Boym, 2003, p. 49), reflecting on it in a manner which allows for the adoption of @ comic tone of self-awareness. A number of recent adventure games, most notably Deponia, Sam and Max (Telltale, 2006-2010) and Primordia (Wormwood Studios, 2012) have signposted thelr nostalgia for the genre by highlighting the aforementioned “uselessness” of the required tools, and the increased foregrounding and lteraization of “junk” or discarded objects — ‘Deponia’s world is one Iiterally bull upon junk and urban waste, while rimordia 's set amidst discarded machinery, lke the "Junk" whieh can be used to rebuild a robot body in Beneath a Steel Sky. ‘A recurring group of characters in Telitale's Sam and Max, first encountered in "Reality 2.0", isthe C.0.P.S, — the Computer Obsolescence Prevention Society, eternally devising coomed schemes {or reintegration into a society where they have outlived their “usefulness”. Both parodlc and openly nostalgic, "Obsolescence Prevention” suggests an irreducible distance. The C.0.PS. Include a home Pong console, and an arcade gaming machine. Though they prove their “use” in progressing the narrative, another of their functions is to provide mini-games, car decals{121, and the occasional silly jingle. They also extend the games’ metafictional dimension to incorporate within itself a retrospective look at the history of technological mecia, games, and Artificial Intelligence. This history becomes inextricably intertwined an¢ associate with the history of Sam and Max themselves (foregrounéing an awareness of thelr place In gaming history), as a younger version of Sam is encountered in the process of creating the arcade machine Bluster Blaster inthe later ‘episode Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space: "Chariats of the Dogs’ (Teltate, 2008), 10121owvosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexvty and Humor in Adventure Games Figure 3. The C.O.PS. in Telltale's Sam and Max: "Reality 2.0", including the arcade machine Bluster Blaster, built by Sam. Telltale Games, (2007). Sam and Max Save the World: “Realty 2.0°. Telltale Games. In addition to its more recent “updating” of the genre in The Walking ‘Dead (Telltale, 2012), Teltale, founded by former LucasArts game- designers, has been committed to reviving past franchises, which have so far included Lucasarts’ Monkey Island and Sam and Max: Forum activity suggests that these early releases were most eagerly- awaited by fans of the LucasArts games, a niche target audience old enough to remember (see also Connors, in Morganti, 2005), ‘Accordingly, the games — while accessible enough in thelr puzzles to admit new players — are also riddlee with humorous allusions as winks at more “seasoned” adventurers (alusiveness being another familiar genre-feature)[13]. Sam and Max: "Realty 2,0" even includes an allusion to “traditional” fentasy elements found in games featuring some kind of dungeon-exploretion, such as Zork , through such items 25 an upgraded/enchanted "+2 Sword"[14]. The nostalgia in this case Is, in-keeping with the tone of the series (and of the genre), playfully and even affectionately paradic — the game self-consciously works within the genre, while acknowledging distance. [As previously noted, in one striking instance Sam and Max: "Reality 2.0" breaks its graphic adventure mould to delve even farther back, “reverting” to the convantions pertaining to the “origin” of the genre Itself — the text adventure. This supplies the place of the climactic tend to the episode, an apocalyptic “end” which returns us to the primordia" of the world of the genre itself. As the world falls apart, the “climactic” quality provokes the question of medium-specifiity, in terms of the medium’s capabilities at ciferent times. The description is deliberately silly and spectacularly excessive (in a manner that seemingly attempts to exceed spectacle, testing the mits of visualization), as though to highlight the limitations of the more “sophisticated” (albeit also nostalgic) graphic adventure, as opposed to the text-based adventure — as all pretence at representational “realism” cracks under a "reality-quake'’ Possibly as @ result, the unremarkable office building becomes a remarkable two-storey tall Pamela Anderson, who mumbles something uninteligible before surfing away on a stray pop-uo ad (ironically advertising a Pop Up Blocker). In the distance, an aerial squadron of Potbelly pigs begins performing loop-ce-loops. The world appears to be ending The differentiating factor here is the removal of the graphics — however, this is not a complete separation. As (Boym, 2001, p. xl) points out, nostalgia rests on "a sentiment of loss and displacement” — nostalgic longing for return thus Imalles insurmountable distance. In this respect, nostalgia's creation of a “double exposure” (Boym, 2001, p, xiv) Is structurally similar to parody’s “textual doubling” (Hutcheon, 1985, p. 53). As mentioned earlier, the game retains the graphic adventure’s interface, along with its more limited command- options — the player's abilty to test the text-parser’s limits (and explore the environment) is thus reduced; and the protagonists (Sam {and