Scrape Scraperteeth: Surrealist Gaming As Modern Art

[MaxwellEdison]

The other stuff is a little better, but overall the interaction has very little impact on the works as a whole. I admit that I could be missing something about Scrape Scraperteeth though, so feel free to explain more about why you found it so engaging.

I enjoy the aesthetic he uses, and agree with the message he's getting across. As for the interaction, the fact that the interface is so broken is part of the aesthetic. It's not supposed to be a cohesive build. Feel free to respond to me as to why you don't like it- I've always been confused by the 90% of people in this case.

Isn't the interface simply an extension of the aesthetic? Or were you referring to the controls? I didn't find them to be particularly broken.

Mechanically, here's what the work consisted of: a simple, linear platformer without death penalties and an emphasis on light exploration (to find the extra "flair" bits in each level). The only obstacles to the player are the heights of the buildings, which forces them to wait for the "elevators". Now, these elements certainly match Nelson's message, but that doesn't make them particularly revelatory or interesting. Indeed, if the work were a video of the man going through each level rather than an interactive game it wouldn't really lose all that much meaning. As such, I can't say that the interaction really does anything.

Contrast this with something like "Passage" by Jason Rohrer. A video playthough of that game would cause the work to lose nearly all its impact. The majority of the message of "Passage" is conveyed through mechanics alone, rather than simply having the gameplay mirror the aesthetics as in the case of Scrape Scraperteeth.

I was tired and trying to refer to the controls and how limited they are, but it wasn't really an important point, so I'll move on
I do agree completely that interaction could have played a bigger part, and I am slightly disappointed by the fact that it doesn't in his games. They're definitely not the best they can be. I do, however, still enjoy the experience. I'm not quite sure if they'd lose anything by being transferred to a video. Honestly, most of my initial reaction to his work in playing it was how completely different than every other game on the sites it was found on, which I definitely wouldn't get from a video. I sort of feel that the fact that it forces me to participate slightly stops me from getting bored, as I would with a video, or incredibly frustrated, as I would if this was made into a challenging game.
Thanks, by the way, for not coming out and accusing it of being not art because it looks unappealing. That's basically the type of opposition I've come to expect on this issue, and it gets rather frustrating.

 

[IvoryTowerGamer]

The other stuff is a little better, but overall the interaction has very little impact on the works as a whole. I admit that I could be missing something about Scrape Scraperteeth though, so feel free to explain more about why you found it so engaging.

I enjoy the aesthetic he uses, and agree with the message he's getting across. As for the interaction, the fact that the interface is so broken is part of the aesthetic. It's not supposed to be a cohesive build. Feel free to respond to me as to why you don't like it- I've always been confused by the 90% of people in this case.

Isn't the interface simply an extension of the aesthetic? Or were you referring to the controls? I didn't find them to be particularly broken.

Mechanically, here's what the work consisted of: a simple, linear platformer without death penalties and an emphasis on light exploration (to find the extra "flair" bits in each level). The only obstacles to the player are the heights of the buildings, which forces them to wait for the "elevators". Now, these elements certainly match Nelson's message, but that doesn't make them particularly revelatory or interesting. Indeed, if the work were a video of the man going through each level rather than an interactive game it wouldn't really lose all that much meaning. As such, I can't say that the interaction really does anything.

Contrast this with something like "Passage" by Jason Rohrer. A video playthough of that game would cause the work to lose nearly all its impact. The majority of the message of "Passage" is conveyed through mechanics alone, rather than simply having the gameplay mirror the aesthetics as in the case of Scrape Scraperteeth.

I was tired and trying to refer to the controls and how limited they are, but it wasn't really an important point, so I'll move on
I do agree completely that interaction could have played a bigger part, and I am slightly disappointed by the fact that it doesn't in his games. They're definitely not the best they can be. I do, however, still enjoy the experience. I'm not quite sure if they'd lose anything by being transferred to a video. Honestly, most of my initial reaction to his work in playing it was how completely different than every other game on the sites it was found on, which I definitely wouldn't get from a video. I sort of feel that the fact that it forces me to participate slightly stops me from getting bored, as I would with a video, or incredibly frustrated, as I would if this was made into a challenging game.
Thanks, by the way, for not coming out and accusing it of being not art because it looks unappealing. That's basically the type of opposition I've come to expect on this issue, and it gets rather frustrating.

