Problem This Solves
Fictional games do not exist in a vacuum. Even when a fictional game does not explicitly reference an existing game, its very presence within a fictional world invites audiences to reflect on the games they play in their everyday lives. Many worldbuilders create fictional games without recognizing this inherent meta-referential quality -- or, conversely, they attempt satire without understanding the mechanisms that make it effective.
This reference addresses how fictional games function as mirrors held up to actual game design, play culture, industry practices, and the broader ludification of society. It provides the vocabulary for understanding why fictional games almost inevitably comment on real ones, and how satirical fictional games achieve their critical effects.
Key Principle
Fictional games are almost inevitably meta-referential. "Just as we cannot avoid comparing our experiences as beings in the actual world with those of the characters inhabiting a fictional world, we understand ludic experiences and artefacts found in fiction through our own interpretation of what games are, can be and can do." This meta-referential quality is not an optional feature to be designed in -- it is a constitutive property that can be sharpened through deliberate satirical techniques.
Good Examples
Bonestorm (The Simpsons): A caricature of Mortal Kombat II that satirizes grotesque character design, brutal violence, unimaginative plot, and mindless serialization of 1990s fighting games. Works by exaggerating recognizable features of real games to the point of absurdity, making the critique legible even to audiences unfamiliar with the specific target.
Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge (The Simpsons): Mocks simulation games' fastidious gameplay, aesthetic blandness, and patronizing player relationships. The joke operates through contrast -- Bart desperately wants Bonestorm but receives this tedious alternative. Later turned into a fan-made playable game by Aaron Demeter in 2020, demonstrating the fictional-to-actual transition the book theorizes.
Wirral Untethered (Disco Elysium): A satirical mise en abyme -- a game-within-a-game that mirrors the real production context. The fictional bankrupt developer Fortress Accident parallels ZA/UM itself, and the game references the real Camelot Unchained's protracted development. Achieves powerful self-critical commentary through structural mirroring rather than simple exaggeration.
Bad Examples
Treating meta-referentiality as requiring explicit parody: A fictional game need not name or obviously caricature a real game to be meta-referential. Even abstract or original fictional games invite comparison with actual games through their rules, values, and play cultures. Missing this subtler layer means underestimating the reflective work fictional games perform.
Satire without specificity: A fictional game that vaguely gestures at "games are violent" or "games are addictive" without grounding the critique in recognizable, concrete design features fails to achieve the precision that makes Bonestorm or Lee Carvallo effective. The best satirical fictional games target specific aesthetic, mechanical, or industrial practices.
Ignoring the ludification dimension: Fictional games do not only comment on other games. They can also comment on the progressive blurring of boundaries between play and non-play in society -- where game-like structures permeate jobs, economy, and relationships. A critique limited to the game industry misses the broader cultural commentary available.
Key Quotes
"Just as we cannot avoid comparing our experiences as beings in the actual world with those of the characters inhabiting a fictional world, we understand ludic experiences and artefacts found in fiction through our own interpretation of what games are, can be and can do." -- Chapter 6
Games in Western societies "are almost invariably framed as competitions for resources of some kind and generally push players to be efficient in accumulating, producing and upgrading goods." -- Dyer-Witheford and de Peuter, cited in Chapter 6
Rules of Thumb
- Assume every fictional game you create will be read against actual games -- design with this awareness rather than against it
- Satirical fictional games work best when they exaggerate recognizable features of real games to the point where the critique becomes legible
- The mise en abyme structure (game-within-a-game mirroring the real production context) is a powerful tool for self-critical commentary
- Meta-referentiality is transversal -- it cuts across the other four functions (ideology, utopia, deception, transcendence) rather than replacing them
- Consider the ludification of culture as a target: fictional games can comment not just on games themselves but on the colonization of non-play life by game-like structures
- The predictive capacity of fictional games is real: The Simpsons' My Dinner with Andre predicted dialogue-based dating simulations two years before Dokyusei (1992)
Related References
- Fictional Games as Deceptions and Hallucinations -- deceptive games often carry implicit meta-referential commentary on addictive design and the weaponization of flow
- Fictional Games and Transcendence -- transcendent games invite reflection on actual games' claims to transform or elevate players