Re-membering and Dismembering: Memory and the (Re)Creation of Identities in Videogames

Authors

  • Souvik Mukherjee Assistant Professor in English Literature at Presidency University, Kolkata, India.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1980-3710.2017.2.29822

Keywords:

memory, Identities, videogames

Abstract

The Prince of Persia in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Ubisoft 2003) is ever reluctant to accept an ignominious end to his story, whether after a fall from atop a tower or after being killed by the sand demons. Every time he fails, the Prince exclaims ‘no no, that is not how it happened at all’. Like the videogame player controlling his avatar, the Prince wants the game sequence to be reloaded and replayed; only he appeals to an entity that the player often does not notice – memory. The Prince justifies the reload because he does not remember the events as they happen and he hankers for a return to a ‘true’ memory. There is an implicit problem here, however. We cannot ask the Prince what he remembers and during the game the player ends up remembering the ‘false’ memories, albeit often unconsciously. To progress further in the game, the player needs to have learned from his mistakes or, in other words, to have remembered the previous iterations of gameplay. According to the Prince’s memory, these failed instances of gameplay never happened; yet they happened in the gameplay and are remembered by players.  Often, many players share the same experience and this exists as a shared memory. Players might also be drawing on collectively recorded memories – the written step by step guidelines in a walkthrough and the comments left by players on various gaming forums or wikis.  What the player remembers is also often influential in determining the in-game identity of the player. Videogames themselves, such as Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft 2008) and STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl (GSC Gameworld 2007) have started self-reflexively exploring memory in their plots. Therefore, it will be useful to move the study of memory in videogames out of its relative obscurity and explore its multi-layered complexity.

Author Biography

Souvik Mukherjee, Assistant Professor in English Literature at Presidency University, Kolkata, India.

PhD English Literature and Cultural Studies (Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, 2009). Postgraduate Diploma in Research Practice (Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, 2008). MPhil English (Jadavpur University, Calcutta, 2005). M.A English (Jadavpur University, Calcutta, 2002). B.A English (Jadavpur University, Calcutta, 2000).

Endereço: Presidency University, 86/1 College Street, Kolkata - 700073, West Bengal, India.

References

Books, Articles and Websites

Al-Saji, A. (2004) ‘The Memory of Another Past: Bergson, Deleuze and a New Theory of Time’ in Continental Philosophy Review, vol. 37, Springer.

Assassin’s Creed Wiki, Wikia Gaming, Available http://assassinscreed.wikia.com, accessed: 27 March 2011.

Atkins, B. (2007) ‘Killing time: time past, time present and time future in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’ in B. Atkins and T. Krzywinska (eds.), Videogame, Player, Text, Manchester: Manchester University Press

Bergson, H. (1911). Matter and Memory, trans. by N.M. Paul and S. Palmer, London: George Allen and Unwin.

Borges, J. (1964), Labyrinths, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Boundas, C. (1996) ‘Deleuze-Bergson: An Ontology of the Virtual’ in Deleuze: A Critical Reader, ed. P. Patton, Oxford ; Cambridge, Mass. : Blackwell.

Connerton, P., 1989. How Societies Remember, Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press.

Deleuze, G. (1988). Bergsonism, trans. by H.Tomlinson and B. Habberjam, New York: Zone Books.

(1986). Cinema 1, trans. by H.Tomlinson and B. Habberjam, London: Athlone Press.

DeLanda, M. (2002), Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy, London, New York: Continuum.

‘Diary of DeGeen: An Empire: Total War Storybook’, Available http://www.sekritforum.com/storybook/degeen, accessed: 27 March 2011.

Dick, P.K. (1968) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday.

Halbwachs, M.(1980). The Collective Memory, New York: Harper & Row.

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Mukherjee, S. (2009), ‘Gameplay in the Zone of Becoming: locating action in the computer game’ in S. Gϋnzel et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, 2008, Potsdam: University of Potsdam.

Nitsche, M. (2007), ‘Mapping time in video games’. In DIGRA. Tokyo. Available www.lcc.gatech.edu/~nitsche/download/Nitsche_DiGRA_07.pdf. accessed: 27 March 2011.

Techenclave (2006), ‘Review of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (PS2)’, 7 July 2006, Available: http://www.techenclave.com/reviews-and-previews/prince-of-persia-two-thrones-ps2-75615.html, accessed: 27 March 2011

Whitehead, A. (2009). Memory, London: Routledge.

Digital Games (all games listed are PC versions)

Assassin’s Creed (2008), Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft.

Assassin’s Creed II (2009), Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (2011), Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft.

Fallout 3 (2008), Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003), Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl (2007), GSC Gameworld, THQ

Downloads

Published

2017-10-17

Issue

Section

Dossiê Game Studies