Hey, sorry I took so long to respond.

I can see what you mean now about the controls, and upon further reflection I agree that the lack of difficulty/linearity of the interaction added to the game in a way that would not be possible in a video. I guess my problem with Scraperteeth is the same problem I have with "Every day the same dream" (http://www.molleindustria.org/everydaythesamedream/everydaythesamedream.html). It's just severely restricting the potential of the medium in order to make a somewhat simple point. I feel it's like if a movie director chose to depict key scenes as text in intertitles. Yes, it would probably make an artistic point, but it seems like you'd be giving up a lot more than you'd gain.

In any case though, at least now I understand why you liked the game so much.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

The other stuff is a little better, but overall the interaction has very little impact on the works as a whole. I admit that I could be missing something about Scrape Scraperteeth though, so feel free to explain more about why you found it so engaging.

I enjoy the aesthetic he uses, and agree with the message he's getting across. As for the interaction, the fact that the interface is so broken is part of the aesthetic. It's not supposed to be a cohesive build. Feel free to respond to me as to why you don't like it- I've always been confused by the 90% of people in this case.

Isn't the interface simply an extension of the aesthetic? Or were you referring to the controls? I didn't find them to be particularly broken.

Mechanically, here's what the work consisted of: a simple, linear platformer without death penalties and an emphasis on light exploration (to find the extra "flair" bits in each level). The only obstacles to the player are the heights of the buildings, which forces them to wait for the "elevators". Now, these elements certainly match Nelson's message, but that doesn't make them particularly revelatory or interesting. Indeed, if the work were a video of the man going through each level rather than an interactive game it wouldn't really lose all that much meaning. As such, I can't say that the interaction really does anything.

Contrast this with something like "Passage" by Jason Rohrer. A video playthough of that game would cause the work to lose nearly all its impact. The majority of the message of "Passage" is conveyed through mechanics alone, rather than simply having the gameplay mirror the aesthetics as in the case of Scrape Scraperteeth.

I was tired and trying to refer to the controls and how limited they are, but it wasn't really an important point, so I'll move on
I do agree completely that interaction could have played a bigger part, and I am slightly disappointed by the fact that it doesn't in his games. They're definitely not the best they can be. I do, however, still enjoy the experience. I'm not quite sure if they'd lose anything by being transferred to a video. Honestly, most of my initial reaction to his work in playing it was how completely different than every other game on the sites it was found on, which I definitely wouldn't get from a video. I sort of feel that the fact that it forces me to participate slightly stops me from getting bored, as I would with a video, or incredibly frustrated, as I would if this was made into a challenging game.
Thanks, by the way, for not coming out and accusing it of being not art because it looks unappealing. That's basically the type of opposition I've come to expect on this issue, and it gets rather frustrating.

Hey, sorry I took so long to respond.

I can see what you mean now about the controls, and upon further reflection I agree that the lack of difficulty/linearity of the interaction added to the game in a way that would not be possible in a video. I guess my problem with Scraperteeth is the same problem I have with "Every day the same dream" (http://www.molleindustria.org/everydaythesamedream/everydaythesamedream.html). It's just severely restricting the potential of the medium in order to make a somewhat simple point. I feel it's like if a movie director chose to depict key scenes as text in intertitles. Yes, it would probably make an artistic point, but it seems like you'd be giving up a lot more than you'd gain.

In any case though, at least now I understand why you liked the game so much.

I was at a camp and took even longer!
I definitely agree with you that it restricts the potential. I would LOVE to see better examples of this type of thing.

That's all.
Thanks for sharing views on this!

 

[farscythe]

My eyes... THEY ARE BURNING!

OT: That was certainly a different experience, one which I hope doesn't happen again to me. Is it art, however? I have no clue, I'm not studying art.

eh...it might be art....but is it a game? (always thought games were supposed to be fun)

[also upside down and blurred captcha ? really?]