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Trigger Happy
110
in the ruses and paradigms of their unreal worlds. But
the videogame is not simply a cerebral or visual
experience; just as importantly it is a physical
involvement—the tactile success or otherwise of the
human– machine interface. Some games recommend
the use of a peripheral: an extra piece of interface
hardware that plugs into the console or PC. For driving
games this would be a steering wheel, complete with
floor pedals; for Time Crisis the player buys an actual
lightgun with which to shoot at the television screen.
Yet most games are still controlled with curiously
alienating devices: a standard joystick or “joypad,” or a
computer mouse and keyboard.
We saw one way in which this can hobble
gameplay in the last chapter, when it was noted that
beat-’em-ups rely on memorized combinations of
button-presses to perform almost arbitrary series of
martial arts moves. Sports games, too, suffer from a
particularly limiting cybernetic dissonance. The swing
of a golf club, for instance, is accomplished in
videogames simply by pressing buttons at the right time
while observing “power meters.” All manner of ball
tricks, spins and tackle evasions are called up in a
football game by particular combinations of buttons.
This is clearly not ideal for convincing involvement