Spatial Regimes of the Digital Playground: Cultural Functions of Spatial Practices in Computer Games

In this article, the author investigates how computer games can be understood as sociospatial practices. Although spatiality has always been considered a central quality of any digital game, cultural and social functions of space have not been much theorized in relation to games. This article furthe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Space and culture 2008-08, Vol.11 (3), p.260-272
Main Author: Lammes, Sybille
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actor-network theory
Agency
Case studies
Computer & video games
Computers
Cultural norms
Digital technology
Entertainment Industry
Games
Internet
Mapping
Spatial Analysis
Virtual reality
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Summary:In this article, the author investigates how computer games can be understood as sociospatial practices. Although spatiality has always been considered a central quality of any digital game, cultural and social functions of space have not been much theorized in relation to games. This article furthers a discussion on how they can be understood as spatial practices by proposing a first approach that makes an analysis of games as sociospatial practices possible. It introduces the concept of magic node as a manner to facilitate such a study of games. A case study of cartographical practices in real time strategy games exemplifies how games can be approached as such magic nodes.
ISSN:1206-3312
1552-8308
DOI:10.1177/1206331208319150