Exploring Authorship and Context in Modern Gaming Experiences

Tomo Kihara, a designer from Tokyo, has created an arcade cabinet that operates outside conventional gaming narratives, prompting a rich discussion with Danny Snelson about the implications of unpredictability in authorship. Their dialogue weaves through a tapestry of gaming and art where the designer's lack of foresight becomes a critical aspect of the experience.

Kihara's What Plays You? Game of Possible Lives simulates a life guided by census data, letting players navigate and make choices for a fictional character. This game relies on a localized language model, enabling a dynamic storytelling experience where players have just one attempt to rewind decisions. Snelson draws connections to historical art movements, tracing concepts from Dadaism and 1960s constraint-based writing, where the creation of rules can often overshadow traditional authorship. Yet, here, the twist is the involvement of a language model that embodies generative unpredictability.

But consider the venue where this cabinet appears; transitioning from museums to transient spaces like hotel lobbies shifts the nature of the interaction. Those engaging with the cabinet are often people moving through these non-places, which adds a layer of surveillance as everyday lives become subject to observation. As Snelson notes, by positioning a game about mundane existence in such settings, it highlights how state instruments like census data closely monitor ordinary life.

Next, Snelson reflects on Christian Marclay’s The Clock, an art piece that stitches together a full day's worth of cinematic moments, each corresponding to the minute displayed on your watch. Engaging with this piece, one encounters a unique form of collection where viewers actively gather time-marked clips without typical game mechanics. It emphasizes a labor-intensive curation process, as the work itself is embedded in each painstakingly selected film moment, a feat unlikely to be replicated today due to the evolving nature of digital content generation.

Closing the exploration, the game Pigeon: A Love Story from Wristwork presents a contrasting approach, positioning players as a pigeon navigating urban landscapes in search of a companion bird. The game’s reliance on map data, which had to be reconstructed after commercial services were shut down, poses similar durability questions regarding interactive experiences. Snelson interprets this as an inverse reflection of The Clock, focusing on the particular journey of one pigeon rather than a broad collection of time.

The conversation then shifts to Paris, where the events company Diversion celebrated its tenth anniversary with an exhibition filled with interactive gaming experiences. This leads to contemplation about how different games reflect their geographical and cultural contexts. For example, Snelson uses Stray as a case study, highlighting its distinctly French design yet its overt references to cities like Hong Kong, raising questions about authenticity in place-based game narratives.

Links

• My feature on Tomo Kihara, who built an unpredictable arcade cabinet
• Ryan Bradley on Keita Takahashi and the scoreless game
• Wristwork rebuilt its pigeon game on open mapping
• A gaming tower marked Diversion’s 10th anniversary
• Roppongi Crossing 2025 at the Mori Art Museum
• Tomo Kihara
• Christian Marclay, The Clock
• Wristwork, Pigeon: A Love Story
• Distraction
• Jonathan Coryn, Player Non Player
• Nicolai Troshinsky, Loop Raccord
• Miguel Sicart, Playing Software
• Danny Snelson

Corrections

• Tomo Kihara's studio is correctly listed as Other Rules, distinct from Gift Ten Industries.
• Danny mistakenly credits Death 24x a Second to Leslie Thornton; it’s authored by Laura Mulvey.
• The game previously referred to as Loop Record should be correctly identified as Loop Raccord, by Nicolai Troshinsky.
• I misrepresented Robert Redford's scene in The Natural; separate shots involve the clock and the stadium lights.
• The birthday problem actually requires 23 individuals for a higher-than-even chance of shared birthdays, not 25.

Hosted by Jamin Warren with Danny Snelson. Music by Nick Sylvester.