Information Technology Reference
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Mosca, game developers supply props to play with 'like engineers supply technolo-
gies for fl ying and therapists supply tools for understanding ourselves' (
2013
, 19).
In line with the previous observations, philosopher of technology Don Ihde noted
that no forms of technical mediation establish a fi xed and stable relationship with
their users. According to Ihde the effects of any technologies can never be said to be
solely determined by the (sometimes clumsily pursued) intentions of the designers,
but they are 'multistable': they are always appropriated and interpreted contextually
by their users (Ihde
1990
). In addition to the general 'multistability' of technology,
we also need to keep in mind that unexpected behaviours and effects might arise
from unforeseen malfunctions of the technologies that mediate human actions and
decisions
5
(Verbeek
2011
, 97-99).
The 'multistable' qualities of technology appear to be radicalized in our interac-
tions with virtual worlds, as unexpected behaviours, technical glitches and events
that were not anticipated by the designers are commonly experienced occurrences
in several playful as well as non-playful computer applications. I believe this to be
the case in the worlds of videogames and simulations for two main reasons:
1. The fi rst reason consists in the observation that digital simulations in general
(and videogames in particular) are characterized by several forms and levels of
interaction that are often intricately overlapping, which tends to afford a certain
fl exibility and expressiveness in their use. As I argued elsewhere, the autonomy
granted to the players often leads to behaviours and interactive possibilities that
can potentially subvert and trivialize both the experiential goals and the semiotic
meanings originally intended by the designers (Gualeni
2014
).
2. The second reason why I claim that virtual worlds are particularly 'multistable'
technologies stems from the recognition that both the inner functioning of the
worlds and the complex interactions outlined above are dependent on intercon-
nected technological systems. As such, they are susceptible to a vaster spectrum
of possible malfunctions and unexpected interactive behaviours than technolo-
gies that are applied to the actual world or have more binding mechanical and
physical dependencies from it. The amount of erratic and exhilarating video-
game glitches that are published daily on video-sharing websites are a testament
to the imperfect control that we, as developers, have over the technological
instruments that we employ.
An example of the awareness of the particularly penetrating 'multistability' of
virtual worlds was voiced in a recent interview for the
New Statesman
by Jason
Rohrer - independent author of celebrated experimental videogame titles such as
Passage
(2007) and
The Castle Doctrine
(2013)
-
and Merritt Kopas, designer and
creator of
Lim
(2012), a free, web-based videogame about the tension of trying to
meet society's expectations:
5
From this perspective, Marshall McLuhan's gnomic observation according to which 'the medium
is the message' (the interpretation according to which the message of any medium or technology
is 'the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces in human affairs') appears to be particu-
larly accurate (McLuhan
1994
, 8).
