Art devices - play devices: immersion vs. estrangement in art-games

Abstract

This paper examines the concept of "device" in art, beginning with Viktor Shklovsky's Russian formalist concept of ostranenie, or "making strange," as the essence of artistic expression. It then applies this idea to games, especially hybrid and large-scale analog art games, by exploring the central, academic tension between immersion and the Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect) as an ethical-political device linked to the German playwright Bertolt Brecht.  

While the dominant paradigm in game design is immersion—where the player is so emotionally absorbed that they forget the artificiality of the medium—Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt is the deliberate act of breaking the audience's focus on narrative to allow for critical thinking about the situation. This paper argues that games that exist solely as one or the other are limited: a game focused solely on immersion risks being pure entertainment. At the same time, one concentrated solely on alienation could be perceived as abstract or unplayable.

The most powerful design, therefore, lies in the dialectic between these two forces, in complicity. Estrangement creates an intentional "crisis within immersion" that forces the player to step back from their emotional experience and critically analyze the game's constructed situations and underlying systems. Through this process, the player becomes complicit, and the game is transformed into a participatory and critical medium, serving a political and didactic function that encourages reflection on the issues and power dynamics it models - an essential direction if it is to be considered a form of art.

This paper draws upon the author’s design experience, using art games to demonstrate these concepts in practice. The analysis includes The Rousseau Game, an exhibition playground created for and displayed at the National Museum for Contemporary Art in Bucharest and Divided, a game developed for the Deep Space 8K at the Ars Electronica Center Linz.