Mapping Far Cry 2
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Mapping Far Cry 2 What makes the landscape of Far Cry 2 appear so African? Maarten Lensink This is a master’s thesis for Cultural Geography, Faculty of Spatial Science, University of Groningen. Author: Maarten Lensink Supervisor: Peter Groote Date of submission: 6 September 2010 Source of front image: http://i50.tinypic.com/2ymaedl.jpg (retrieved Aug 2010) 2 Content page 1. Introduction............................................................................................7 1.1. History of the first-person shooter ..........................................................9 1.2. The story of Far Cry 2 ......................................................................... 11 1.3. The game of Far Cry 2......................................................................... 13 2. Theory ................................................................................................. 17 2.1. Conceptual model ............................................................................... 23 3. Research goal ....................................................................................... 27 4. Research question ................................................................................. 27 5. Methodology ......................................................................................... 31 6. Results & analyses................................................................................. 37 6.1. Content analyses ................................................................................ 37 6.1.1. The natural environment................................................................... 37 6.1.2. The built environment ...................................................................... 37 6.1.3. The people ...................................................................................... 43 6.1.4. The map ......................................................................................... 45 6.2. Survey .............................................................................................. 47 6.3. Questionnaire..................................................................................... 51 7. Conclusions .......................................................................................... 57 8. References ........................................................................................... 61 Appendices Appendix A: Maps of Leboa-Sako and Bowa-Seko ......................................... 62 Appendix B: Questionnaire plus answers ...................................................... 63 Figures Fig 1 Retail version of Far Cry 2 ............................................................................................6 Fig 2 Screenshot of Wolfenstein 3D ......................................................................................8 Fig 3 Screenshot of Doom ....................................................................................................8 Fig 4 Posters of UFLL ......................................................................................................... 10 Fig 5 Wall painting of APR .................................................................................................. 10 Fig 6 Front of the church of Pala.......................................................................................... 12 Fig 7 Inside the church of Pala ............................................................................................ 12 Fig 8 Inside the expat bar of Leboa-Seko ............................................................................. 14 Fig 9 Weapons shop .......................................................................................................... 14 Fig 10 Natural landscape: savannah ...................................................................................... 16 Fig 11 Built environment: the village of Pala........................................................................... 16 Fig 12 Desert scenery at dusk............................................................................................... 18 Fig 13 “Outpost” ................................................................................................................. 18 Fig 14 Realistic effects ......................................................................................................... 20 3 4 Fig 15 Gamer gaze.............................................................................................................. 20 Fig 16 Broken infrastructure ................................................................................................. 22 Fig 17 Debree..................................................................................................................... 22 Fig 18 Desert as border ....................................................................................................... 24 Fig 19 Marina of Leboa-Sako ................................................................................................ 24 Fig 20 Jungle at daytime...................................................................................................... 26 Fig 21 Jungle at sunset ........................................................................................................ 26 Fig 22 Waterfall in the jungle................................................................................................ 28 Fig 23 Savannah with a waterfall and a weapons shop............................................................. 28 Fig 24 “Rail Xing” ................................................................................................................ 30 Fig 25 “Crash Site”.............................................................................................................. 30 Fig 26 Vineyard or field of olive trees..................................................................................... 32 Fig 27 Abundant manifestation of human presence.................................................................. 32 Fig 28 Railroad at Leboa-Sako’s northern border..................................................................... 34 Fig 29 “Dogon village” ......................................................................................................... 34 Fig 30 Savannah ................................................................................................................. 36 Fig 31 Burnt up car ............................................................................................................. 36 Fig 32 Guard post ............................................................................................................... 38 Fig 33 Safehouse ................................................................................................................ 38 Fig 34 “Sediko”................................................................................................................... 40 Fig 35 The University of Sankore........................................................................................... 40 Fig 36 “Bowaseko Brewing Co.” ............................................................................................ 42 Fig 37 Inside a colonial building ............................................................................................ 42 Fig 38 “Polytechnic”............................................................................................................. 44 Fig 39 “Polytechnic”............................................................................................................. 44 Fig 40 Airfield of Bowa-Seko................................................................................................. 46 Fig 41 Mertens-Segolo Pipeline Company ............................................................................... 46 Fig 42 Desert...................................................................................................................... 48 Fig 43 Baobab tree.............................................................................................................. 48 Fig 44 Guard post ............................................................................................................... 50 Fig 45 “Outpost” ................................................................................................................. 50 Fig 46 Savannah road at sunset............................................................................................ 52 Fig 47 Screenshot of Far Cry 1.............................................................................................. 52 Fig 48 “Outpost” ................................................................................................................. 54 Fig 49 Desert road between Leboa-Sako and Bowa-Seko ......................................................... 54 Fig 50 “Sepoko” .................................................................................................................. 56 Fig 51 Lake of Bowa-Seko .................................................................................................... 56 Fig 52 Terrace .................................................................................................................... 58 5 Fig 1 The retail version of Far Cry 2, with the contents of the box spread out (source: own photo) 6 1 Introduction Video games are big business. (Nieborg & Hermes, 2008) Sales records in the United States in 2008 are estimated around 22 billion dollars. (USA Today, 2008) Nowadays