Being dysfunctional is normally defined as deviating from the norm, acting unusual to normal standards, or behaving in an abnormal way. It can also be defined as not working in its regular fashion. Humans like to describe things as dysfunctional if it does not fit their societal social standards of what is normal. But truly, who are we to define what is normal or not? Is being normal what the majority of people are doing? Or is it just what we are used to seeing? The two games, Game, Game, Game, and Again Game by Jason Nelson and Perfect World by Ansh Patel are the perfect examples of being dysfunctional.
Before I even began playing Game, Game, Game, and Again Game, the home page already screamed dysfunctional. It was not exactly aesthetically pleasing. The typed information and instructions seemed normal, but then there are drawn arrows in different colors all over the home page. It is quite distracting and makes it a little difficult to understand what is going on. Nonetheless, I finally got through the instructions and started to play the game. Initially, the game looks as if it was designed by a 5-year-old in an art class. The drawing looks like it was all filled in the crayons and the graphics are pretty distracting. There is also a voice that says “Come on and meet your maker” each time you hit an obstacle in the game. Additionally, whenever you hit an obstacle, more words, graphics, and distractions appear on the screen. All in all, it seems very dysfunctional, but I was able to reach the end of the game and pass all 13 levels. In the end, it is very strange. It displays a video of a candle lighting up a potato and discussing the “true meaning of life”. Also, it tells me the real end of the game is life. This game confused me a lot and seemed far from normal. This is why I would describe it as being ludic form of dysfunctional.
Moreover, I would say that the Perfect World is much less dysfunctional in comparison to Game, Game, Game, and Again Game. I would even go as far as to say that the Perfect World had a similar meaning to Game, Game, Game, and Again Game. In the Perfect World, I noticed that the further you attempted to go (physically or mentally), the game became more and more distorted. This is similar to Game, Game, Game, and Again Game, because whenever you would try to progress, impossible obstacles were there and more and more distractions appeared on the screen. However, the Perfect World is much more aesthetically pleasing then Game, Game, Game, and Again Game. Perfect World seems to be more experimentally dysfunctional because it seems to have a clear meaning on its nonsense and random distortions. It seems that the deeper you try to uncover your true self, the game becomes completely distorted. When I attempted to separate the body from the mind, the words became illegible. I feel as if these games were telling us that the farther we try to uncover life, the more dysfunctional everything else becomes.