Abstract

The proposed research argues the material origins of the virtual accident and explores its effects on temporal experiences of media consumers. Specifically, it addresses accident expressed as experiential lag, resulting from the technical imperfections of the network used to play video games. Moreover, it investigates the ways in which lag is perceived and dealt with by the players at LAN parties as well as by the artistic community. To illustrate the argument some information was included from the observation and interviews conducted during LAN-ETS 2006 and 2007, within the frame of the research project "The Social Worlds of Video Games" funded by FQRSC. The argument develops through analysis of the temporal experiences of users of different media; examples from fine arts, movies and video games are used. The materiality of the medium along with its immediate context is found to play an important role in the medium reception. Moreover, speed at which the medium is presented is argued to be a crucial factor in initiating and maintaining the process of immersion. Finally, the research defines lag as a social accident, and investigates how LAN parties are simultaneously a symptom and a critique of the structure of "fast capitalism"