DiGRA '09 - Proceedings of the 2009 DiGRA International Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory
Brunel University, September, 2009
Volume: 5
ISBN / ISNN: ISSN 2342-9666
Computer games often operate with the term »world«. Some games, from Super Mario World (Nintendo 1990) to World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment 2004), use the term »world« in their title, others like The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks 2006) include at least a world-map. As Aarseth (2008) has shown, these worlds are not comparable in size or content to our »real« world but to theme parks. For reasons of playability they offer a compression of space and experiences. While films and novels compress time by omitting unimportant or boring events, games compress the space. »World« only seems to be the term to connote wholeness. Other games, for example the GTA-series, do not use the term »world« in their title but consider certain cities like Vice City, San Andreas or Liberty City, as the whole gameworld, for which they deliver city maps. The maps represent the whole (game)world. In my paper I will explore how these world- or city maps relate to the places and territories in which the avatar moves. The aim is to describe the interaction between the maps and their territory and the world and the places in this world, respectively. Computer games as well as other digital media combine both manifestations of space. They constantly mediate between world and place. While the avatar moves and acts in the places, the player gains an overview over the world on the map.