While pondering this week’s question, I thought about video games and their vulnerability to similar issues and glitches. Immediately I recalled the many bugs and scriptural errors in a game I used to play. The appearance of code and odd texts, in the speeches of many characters within the world was very distracting; it hampered the game’s ability to be enthralling and immersive, and truly was a comical problem that kept resurfacing.
Much like Dr. Galey’s example, the first instance I could think of, where the relationship of content and container was being blurred, was in a video game called Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO) - I know, it is very nerdy, but it passed the time well. In this game frequently appearing above monster’s heads, within conversations and generally anywhere with text, the errors “<string table error; tableDID>" or “<String Table Error 0x000000>” would spring up.
These codes reveal the background systems emerging. In the same way that “<ed space>” surfaced in Dr. Galey’s example, we are made aware of the complex program data and structure behind the game. These things are made to be invisible, but they are present nonetheless.
The fact that was most intriguing was that the bugs display tags in angular brackets “<>.” There is an attempt to contain the information in tags, yet the content persistently breaks through the container and into another vessel. This case was very reminiscent to the encoding we have done in class and recalls some of the best practices of our encoding challenge with ‘well-formedness.’ Perhaps, these errors appear simply from a programmer’s mistake in not creating a closing tag for the code. The game is simply expressing a poor link between data.
While this example is not very ground-breaking or too interesting, the case illustrates the susceptibility of digital interfaces. Faults and slip-ups are bound to occur. We may realize the difficult task of forming these multifaceted programs. There are countless pieces of information that remain “behind-the-scenes” to produce an object that is seamless and accurate. The goal of any digital project is to create a quality experience, without degrading errors. One can see the memorable factor when processes do not perform as intended.
I know it's not directly related, but your talk of glitches in gaming reminded about the modding community. In this sense, the container almost takes priority over the content as people seek to see what else can be done with a game's engine other than the content specifically programmed into it. The example that leaps to mind are the multiple mods of the total war series. Some are really simple and small scale, such as changing the appearance of certain figures within the game, but others are massive. The mod 3rd Age Total War, for example, takes the engine from Medieval 2 Total War and creates a whole new game. The new game is set in Middle earth and allows the gamer to rewrite the war that sets the backdrop for The Lord of the Rings. The map is completely different, whole new units are created, not just in appearance, but in stats and abilities as well, but the interface and general mechanics are largely unchanged. There are lots of other examples for lots of other games where the content is malleable, but the container is what remains constant.
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