What Is a Metaphoric Artgame? A Critical Analysis of Metaphor in the Artgame Discourse and in Artgames

This chapter discusses the relation between artgames and metaphor in the game studies discourse. Starting from the observation that artgames are often characterized as metaphoric in game studies, author demonstrates that artgames do not uniquely possess metaphoricity but that games which are labeled metaphoric are also simulations. This characteristic is not unique to games which are identified as or intended to be artgames, but to most games, therefore, metaphorical topics become de-metaphorized in games. The game's title, The Marriage, indicates the target domain, love, which justifies looking at the metaphorically structured concept of love to analyze the metaphors of the game. The target domain of The Marriage, love, is only addressed by the game's title, The Marriage. The setup of the rectangular game space containing the couple-squares exemplifies the love is a unity of parts metaphor in which the game space exemplifies the unity element and the two separate squares exemplify the parts.