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Jesper Juul's Three Frames Of The Play (Killbox)

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The game KillBox, created by Joseph DeLappe, Malath Abbas, Tom Demajo, and Albert Elwin, explores the technological side of military and political power. Game designer and theorist Jesper Juul, proposes three frames in which we can consider games; goal orientation, experience, and social context. These three frames interconnect and interpenetrate to give the game user the experience intended by the creators. Focusing specifically on his second layer of experience and his third layer of social context, the interactive, technological installation Killbox possesses these frames and intertwines them to form the game as a space where the user can explore the nature of drone warfare. This relationship is created due to the fact that the social …show more content…

The game explores controversial sides of drone warfare and the impacts it has both politically and socially. At the start of the game the player is given the option to be player one or two. Player one controls the UAV drone and the player has to shoot missiles at the desired target. The display and aesthetics are very technological and realistic to the theme of drone warfare. This is apparent through the sounds, design and interactive abilities. The way they explain the instructions for player one appears very technological as well, with the purpose to encapsulate the user in the mindset of the intended subject matter. The second player assigns the user as a ball, representative of a person. They can explore the land, collect items and interact with other shapes. There are numerous other spheres of different colours and sizes roaming around the land, representative of other humans and animals. The game is very loose with their rules, letting the player perceive things as they wish. A pinnacle moment of this game is when the player comes to the realization that player one and player two are set in the same location and time, just each representing a different viewpoint of the UAV missile attack. Especially if the user starts as player one and fires the missile to the specified target, then switches over to player two and realizes that they are experiencing the impact of their own decision as the previous player. Because the game allows users to view both impactful sides of drone warfare; being the victim or the shooter, the player gains a better understanding about drone warfare and all of its side effects. As quoted by T.L Taylor in Gaming Lifeworlds, “The notion that technical choices are always already tied to social choices and values plays at an explicit level here.” (Page 39) This quote can be related to the game,

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