The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games (Playful Thinking)

The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games (Playful Thinking)

A gaming academic offers a “fascinating” exploration of why we play video games—despite the unhappiness we feel when we fail at them ( Boston Globe ) We may think of video games as being “fun,” but in The Art of Failure , Jesper Juul claims that this is almost entirely mistaken. When we play video games, our facial expressions are rarely those of happiness or bliss. Instead, we frown, grimace, and shout in frustration as we lose, or die, or fail to advance to the next level. Humans may have a fundamental desire to succeed and feel competent, but game players choose to engage in an activity in which they are nearly certain to fail and feel incompetent. So why do we play video games even though they make us unhappy? Juul examines this paradox. In video games, as in tragic works of art, literature, theater, and cinema, it seems that we want to experience unpleasantness even if we also dislike it. Reader or audience reaction to tragedy is often explained as catharsis, as a purging of negative emotions. But, Juul points out, this doesn't seem to be the case for video game players. Games do not purge us of unpleasant emotions; they produce them in the first place. What, then, does failure in video game playing do? Juul argues that failure in a game is unique in that when you fail in a game, you (not a character) are in some way inadequate. Yet games also motivate us to play more, in order to escape that inadequacy, and the feeling of escaping failure (often by improving skills) is a central enjoyment of games. Games, writes Juul, are the art of failure: the singular art form that sets us up for failure and allows us to experience it and experiment with it. The Art of Failure is essential reading for anyone interested in video games, whether as entertainment, art, or education. "Jesper Juul is one of the great gaming thinkers and historians." — Polygon "Juul's essay is lean, pleasingly bold, and follows through on an intriguing premise." — Slate "So it's a fascinating time to examine the concept of failure in video games, and luckily the gaming academic Jesper Juul did just that in The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games , which was released in February by MIT Press as part of its Playful Thinking series.... Maybe the interesting question here isn't what failure in games does—as Juul acknowledges, it does different things for different people—but rather what creative new approaches developers can take to one of the oldest, most universal parts of the human experience." — Jesse Singal, Boston Globe “Jesper Juul has provided a long-needed addition to the Platform Studies series. It’s a wonderful book, as readable as it is informative.” —Jimmy Maher, author of The Future was Here: The Commodore Amiga   “A beautiful, sincere, and rich account of everything that makes this influential computer so special to me: that unique punk stew of technology, creativity, culture, people, and zeitgeist.” —Gary Penn, editor of Zzap!64 ; inaugural Games Media Legend; author of Sensible Software 1986–1999 ; Creative Director at DMA Design   “In this standout contribution to the Platform Studies series, Juul illuminates the overlooked career of the Commodore 64 home computer by integrating the perspectives of hardware designers, marketeers, game programmers, demo creators, and retrocomputing enthusiasts.” —Thomas Haigh, lead author of ENIAC in Action and A New History of Modern Computing   “As someone who has a wealth of knowledge on this subject, this book is ‘highly recommended reading,’ so do not hesitate—just buy this book and rejoice.” —David John Pleasance, musician, former Managing Director, Commodore UK, author of Commodore: The Inside Story Jesper Juul is Associate Professor in the School of Design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He is the author of Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds ; A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players ; and The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games , all published by the MIT Press.