I should preface this by saying, if you have the means:

 

 

PLEASE GO PLAY THE GAME RIGHT NOW. DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T!!! 

 

 

Ok, now that that's out the way- God. I'm so surprised that in all the time I've been online I've seen no one mention this 10 year old game even casually until a month ago!? I'm not usually swayed to play a game I haven't researched first, but after watching the steam trailer, I was immediately endeared to it. A game about interpreting someone through art alone...what a novel concept, and one that I've been curious about before. I suppose in the end the game was exactly what it said on the tin, but not in the way I expected. I'm not going to recount the game beat by beat, you'll just have to have played it, but if you have, then I hope you agree it was something very special. I played this game while streaming it to Anna, and I am soooo happy that I did because this was an experience that was magnified 100x by having another person's brain to pick...the game happened to touch pretty closely on feelings we've had before, perhaps even about each other, which was really nice to talk about after.

Upon finishing I almost felt guilty. Like I was forced into the middle of something intimate and personal that never should have been about me...but it was! Because this experience was packaged into a game, made to be played and interpreted by an audience, and well that's the trouble isn't it? Interpretation. The Audience. Whether that audience is one well-meaning friend who oversteps boundaries in their attempt to save you, and thus themselves- or the dozens of people online browsing and commenting on the art that they like. What is the line between interpretation and projection or at its worst...obsession? The Beginner's Guide felt like an exploration of this topic through an interpersonal conflict between two game devs.

I (using that loosely) have ranted at length about my dissatisfaction for how art is viewed in modern times. Social media has commodified our expression in such a way that the audience feels some form of ownership over your creations just because they made them feel something...We see this phenomenon take place right in the opening lines of the game. Davey remarks that Coda's art found him while he was struggling and came to be a source of inspiration for him. Over time the two get to know each other and become close friends (according to Davey at least. We see by the end that this friendship was more one-sided than was described). The problem arises when 1. Davey interprets Coda's games as some deep insight into his wounded psych, forgetting that there is a person behind the screen who was never looking for anyone to "save" them and 2. Coda's art is so successful at eliciting feelings within Davey, that he forgets who it was made for.

It is very often that an artist, intentionally or not, is scooped out of their own work to make room for something that feels more comfortable or makes more sense to the person experiencing it. Art is a mirror, but once it's been seen by another person the mirror no longer faces you, it only points at them...Of course this is an issue because at its core art is communication!! But how can you effectively communicate when you're only hearing the echo of your own voice? This casual form of parasociality and devaluing of artist's intent happens literally ALL THE TIME and it is so rare that it's talked about at length without being shut down by a sea of "Death of the Author" comments.

I was stunned that a game from so long ago was able to touch on such a complex topic so well. Like genuinely I don't think this would have been as effective if told through any other medium because the feeling of dread is intensified so much when you feel directly involved in denying Coda's autonomy. We were stunned into silence for the whole 2nd half of the game because it was so raw and uncomfortable and that's what made it so GOOD. I can not describe the feeling of seeing "Would you stop changing my games? Stop adding lampposts to them?" for the first time, I thought I was going to be sick. The desperate pleading in those sentences, it goes so far beyond the art when you have to plead with someone to remember that you're a person and not a puzzle to be fixed. To hope that they can find it in their heart to accept you as you are even if they don't understand you. I get misty-eyed whenever I think of it too long. Beautiful. Heart wrenching. 10/10.  Maybe he really did just like making prisons.