Characteristically Tensive: The Unreal in Poetic Gaming

This paper argues that the tension between ludic and literary elements in poetry games is not a flaw to be resolved but a coherent expression of poetics, and that this tensive quality is characteristic of poetry itself. Challenging Astrid Ensslin's framing of poetry games as a phenomenological paradox between deep and hyper attention, the author contends that the dualistic model of cognitive engagement is too crude, since many game genres already require players to shift between menus, 3D environments, cut scenes, and decision trees. Drawing on Philip Wheelwright's notion of "pervasive living tension," Roman Jakobson's account of poetry's polysemantic essence, and John Shoptaw's concept of measure and countermeasure, the paper extends these principles from written language to the traditional components of games such as levels, sprites, and textures, which acquire semantic meaning only through interaction.

The central proposal is that poetry games can embody the "unreal," a state in which simulated reality overlaps with metaphor. Through analysis of titles including Hyper Light Drifter, INSIDE, and RymdResa, alongside the author's own practical research, the paper argues that the tension between a game's simplified encoded world and the reality it implies subverts the expectation of escapism. In doing so, such games advance Marjorie Perloff's view of the text as a contrived "made thing," inviting players to treat play as a process of meaning-making in which the game world relates to, yet remains apart from, the real world.

The paper is presented as an extended abstract for DiGRA 2018 and draws on a defined set of primary games and critical sources, including Ensslin's Literary Gaming, Jim Andrews's Arteroids, and Brian McHale's work on segmentivity. Its methodology combines close theoretical reading with practice-based research by the author, a poet pursuing a part-practice PhD in poetry and computer games at the University of the West of England.