ontological bleed: player identification and the blurred borders of fictional worlds in diegetic interface games

'ontological bleed' uses the production of 'the archive' to explore how digital and tangible diegetic interfaces support experiences of metalepsis - a sense of moving between different worlds - and bleed - the experience of spillover between the game and reality. It documents how these concepts can be reflected and built upon through game mechanics and speculative fiction.

'the archive' is an interface game that catalogues evidence of an ontological transgression. Its physical artifacts are annotated within the database software by previous researchers and archivists, and their entries reveal their varying interpretations of the evidence they collected and their eventual fates. The archive is haunted by entities associated with a reality that is encroaching on our own - much like how fictional game worlds intersect with ours, with the player as pivot point, existing at once in the actual world and the virtual world of the fiction. 

While the archive is open to the public, players are invited to register for volunteer shifts to assist with the revitalization project. Shifts involve cross referencing between damaged digital entries, the export backup and the physical artifacts to rebuild the integrity of the archive. They are expected to submit their own physical evidence of any ontological transgressions they encounter during their visit.
 

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g blekkenhorst is an interdisciplinary artist and experimental narrative designer. Their work brings together their experience working in games, comics, animation and production design, with a specific research interest into diegetic artifacts and how media-specific mechanics and strange formats can reinforce the themes and emotional resonance of the narrative. Their work explores perception bias, reluctant capitalism, mental health, spirituality and identity through a lens of speculative fiction.

In addition to their work as a programmer and narrative designer in the games industry, they have had their independent games featured in festivals such as Superfest and Toronto Games Week, and had comics featured in anthologies such as 'Wayward Sisters' and 'Pulping.' They currently teach game design and prototyping courses at York University.