However, and in spite of the importance of the virtual and diegetic
aspects of videogames, we cannot ignore the physical and tangible factors
that they imply. Playing a computer game is as much a physical activity as it
is a mental one, and nowadays this affirmation is more patent with video
consoles such as the Wii that simulates movements in the virtual world of the
game with similar physical movements in the players. The games played with
this console require mental interactivity and simultaneously physical
dexterity of hand-eye coordination. Wii players project into virtuality through
the parallelism of their movements with those of the avatar. In this way,
brain and body assimilate the player with the virtual world.16 The interface is
the link that bridges the existing gap between the diegetic world and the
world/life of the player (Wolf: 2002: 3). Indeed, the player’s control over the
interface and dominion over the virtual world is one of the sources of
pleasure that videogames provide. A good level of skill with the controls and
a near automatic response to the ‘virtual stimulus’ of the games is not only
essential to play the games, but fundamental to players’ intense enjoyment
of them. The challenge for the future is to create a connection between
technology and the nervous system, producing a perfect symbiosis between
both elements. This is the dream/nightmare that Cronenberg shows us in
eXistenz, making visible the potentially dangerous aspect of this technology.
Before the advent of videogames, a generation that was brought up
(remarkably socialized) with television and films, with images and sounds
coming from the screen, lacked the quality of ‘visual dynamism’ as the
spectator could not influence the image. Videogames are the first medium to
combine visual dynamism with active participation and this has had a
significant influence on the generations that are now brought up playing
videogames (Greenfield, 1984: 101). Observational and anecdotal evidence
would seem to suggest that some children, at very early ages, are able to
deal with situations of a virtual world before they can read or write, and this
is apparent from my own experiences watching family members engaged in
16 This works in such a way that, paradoxically, sometimes simulated activity becomes a very similar
copy of what would be the ‘real’ activity and the consequential effects (tiredness, sweating, injuries etc).
Increasingly Wii is capitalizing on this very recreation of physicality with the release of games such as
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (2008), Wii Fit (2008) and Wii Dancing Stage Hottest Party (2008).
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