Traversing Fantasy: Repetition & Drive
An indefinite game is one that could last forever not just by the players’ explicit efforts, but because it is structured to last indefinitely. Although an indefinite game will have certain markers of progress, like experience levels in Dungeons & Dragons , there is not a terminal state representing success within the structure of the game. There may still likely be a terminal state representing failure, e.g. character death, but even this can be remedied by creating a new character and starting over. Above all, the indefinite game is a fantasy simulator in that it allows the player qua subject to endlessly pursue goal after goal without terminal resolution. The player can keep fantasizing as they keep playing. This is homologous to Lacan’s notion of the plus-de-jouir , the subject’s drive: there is always something else to desire because nothing fully satisfies. Drive is key to indefinity. Any game worthy of the moniker of 'game' must transform the player into a subject by...