Time to Visit Yokosuka - Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games - page 131

The guy who runs the hotdog stand is helpful with directions. Some people are
more likely to help us with the current question of “Where can I fi nd a bar where
sailors go?” There is a small risk involved in talking to people, many of whom do
not want to talk and can be quite rude. This is actually quite amusing and actually
constitutes a realism but our reaction to it is different from what our reaction would
be in real life.
A few thoughts on shocks and unrealisms. Conversations are segmented and
triggered by pressing the red A. The physical interface intrudes into the game space
in a way which is quite unusual. One would think, for instance, that the intrusion of
the red A into the perceptual space of the game would be counterproductive for
presence—reminding us of the mediated nature of our actions—but this does not
appear to be so.
Time passes far more quickly than in real life, an unrealism because it helps
the gameplay. Depending on how quickly the player gets through the game or
when they have certain conversations they may have to wait for considerable
amounts of time. Wasting time can be best achieved by practicing fi ght moves,
shopping, or playing in the games arcade. In these situations time passes even faster
in Shenmue time.
Realisms abound in Shenmue:
• Ryo ' s grandmother 's concern and commands,
• the passage of night and day,
• people behaving differently at different times of day, shops being closed, etc.,
and
• shadows, nightscape, weather, etc.
There are also defi nite shocks in Shenmue:
• The amazing number of people in Sakuraoka at all times of the day who
cannot come to the door because they are just going to have a bath.
• We can't go down the road to Dobuita because we have to speak to someone
before someone else can tell us to go to Dobuita.
• The clumsy way Ryo moves in confi ned spaces.
The fact that Ryo always asks the current question—or a version of it— can be
strange, a shock, because there are times when you want to ask someone a previous
question that you didn't get a chance to ask before. In a similar manner, there is a
point at which you would like to thank Nazumi for the fl owers but are not able to
because of the encounter with the drunk and the problems at the Asis Travel Agency.
One of the interesting things about new communications channels such as vid-
eocassette or DVD is the way in which they change existing artifacts. The fi lm Blade
Runner achieving its cult status as a result of its release on videocassette is a fasci-
nating example. Why? Because its release on videocassette gave the viewer agency,
which allows the viewer to interrupt the director' s fl ow of scenes and cuts and thus
investigate the fi lm at his or her leisure, speed, and ordering. Such agency disrupts