Roguelike Celebration 2023: Linas Gabrielaitis - Fictions of Infinity in Geological Finitudes
8In his fictions, Jorge Luis Borges describes the Infinite Library, an infinitely large space which contains all possible books that have ever been, and might ever be written. Procedural generation makes infinite spaces like this possible, while Roguelike game mechanics make infinite spaces like this navigable, explorable and playable. Geological conceptions of oil and plastic problematise these spaces of infinite possibilities and infinitely large time-scales. While the available time of organic beings is finite, sometimes, organic matter returns as oil or plastic- as something that is unable to die and perpetually return into our bodies as microplastics. Can roguelike game mechanics such as meta-progression, permadeath or procedurality inform new conceptions for geology, petrofictions, and nonhumans?