Games of Pain: Pain as Haptic Stimulation in Computer-Game—Based Media Art

The text describes several media-art projects that introduce pain as a form of interaction within the context of a two-player game: PainStation (2001–2003) and LegShocker (2002) by Tilman Reiff and Volker Morawe, Tekken Torture (2001) by C-Level and Tazer Tag (2005) by Randy Sarafan. By presenting these examples and briefly analyzing the nature of pain and games, this text offers an overview of the implications of incorporating pain into a computer game and presents an approach to the motivations that lead players to perceive a painful experience as fun and addictive.