I ♥ E-Poetry

Short form scholarship on digital poetry.

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“i made this. you play this. we are enemies.” by Jason Nelson

June 25, 2012
“i made this. you play this. we are enemies.” by Jason Nelson
This poetry game is a sequel (of sorts) to his popular “game, game, game and again game,” this time focusing his satirical voice on popular Internet sites. His strategy is reminiscent of Tom Phillips’ famous artist book A Humument, because Nelson is inscribing on the surface of these websites to create games that critique and invite reflection upon their content, politics, and curating/filtering strategies. The platform game interface allows readers to explore the heavily inscribed pages, revealing poetic texts, videos, and getting subtly unsettled by harmless game “threats,” teleports, and amusing non-sequiturs. The title and the dynamics of the game poem itself engage the adversarial rhetoric of player vs. game (designer) and reader (and critic) vs. poet, particularly the perception that the goal is to win/understand the game/poem. My advice is to let go of those preconceptions and simply experience the work.
Read this work ELMCIP
Entry by: Leonardo Flores
Categories: 2008, aural, e-poetry, ELO 2012 Media Show, Entries, Flash, Heliozoa.com, kinetic, poetry, responsive, static, videogame, 2008
Author(s): Jason Nelson

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