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In the literature from the field of game studies (as described by Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith, & Tosca, 2008; Mäyrä, 2008, pp. 1–12) the frequent use of the term “metaphor” or one of its tropical relatives such as “allegory” is noteworthy (e.g. Aarseth, 2001; Begy, 2010; Bogost, 2011; Crawford, 2003; Juul, 2005, 2007; Pearce, 2002; Rusch, 2009). This term is generally used to refer to semiotically abstract games. In other words, metaphorical games in this sense do rather feature abstract geometrical objects instead of graphically detailed anthropomorphic characters.
Additionally, the notion of metaphor is used with regard to a game movement which contains the range of artgames (Jason Rohrer in Bogost, 2011, p. 11), newsgames (Bogost, Ferrari, & Schweizer, 2010), advergames (Frasca, 2003a, p. 225) and serious games (see e.g. Abt, 1987; Frasca, 2007) or, in short, games with an overt message or “an agenda.” “Games with an agenda” is an expression coined by Ian Bogost and Gonzalo Frasca. It describes “games that aim to communicate in addition than (sic!) entertaining” (Frasca, 2007, p. 26). In other words the goal of these games besides being enjoyable to play is to convey a certain message. Among the commonly mentioned games, particularly proceduralist1 artgames such as Braid (Blow, 2008), Passage (Rohrer, 2007), and The Marriage (Humble, 2006) (all examples from Bogost, 2011, pp. 12–13)) are labeled metaphoric (or allegorical). Accordingly, Braid is described to “take[…] the seemingly familiar genre of the platformer and turn[…] it into an allegorical exploration of the themes of time and regret” (Bogost, 2011, p. 12).
There are at least three problems with the notion of metaphor in this discourse:
- 1.
The notion of metaphor (or allegory) is usually lacking a closer definition. Instead its meaning is being taken for granted;
- 2.
Hence, one can suspect that the notion of metaphor itself is used with an agenda especially with regard to artgames. Its ideology is derived from an understanding of metaphor accounting for creativity within poetry in order to let the aforementioned artgames appear in the aura of art. In other words, calling artgames metaphoric nourishes the hope that they automatically appear more “artsy;”
- 3.
Observing the broader discourse of game studies, one can see that the term metaphor is very often used in textual and conceptual proximity to the term simulation (e.g. Aarseth, 2001; Begy, 2010; Bogost, 2011; Crawford, 2003; Juul, 2005). The term “metaphor” itself is often used as a metaphor for an abstract and unrealistic simulation. This leads to the paradox that metaphor and simulation actually refer to the same phenomenon, which suggests that one of the two terms is superfluous with regard to games.
The goal of this paper must therefore be to analyze and understand the paradox and to find a rigorous way of allowing a better founded use of a notion of metaphor next to simulation with regard to games.