Character Bleed and Aesthetic Effects
Hi All, I know I haven’t been posting much/enough, but I’m going to post a couple of things when I have the time, but I thought I’d post that link on the types/subcategories of “bleed” that Live Experiences and Games can create, and some theories as to why how that occurs/we create that.
What is Bleed?
Either you can watch a video (below) which is a bit long or take Hugaas explanation:
“The term bleed was coined by Emily Care Boss in 2007, and has since been generally accepted to describe when emotions “bleed over” from character to player and vice versa. In the following years, the addition of thoughts and physical states were done by among others Sarah Lynne Bowman, who states, “Role-players sometimes experience moments where their real life feelings, thoughts, relationships, and physical states spill over into their characters’ and vice versa. In role-playing studies, we call this phenomenon bleed”.
“At my talk at Knutepunkt in 2018, I proposed a way to further structure the phenomenon by classifying it in three distinct sub-categories: emotional, procedural, and memetic. I also briefly touched on a potential fourth category that I named cognitive bleed, but the more I have studied it, the less I am sure that it merits its own category and as such I am leaving it out for now.” (Hugaas, 2019)
Also, the video below goes into a little bit about what Bleed is, and how it can be managed. The first 3 minutes should be enough to make my point, but it does go quite deep and is interesting.
But what does this have to do with Aesthetics?
Well, we’re kinda trying to create “Bleed Out” with aesthetics in art — something that sticks with the audience and is meaningful, and so it is important to know how to manage that.
Aesthetics in artforms often seeks to increase the positive (or at least, intended bleed).
The Impact of a work.
Extra Credit tries to explore some of these below, and how these can be implemented in video games:
Basically, the video goes into examples of how to make games have meaning for players, but it seems like the Live Games scene has already found different, and more nuanced classifications and methods. Indeed many Nordic-style simulated events “will most likely be substantially more dramatic and intense than any we will ever experience in our own modern lives. In addition, most of us subject ourselves to these events at a rate that will probably be much higher than even the most dramatic life one could ever imagine. Of course, for the most part, our minds will know perfectly well that these events are just simulated, but the body and senses that we experience it with do not.” (Hugaas, 2019)
But why are we seeing it more now?
This might be because with simulations, we’re rapidly approaching the uncanny valley of realism through simulation/LARP, and video games are still approaching that space. It may also be that video games are often played without debriefing to the author directly in person, so the nuances of the reactions are lost to time and distance. It may be that, because LARPs are directly interacting with other humans, while technology filters the visceral contact.
I’m going to keep seeking answers to these questions. I think they’re important.
References
Extra Credits. (2015). A Question of Empathy — Are There Positive Effects from Gaming? — Extra Credits. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=153&v=fftjo1CepQE&feature=emb_logo
Hugaas, K. H. (2019, January 25). Investigating Types of Bleed in Larp: Emotional, Procedural, and Memetic. Retrieved July 5, 2019, from Nordic Larp website: https://nordiclarp.org/2019/01/25/investigating-types-of-bleed-in-larp-emotional-procedural-and-memetic/
LARP House. (2017). Character Bleed 101 | LH EP 061 (Vol. 61). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=192&v=gxmbl58RiHE&feature=emb_logo
