Gameplay Journal Entry #5

I agree with Matthew Fuller’s definition of a glitch as “an unpredictable change in the system’s behavior” (Fuller 110). In gaming glitches aren’t necessarily errors, but they change the state of game in a way it’s not meant to be played. This can done by altering the atmosphere, character, sound, image, and more of a game. Glitches can come from an error in computer technology. Maybe the computer can’t process images at a speed a game expects. This is just one example of many ways a glitch can come to life.

The glitch I am analyzing is from The Elder Scrolls vs Skyrim on a PS3 (time on video 2:57–3:23). In this game, those who use a PS3 experienced lagging images when they played. The glitch was caused because of the games large file size. The PS3 system had a hard time loading at a speed that was needed to play the game. This is a great example of Matthew Fuller’s definition of a game because it changed in the systems behavior.

Fuller, Matthew. Software Studies: a Lexicon. MIT, 2008.