Gameplay Journal Entry #9
I played the game Every Day the Same Dream. The theme of the game is about how society is alive, but not really living. It emphasizes how it is natural for people to go through the motions of life — wake up, go to work, come home, go to sleep. Then repeat that same cycle day after day.Everything about the game represents a mundane life. The is no color in the game, just shades of gray and the music is monotonous. The game even has the option for the player to kill themselves by jumping off of a building.
Every Day the Same Dream is a great example of Mary Flanagan’s theory of critical play because it is the artist’s medium of expression. Flanagan says “artists manipulate elements common to games…with their own intended possibilities, limitations, and conventions” (Flanagan, 4). Only being able to move backward or forward in the game created a dull effect on the gameplay. I believe the intended purpose of this is to represent how dull our lives can be, which is exactly the point of the game. While is wasn’t the most interesting game to play, the idea and artistic view is very well thought out.
Flanagan, Mary. “Critical Play.” 2009, doi:10.7551/mitpress/7678.001.0001.
