Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Worlds

Nitsche, Michael

ISBN 10: 0262141019 / ISBN 13: 9780262141017

Published by The MIT Press, 2008

About this Item

Book shows wear from use but remains a usable copy. May include writing highlighting underlining library markings. LISTING USES STOCK PHOTOS AND COVER MAY VARY. Ships via USPS and typically arrives within 10-12 business days.

Seller Inventory # ICV.0262141019.G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Worlds
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262141019
• ISBN 13: 9780262141017
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

An exploration of how we see, use, and make sense of modern video game worlds.

The move to 3D graphics represents a dramatic artistic and technical development in the history of video games that suggests an overall transformation of games as media. The experience of space has become a key element of how we understand games and how we play them. In Video Game Spaces, Michael Nitsche investigates what this shift means for video game design and analysis. Navigable 3D spaces allow us to crawl, jump, fly, or even teleport through fictional worlds that come to life in our imagination. We encounter these spaces through a combination of perception and interaction. Drawing on concepts from literary studies, architecture, and cinema, Nitsche argues that game spaces can evoke narratives because the player is interpreting them in order to engage with them. Consequently, Nitsche approaches game spaces not as pure visual spectacles but as meaningful virtual locations. His argument investigates what structures are at work in these locations, proceeds to an in-depth analysis of the audiovisual presentation of gameworlds, and ultimately explores how we use and comprehend their functionality.

Nitsche introduces five analytical layers—rule-based space, mediated space, fictional space, play space, and social space—and uses them in the analyses of games that range from early classics to recent titles. He revisits current topics in game research, including narrative, rules, and play, from this new perspective. Video Game Spaces provides a range of necessary arguments and tools for media scholars, designers, and game researchers with an interest in 3D game worlds and the new challenges they pose.

About the Author

Michael Nitsche is Assistant Professor at the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.