THE RENDERED ARENA MODALITIES OF SPACE IN VIDEO AND COMPUTER GAMES Axel ...

279 Pages·2007·3.67 MB·English

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THE RENDERED ARENA
MODALITIES OF SPACE IN VIDEO AND COMPUTER GAMES

Axel Stockburger

Degree awarded by the University of the Arts, London
Doctoral Thesis
Date of submission: 2006
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ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................................5
0. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................7
1. REVIEW OF THE CURRENT LITERATURE..............................................................14
1.1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................14
1.2 SPACE IN GAME STUDIES............................................................................................19
1.3 SPATIAL CONCEPTIONS AND NARRATOLOGY.......................................................19
1.4 SPATIAL CONCEPTIONS AND LUDOLOGY..............................................................31
1.5 CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................54
2. THEORETICAL CONCEPTIONS OF SPACE...............................................................57
2.1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................57
2.2 BRIEF OVERVIEW OF CONCEPTIONS OF SPACE IN WESTERN THOUGHT.....60
2.3 THE PRODUCTION OF SPACE AS A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK....................67
2.3.1 THE TRIAD OF PERCEIVED, CONCEIVED, LIVED......................................73
3. MODALITIES OF SPACE IN VIDEO AND COMPUTER GAMES..........................84
3.1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................84
3.2 USER SPACE....................................................................................................................87
3.2.1 THE GAME ARCADE.............................................................................................89
3.2.2 DOMESTIC SPACE.................................................................................................95
3.2.3 MOBILE AND LOCATION BASED GAMES....................................................100
3.2.4 INTERNET AND NETWORKED GAMES.......................................................104
3.3 NARRATIVE SPACE......................................................................................................107
3.4 RULE SPACE..................................................................................................................117
3.5 AUDIOVISUAL REPRESENTATIONAL SPACE.........................................................129
3.5.1 HISTORICAL ROOTS...........................................................................................132
3.5.2 CORE CONCEPTS................................................................................................138
3.5.3 THE GAME-CAMERA MODEL..........................................................................142
3.5.4 THE PROPERTIES OF THE GAME-CAMERA................................................145
3.6 KINAESTHETIC SPACE................................................................................................160
3.7 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................173
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4. THE GAME SPACE FROM AN AUDITIVE PERSPECTIVE..................................175
4.1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................175
4.2 DISTINCTION BETWEEN USER AND GAME SPACE..............................................178
4.2.1 THE USER SPACE.................................................................................................179
4.2.2 THE GAME SPACE...............................................................................................180
4.3 THE SOUND OBJECT...................................................................................................180
4.4 TYPES OF SOUND OBJECTS IN THE GAME SPACE..............................................183
4.4.1 SPEECH SOUND OBJECTS................................................................................183
4.4.2 EFFECT SOUND OBJECTS................................................................................184
4.4.3 ZONE SOUND OBJECTS...................................................................................186
4.4.4 SCORE SOUND OBJECTS..................................................................................187
4.4.5 INTERFACE SOUND OBJECTS........................................................................189
4.5 SPATIALISING FUNCTIONS IN THE GAME SPACE..............................................190
4.5.1 THE ACOUSMATIC FUNCTION......................................................................191
4.5.2 THE INDEXICAL FUNCTION..........................................................................196
4.5.3 THE SPATIAL SIGNATURE FUNCTION.......................................................198
4.5.4 THE MOTION FUNCTION................................................................................200
4.5.5 THE MOTORIC FUNCTION..............................................................................202
4.5.6 THE IMMERSIVE FUNCTION.........................................................................204
4.6 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................206
5. CONTEMPORARY ART PRACTICE AND DIGITAL GAMES..............................209
5.1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................209
5.2 THE FIRST GENERATION OF INTERACTIVE DIGITAL ART................................221
5.3 CONTEMPORARY ART PRACTICE AND DIGITAL GAMES...................................228
5.3.1 USER SPACE IN CONTEMPORARY GAME RELATED ART PRACTICE..230
5.3.2 NARRATIVE SPACE IN THE CONTEXT OF GAME RELATED ART........236
5.3.3 RULE SPACE IN THE CONTEXT OF GAME RELATED ART.....................240
5.3.4 AUDIOVISUAL REPRESENTATIONAL SPACE AND GAME RELATED
ART............................................................................................................................................245
5.3.5 KINAESTHETIC SPACE AND GAME RELATED ART.................................253
5.4 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................257
6. CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................258
7. REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................264
7.1 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................264
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7.2 ELECTRONIC SOURCES..............................................................................................270
7.3 GAMES............................................................................................................................274
7.4 TABLE OF FIGURES.....................................................................................................276
7.5 ART..................................................................................................................................278
7.6 EXHIBITIONS.................................................................................................................279
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ABSTRACT

During the last 30 years computer and videogames have grown into a large
entertainment industry of economic as well as cultural and social importance. As a
distinctive field of academic inquiry begins to evolve in the form of Game Studies,
the majority of approaches can be identified as emerging either from a background
of literary theory which motivates a concentration on narrative structures or from a
dedicated focus on the rules of video and computer games. However, one of the
most evident properties of those games is their shared participation in a variety of
spatial illusions. Although most researchers share the view that issues related to
mediated space are among the most significant factors characterising the new
medium, as of yet, no coherent conceptual exploration of space and spatial
representation in video and computer games has been undertaken.

