Metagaming

One of the small features that can be found in the Phoenix, Loyola's newspaper, is a little thing called "Mixed Tape." It's essentially four songs linked by a common theme and then each entry has a little joke written about it. Well, this week's upcoming theme features songs about music. I was writing it last night and needed a title, so I settled on calling it "Metamusic," based on my interest in "Metatheater." For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term "Metatheater," it describes the action or idea of a play within a play. For instance, the play performed in Hamlet would be considered "Metatheater," because it's both another play, but also comments on the structure of theater. So, last night, I thought I was being clever with calling my Mix Tape "Metamusic." Now moving on from that and thinking about how video games affect my life, I got to thinking about video games who, through the game, make the gamer aware that he is playing a video game. Kind of like how the play in Hamlet makes the viewer aware that he is watching yet another play. It breaks the fourth wall so to speak. So, just like invented (or like to think that I have) the term "Metamusic," I would like to talk about "Metagaming."

The first game that came to mind, was Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It was an new game based off of the original Final Fantasy Tactics design, but made specifically for the Gameboy Advance. The reason it's important is because it was being developed at the same time that Final Fantasy XII was, and the same person directed both games. Now in the beginning of FFTA, you take the persona of a kid who literally gets sucked into the game he's playing (the idea was that the kid was playing FF12, but because FF12 was delayed and came out years later, this relationship between the two and the effect of being inside of the game was greatly lost). So, from then on, you interact with new characters and this creative fantasy world, but in the back of your mind, you're a real person, playing a "real" person, who's playing a game. It's like a game within a game.

It's interesting because when you think of most games, not video games, you're consciously aware that you're doing something else, you're engaging in an act of play. You set aside the duties of your real life and have a good time. Video games tend to evoke Colridge's "willing suspension of disbelief." They like novels and films, want the person playing them to get lost in the created world. Of course we know that what we're doing in a video game isn't real, but we set that aside in a way we don't, when say playing Monopoly. So it's that a game like FFTA tried to capture that complete game immersion, by setting up two fictional worlds. The "real" one and the "game" one. It blatantly tells the gamer that he is playing a video game, but then, moves away from that and tries to make the gamer buy into this new virtual world. It's playing off of the fantasy that I'm sure all gamers have had, of actually being inside his favorite video game. Especially, since the game the character is playing in FFTA is available in the real world.

Then take a game like Myst, where the player, you, is taken from your world and into the world of a book. The way that book is experienced, the interface, makes it yet another game. So that was a much earlier attempt of what FFTA was trying to accomplish. But then there are still puzzle games and sports games, where the gamer is playing just for the fun of the interface, not for the story element. Or mini games that can be found inside the larger game, aren't these just more examples of games within games?

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance acknowledges not only that video games are created works of entertainment, but also the desire to fully immerse yourself in that entertainment. It plays on the drive behind the Sims and Second Life, without the "real world" interface, it is aware of the desire for fantasy. It's interesting because we're starting to see games becoming commentary like Bully on Columbine. I think it's easier for one media to critique another, but I think it's more effective when one media critiques itself, as I see FFTA doing. This isn't a concerned parent of a philosopher commenting about gamers, it's a video game made by video game player for like minded individuals. I know that sounds generic because let's face it, most games are made by other video game players, but the difference is that FFTA is tearing down that wall between reality and fiction. It's one step closer to suspending that disbelief. You're still starting out as someone other than yourself, but at least it's in the real world.

So what does that say about video games in general? I think FFTA points out their entertainment value as more than just interacting with the puzzles and conquering levels. I think it exposes the enjoyment gamers have with just the idea of video games and their love of the method.