Max) are visible and move within the black featureless space. This werowvosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games Intersection — with one game-mode occupying, overlapping, of Invading another — enables a parocic "double-voicedness” (Bakhtin, 1984, p. 195), and suggests an interesting turn: the nostalgic-parodic slance back supplies the means to comment on the parodying text itself, with parody working both ways. Though the player is, constrained by limited command-options, other possiblives are opened up. For example, in much the same manner as the indescribable “grue" with no visual counterpart, the abstract becomes 2 "thing" In this world — one can use a lake of Nauseating Cuteness, bck up a Respect for Living Things (indescribable, insofar as it oasts the standard description for things that are unremarkable — that is, ro further description is/can be attached to it: "you see nothing special about it"), and encounter 2 villainous Shambling Corporate Presence. Its therefore implied that there are certain limitations which circumseribe ies graphical suecessors, but which the text- adventure can cheerfully disregara[15]. Nostalgia is thus doubly- embedded in the game, allowing it to turn around and comment parocically on the current wave of adventures, which includes Telitale's own Sam and Max. Replayability ‘Another intriguing parodic-nestalgic “guest-appearance'” of the genre occurs in a non-adventure game. In the most medium-referential sequence (*http://deckers.die") in Saints Row: The Third (Volition, 2011), a game which foregrounds comical excess above all else, the cyberworld of Matt Miller (Decker Boss) includes a nostalgic journey through selected moments from gaming history. There is a Tank! (Atari Ine, 1974) sequence, and a short text-adventure. The latter requires picking up a light-source, features an encounter with a Unicorn as a fantasy element, and entails a number of possible ridiculous ways to die (all involving an unforeseeable-yet-inevitable “loose flagstone”, in a parody of a chance encounter). As in Sam and ‘Max: °Realiy 2.0%, the engagement between game-modes introduces a note of playful conflict, as the player character's voice-over frequently expresses frustration (is there a lower difficulty?"), grumbling at the check on the abilities usually available to him/her (and by extension, reflecting the player's expectations for the game, which must be adjusted for this part). In what may be a nod to Zork, directions and options are sometimes indicated, then denied — fer example, "go through hole” is blocked by the parser: "you're not big enough", The alayer character exclaims in frustration, "Then why mention the damn hole!” ‘This text edventure — while being a mini-game integrated into the level — also serves as a potentially looped diversion from the main game, offering the option of replay ratner than loading up an earlier save In the case of felure, or moving onto the next stage after successful completion. This is unusual within the context ofthe game, where completion of one stage usually leads into the next; variants on particular mini-games are available at cifferent locations, but these variants are not integrated as potential diversions/interruptions within the main quest-ine. The selected attribute of the acventure highlighted here is therefore its replayabllty, as @ property which rests primarily in the player's engagement with the humor and willingness ‘to attempt a variety of possible responses within the limited branching of the mini-game — even those that are "wrong’, "pointless", or dead tenes. Nostalgic appeal, also highlighted, is implicit in the very act of replay. Don't Shit Your Pants! (Decade Studios, 2009) offers another example where nostalgia and parogy converge, centring on an action rarely considered plot-worthy. The pattern for an adventure game puzzle Identified by Fernandez-Vara (2009, p. 140) which invalves a trivial action magnified into a puzzle, often invalving more than one step, is here distilled to the point of reductio ad absurdum. As in Saints Row the Third’ text adventure, this game Ikewise encourages attempts to find out all available actions through replay (inclucing some ridiculously disproportionate solutions to the very mundane situation of needing to defecate, such as typing in "die"). Achievements are awarded for discovering alternate endings, or diversions from the yaowiosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games 4021, within this limited scenario where the one ostensible aim is that contained in the ttle. Immersion? “The examples considered here have entailed some interruption of action, identification, expectation, or continuty. The possible impact of such moments on "immersion" is therefore worth a closer look, Lebling et al. remark that Zork “tres to be real” (Lebling et al, 1979, - 52), with its own surrounding geography, internal consistency, and the illusion of an *omniscient” gameworlé (Lebling, 2014). Lebling notes that this was an attempt to "make It a non-mechanical experience”; yet, the player's interaction occurs as the player learns how to play the game (Lebling, 2014) and acquires