This thesis focuses on the novel spatial paradigms emerging from computer and
video games. It aims to develop an original theoretical framework that takes the
hybrid nature of the medium into account. The goal of this work is to extend the
present range of methodologies directed towards the analysis of digital games. In
order to reveal the roots of the spatial apparatus at work an overview of the most
significant conceptions of space in western thought is given. Henri Lefebvre’s
reading of space as a triad of perceived, conceived and lived space is adopted. This
serves to account for the multifaceted nature of the subject, enables the integration
of divergent spatial conceptions as part of a coherent framework, and highlights the
importance of experiential notions of spatiality. Starting from Michel Foucault’s
notion of the heterotopia, game-space is posited as the dynamic interplay between
different spatial modalities. As constitutive elements of the dynamic spatial system
mobilized by digital games the following modalities are advanced: the physical space
of the player, the space emerging from the narrative, the rules, the audiovisual
representation and the kinaesthetic link between player and game. These different
modalities are examined in detail in the light of a selected range of exemplary games.
Based on a discussion of film theory in this context an original model that serves to
distinguish between different visual representational strategies is presented. A
chapter is dedicated to the analysis of the crucial and often overlooked role of sound
for the generation of spatial illusions. It is argued that sound has to be regarded as
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the privileged element that enables the active use of representational space in three
dimensions. Finally the proposed model is mobilised to explore how the work of
contemporary artists relates to the spatial paradigms set forth by digital games. The
critical dimension of artistic work in this context is outlined. The thesis concludes
with a discussion of the impact of the prevalent modes of spatial practice in
computer and video games on wider areas of everyday life.
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0. INTRODUCTION

Between 1998 and 2004 I produced a series of videos in the art context that
portrayed players engaged with computer games in different environments. The
camera was placed in such a way that the players faces were filmed from the point of
view of the monitors they were concentrating on during gameplay. In a sense it was
as if the game was watching the player. The almost imperceptible movements of the
players’ bodies that seemed to mirror their actions in the gameworld intrigued me.
Since it is not necessary for the success in a computer game to move one’s entire
body, I saw these movements as a kind of leftover from movements in physical
space. They appeared to stem from a body memory that crossed the threshold
between the physical space and the representational space of the game. In other
words, the players seemed to perform movements with their bodies that were
directly connected with their mental spatial experience in the game. This simple
change of perspective (from watching the screen to watching the player) became the
starting point for a growing interest in the curious spatial activities of the players and
the kinds of spaces produced by the games. For example, in public game arcades
people share the same physical space, but the spaces they are turning their attention
to in the games are private. In the case of networked games this situation is turned
around and people who do not share a physical space interact with each other in a
space that is offered by the game. Simultaneously, every new generation of 3D game
seemed to increase the level of detail of spatial simulation. These observations led me
to the assumption that video and computer games generate new and different kinds
of spaces and that their players perform equally novel spatial actions. Motivated by
this insight I began to isolate and focus on these peculiarities in my artistic practice
and embarked on the thesis you are about to read. The initial hypothesis is that the
game space and the spatial action in such games is an original and unique phenomenon
that is highly characteristic for the medium. If this were indeed true, then it would be
necessary to gain a better understanding of what makes this spatiality so unique and
to find out how it emerges in different games. Such knowledge of the inner workings
of space in video and computer games could be beneficial in two directions:
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Internally, it provides a fresh perspective for the theorists - especially from the young
discipline of game studies who aim to understand and describe how games work. It
might serve game designers with information about the medium that could help
them to improve their creations. Furthermore, it could be of interest to players of
games who want to gain a deeper insight into their activities and the medium itself.

Based on the history of art and media, and in particular the development of global
mass media, we can assume that new technologies profoundly affect our spatial
conceptions, perceptions and practices. Thus, it can be argued that there would also
be external benefits, for such an inquiry. We can learn if and how the unique
spatiality in computer and video games influences cultural production in other areas,
such as for example contemporary art practice. In the following I want to provide an
outline for the itinerary of this thesis and briefly convey the content of the chapters.

