遊戲研究 I： 戲性 - FPS - 後911軟權力之恐怖與抗性

Abstract

若後 911 全球規模的世界，可收斂為一單詞，少有人會質疑「恐怖」一詞的適切性與 獨占性。其衍生詞如「恐怖份子」、「恐怖主義」、和美國誓言發動之「反恐全球戰爭」 等，見證了「恐怖」已化作一「象喻」，不僅將不同地域政治單位統合於單一價鏈，且 能有效出入不同領域（其中政治僅為一環），並於移動中不斷產出驚奇與困惑。後911 的恐怖裡，有一項特徵與一個領域，將為本研究計畫關注之所在。特徵為敵人，至少 於其名相之層次，其無所不在與面貌模糊。領域則為深受此特徵影響，並藉此特徵獲 利之數位遊戲，特別是2001 年以降，以（反）恐怖（主義）為主題之第一人稱射擊遊 戲。 有兩則研究問題，為本計畫嘗試解答，或定位可能予以解答之詮釋路徑。揆之於後911 第一人稱射擊遊戲，獲致娛樂產業史以來幾無前例之巨大利潤，第一則研究問題在於 此遊戲類型之市場成功，是否與其佈置、再現、重置、或散佈恐怖之機制有關？鑑於 數位遊戲乃文化產業一環，第一人稱射擊遊戲之全球熱賣，自然引發討論此遊戲類型 之「軟權力」，其發動意識形態召喚，與創造文化霸權之規模與力度。此「軟權力」之 合法性基礎何在，將為本計畫第二則研究問題，並嘗試對相關之意識形態批評，進行 批判。 本計畫將並置二項元素及其遊戲操演性，以處理「軟權力」之能與不能。元素一為 「semiosis」，其透過再現處理恐怖象喻之機制，賦予第一人稱射擊遊戲之霸權力。元 素二則為「ludosis」，其將恐怖象喻不斷置入戲性之行為與運動中，或將破開具抗性之 縫隙。故本計畫為遊戲研究戲性論之零級起步。

If the post-9/11 world on its global scale can be shrunk into one single word, few would doubt the valid and almost exclusive candidacy of “terror.” With its derivatives like terrorist, terrorism, and the Global War on Terror that the U.S. imposes on itself to wage, “terror” evolves into a figura that not only connects geopolitical units under one valence, but moves, in and out, through various domains (of which the political is a mere fraction) to create wonders as well as bewilderments in its figural travelling. There is one feature of this post-9/11 terror, and one domain this figura has wandered into, that the proposed research project will concern itself with. The feature is the obscurity and omnipresence of enemy at least in its nominal sense. And the domain, which has been deeply affected by the feature and has successfully capitalized on it, is digital games, especially the FPS (first person shooter) games that have heavily thematized on (anti)terror(ism) from the year 2001 on. The research questions the project intends to answer, or to locate an interpretive route to attack, are two. Given the phenomenal popularity of the post-9/11 FPS games whose generated revenue in total is nearly unprecedented in the history of entertainment industry, is there existing any relational significance, or logical correlation, between the genre’s market success and the in-game deployment, representation, reconfiguration, or distribution of the figura terror? As digital games belong to the culture industry, the global popularity of the FPS games readily invites the question concerning the scale and intensity of their “soft power” in issuing ideological interpellation and creating cultural hegemony. What is the problematic involved in the legitimacy of this “soft power” will be the project’s second research question which is to be directed at critiquing the ideological criticism of that power. The project will set two elements and their gaming performance against each other, so as to better explicate on the capacity of the “soft power” and its possible incapacitation. The two elements are, respectively, the “semiosis” of the figura terror that presumes to ground the FPS games’ hegemonic potency through representation, and the “ludosis” that, by its constituting the very nature of gaming, will always put the figura into constant movements and actions of playfulness to burst open a crack of resistance. Hence the project’s being one of ludology.