This presentation will examine how a specific game is enhanced by a lens of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) that is correlational to theory on trance, hypnosis, and flow. It will look at hypnotic elements and see how they might translate into the world of games, with which it builds up to an argument saying that: there are some traits, that are universally available in games of all genres, which are also applicable in a hypnotic process. It centralises phenomenological analysis of the design behind the game’s experiential gestalt, content, and aesthetic aiming to evaluate: 1. the experiential shape in which a game might be designed paying heed to these tactics, 2. how well they apply to the case study. This essay conducts its analysis looking at what hypnotic elements are present in one game, this is its case study, which it believes is particularly outstanding in its hypnotic potential. This essay is entirely theoretical, its method is to close read the case study. The trance state is a prerequisite for a hypnosis, to determine how or if at all a hypnosis is transferrable across the screen, and what role it might play in the world of games, we must first establish if a trance is transferrable across the screen. Drawing parallels between these pillars and the case study’s content, this essay asks: can a screen-based game induce a trance? If so, how might this happen? Once this has happened how might a screen-based hypnosis proceed? In searching for these answers this essay turned for answers in hypnosis theory and took a direction in how a hypnotic digital artefact can be built harnessing the power of metaphors.

Bio:
Studying Games Design (MA) at Uppsala University campus Gotland, aspiring to work with game design or art direction, and to specialise in narrative design and game design through metaphors. I have a Bachelors of Arts degree in English with Creative Writing from Goldsmiths University of London. Before I returned to studying I worked at Gerson Lehrman Group. GLG are a form of intelligence brokers. My job was to connect their clients