familiarity with the possibilities allowed by the game. The “non-mechanical experience” provided Is therefore to an extent the product of an illusion achieved ‘through "manipulation’, as Lebling himself acknowledges. “The association of immersion with a sealed-off and cahesively enclosing world suggests a “totality” of experience (Grau, 2003, p. 13). In suggesting a seamless, unified, and cohesive “total” and “immediate” experience, “immersion” as used here owes a debt to the \Wagnerian notion of Gesamtkunstwerk, the integration of media into an all-encompassing “total” or “integrated” work of art (Wagner, 1849), whieh concealed the mechanisms preducing the illusion — 2 mechanical aspect such illusion nonetheless relied on (Ballard, 2014, pp. 133-5). The notion that such games are predominantly immersive in the sense of comprising a coherent “totality” could be countered by the aforementioned magnifying and sometimes fragmenting focus on the trivial, which distracts from the sense of overarching continuity Fernéndez-Vara (2003, p. 140) compares this to Brechtian techniques: for “undermin{ing]" immersion, In Its abilty to break with the ‘assumed automatism of such actions in “everyday” life. Its also countered by the meta-meciality displayed by the games considered here {including Zork), and their tendency to draw attention to the fact that they are manifestly afferent from the "real world’, yet not isconnected enough to form a selfenclosed "world apart” — for example, the culminating “Turn off your computer and go to sleep!” in ‘SMI, and the stream of “constructive” suggestions directly ecdressed to the player after the en¢-credits have rolled in MLZ (“ke [..] run for president, [..] or milk @ cow ..] or confuse the person next to you"), which maintain the game's comic tone at the threshold of play. Comical inconsistencies within the world also persis, and include anachronistic end seemingly displaced elements within the MI games, such as the grog vending-machine, These are somewhat recuperated within the wider MI-mythos with the framing narrative in MI2. The closure there, however, does not completely seal the narrative, and has the feel of a “false ending”; Ron Gilbert allegedly retains the key (the *Secret") to fully decoding the ending. The "secret” itself, which would provide closure, remains elusive — the impossible and founcing puzzle, both promised and withheld, and a topic for endless speculation ane object of pursuit even “outside” the games. Gilbert himself stokes up (and puts spokes in) the debate, by regularly teasing the fans — as with the “pile]-in-the-sky” reference in Grumpy Gamer (14 March 2008), where an endlessly-deferring pl is offered in place of the "secret™ Immersion refers to the player's role as well as experience. The Wagnerian” kind of immersion was sometimes accused of fostering passivity in an audience. Brecht, for example (2964, p. 38), saw it as dangerously seductive (“witchcraft”), and devised theatrical techniques which would break the spell and enable a more active aucience-perspective by establishing ertical distance. Of course, active involvement is more readily expected in games, though its relationship with immersion Is complex (as itis, indeed, in other media). Calleja (2011, p. 35) points out that “involvement” is an aspect that must be taken into account as @ pre-requisite forthe player's experience of "presence" and “immersion” when considering games, suggesting an akernative view of the process (towards incorporation”), Murray sees participation as reinforcing the sense of| 19121owvosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games “presence” in immersion (1897, p. 125), Lebling (2014) points out that the construction of the gameworld In Zork occurs in tandem with the player's interaction with it — a relationship which bulls upon the player's expectations, adapting them to the gameworld as @ means of more seamlessly facilltating the process of “leering” to play: This also Increases the player's Involvement and investment in the world However, the moments I have considered are of particular interest precisely because they seem to mobilize the player's involvement against immersion, turning interaction into inter{upted/ing]action, rather than being @ means towards the experience implied by Ryan (1994) has discussed the relation between “interactivity” ang “immersion. “Interactivity” Is seen by Ryan (2006, p. 108) as having the potential to enhance immersion (particularly "internal Interactivity” — for example, through identification with, or projecting onto, an avatar), and to disrupt it (for example, in some cases of “external interactivity’, which may grent more “authorial” control to the player). Fernandez-Vara (2003, pp. 211-3) notes the aptness of ‘Murray's term, "scripting the interactor”, to describe the limiting of the Player as “interector” to accord with the behaviour permitted within the adventure, which tends to return the player’s exploration to a “pre-set path”, This interaction, she notes, is (usvally invisibly) shaped by constraints ("script") which draw force from the players’ expectations, which In turn could be based on conventions