Is the Art Assault Mod Contergaming?

Pual Steen created a game mod called “Art Assault” of the FPS “Assault Cube,” in which the player/audience experiences familiar FPS mechanics and gameplay, but it is set in a museum with bots tagged with the names of successful living artists. In his interview with Gamescenes (Interview: Paul Steen’s First-Person assault on the Game Artworld — GAMESCENES) he mentions having purpose behind his art, and briefly touches on the idea that he meant to explore fame and strife in the art industry. The interview also explores how this piece fits into a genre of game mods that place violence or other chaotic elements of gameplay in “sacred” spaces like art galleries. How does fit into the artistic genre of countergaming?

Galloway describes counter gaming as antithetical to economic interests of the gaming industry, frequently championing aesthetics over gameplay, but that is not necessary for a piece to be considered countergaming (pp 107–126). Radical Action is a branch of counter gaming Galloway characterizes as conceptually interacting with real life, rather than the game world, by interacting with a game modified to deal with real world scenarios, such as making a political statement about activism by allowing the players to beat up members of the KKK. Paul Steen’s “Art Assault” easily fits into this body of radical action countergaming work. It uses game systems (FPS) to create a metaphor and explore aspects of the art industry.

Unfortunately could not find a video of gameplay.

Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture, by Alexander R. Galloway, University of Minnesota Press, 2010.