Gameplay Journal Entry #5

Glitches have existed in video games from the very beginning, and they will always exist in some form. At the end of the day, all video games are just programs made up of code that a person has written and art that someone has created, and people make mistakes. To define my own definition of a glitch, it’s important to first make the distinction between a glitch and a bug. A bug is a more serious issue; a fundamental error that affects gameplay in a noticeable way. A glitch, on the other hand, is more of a visual anomaly, or something that looks out of place or is distorted. Glitches are more surface-level issues that can sometimes be amusing, as opposed to bugs which actually disrupt the game in a purely negative way. Menkman discusses glitches is in a similar way; “I experience the glitch as a wonderful interruption that shifts an object away from its ordinary form and discourse, towards the ruins of destroyed meaning. My first encounter comes hand-in-hand with a feeling of shock, or being lost and in awe. But once I find myself within these ruins I also experience a feeling of hope; a triumphal sensation that there is something more than just devastation.” (Menkman, 341).

Here is a link to one of my favorite glitches: https://youtu.be/dZxvHojcM4I?t=402. This glitch is from Fallout New Vegas. Basically, it involves the player opening their Pip-Boy, placing a marker somewhere on the map, and quickly exiting out of the Pip-Boy. For some reason, this causes time to stop in the game, but the player can still move around and explore the world. This falls under the category of a glitch rather than a bug, because it’s very difficult to do accidentally, and it’s not a major problem that prevents the player from progressing through the game. Although it could technically be used to cheat in certain scenarios, it’s not practical, and most people wouldn’t know about it unless they were specifically looking for glitches in Fallout New Vegas. With that being said, it definitely still disrupts habitual forms of video game play and perception, since it allows the player to explore anywhere on the game map without any danger or negative repercussions.

Works Cited:

Menkman, Rosa. “Glitch Studies Manifesto.” Video Vortex Reader II: Moving Images beyond YouTube, by Geert Lovink and Rachel Somers Miles, Institute of Network Cultures, 2011.