作者：Jason Johnson

如今有很多游戏被定义为艺术，而当一件艺术品被转变成游戏时，情况又是怎样的？

在2010年的时候，Marina Abramovic在纽约现代艺术博物馆举办了回顾展“The Artist is Present”。而游戏开发者Pippin Barr今日成功地将“The Artist is Present”转变成了电子游戏。

在展会表演中，Abramovic坐在木桌前长达736个小时30分钟，而观众则排着长长的队伍等待与之会面。

The Artist is Present(from thecreatorsproject)

行为艺术经常会挑战艺术的定义，所以基于艺术的游戏也同样冲击电子游戏的界限。

在Barr的《The Artist is Present》游戏版本中，玩家的目标便是花费数小时的时间排着队等待与一个像素画形象的Abramovic“会面”。Gamasutra于近日就这款游戏有何魅力让玩家愿意花时间去与一个媒介进行交流的问题进行了采访。

《The Artist is Present》是一款关于排队的游戏。你最长的排队时间是多久？

我曾经排了5个小时的队伍。我想这应该是我在自己的游戏中排得最久的一次了。

这听起来似乎并不好玩。但是人们对这款游戏的大多数评价都是肯定的。你是如何看待这个问题的？

这款游戏能得到广大媒体的关注真的让我们很惊讶。它也吸引了很多对游戏目的并不是很了解的玩家的关注。作为玩家的我们，当然也知道什么样的游戏规则是合理的。

你认为游戏是否会受到这种心态的限制？

当然了！而这也是为何我在制作游戏时要尽可能地避开这些限制的原因。商业游戏总是涵括了一些可被接受的特殊因素。他们认为游戏应该尽可能地让玩家感到方便，并且公平地对待每一位玩家。他们总是荒唐地认为这个世界是公平的。但是正如我们所知道的，世界并不公平，好人未必就会有好报。

所以我们在制作游戏的时候总是悖于“世界是公平的”这一看法，因为这种看法将会压缩我们的游戏空间，并且让我们的游戏更受限制。

你希望玩家在尝试了《The Artist is Present》后能够获得什么感受？

很多玩家在打开游戏后发现博物馆是关着的便退出了游戏。但是如果他们选择排队，便会不厌其烦地等上10几20分钟的时间，甚至是1个小时。我只是希望玩家能够感受到游戏的存在。也许玩家不喜欢这款游戏，但它确实是真实存在着，无论你喜不喜欢，这款游戏就是这样的。

这款游戏有一些有悖常理的规则，即玩家只能在特定的时间去参观博物馆。而且必须在一个前进速度缓慢的队伍里排队等待，同时不能落队。这个规则有何目的？

这个规则的灵感来自于Abramovic的艺术展“The Artist is Present”。整个展会的主题便是关于她的自律性。这是对于身体的要求，而她也制定了一系列特殊的规则。而在我们的游戏中，玩家能够感受到Abramovic的体验，从而理解其表演艺术的辛苦。所以他们便会愿意接受长时间的等待以及缓慢的前进速度了。

等待是玩家在游戏中最不愿意看到的情况，就像我们会因为游戏缓慢的页面加载而抱怨连连。一开始我以为这个游戏理念是开玩笑的，但是后来我觉得如果能创造出一款以等待为主题的游戏，也是个非常有趣的想法。

为何选择在Sierra（游戏邦注：在八九十年代，Sierra这个字眼对于电脑游戏迷来说就是冒险游戏的代名词）冒险游戏大获成功之后，选择开发《The Artist is Present》这类型的游戏？

我真正喜欢的一款游戏是早前的《警察故事》。之前的Sierra游戏在程序上都显得较为复杂，即玩家在游戏中的每一步都必须小心谨慎，要不很容易被抓到把柄。而这一点在《警察故事》中更是表露无遗。Sierra甚至邀请了警察帮助他们设计这款游戏，从而将一些官方的因素融入游戏中。玩家必须在游戏中完成一系列正式的行动。而我们的《The Artist is Present》亦是如此。

在Marina Abramovic的表演过程中我们同样也可以领略她个人的想法和感受，例如她会要求观众去打她。而你们的游戏能带给玩家何种感受呢？

Abramovic的表演中充满了各种人与人之间的交流因素。你只要去认真观察她的眼睛，便能从中有所领悟。在制作游戏的时候，我发现去否定那些传统意义上的人道主义是件很有趣的事。这款游戏可以说是完完全全违背了人道主义原则了。玩家需要在一群非玩家角色中间排队。如果你离开了原来的位置，那么别人便会越上来取代你。如果你违规插队，也会被踢出博物馆。所以我认为玩家不能从这款游戏中感受到任何人性化的因素。

当轮到你与游戏中的Marina会面时，你所面对的是一张像素画的脸。直视她的眼睛，你却看不到任何灵魂。因为这只是一个定时眨眨眼的画面。

有一些观点认为游戏的规则和系统是一种内在的艺术。你如何看待这些观点？

毫无疑问，游戏中的系统对于游戏的表达至关重要。在Ian Bogost的著作《How To Do Things with Videogames》中，他提到了游戏中的一种艺术表达形式，称作程序主义。他还强调指出Jason Rohrer的《Passage》以及Rod Humble的《The Marriage》都是按照这种规则去表达游戏理念的。

