Making the Familiar Unfamiliar: Techniques for Creating Poetic Gameplay

Key insights

7 takeaways

01
The paper argues games can achieve "poetic gameplay" by applying Shklovsky's concept of defamiliarization: deliberately making familiar game structures strange so players attend to the game's form and reflect on it.
02
Three core techniques are identified: undermining player control, disrupting the chronological flow of game time, and blurring the boundaries between game, film, and art.
03
The findings rest on a close reading of Thirty Flights of Loving and the author's repeated play and analysis, making them qualitative rather than based on quantitative measurement.
04
The author argues these three techniques are likely necessary but not sufficient for poetic gameplay, since a defamiliarizing moment in the mainstream Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 museum level did not produce the same overall effect.
05
The poetic effect appears to depend on integrating these techniques throughout a game's design rather than on isolated instances.
06
Comparable experimental and independent titles, including That Dragon, Cancer, Kentucky Route Zero, The Killer, and Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment: Art Edition, are examined as employing the same strategies, with mainstream titles considered mainly for contrast.
07
The author explicitly presents these techniques as preliminary, requiring broader game analysis, empirical studies of player experience, and testing in design practice before becoming established principles.

Summary

Alex Mitchell's paper argues that games can achieve "poetic gameplay" by applying Shklovsky's concept of defamiliarization, deliberately making familiar game structures strange so that players attend to the game's form and are prompted to reflect. Grounded in a close reading of Thirty Flights of Loving and informed by Utterback's poetic interface and Brecht's alienation effect, the analysis identifies three core techniques: undermining player control, disrupting the chronological flow of game time, and blurring the boundaries between game, film, and art. These findings are qualitative, drawn from the author's repeated play and analysis of cinematic cuts and interactions that remove player agency rather than from quantitative measurement.

The inquiry extends beyond its primary case to examine how comparable titles, including That Dragon, Cancer, Kentucky Route Zero, The Killer, and Let's Play: Ancient Greek Punishment: Art Edition, employ these same strategies to generate poetic effects. The scope is thus centered on experimental and independent game design, with mainstream titles considered for contrast rather than as a primary focus.

A key conclusion concerns sufficiency. The author contends that the three techniques are likely necessary but not sufficient for poetic gameplay. A defamiliarizing moment in a mainstream title, such as the museum level in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, did not produce the same overall effect as when such techniques are woven throughout a game's design. The effect appears to depend on integration rather than isolated instances.

The author presents these techniques as preliminary. Their validity, the paper acknowledges, requires further support through broader game analysis, empirical studies of player experience, and testing in design practice before they can be considered established principles.