cued in by the game. Hence, player participation becomes complicit in its own constraint, ‘The examples presented here have included occasions where detours have been anticipated, teasingly invited, then blocked with comic effect — highlighting the limitations imposed on the player by the game. In these instances, the player becomes aware of the limitations of interactivity itself, as well as of immersion within the gameworld, and the way both draw upon conventional expectations — even while the player's involvement is shown to be part of this process. Between interactivity as enhancing, and interactivity as having the potential to disrupt immersion, a key differentiating factor often ‘mentionec is the impression of immediacy — the extent to which one's experience appears to be direct an unmediated. Lombard and Ditton claim that: "For an illusion of nonmediation to be effective, the ‘medium should not be obvious or obtrusive — it should not draw attention to itself ang remind the media user that she/he is having @ mediated experience” (Lombard and Ditton, 1997; see also: Ryan, 1994; and Bolter & Grusin on the "desire for immediacy", 1999, pp. 21-30), The intrusion of self-reflexivity and meta-medial awareness disrupts the ilusion of “immediacy” and “transparency” usually associated with immersion. In response to the powerful ®myth of transparency”, Bolter and Gromala (2003, p. 67) suggest the esirabilty of interface oscillating between “transparency” (the window) and “reflective” (the mirror). As they note, this 's not @ pure or straightforward opposition, but t helps to describe @ possible source for comic effect, which may arise from instances where the transition itself is marked and exploited for comic potential, and some kind of contrast is momentary foregrounded, such as in the Intersection between graphic and text modes — not merely as juxtaposition of separate elements, but elements which can colide, Interact, and intrude upon each other. “Emotional” immersion, associated by Ryan (2005, . 9) with “emotional attachment to the characters, is disrupted by the Interruption of identification, considered above, Ron Gilber® (in ‘Agnelio, 2012) comments on the difficulties inherent in humor which targets the player, and voices his preference for avoiding directly “mak{ing] fun of the player for falling” — in this case, he notes, the character may be the target of the joxe instead of the player. As the examples above demonstrate, however, the joke in M does occasionally rebound on the player. However, itis always In a playfully comic, rather than mocking, tone — even more so in the absence of the possibilty of “failure”, The indirect route Gilbert favours suggests 2 View of humor as requiring a degree of emotional detachment, although he also sees the player's relationship with the character as vaiznowvosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games Involving strong "empathy". As we have seen, a comic effect tends to arise from abrupt dissociation which interrupts such empathy, with the character sometimes coming into conflict with the player's wishes. “The association of the camic with emotional detachment can be found in Bergson’ "anaesthesia of the heart" (1980, pp. 63-4; see also Critchley, 2002, p. 88), and suggests a distancing process similar to Brechtian techniques of “alienation”, which aim to achieve critical distance by discouraging empathy (Brecht, 1964, pp. 14, 78). This also suggests a route towards re-turning the joke onto the player. Where the player him/herself is implicated, this has usually been in the direction of additional awareness — of the limits on thelr contral, and of the way their own expectations are shaped by convention. This awareness may also result in an effect of critical self-distancing. We could recall here the "se dédoublement” (self-doubling) that Baudelaire (1976, p. 192) suggests takes place to enable the target of the joke to share in the amusement, since as the comic object one oes not partake in that laughter. The compelling quality of the self- awareness offered hare through comic distancing is the feeling that fone has been “let in" on a joke, given access to a usually-concealed mechanism, ‘The relationship between Immersion and the comic could be further explored with reference to an adventure game which appears to break this mould, In spite of the meta-medial potential inherent in the notion of "worlds contained in books” Myst (Cyan, 1993) strives after an immersive experience which goes hand-in-hand with a more earnest approach, This serves as a reminder that there are exceptions — in focusing on particular games and moments in games, my aim has been to identity tendencies within @ genre, rather than attempt an exhaustive reading that posits thorough generic homogeneity. On the other nand, the observation regarding Myst does tend to reinforce the suggestion of a correlation between the comic and the interruption of Conclusions My reading has focused on moments which are not accommodated by otions of “immersion” and "recapture". Though Harpold (2007) also deals with moments of increased visibility of medium which may threaten the “integrity” of