这么做倒是没错，但是这并不是游戏的唯一表现形式。只能说是游戏众多表现形式之一。除了飘渺的柏拉图式哲学之外，你还需要思考其它与人们相关的规则。而这些也是无关表达的，这只是对于游戏机制的一种定义。如果没有任何人类体验，也就谈不上什么规则了。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Interview: The Artist is Present Questions ‘Can Art Be Games?’

by Jason Johnson

Plenty of games have been positioned as art, but what happens when a work of art is turned into a game?

The Artist is Present by Pippin Barr is a video game that reenacts a curious work of art. Originally a performance piece at The Museum of Modern Art, the artwork The Artist is Present was performed by Marina Abramovic in 2010.

During the performance, Abramovic sat perfectly still at a wooden table for a total of 736 hours and 30 minutes, while the audience lined up for the opportunity to sit with her.

Performance art often challenges the boundaries of art, so it follows that a game based on art would challenge the boundaries of video games.

In Barr’s game version of The Artist is Present, the player’s only goal is to stand in line for hours and sit down with a crude, pixelated representation of Abramovic. Gamasutra talked with Barr to find out what a game that makes you wait says about the medium.

The Artist is Present is a game about waiting in line. What is the longest you’ve ever waited in line?

I waited for five hours in the game. I think that might be the longest I’ve ever waited in a queue — in my own game.

It doesn’t sound like the most enjoyable experience. Yet the response to the game has been very positive. Why do you think that is?

It was incredibly shocking how the game blew up in the media. It reached a lot of people who don’t have a set view of what games are allowed to be. As gamers, we have certain rules about what is considered reasonable.

Do you feel that games are restricted by this mentality?

Absolutely. The reason I started making games was to step as far outside of the restrictions as I could. Commercial games have really coalesced into a very specific set of things that are considered acceptable. They center around the idea that the player shouldn’t be inconvenienced — that they should be treated fairly. They have a fallacy that the world is fair. We all know the world is not a fair place. Good things don’t always happen to good people.

It is important that we make games that go against the view that the world is fair, because it is shrinking down the possible sphere of the games that can be made, to the extent that games become restrictive.

What do you hope a player walks away with after playing The Artist is Present?

A lot of people load up the game, find the museum closed, and quit. If they do queue, they don’t bother with it for more than 10 or 20 minutes — an hour tops. I would like people to take away that this thing exists. It’s a game, and it can be this way, and that’s fine. You definitely don’t have to like it, but here it is.

Your game has unorthodox rules. You can only visit the museum between certain hours. You have to wait in a line that moves very slowly, and you have to keep up with it. What purpose do the rules serve?

The rules came from reflecting on the artwork The Artist is Present by Marina Abramovic. That artwork was about her personal discipline. It was physically demanding, and there were specific rules that she followed. The game puts the player through her experience, so that they go through the hardship of the performance. They are restricted to just waiting and occasionally shuffling forward.

Waiting is very high on the list of things you are not supposed to have to do in a game. For instance, we all complain bitterly about loading screens. The idea started as a joke. I thought it would be funny to make a game where all you do is wait.

Why did you choose to model The Artist is Present after a classic Sierra adventure game?

My one true love of games is the original Police Quest. Those old Sierra games had a procedural brutality, in which you had to do everything really properly or you were going to get shafted. That was particularly true of Police Quest. They had a real police officer help design the game, and he put all of this boring stuff in it. You had to go through all of these official motions. The Artist is Present is about that too.

It is fascinating to read about the thoughts and feelings Marina Abramovic has during her performances — for instance when she invited the audience to hurt her. What types of feelings does your game elicit?

Abramovic’s performances are about human connections. You look into her eyes, and something is communicated. In making the game, I felt a great joy in negating everything about the work that deals with humanity. The game is really inhuman. You’re in the queue with these non-playable characters. If you move out of the way, they will steal your place. If you try to move too much, they kick you out of the museum. I doubt people feel any humanizing contact.

When you sit down with Marina in the game, you are confronted with her pixelated face. She looks into your eyes, but nothing is there. She’s just a sprite who blinks occasionally.

There is a viewpoint in certain circles that the rules and systems of games are the inherent artistry. What do you think about that view?

There’s no doubt that the systems that underlie games are crucial to their expressiveness. In Ian Bogost’s book How To Do Things with Videogames, he talks about a form of artistic expression in games called proceduralism. He points to Jason Rohrer’s Passage and Rod Humble’s The Marriage as games that try to be expressive through rules.

It’s definitely true; but clearly it’s not the only form of expression. It’s just one of them. You have to talk about how rules connect with people beyond a floating Platonic ideal. That’s not expressive. That’s just a mechanical definition. You can’t talk about rules in the absence of some type of human experience. （source:gamasutra）