Reflections

Earlier this year I started playing A Monster’s Expedition, a puzzle game wherein you play as a monster exploring a museum of humans and human artifacts. Your character encounters a variety of knick knacks which are easily recognized by players but are mysterious to the monsters. Each has a little readable sign which (mis)interprets the object for the monster visitor. For example, you might find a beach ball described as an egg from the inflatable flamingo species. The game pokes fun at the guesswork involved in museum research and how curators may claim to understand things which they do not. A Monster’s Expedition also demonstrates how a cultural outsider can be highly judgmental of the culture they claim expertise over. For example, the game begins by explaining that it is based on human museums which were shockingly indoors, but obviously monsters have much more practical outdoor exhibits. The game includes the joke that monsters believe they may have been indoors as an attempt to ...

 Nothing will make you believe the idea that psych wards are made to punish deviation from the norm quite like spending a few days in one. The psych ward is designed in a lot of ways. 1. The ward is a panopticon (key point) Imagine being admitted, they take everything you brought in with you; from your phone to your wallet to your clothes. then they put you in a glass box. This is your room. Next door to you is a man who can't or won't speak English. He is constantly murmuring prayers. Next door to you is an old friend who today believes that you are (quite literally) the devil's advocate.  The wall is glass. The door is glass. There is no lock. There is a curtain, kept just high enough off the floor for them to see your feet if you are walking around the room. You are always watched. And always judged. You can read, a week later in your exit report, if you so choose. What the doctors and nurses thought of you. You can scan through the sterile notes and analyses they made a...