Apophatic Gaming: The perpetual Journey to ‘catch em’ all’

Abstract

This study shows certain video games are fostering apophatic practices. The study firstly investigates the notion of distance highlighted by Jean-Luc Marion and secondly the perpetual journey revealed through Gregory of Nyssa’s apophatic exegesis of Moses’ journey. These notions of distance reveal an unquenchable desire to reach a promised finality. With humanity shown to be limited in the face of immeasurable transcendence, a perpetual journey through a path of discovery is constantly desired. These aspects can be seen in certain video games such as Elite, No Man’s Sky, World of Warcraft, Pokémon and Journey which limit the subjectivity of players in the face of limitless possibility. The study enables a deeper reflection of certain video games which stretch beyond genres or play styles providing a means to dwell in the apophatic distance.