Academically Damaged

It's in the back of my mind every time I play a game now; full-on academic game analysis. How did the game designers expect my attentional resources to be spent in relation to Calleja's digital game involvement model(Calleja, 2007)? How was it not expected that this type of interface design could be re-structured to be more intuitive? I wonder how many other players are realizing that this sequencing of semiotic game elements and the game world architectural layout was created to guide the player in exactly this direction? At times these thoughts even take precedence over simply enjoying the game and this state of mind sometimes even determine how I play. I am, simply put, severely academically damaged. For example I am often able to fetch all but a few of the collectibles in a single playthrough of a game because I analyse the level layout, cross-reference with quest objectives and game element semiotics, draw a bit on the extensive back-catalog of previously played games, and my analysis of those, and voilà: some stupid piece of concept art that I only view for a fraction of a second(so there's no flashing ”NEW” in the menu) before I return to the game and have completely forgotten that my character was supposed to urgently rescue some sort of somebody in distress, a damsel probably. But now my character is miles away from the quest objective and 'hey, those ruins in the distance looks like they would lead to another collectible'.

I feel that I am academically damaged and in many ways it is both a curse and a blessing. I'm a person who values knowledge, facts, and all those sort of things. I take pride in knowing how things work and applying this knowledge so in this sense my academic understanding of games is great. But on the other hand it can completely ruin something that I used to just enjoy and be captivated by(immersed by, I guess, sigh...). That said it is of course not just the academia that brought on this effect. I have thousands upon thousands of hours spent playing games of nearly every genre(a term that academia also ruined for me, game typology is a mess from an academic perspective) and an almost compulsive need to 100% games so there is a not insignificant experience that directs my way of playing as well. It was pretty easy for me to plow my way through Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor because it is playing a lot like the Batman: Arkham series, probably due to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment being the publisher of both and have influence on development of the games.

But now I understand why I do the things I do when playing. Ignorance is bliss and now I'm just academically damaged, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

Biblio- and Ludography

• Calleja, G. Revising Immersion: A Conceptual Model for the Analysis of Digital Game Involvement in Situated Play, Proceedings of the DiGRA 2007 Conference. 2007.

• Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Batman: Arkham Asylum. 2009.
• Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Batman: Arkham City. 2011.
• Warner Bros. Games Montréal/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Batman: Arkham Origins. 2013.
• Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. 2014.