The Aesthetics of Failure in Videogames. Beyond the Immersion/Emersion Dichotomy

Abstract

The discussion about the aesthetic value of failure in videogames has taken two main directions. On the one hand, failure has been explored as fundamental mechanic within the general framework of immersive flow experiences. On the other hand, failure has been understood as a means of emersion and self-reflexivity, namely as a moment that highlights the conventions and made-up nature of games from a metacommunicative point of view. Instead, this paper investigates a third option, namely how video games can use failure neither to create flow state immersion nor to disrupt it in a self-referential manner. I will show that videogames also employ certain types of emersive mechanisms, that I will call out-of-flow failures, to strengthen the believability of the game world in an immersive manner but without aiming at flow. This discussion will shed light to the immersion/emersion dichotomy.