Critically Playing Journey

Journey on Steam (steampowered.com)

In her book “Critical Play: Radical Game Design” Mary-Flanagan defines critical play, by exploring the definition of play. Play, she says, is hard to define, but “play is central to human and animal life; is generally a voluntary act; offers pleasure in its own right (and by its own rules); is mentally or physically challenging; and is separated from reality, either through a sanctioned play space or through an agreed upon fantasy or rule set (Flanagan, 2009, p.5).” She also importantly mentions that play is an essential aspect of human brain development, meaning that play can be used as a means of learning. It seems critical play is taking advantage of the educational affordances of play. Mary-Flanagan says, “Critical play means to create or occupy play environments and activities that represent one or more questions about aspects of human life,” and she gives examples of abstract questions, such as rethinking what it means to win, and concrete questions, such as U.S. military actions in Cambodia in the early 1970s, that critical play can explore (Flanagan, 2009, p. 6).

My understanding from Mary-Flanagan’s definition of critical play informs me that play is a powerful state in which humans have an opportunity to change their minds to a new emotive state, about their opinion on a topic, by learning new things, etc. These effects of play will happen whether the player seeks them out or not. Even if their effects did not occur, play is an essential aspect of human existence, one that people will seek out and on which people will spend a lot of time. There are a lot of resources and there is a lot of effort dedicated to play. It becomes important then to consider what play space developers and players are putting into and getting out of play spaces, such as video games.

A computer game that mirrors and replicates the common play spaces found in computer games does not challenge players to question new aspects of human existence. It does not prompt players to play critically. Artists must innovate upon and change the common computer game systems in order to use the medium as a form of expression that makes players confront some new aspect of reality. Journey is an example of a game that challenges common modes of play found in video games.

Journey is aptly named. All the gameplay is centered around travelling. While many games have you move from one place to another, this is usually to reach a goal, find an object, rescue a princess (who could probably kick Bowser’s butt on her own anyway), etc. In games like these, much of the gameplay is done to progress through space, but in the case of Journey, there is no clearly defined goal. The game does not even tell you to go toward the mountain you see in the distance. It heavily implies it with environmental/level design and by placing all the areas of interest between you and the mountain, but it never explicitly gives you a reason. It does not even prompt you to move when you start the game. I remember the first time I played I sat there waiting for the opening cut scene to continue for a bit before I got board and decided to start messing with the controls. The way the environment implores you forward, and how most games have you reach a goal by moving through space really made me want to uncover the mystery of what was up on that mountain. I felt betrayed when I realized there was some light up there and then it sent you back to the start. I felt like I had been hoodwinked or denied the fruits of my labors. What did I get for reaching the goal? Until I realized the game was called Journey, and the point of the game is to journey. What is that adage, “it’s the journey not the destination,” or something like that? This game reminded me, that while I may set important or arbitrary goals, and reaching them is important, the process of reaching those goals is what my life is spent on, so I should enjoy and appreciate that journey. This game made me revaluate how I experience my life, and if that isn’t Mary-Flanagan’s definition of “critical play,” I don’t know what is.

Flanagan, M. I. (2009). Critical play — radical game design. Mit Press.