In Chapter 11 of How to Talk About Videogames by Ian Bogost, defamiliarizes gestural interfaces videogames expanding on the idea that gestures are more important than one would think. He begins the chapter by giving a miniature history lesson on when gestural interface games began blowing up in the late 2000s. Next he lists, and describes mainstream examples of videogames like the Wii Balance Board and the Kinect 2 in order to give the reader a better sense of the type of videogames he refers to. This is a beneficial strategy because most people may not know what Bogost is talking about just by game type alone. Once he establishes his topic, Bogost begins to build his argument. First, he states that gestural videogames are more gratifying the more realistic the corresponding real-world action is performed on the screen. Bogost argues that goal of “physical realism” only distracts from the fact that gestures convey and not just action. This is where he starts hinting at what he’s trying to get to the bottom. Bogost is trying to undercover that the gesture videogames can be extremely emotionally tolling, especially when they achieve physical realism. He expands on his argument by explaining the importance of gestures. Then he talks about how much we as people depend on nonverbal communication through gestures. There are intransitive gestures like scrunched eyebrows, crossed arms, or even a smile that don’t necessarily perform an action. And there are transitive gestures such as flipping the bird or wave hello that are technically actions, but they don’t “alter the physical environment in the same way a racquet does when striking a ball” (Bogost 90). What these gestures do is alter our feelings and the way we think about ourselves and the world. Once he sets up his argument, he begins giving his example to support his statements. His first example is Manhunt 2, which is a controversial game released in 2007 that is played on the Wii (Bogost 91). He uses this game as an obvious example of what he is trying to prove. The game asks its players to physical act out torturous and heinous action. This game is an obvious example of how gestural interface videogames can be emotionally tolling on their players. But, in order to make his argument even stronger, he uses a less obvious game called Train as an example. He begins by explaining the game and how it is twisted. Players have to perform gestures that in the game correlate with put people on trains that end uo in concentration camps or Auschwitz. The goal of the game is twisted enough but by asking the players to physically place people onto these trains, it adds a new level of emotional distress. Worst of all, this game isn’t even a gestural videogame. He asks the readers to imagine if we had the technology to turn Train into one. He concludes Chapter 11 with this idea that maybe we shouldn’t rush to improve the technology of gestural interface videogames because they may be too emotionally taxing to still even be enjoyable. Bogost does a great job of forcing his readers reconsider videogames like the Wii by making them aware that these games impact people in ways they couldn’t see before.
Bogost, Ian. How to Talk about Videogames. N.p.: U of Minnesota, 2015. Print.
