Media occasionally uses breaking the fourth wall to force the viewer, reader, or player to engage with themself rather than with the material. For There is no Game to break the wall from the moment the player opens it and manage to turn the lack of immersion into a game itself rather interesting. The game is not really within the game but within the player by taking elements from other games that are normally unchangeable or rather tedious to mess with. For example, the game takes things like a loading screen where the player expects it to be non-interactable and turns it into a game where the user tries to make it load faster. The game also has a level where the player must not close out of pop-up ads and use them to solve puzzles. Both games play with the player’s instinct or at least make them aware of how they engage with computers. The game designer is playing with the player rather than the player playing the game.
When playing There is No Game, the first thing that came to mind was The Impossible Quiz. The Impossible Quiz is a game/quiz that engages with the player in a similar way. It creates puzzles for the player to solve in a way that somebody would not normally take a quiz. The Impossible Quiz would have a question/demand like click on this and have this for the option, but the true answer would be for the player to click on the this within the question. Although I think breaking the fourth wall in movies or comics is corny, seeing games like Stanley Parable, There is No Game, and The Impossible Quiz break it feels completely different because a game’s design is for the player to act within it instead of passively observing. Questioning how to interact with a game in ways that are not intended changes the meaning and purpose of other games when playing. It makes the player question how a game could be played differently, or could a game be played without any direction. It is important to consider how different ways of play, such as speed running promote or when people change the rules of a game, affect how a game is seen.
Love this post, I remember playing the Impossible Quiz when I was younger and I never thought of it when we were discussing metagames so I found it really interesting that you linked those two games together and I can definitely see the relation as when you are playing both games you are almost playing against yourself or at least trying to think beyond what first comes to mind in a way. Aside from that, the idea that metagames that break the fourth wall aren’t a game about the game but more about the player/the player’s preconceived notions about games was something I definitely agree with and a take I had not really thought of prior.
I totally agree! Aside from being a really interactive and immersive experience for a player, I think breaking the fourth walls also allows player to imagine and perceive other games in a different light. However, I think having a balance is crucial in order to preserve the integrity of any medium. If a game divulged too much into breaking the fourth wall, it may weaken the game play aspect (since a user may no longer find any meaning in the game if the fourth wall is always broken).