History of Games: Week 7, Games & Architecture (Part 1/2)
Write two paragraphs on the relationship between Games and Architecture. Illustrate your post with 3 screenshots of your favorite in-game places side by side with AFK referents.
Video game space is not a perfect mirror of real life. James Newman notes of video games that it is the âdeviations from the patterns of âreal spaceâ that enables them to function as gamesâ. Architecture in video games takes on relatable forms through processes of representation, abstraction, simulation, and transformation. This affords players with the means to interpret the game.
I will be using two games to illustrate my understanding of the topic of experiential and symbolic space.Â
The first is the âMount & Bladeâ series, a medieval hack and slash role-playing game where the player takes on the role of an adventurer who may amass armies and take cities. Gameplay largely revolves around experiential space, where the world is largely seen through the characterâs point of view (with the exception of travelling, which takes place on a topographical map) and the player is able to interact with objects, characters and the architecture in the game.Â
The second game Iâd like to talk about is the Age of Empires series of historical real-time strategy games where the player takes charge of civilisations to amass resources and conquer their opponents. Gameplay revolves around symbolic space, and the player is largely detached from the environment, moving units across the terrain rather than actively participating in the activity.Â
Experiential and symbolic space represent two different viewpoints in spatial representation. Both experiential and symbolic space differ in terms of the spatial experience afforded to the player. This experience has a strong influence on gameplay, affecting the playability of game space.
In McGregorâs Game space: Play & Architecture in Video games states that âexperiential space is about experiencing space, building on our bodily experiences of living in space. Intrinsic to a corporeal and physical understanding of space is the concept of movement in that space. Experiential space is dominated by an understanding of space as something through which we move, where we negotiate the physical relationship of objects in space.â For example, in Mount & Blade, a majority of the activity takes place in the experiential space, where players are actively involved in the movement, combat, and recruitment of soldiers and companions. Â
A typical battle in Mount & Blade
On the other hand, "Symbolic space conversely is less concerned with the relationship of the human body to space and more concerned with symbolic relationships that humans apply to space.â Â McGregor also states that "In a symbolic space the player is detached from the terrain. Troops and tanks move across the terrain in Starcraft in a manner that is significantly disconnected from the quality of the landscape. We control troop movements with the disinterested passion of a general poring over a topographic map of the battlefield arena, aware of but not experiencing the terrain. In contrast in an experiential representation of warfare we are part of that arena.â This is evident in the Age of Empires series, where players move units across the terrain, observing the action rather than actively participating in it.
Battle sequence in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion
While both examples showcase battle sequences, the experience derived is different. In Mount & Blade, while the player is more involved in the battle (experiential space), the player is unaware of the true scale of the battle. In the second example, Age of Empires, the player is less involved in the battle, but gains are clearer representation of the true scale of the battle. Both games, while depicting battle sequences, offer different experiences for the player overall.Â
Through these examples, we can clearly see how the space in video games directly affects the experience derived. Â
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