In the video game industry, titles and genres that demand frenetic and, in some way, violent gameplay are predominant, a legacy of the medium’s origins that has traversed different spaces and platforms for decades to define its own language. The video game demands action from the player, even when it takes refuge in slow-paced narratives —slow gaming—, or under a cozy aesthetic —cozy games—. Within this framework, I identify proposals from the gēmu (ゲーム), or Japanese video game, that prioritize reflective gameplay in a ludofictional world where we are allowed to “do nothing”, where players can simply exist.
This project analyzes several Japanese video games that move away from mechanics and dynamics that exert violence. Their predominant spaces allow for playing calmly, without haste or pressure, in an intimate setting. This website is a repository for the International Stay Project: Bokunatsu-like: Slow gaming, infancias y dilemas morales en la gestión de la niñez en Japón (E-2023-05), funded by Universitat Jaume I through its Research Stay Grants for the year 2023/2024. At present, I’m currently working on this research line, and besides publishing the results in articles, I’m writing a book project provisionally titled ‘Playing the Calm’.
Special thanks
Playing the Calm 