the "gameworle’, self-reflexivity ané humor may be alternative routes, taken where reinforcing consistency is nat the primary concern, While the self-reflexivity of genre and meta~ medialty also funetion here as part of the gameworld, interruptions becoming part of the gameplay, there is @ resistance fo complete and seamless reincarporation, highlighting the medialty on a level accessible tothe player. Within parameters, in both the graphic and text adventures considered here there is the possibility of wandering astray — even if this takes the form of exploring “uselessness, or results In dead ends. Dead ends, cigressions, and turnabouts may provide the opportunity for a “punch-line’, or a humorous metafictional parodic tur, Interaction in these moments — which suggest a derailment of seemingly intuitive response or action — manifests itself to the player as inter{rupting]action. The combined effect of nostalgia and parody Is to introcuce another intervening distance, ang suggests another avenue for engagement through the comic. Such moments of disconnection or interruption, indeed, do not entail an absence of engagement, but rather an avenue towards reconsidering or shifting ‘the means of that engagement. In drawing attention to and exploiting fractures in the coherence of the gameworld(s), these instances accentuate disjunction, and hence the comic pleasure derived from ‘the teasing and diversionary “pleasure of the game” (Lyotard in Flieger, 1991, p, 191), prolonging and enhancing the games’ r playability. Manipulation laid bare takes the form of "play" with the player, and the player's [reJengagement occurs through sharing the joke, and re-considering her own expectations. Once learned, conventions recede from awareness as habit takes over. ‘This article has dravin attention to instances where both manipulation ang the underlying mechanical-habitual nature of learned skils are deliberately exposed, with comic effect, Rather than being merely 1921owvosi2022 16:96, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games exceptional instances, It is suggested that these moments become Intrinsic to the way we experience the games. They are “exceptional” In the sense that they work in contrast to expectations established in the course of play — yet, in so doing, they self-consciously reveal a “eypical” aspect of the game and genre, making the player aware of their manipulation by the game, and her/his own expectations in relation to it, Itis for this reason that Shklovsky calls the parogic novel Tristram Shandy “the most typical novel in worl literature’ (Shklovsky, 1990, p. 170). The interesting paradox implied here is ‘that metafictional humor itself becomes a genre convention, associated with adventure games which — often self-referentialy and intertextually — claim/stuate themselves within @ particular lineage. Acknowledgements 1 Would like to thank Daniel Vella, Lara Schembri, and Veli-Matts Karhulahti, for reading over this article, and lots of stimulating debate fn our shared passion for adventure games. 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(2009), Don’t Shit Your Pants! ‘nttpu//www-konaregate.com/games/Rete/dont-shit-your-pants [retrieved 02.06.15} Deckt3 Interactive. (2007-8). Jack Keane. UK: 10tacle Studios. Frogwares, (2012). The Testament of Sherlock Holmes. Ukraine: Frogwares. Infocom. (1980). Zork. tnfocom. Lucasérts, (1991). Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. USA: Lucas, LucasArts. (1993). Sam and Max Hit the Road. USA: LucasArts. LucasArts, (1997). The Curse of Monkey Island. USA: LucasArts LucasArts, (2000), Escape from Monkey Island. USA: LucasArts Lucasfilm Games. (1990). Loom. USA: Lucastim Games. Lucasfilm Games, (1990), The Secret of Monkey Island. USA: Lucasfilm Games Perfect Entertainment. (1996). Discworld 2: Missing Presumed..?. UK: Psyanasis. Revolution Software. (1994). Beneath a Stee! Sky. Virgin Interactive, Revolution Software, (1996). Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars, Virgin Interactive Sierra. (1990). Quest for Glory If: Trial By Fire. USA: Sierra. Slerra On-Line. (1999). Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. USA: Sierra On-Line Telitale Games. (2006-2010). Sam and Max. The Adventure Company/Telitale Games. “Teltale Games. (2009), Tales of Monkey Island, USA: Lucasts Telitale Games. (2012). The Walking Dead. Telitale Games. Volition. (2011). Saints Row: The Third. USA: THQ Wormwood Stucios. (2012), Primordia, USA: Wadjet Eye Games. Zombie LLC. (1996). Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands. Activision Notes [1] With tpara~’ indicating a relationship of both “nearness and opposition” (Rose, 1993, p. 9) [2] For Gérare Genette, parody is @ species of "transtextuality", and more particularly *hypertextualty” — categories which involve the relationship between texts (Genette, 19972, pp. 1, 7). He is sceptical of the possibilty that a text could incorporate within itself its own self- parody (p. 124); yet, he recognizes the etymalogical meaning (par + dia) as singing "in counterpaint”(p. 10), which would seem to allow for the possibilty of “intratextual” parody, a possibility T would like to take into account here. Margaret Rose suggests this possibility too when she claims that “untke satire, the parody makes the ‘victim, or objec, ofits attack a part ofits own structure” (Rose, 1993, p. 79). In this particular instance moreover, the endgame — by providing something “in addition” to the "main" game experience, might be seen as being in the nature of Genette's paratexts, which he does include Under the broader banner of transtextualty. A "paratext” as defined by Genette includes presentational devices, titles, epigraphs, and all ‘that surrounds and occurs alongside the "main" body of text: "More: than 2 boundary or a sealed border, the paratext is, rather, a threshole” (Genette, 19976, pp. 1-2) [3] Although Lessard (2012) avoids considering Adventure in terms of later genre developments, taking instead a contextualising approach 19121owiosi2022 16:96, Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games wich places it pre-genre-formation, he acknowledges its rooting of certain traits which later became associated with the genre. [4] °A metalepsis occurs when the astensible boundary between two narrative warlds is breached (..] Metalepses may be also effected from the domain of the embedded narrative outward” (Harpold, 2007). [5] A rather extreme example of such narrowing of choices can be seen in The Testament af Sherlock Holmes (Frogwares, 2012), where opening 2 cabinet results in the discovery that "The only thing intact Is this bottle of ether” The crucial item is thereby immediately marked out 2s significant by being, in fact, the only thing there, [6] Bergson’s view has further notable applicabilty beyond the adventure format. Ben Hudson (2014) has discussed in Bergsonian| terms the potential for slapstick comedy in on-line multiplayer gaming. He sees this as lying in the discrepancy between the player's “immersion and embodiment in the game-warld and their player avatars" on the one hand, anc the mechanical and inhuman simulation” on the other ~ an incongruity which can be played upon, once acknowledged [71 The comic manner In which Immersion may be Interrupted (and engagement momentarily re-configured) has potential outside the adventure game, It has something in common with those moments where Calleja suggests that the intensity of incorporation could drop with 2 modification of the level of “conscious attention” required to complete a task, This could be the case where skils in games requiring kinaesthetic control prove inadequate to the occasion (Calleja, 2011, p. 171), though usually this would be a question of Insufficient, rather than excess, kinaesthetic skil [8] Grayson expressly opposes this kind of interaction to “action”: “But It's lke Newton would've said if he got bonked on the noggin by an old-school point-and-click adventure instead of a fruit meteor: Fer every action, there is an equal and opposite progress-halting puzzle.” [9] Though limited descriations would be offered in some later Zork games, such as Zork: The Undiscovered Underground (Blank and Berlyn, 1997). [10] Ron Gilbert, who had left the series after MI2, has claimed inspiration from Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean rice (Gilbert, 1990) [12] Stephen Legg identifies one school of thought that links nostalgia with sentimentalization and the establishment (Legg, 2005, p. 488). ‘This would be consistent with what Svetlana Boym terms “restorative rostalgla", which “takes Itself dead seriously" (Boym, 2001, p. 49) [12] Gaining al possible decals in Sam and Max Beyond Time and ‘Space: Ice Station Santa (2007) earns one the Playstation trophy "A Range of Completely Worthless Decals” — an achievement which rewares the obtaining of declaredly *worthless” items. [13] Tolltale carries on the LucasArts and Sierra “tradition” of inter- game references to other worlds, usually by the same developers — for example: Loom (Lucasfilm Games, 1990) in ; climaxes which seem to mirror each other in Quest for Glory 1! (Sierra, 1990)and Gabriel night 3 (Sierra On-Line, 1999); a Telltale logo featuring Max-and= [14] The +2 Sword fulfils @ function in the "2.0" version of "realty". It Is also usable — albeit “useless” — In the text-based ("1.5") realm. An Xbox achievement nonetheless rewards attempts to use the sword on every possible temcharacter in this realm. [15] Vet-Matti Karhulahti (2011) touches upon the relative limitations of graphic and text adventures, remarking that “text has several aesthetic dimensions into which graphics cannot enter," and observing that these are often related to exploiting the different limitations involved. gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k 20121owvosi2022 16:96, Game Studies - Sall-Reflexivty and Humor in Adventure Games ©2001 - 2015 Game Studies Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the journal, except for the right to republish in printed paper publications, whicn belongs to the authors, but with first publication rights granted to the Journal. By virtue of their appearance In this open access journal, articias are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings, gamestudies.org/150"/articles/bonello_k 21