In s3r3nity_sp3llcast3rx2001, what possibilities do you see in video game mechanics, UI aesthetics, or NPC dialogue systems as tools for cyberfeminist critique or speculative pedagogy?

In s3r3nity_sp3llcast3rx2001 I subvert traditional game mechanics that are usually utilized for something called a “finite game”, with a quest or a goal, and these games are often competitive with clear structures. I see a lot of potential in creating a kind of ”infinite game”, without clear structure, open ended, without a specific goal or incentive, just like life itself. What we experience in the work is something derived from a cut scene or a conversation with an NPC (non playable character). Cut scenes usually pause the gameplay and deliver essential narrative and clues necessary for the achievement of the goal, here it is reimagined as a space for critical monologue and political storytelling. An NPCs dialogue is usually not essential to the game’s storyline, serving instead as an ambient mechanism for revealing information about the game’s world through comments or complaints, allowing us to infer the social and economic systems predominant in the game. The interface, with pixelated font and slowly typed dialogue reminiscent of early RPGs and hacker fiction, also serves the purpose of portraying a cut scene/NPC dialogue.

My character speaks from a future perspective, narrating the story of how her guild of spellcasters collectively contributed to the downfall of capitalism and patriarchy by channeling the “collective imagination of the many” centered around hope, tenderness, and care. Her dialogue, composed through a collaborative writing process between my theoretical research and ChatGPT’s translation into archetypal fantasy language, becomes a form of collective authorship.