Video Games and Spatiality in American Studies PDF
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Video Games and Spatiality in American Studies Video Games and the Humanities Edited by Nathalie Aghoro, Iro Filippaki, Chris Kempshall, Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Jeremiah McCall and Sascha Pöhlmann Advisory Board Alenda Y. Chang, UC Santa Barbara Katherine J Lewis, University of Huddersfield Dietmar Meinel, University of Duisburg-Essen Ana Milošević, KU Leuven Soraya Murray, UC Santa Cruz Holly Nielsen, University of London Michael Nitsche, Georgia Tech Martin Picard, Leipzig University Melanie Swalwell, Swinburne University Emma Vossen, University of Waterloo Mark J.P. Wolf, Concordia University Esther Wright, Cardiff University Volume 5 Video Games and Spatiality in American Studies Edited by Dietmar Meinel ISBN 978-3-11-067510-8 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-067518-4 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-067523-8 ISSN 2700-0400 Library of Congress Control Number: 2021948841 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: Maxiphoto / iStock / Getty Images Plus Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Acknowledgements This volume developed out of the international conference “Playing the Field II:VideoGamesandSpaceinAmericanStudies”hostedin2019attheKultur- wissenschaftliches Institut in Essen,Germany. As the title suggests,the event was a follow-up to the first “Playing the Field” conference organized by Sa- scha Pöhlmann in 2018 at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Ger- many.WithouthisinitialmotivationtobringAmericanStudiesinconversation with the studyof videogames,this volume would not exist. Sascha has done pioneering work not only in bringing together avariety of scholars to engage with video games as a meaningful object of study. In asking scholars to ex- plore the interconnections between American Studies and Video Game Stud- ies, his intellectual vision and ideas also inform the theoretical premise of this volume. But Sascha has been more than an intellectual inspiration for the following pages.When I first approached him with the idea for a follow- up event to his inspired conference, he has been incrediblygracious by shar- inghisknowledge,experience,andresources.Hisscholarlyingenuity,profes- sional generosity, and spirit of collegiality made this volume possible. Thisvolumewould also not have been possible without the pioneering intel- lectualworkofBarbaraBuchenau.Herscholarshipabouturban,rural,andtransi- tionalspacesinAmericanculturehavedefinedthisendeavorfromtheoutset.Her scholarshipaboutscripts(togetherwithJensMartinGurr)providedmewithacrit- ical vocabulary to think about video games in the first place and eventually in- spiredthethemeofthevolume.Asakeynotespeaker,Barbaraalsoshapedthethe- oretical debates surrounding the intersections of American Studies,Video Games Studies,andspatialityasherlectureconstitutedoneofthehighpointsofastim- ulatingconference.Herunwaveringsupportforthisendeavorfromitsinceptionto its conclusion should also not go unmentioned. As every project faces organiza- tional hurdles, schedulingconflicts,or financial difficulties at times, her enthusi- asm sustainedthis endeavorduring its mostchallengingmoments. Lastly,IthanktheGlobalYoungFacultyprogramforitsgenerousfundingof the“PlayingtheFieldII”conference.TheGlobalYoungFacultyisaninitiativeof Stiftung Mercator in cooperation with the University Alliance Ruhr and is coor- dinatedbythe MercatorResearch CentreRuhr in Essen.The program bringsto- getheroutstandingand dedicatedyoungresearchersfromuniversitiesandnon- universityresearchinstitutionsbasedintheRuhrarea.Itsupportsthemintheir efforts to forge new professional contacts and share ideas beyond institutional and disciplinary borders. I also thank the Kulturwissenschaftliche Institut https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110675184-001 VI Acknowledgements Essenanditsdirector,JulikaGriemforhostingthethree-dayconferenceintheir beautiful spaces and for graciouslyextending their support. Table of Contents Dietmar Meinel Video Games and Spatiality in American Studies: An Introduction 1 Part I Sören Schoppmeier Notes on the State of Montana: The U.S. American Spatial Imagination and the Retrotopia of Far Cry 5 33 Felix Zimmermann Ethical Boredom in the Wilderness: Treating Red Dead Redemption 2 as an Ambience Action Game 51 Nathalie Aghoro On Postapocalyptic Frontiers in Horizon Zero Dawn 71 David Callahan Owning Global Spacesand the Frontier in Uncharted 4: AThief’s End 85 Andrei Nae From Male to Colonial Gaze: The Intersection of Patriarchy and Colonial Discourse in the Rebooted Tomb Raider Video Game Series 101 Hanne Nijtmans The Inevitable Fate of the “Dragonborn:” Selling Player Agency in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 117 Part II Damien B. Schlarb Filling Out the Map: The Anxiety of Situatedness and the Topological Poesis of Cartographic Mapsin Video Games 137 VIII TableofContents Juliane Borosch Detroit: Become Human ‒ Orientational Mapping in the City and (Hi)Story 153 Stefan Schubert ‘Playing for Space:’ Negotiating and Narrativizing Space in One Hour One Life 167 Greta Kaisen There is no Place like Gone Home: Exploring Gothic Settings in Video Games 181 Florian Deckers Exploring the Digital Land of the Dead: Hybrid Pan-Latinidad in Grim Fandango 193 Part III Michael Nitsche Breaking Worlds Three Ways 209 Maria Sulimma Surviving the City: Zombies, Run! and the Horrors of Urban Exercise 223 Elisabeth Haefs “#Gameüse:” Planting the Digital Garden 241 Kirsten Möller and Anna Kpok Performative Playground: Narrative Spaces in Theater Games 253 Lauren Kolodkinand Ryan Linthicum Museum Space Invaders: Video Gaming at the Smithsonian American Art Museum 263 Soraya Murray Coda: Disoriented in the Field of Play 275 TableofContents IX Contributors 285 Index 291
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