The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games

by Jesper Juul

Overview

A gaming academic offers a “fascinating” exploration of why we play video games—despite the unhappiness we feel when we fail at them (Boston Globe)

We may think of video games as being “fun,” but in The Art of Failure, Jesper Juul claims that this is almost entirely mistaken. When we play video games, our facial expressions are rarely those of happiness or bliss. Instead, we frown, grimace, and shout in frustration as we lose, or die, or fail to advance to the next level. Humans may have a fundamental desire to succeed and feel competent, but game players choose to engage in an activity in which they are nearly certain to fail and feel incompetent. So why do we play video games even though they make us unhappy? Juul examines this paradox.

In video games, as in tragic works of art, literature, theater, and cinema, it seems that we want to experience unpleasantness even if we also dislike it. Reader or audience reaction to tragedy is often explained as catharsis, as a purging of negative emotions. But, Juul points out, this doesn't seem to be the case for video game players. Games do not purge us of unpleasant emotions; they produce them in the first place. What, then, does failure in video game playing do?

Juul argues that failure in a game is unique in that when you fail in a game, you (not a character) are in some way inadequate. Yet games also motivate us to play more, in order to escape that inadequacy, and the feeling of escaping failure (often by improving skills) is a central enjoyment of games. Games, writes Juul, are the art of failure: the singular art form that sets us up for failure and allows us to experience it and experiment with it.

The Art of Failure is essential reading for anyone interested in video games, whether as entertainment, art, or education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262313131
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	02/22/2013
Series:	Playful Thinking
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jesper Juul is Associate Professor in the School of Design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He is the author of Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds; A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players; and The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games, all published by the MIT Press.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword ix

Preface xi

1 Introduction: The Paradox of Failure 1

2 The Paradox of Failure and the Paradox of Tragedy 33

3 The Feeling of Failure 47

4 How to Fail in Video Games 69

5 Fictional Failure 91

6 The Art of Failure 115

Notes 125

Bibliography 137

Index 149

What People are Saying About This

Jamin Warren

I can think of no other medium that so constantly forces its participant to contemplate their own demise. The act of playing games is one dotted with near-endless failure. Yet we plow on. Jesper Juul's new book is exactly the sharp examination of failure I need to keep myself from stabbing my eyes out when I get frustrated.

Endorsement

Frankly, I hadn't expected to enjoy a book about failure nearly as much as I did. Jesper Juul brings many different fields of study to the table and provides an engaging learning experience.

—Brenda Brathwaite Romero, game designer, COO and Co-Founder of Loot Drop

From the Publisher

I can think of no other medium that so constantly forces its participant to contemplate their own demise. The act of playing games is one dotted with near-endless failure. Yet we plow on. Jesper Juul's new book is exactly the sharp examination of failure I need to keep myself from stabbing my eyes out when I get frustrated.

—Jamin Warren, Founder, Kill Screen

In The Art of Failure, Jesper Juul explores an interesting idea and asks provocative questions. This book will be of interest to developers, players, scholars, journalists, and readers with related interests, such as chess players or athletes.

—Henry Lowood, Curator for History of Science & Technology Collections, Stanford University

Frankly, I hadn't expected to enjoy a book about failure nearly as much as I did. Jesper Juul brings many different fields of study to the table and provides an engaging learning experience.

—Brenda Brathwaite Romero, game designer, COO and Co-Founder of Loot Drop

Henry Lowood

In The Art of Failure, Jesper Juul explores an interesting idea and asks provocative questions. This book will be of interest to developers, players, scholars, journalists, and readers with related interests, such as chess players or athletes.

Brenda Brathwaite Romero

Frankly, I hadn't expected to enjoy a book about failure nearly as much as I did. Jesper Juul brings many different fields of study to the table and provides an engaging learning experience.

Editorial Reviews

Juul's essay is lean, pleasingly bold, and follows through on an intriguing premise.—Slate—

So it's a fascinating time to examine the concept of failure in video games, and luckily the gaming academic Jesper Juul did just that in The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games, which was released in February by MIT Press as part of its Playful Thinking series.... Maybe the interesting question here isn't what failure in games does—as Juul acknowledges, it does different things for different people—but rather what creative new approaches developers can take to one of the oldest, most universal parts of the human experience.

—Jesse Singal, Boston Globe—

From the Publisher

So it's a fascinating time to examine the concept of failure in video games, and luckily the gaming academic Jesper Juul did just that in The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games, which was released in February by MIT Press as part of its Playful Thinking series.... Maybe the interesting question here isn't what failure in games does—as Juul acknowledges, it does different things for different people—but rather what creative new approaches developers can take to one of the oldest, most universal parts of the human experience.

—Jesse Singal, Boston Globe

Reviews

So it's a fascinating time to examine the concept of failure in video games, and luckily the gaming academic Jesper Juul did just that in The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games, which was released in February by MIT Press as part of its Playful Thinking series.... Maybe the interesting question here isn't what failure in games does — as Juul acknowledges, it does different things for different people — but rather what creative new approaches developers can take to one of the oldest, most universal parts of the human experience.

Boston Globe - Jesse Singal

Juul's essay is lean, pleasingly bold, and follows through on an intriguing premise.

Slate