Reverse Performance

(This blogpost serves as a companion post to a presentation I gave on Increpare. Though Increpare was a crucial stepping stone to reach the ideas talked about here, this blog post is more about the concept of Reverse Performance than it is about Increpare.)

Reverse Performance.

Reverse Performance: The phenomena which occurs in playing a video game where the player is asked by the game to act out a series of actions in a narrative. (as coined by me)

In a way most games are reverse performative, in that even in the most basic sets of interactions a game is asking the player to perform some sort of interaction. However, the phenomena I'm talking about it more specific. I am thinking more precisely of theatre/filmic performance; characters taking concrete actions furthering a narrative (most of the time). A similar thing happens in written stories, however the performance is played out through the dance of the words.

In games that practice reverse performance the stage has been set, but the play will not continue without the player's input - the player's performance. There are games where the stage is set, but the action plays out in front of them. I'm thinking about game's like Telltale's  The Walking Dead where the player watches the action unfold, and is only occasionally asked to make a decision that will effect the next cut-scene.

Episode 1 of Telltale's The Walking Dead (Warning: violence and blood)

 This is not a reverse performance, this is a straight up performance that the player watches, and occasionally decides how the next stage of the performance plays out. I am interested in games where the player is really forced through the motions of the performance in order to progress in the game.

Where, instead of sitting back and watching in-game character perform for them, the player must put on their own performance.

I would argue that most modern games are some mixture of player performance and game performance, whereby the player watches characters in a cut-scene, and then they are asked to go out and complete a task - perform. This the standard structure of most First Person Shooter single player campaigns - as well as like, every other game.

This is well and dandy.

However, what I think makes Cooking for Lovers by Increpare so effective (for me) is that it is entirely performative. It is like a tiny one act play. However, you are never given stage directions, instead you must stumble through the actions of cooking dinner alone, and once you slump to the floor at the end you're given time to contemplate - contemplate the name of the game for instance.

I'm still trying to tease apart whether this distinction I've drawn is helpful on a broader level of analyzing games. However, I do think it helps me wrap my head around many of Increpare's games.

https://www.increpare.com/2014/11/cooking-for-lovers/

https://www.increpare.com/2015/06/blackness-and-stars/

https://www.increpare.com/2017/07/a-story-about-a-cat/

https://www.increpare.com/2012/12/slave-of-god/

https://www.increpare.com/2014/10/having-said-goodbye/

https://www.increpare.com/2017/09/worst-guest/

https://www.increpare.com/2009/10/home/