Battlestar Galactica and Spimatic Meaning in Games - Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games - page 77

space as a science ictional—genre environment, while these games mimic
this spatial and temporal awareness via their play mechanics. 2 Moving beyond
games, Bruce Sterling's conception of the “Spime”—a digital and physical trace
of an object through both time and space—relects a cyborgian presence within
contemporary media technology which, in turn, links space and time in a digital
context. As I explore later in this chapter, Spimes are physical objects that “begin
and end as data.” In Sterling's rather poetic words, Spimes are:
manufactured objects whose informational support is so overwhelmingly
extensive and rich that they are regarded as material instantiations of an
immaterial system…. hey are designed on screens, fabricated by digital
means, and precisely tracked through space and time throughout their earthly
sojourn. 3
In other words, seeing an object as a Spime means taking into account the
temporal structure that guides the object's development as well as its physical
presence in the world.
By playing as speciic characters with separate motivations, players help create
a social aspect of role-play. his is relected in the eighth principle of paratextual
board games.
Principle 8: Paratextual board games can ofer players the opportunity to mirror
characteristics of particular characters within the speciic spatial-temporal
environment of the media text.
he original television show follows the remnants of humanity as they escape
the Cylons, a deadly race of alien robots. he Battlestar Galactica must escort
civilian ships carrying the last survivors of a massacre as they search for a world
named Earth that houses the mythical thirteenth tribe of humankind. he reboot
show tells a tale similar to the irst, but with the added complication that the
Cylons are able to replicate sentient models that look like and can mimic human
physiology. For the characters as well as the audience, these humanoid robots
problematize traditional notions of “personhood,” as they develop personalities,
human traits, and even biological compatibility—one of the major plot points
of the reimagined series is that the ofspring of a human and Cylon would lead
humankind to its eventual salvation—forcing a reconception of what it means
to be human. 4 he show's questioning of the nature of humanity manifests in
the board game as well; its emphasis on robotics, sentience, and the ethical
consideration of machines reveals a close correlation with our world today. 5 In
terms of the board games, BSG08 highlights this cyborgiication through its use