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<p>Video games uniquely mediate existential themes of mortality through their formal mechanics and narrative structures. This paper positions video games as “death media,” arguing that their affordances reshape how players confront finitude. Drawing on Martin Heidegger’s notion of “being-towards-death” the analysis examines how video games transform abstract mortality into tangible, visceral experiences. Central to this exploration is <i>Before Your</i> Eyes (GoodbyeWorld Games, 2021), a narrative game that employs eye-tracking technology to bind its core mechanic -blinking—to the progression of its protagonist’s life story. Every involuntary blink advances time, cutting short moments of joy or regret, thereby mirroring the inevitability of death and the fragility of temporal existence. Through this design, the game operationalizes Heideggerian authenticity, disrupting players’ tendency to “fall” into everyday distractions and instead confronting them with the irreducible fact of their finitude. Player testimonials and critical reviews underscore the emotional resonance of this mechanic, revealing how physical strain and narrative brevity evoke introspection about life’s transient nature. By framing ludic death as an embodied, interactive process, the paper challenges conventional portrayals of mortality in digital media and highlights games’ potential as existential technologies. Ultimately, it contends that video games like <i>Before Your Eyes</i> reframe mortality not as failure but as a phenomenological truth, inviting players to grapple with impermanence through play itself.</p>

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Death as design: video games and the framing of finitude

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年6月14日

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  • Andrea Andiloro

摘要

Video games uniquely mediate existential themes of mortality through their formal mechanics and narrative structures. This paper positions video games as “death media,” arguing that their affordances reshape how players confront finitude. Drawing on Martin Heidegger’s notion of “being-towards-death” the analysis examines how video games transform abstract mortality into tangible, visceral experiences. Central to this exploration is Before Your Eyes (GoodbyeWorld Games, 2021), a narrative game that employs eye-tracking technology to bind its core mechanic -blinking—to the progression of its protagonist’s life story. Every involuntary blink advances time, cutting short moments of joy or regret, thereby mirroring the inevitability of death and the fragility of temporal existence. Through this design, the game operationalizes Heideggerian authenticity, disrupting players’ tendency to “fall” into everyday distractions and instead confronting them with the irreducible fact of their finitude. Player testimonials and critical reviews underscore the emotional resonance of this mechanic, revealing how physical strain and narrative brevity evoke introspection about life’s transient nature. By framing ludic death as an embodied, interactive process, the paper challenges conventional portrayals of mortality in digital media and highlights games’ potential as existential technologies. Ultimately, it contends that video games like Before Your Eyes reframe mortality not as failure but as a phenomenological truth, inviting players to grapple with impermanence through play itself.