Videogames are a unique artistic form, and to analyse and understand them an

equally unique language is required. Cremin turns to Deleuze and Guattari’s non-
representational philosophy to develop a conceptual toolkit for thinking anew

about videogames and our relationship to them. Rather than approach videogames
through a language suited to other media forms, Cremin invites us to think in
terms of a videogame plane and the compositions of developers and players who
bring them to life. According to Cremin, we are not simply playing videogames,
we are creating them. We exceed our own bodily limitations by assembling forces
with the elements they are made up of. The book develops a critical methodology
that can explain what every videogame, irrespective of genre or technology, has in
common and proceeds on this basis to analyse their differences. Drawing from a
wide range of examples spanning the history of the medium, Cremin discerns the
qualities inherent to those regarded as classics and what those qualities enable the
player to do.
Exploring Videogames with Deleuze and Guattari analyses different aspects of the
medium, including the social and cultural context in which videogames are played,

to develop a nuanced perspective on gendered narratives, caricatures and glorifi-
cations of war. It considers the processes and relationships that have given rise to

industrial giants, the spiralling costs of making videogames and the pressure this
places developers under to produce standard variations of winning formulas. The
book invites the reader to embark on a molecular journey through worlds neither
‘virtual’ nor ‘real’ exceeding image, analogy and metaphor. With clear explanations
and detailed analysis, Cremin demonstrates the value of a Deleuzian approach to
the study of videogames, making it an accessible and valuable resource for students,
scholars, developers and enthusiasts.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Virtual reality 4
The century of videogames 6
Chapter content 11

1 Videogame plane 14
Into the light 15
Twelve axioms 22

2 The smooth and striated 31
Nintendo land 32
Captured war machine 36
Plane of organisation 41
Videogame industrial complex 47

3 Rhizome-play 54
Common play 55
Videogame chess is not a videogame 59
Arborescent-play 61
Action and affect 63

4 Ludo-diagram 67
Canvas 67
Patchworks of potential 72

Diagrams within diagrams 76
The afterimage 79

5 Artist and apprentice 81
The painter 82
Schema of the force-sign 86
Five varieties of realism 93

6 Molecular Mario 98
Becoming-animal, becoming-Mario 99
Machinic assemblages 102
Timeshift 106
Action-image in fragments 111
2007: friction-image 114

7 Major/minor 121
Significant gameplay 122
Gameplay and schizophrenia 125
Sin and punishment 127
First-person fighting-machines 131
The Triforce 135
Is there such a thing as a minor videogame? 142

Bibliography 146
Index 153