Where Are We in the Process?

Ansel Arnold

This work was generated using a computer program that records the actuations from an attached keyboard and mouse, and the text itself directly corresponds to the succession of keys and buttons that were clicked while playing an online first-person shooter game. Rapid gunfire and in-game physics are abstracted by their signifying peripheral devices and are broken up by the manner in which they were pressed (if a key is held down it may be recorded repeatedly, however this is not the same for all key presses). I started to take moments in the recorded text and frame them on their own, which began to reveal a distinct texture and physicality in the temporal sequence of actions. I have long been absorbed by questions of “realism” in relation to first-person shooter games that claim to be realistic, and am interested in using these virtual game spaces as the material for more abstract forms of expression.