• Episode 48: Death in Gaming

  • Feb 11 2024
  • Length: 58 mins
  • Podcast
Episode 48: Death in Gaming cover art

Episode 48: Death in Gaming

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  • Summary

  • You might think death and gaming are not connected. But loss is always a part of games as pieces and elements are lost. Some elements of games are fairly abstract (Uno cards or chess pieces), but other elements can be very personal, such as a character you've played for years in D&D or in a legacy type game such as Gloomhaven. Games also address death through theme and content: One Night Werewolf has players killing each other; Village has meeples age and die, to be moved to the graveyard; Endurance face nearly certain death even as a miraculous escape remains possible (Shackleton achieved it, after all!). Such gaming experiences give us vital ways of thinking about and discussing death and grief, as well as suggesting ways of facing our own mortality. How is death represented in games? * It is the nature of games to abstract reality. How to abstract death? * Simplest example perhaps is chess - the piece is removed from the board for the rest of the game * The state is permanently changed for the rest of the game * But we don’t care about chess pieces - we care about humans and living creatures (maybe trees?), so games that evoke humanlike characters make us feel loss in powerful ways A word about grief * Grief is a natural & important and unavoidable response to loss * This is not a look at grief, except perhaps tangentially. Interesting examples of death in games * Village - cemetery, legacy * Werewolf - you are out of the game and watch what is happening to everyone else * Games that poke at death in a humorous or horror way - Zombies, etc. * Legacy games where the state is permanently changed even from one game to another * Art games (like the kind Alice Connor enjoys) that represent the emotions of death? Train and Endurance. How do we feel about death in games? When we die or kill off another player? Lessons of faith from death in games * The importance of being present to the moment * Parent and child with potentially fatal cancer playing games together during treatments. Forgetting the treatments. The gift of games is to anchor us in the present. * The permanence of death - Ways of coping when states permanently change * On the other hand, the impermanence of death - Perhaps what Buddhists call the illusion of death?? Life continues. Another wave forms on the ocean. * Reminder of John Glynn * How easily we can become numb to death—precisely by abstracting it—in real life. Another discussion of each in games from the “Two Wood for a Wheat” podcast - https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/135031/death-board-games 00:00 Introduction: Death in Gaming 12:12 Lightening the Mood with Wordplay 13:12 Abstracting Death in Games 18:20 Games that Deal with Mortality 23:04 Examples of Death in Games 26:54 Village: Generations and Legacy 29:30 ISS Vanguard: Memorial Wall 31:51 Death and Remembering 32:27 The Changing Nature of Funerals 34:08 Using Games as a Eulogy 35:33 Art Games and Emotional Impact 36:16 Legacy Games and Permanence 39:36 Lessons of Faith from Death and Games 48:19 The Importance of Memory 49:21 Death as a Doorway 53:28 The Ocean and Impermanence 56:36 Wrapping Up CALL TO ACTION: - Subscribe to our newsletter (https://buttondown.email/BoardGameFaith) - Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/boardgamefaith/) - Interact with us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/boardgamefaith/) - Discord us Discord (https://discord.gg/MRqDXEJZ) - Chat with us on Wavelength (iOS and MacOS and iPadOS only) (https://wavelength.app/invite/AGSmNhIYS5B#ABhy7aXOO04TO6HTS4lelw--)
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