Foregrounding

Before we begin the analysis of the video game as a new zeitgeist, we'd be well served to create our own fictional avatar. Rather than selecting any one particular game, this imaginary game and avatar will prove useful in allowing us to apply different thought exercises to the same symbol-an intersubjective agreement of the highest magnitude.

The character's name is "Petitor", a small sounding name for a small character. You can picture him how you like; I think of a boy dressed in sandals and ragged robes, dirty with too much exploration. A short sword girds his hip. Dark hair dangles in his face. The world in which he lives is littered with different types of cities-modern, classical, Victorian, postmodern, futuristic. There are sprawling landscapes, endless lands of dust and scrub grass, barren rock formations. There are jungles, lush and verdant. There are dark caves (of course-what game can escape the Cave?) and dungeons and sewers. There are pinnacles that Petitor can ascend, vehicles to control, people to interact with, and games to play. It is everything that an avatar could want, a PlayStation Home that is beyond the plastic beta: it's an avatar's utopia. The world is called "Mendax."

I won't pretend to great depth with the chosen names; anyone with high school Latin (or a ready internet connection) could look them up. Petitor means 'seeker' or 'one who strives for [something]'. Mendax means 'deceitful'. These names are powerful and important, as will be discussed later on. For now, let them be the imaginary game in which these introductory essays take place.