The first step leads to the existing literature and will deliver an overview of the
approaches to space in video and computer games in the emerging field of game
studies. In recent years there has been a growing academic interest regarding
computer and video games, so one would assume that theorists might have shared
some of the above questions and thus produced some answers. Chapter 1 reviews
the literature from the discipline of game studies in order to reveal how the question
of space in games is approached within the discipline. Nearly all authors agree
unanimously that space and spatial representation are important characteristics of
digital games and that their appearance differs from other media. Yet, so far no
detailed study has been dedicated exclusively to this aspect of the new medium.
Depending on their specific epistemological backgrounds, the majority of authors
approach game space either from a narrative perspective (Murray, Ryan, Kücklich) or
focus on the rules of games (Juuls, Frasca, Järvinen). This seems to mirror the fact,
that the discipline of game studies has seen a somewhat artificial bifurcation between
the so-called narratologists, researchers who approach games from narrative and
literary theory, and the ludologists, who disagree with a reading of games as narrative
devices and advance the importance of other structures, such as the rules. It can be
argued that game space cannot be fully grasped by choosing either approach in
isolation, for spatial practice in those games is a highly complex phenomenon, which
spans across the rules, the narrative and the audiovisual styles of the game as well as
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the actual physical location of the player. Whereas most of the research has
subsumed the analysis of space in games under other dominant aspects, most
prominently narrative and rules, I want to point out that it is crucial to investigate
games from a truly spatial perspective. Such a perspective has to account for the
hybrid and dynamic nature of the phenomenon. Space in games is the product of a
human being interacting with a program and it is actively generated at the moment of
play. Moreover, the actual physical space where the game is played, the narrative
structures, the rules of the game and, most obviously, the audiovisual presentation,
have to be considered as parts of this spatial ensemble. Based on these assumptions,
this thesis sets out to develop a theoretical model that examines those aspects in
detail and explains how they interact with each other.

In order to shape the contours of an epistemological foundation for such a
perspective the historical evolution of different spatial concepts is briefly considered
in Chapter 2. Philosophical discourse surrounding the nature of space has been a
central figure in the history of western thought. If one follows the breaks and shifts
that accompany this topic, it becomes evident that space has to be regarded as a
socio-cultural construction, which is subjected to constant change, rather than a
natural given. Spatial conceptions result from complex transactions between
scientific reasoning, religious beliefs, artistic practice and technological innovations.
Popular interactive media like video and computer games are among the factors that
shape the spatial conceptions and cultural practices of coming generations. Artists
seem to be among the first to engage critically with these slow alterations of spatial
practices in everyday culture.

As I have implied above, game space is characterised by the coexistence of different
forms of spatiality at the same time and in the same place. Thus, Foucault’s notion of
the heterotopia, which is defined as the coexistence of different emplacements in one
location, is an accurate metaphor in this context. Game space is heterotopical because it is
an ensemble of spatial modalities, which interact with each other dynamically. Players
and producers of digital games share conceptions of space; audiovisual space is
created in ways inherent to the medium; players generate specific and often
individual paths through the game space. These circumstances lead to the question how
the relationship between these different constituents of the spatial ensemble could be
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conceived. Here, I turn towards Lefebvre’s famous theoretical model of perceived,
conceived and lived space. It provides the resources to comprehend space as a social
phenomenon, which is simultaneously produced by what people perceive
(perceptions of space), by what they think (conceptions of space) and by their spatial
practice in everyday life (lived space).

Lefebvre’s triadic model is mobilized as a conceptual foundation for the spatial
model that is advanced in this dissertation. Accordingly, spatiality emerging from
rules and narrative are identified with conceived space, whereas audiovisual space
belongs to the category of perceived space, and the active engagement of the player with
the game amounts to lived space. It is crucial to note that this reading is brought
forward, because other approaches to game space have not tackled the entirety of
existing spatial dimensions.

Chapter 3 is dedicated to the definition and discussion of these new categories and
their interaction. The actual physical location (user space) influences the rules of a
game and its audiovisual aspects. Game arcades, domestic space, mobile and location
based as well as networked games are distinguished in relation to the specific qualities
of user space. Concerning the game arcade, the dependence of types of game cabinets
on the physical location and the resulting impact on different types of rules
(multiplayer games) is considered. Domestic space and its influence on game space, as
well as the recent phenomenon of location based or pervasive games and the fact
that the user space takes over the entire game space in these cases is examined.
Moreover, the curious multiplied user spaces appearing in Internet games and the
specific situation in LAN tournaments are looked into.
The second part of Chapter 3 scrutinizes narrative space and its implications for
other modalities. Jenkins’ notion of narrative architecture as well as De Certeau’s
insights into the relation between place, space and narrative and specifically his
distinction between the tour and the map are called upon. Spatial functions in the text-
based adventure game Zork are analysed. The importance of the map within the
narrative framework of certain types of games is pointed out and the functions of
narrative frames in early abstract games are considered. In this section of the study,
we also focus on the differences between games and other narrative media. Narrative