Karma (Application)

2004

Kurt Hentschläger (AT)
Friedrich Kirschner (DE)
Claudia Hart
Josh Bapst
Richard le Bihan
Mike Saffiano

Every day in hundreds of thousands of computer and Playstation games, millions of protagonists die, are devoured by aliens, gunned down in battle or blown to bits on jungle paths. Their deaths don’t have any more emotional effect on us than the deaths we see daily in movies and TV cop shows. But what happens when death in the game is suddenly no longer just the termination of the figure behind the message “GAME OVER”?

“Karma” brings death in its true form to virtual reality. The game characters don’t simply disappear; they die a realistic death, writhe in the throes of agony and, at the moment they expire, seem to be truly alive.

The viewer can no longer maintain his distanced attitude towards death in a fictional world as soon as it appears that a human being is suffering pain or is in need. The identification with the player’s game counterpart becomes stronger and feelings emerge.

“Karma” is a module that simulates physical phenomena in the “Unreal Tournament” game engine. A physics-based subsystem takes effect at the moment of the “death” of one of the game’s protagonists and makes their encounter with death a realistic one—they plunge over cliffs or crash over walls until their energy is exhausted and, having reached their lasting resting place, they expire. Physical simulation is thus deployed in a game engine in order to make virtual reality even more convincing and to achieve an accurate as possible depiction of the reality with which we are familiar.

In “Karma,” the viewer can move about in the game environment, observe the scenes and also actively intervene in them by grabbing onto one of the game characters, pushing him away or flinging him through the air. Sometimes, he’s suddenly shifted to another location and thus loses control over himself.

The movements of both the characters and the viewers as well as the camera movements and the lighting trigger sounds and music, which generates a dynamic soundtrack. The duration of the game is determined individually by the user (15-20 minutes is recommended). “Karma” is a work-in-progress that will continue to be modified and enhanced.