Gameplay Journal Entry #5

When I encounter a glitch in a video game, it’s at first a confusing moment for me since I’m trying to figure what had happened. Then it’s a few moments of laughter, a screen record, and then I leave the glitch alone unless it’s affecting my gameplay. In Rosa Menkman’s, “‘Glitch Studies Manifesto’ in Video Vortex Reader II: Moving Images beyond YouTube,” she explains “The glitch has no solid form or state through time; it is often perceived as an unexpected and abnormal modus operandi, a break from (one of) the many flows (of expectations) within a technological system” (Menkman 3). What I consider a glitch is really similar to Menkman’s short description of a glitch. To me, glitches are events in a game or system that occur outside of the original code/program.

An example of a glitch that I found occurs in a game called “Dead by Daylight.” In the video below, when the player is hooked by the killer, the player ascends. They are essentially floating up to the sky, to the top of the map. The glitch is at minute 16:28.

Based on my definition of a glitch, the video a great example. The players in the game are supposed to stay hanging on the hook, not float into the sky. Something interesting to note is the different ways this glitch could affect the game. It is important to know that in this game there is no jump. So when the player gets unhooked, they fall down back down to the map, on top a wall. There was a chance that the player could miss the wall and just land back on the ground. But having the chance to land on top of the wall essentially breaks the game’s habitual form of gameplay. While on the wall the player is unreachable and can’t be hit by the killer (unless the killer has a projectile weapon). In certain ways, survivors could use this glitch to their advantage. From the survivor’s perspective, this a great glitch that could be abused. But from the killer’s perspective, this glitch is just something that will annoy them once it occurs in their games multiple times.

Sources:

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.

Ohmwrecker / Maskedgamer. “We have ASCENDED! (Best Glitch Ever) 😂 | Dead by Daylight (DBD) Pyramid Head / Silent Hill Chapter.” YouTube, commentary by Ohmwrecker / Maskedgamer, 03 July. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJttIB2etwA.