THE WORLD IS DYING, BUT WHY BOTHER? I’VE MADE IT TO LEVEL 70 IN WOW!
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World of Warcraft, one of the most popular massively multiplayer role playing games of all time, has been appropriated, hijacked, and repurposed by Babak Ahteshamipour for In Search of the Banned Dictionaries that contain the Words for the Things You Wish you could Express but You are Unable to With Common Words (2022). The outcome of an extended production phase which began with the creation of an alter ego — a Blood Elf Warlock which was then “evolved” through a process leveling up — the video is equal part documentation and self expression. Such a complicated and time-consuming procedure was necessary for the artist’s avatar to access all the areas of the game, so that the player-director could explore different scenarios, regions, and dungeons, and capture the salient footage. As you know, machinima is hard work. Interestingly, the “action” is presented not from the customary third person view of the game, but from the first-person perspective, usually associated with first-person shooters. The absence of a recognizable body onscreen makes the experience at once disembodied — and thus uncanny — and more immersive, because the viewer can freely project their identity onto the protagonist, whomever they may be. Ahteshamipour calls this state of affairs “transcendental”, as identity becomes inseparable from the act of viewing: the player-spectator is, at once, the all seeing eye of a demiurge.
The artist describes In Search of the Banned Dictionaries that contain the Words for the Things You Wish you could Express but You are Unable to With Common Words as a commentary on escapism, in the sense that gaming is generally perceived as a form of entertainment that provides players with alternative situations, “fun” challenges, and entire worlds to their ordinary lives. This tendency to escape real life is becoming more and more popular as the planet is dying before our eyes: climate change, environmental catastrophes, air pollution and micro-plastics are rendering Earth increasingly inhabitable (“DOOM”). It comes as no surprise as Silicon Valley companies are pushing hard for metaverses and simulations: incapable or unwilling to change the status quo - because it’s not economically advantageous — video game companies and social media platforms have been systemically encouraging users to drop out and log in: the planet is dying, but this simulated world looks so good on the screen:
“It is so cool to pretend to love the sight of a dying world from a privileged perspective”.
Matteo Bittanti
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