Monster Hunter: World may just be one of my favorite games, and I am full of fond memories of the game. Video games are meant to act as a form of escapism, a brief lapse from the harshness of reality as we immerse ourselves in a world with things that could not possibly exist now. I used to get that sort of enchantment a lot when experiencing any form of technology, like it was magic from another world. But that magic can be broken. In this glitch, the games visuals are freaking out as polygons quickly expand and contract at high speed, causing a strobe like effect. I would warn those with epilepsy not to watch the video, as it is a possible trigger and generally hard on the eyes. This sort of glitch breaks the immersion, and reminds me that this is still a game, and real-world problems like taxes and the fact that I cannot afford healthcare still exist. My perception of the game is totally shifted towards the realization that it is all just 1 and 0’s (this is a gross simplification but bear with me.)
In a sense, I am experiencing a sort of “disenchantment evoked by post-digital aesthetics, that drives me towards “unease, fatigue, boredom and disillusionment.” Much of the magic I use the feel when seeing the bright lights of a monitor or technology fades away with age, especially now that I have seen what behind the screen(Ferreira pg. 117). While most glitches are small and unnoticeable, ones like this cannot be ignored, and you cannot look away. One who has immersed themselves into the world would feel it fade away, the illusion of the digital melted, revealing the code underneath. Now I study to make video games, in a hope to instill the magic once again in a new generation, and hopefully not break the illusion as it has been broken for me.
Ferreira, P. (n.d.). XCoAx 2020. Retrieved February 22, 2021, from https://2020.xcoax.org/
Pg. 117
