Virtual Space in Computer Games

Virtual space in computer games Supervisor: Joost Raessens Second reader: Jami Weinstein Date: 04-02-2010 Words total: 30.827 1 Lotte Harmsen 0328847 Master thesis Research Master Media and Performance Studies Utrecht University If it's not real You can't hold it in your hands You can't feel it with your heart And I won't believe it But if it's true You can see it with your eyes 2 Even in the dark And that's where I want to be From the song “Brick by Boring Brick” by Paramore Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Joost Raessens for his comments and feedback during the writing process which helped to improve the structure and logic of my argumentation. I would also like to thank my second reader Jami Weinstein for expressing faith in my project and accepting my request to grade this thesis. Gratitude also goes out for her gender studies courses during which I was introduced to the work of Gilles Deleuze. Concerning the contents, I would like to thank fellow student Geert Bruinsma for the great time in Copenhagen while we were both studying one semester at the IT University. Our vivid theoretical discussions during our study abroad and back in the Netherlands were invaluable for the inspiration and development of my ideas. I would like to thank one of my teachers in Copenhagen, Gordon Calleja, in particular for his courses on virtuality and reality in games and his doctoral thesis on immersion which helped 3 develop my understanding of the perspectives within game studies on these subjects. Fellow students that I also wish to thank are Karin van Es, because she introduced me to non-representational theory, as well as Lina Zigelyte and Melinda Jacobs. All of them were willing to read (parts of) my thesis and provided useful feedback. This thesis could not have been written without the unconditional moral support from my friends and family. Thank you for listening to my reflections on the hard work and insecurities and for expressing never-ending trust in my abilities to produce this final product. In this light, I especially want to thank my friend Margot for spending numerous mornings swimming with me as diversion, my parents for listening to my reports of stagnation and progress, and my boyfriend Arjan for his patience and faith in me. Abstract The term virtual is frequently used by game scholars to describe the space presented in computer games. This space is usually typified as unreal and contrasted with unmediated real space. The conception of virtual as fake originates in the popularity of virtual reality technology in the 1980s. There are roughly three descriptions of the virtual in the meaning of unreal: The virtual is seen as an unreal reflection of the real world, as an imitation of it that however much perfected is never the real itself, and as having very real effects. The dichotomy between virtual and real can be traced in game literature in the conception that game space is a representation of real space. The idea that games could thus be analysed as texts prevailed at the outset of the study of games as an academic subject. However, this perspective was soon criticised by scholars who opted to study games foremost as interactive media. This focus on the interactive element of games led to a growing amount of 4 work on the importance of the body during play and, more recently, to a focus on the role of the player as a performer who actively creates space. Studying game space from these approaches, the opposition of real versus unreal virtual space is no longer of use. Constructing an alternative terminology of the virtual drawing inspiration from the work of Deleuze, leads to an understanding of games as processes of virtualisation and actualisation that involve affect. This enables an explanation of the reality of game space, accounts for the convergence between player, machine and game and respects the specific characteristics of games. I recommend the use of the new terminology of the virtual that I formulated, to enable a true break from the perspective of games as representations and maps for the approaches of interactivity and embodiment, and to provide a firm ground for the approach of performativity to study the creation of spatial realities in respect to the specificity of the medium. Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1: The virtual versus the real ............................................................................................................. 11 1.1 Origins of the term virtual .......................................................................................................................... 14 1.2 Perspectives on the virtual in game studies ............................................................................................... 17 1.2.1 Reflections of the real ......................................................................................................................... 18 1.2.2 Real effects of the unreal .................................................................................................................... 20 1.2.3 Almost reachable real .......................................................................................................................... 22 1.3 Unpacking concepts related to the virtual.................................................................................................. 24 Chapter conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 2: Game space in theory ................................................................................................................... 28 2.1 Space in games ........................................................................................................................................... 28 2.2 Development of game studies as interdisciplinary discipline ..................................................................... 29 2.3 Theoretical approaches to game space ...................................................................................................... 31 2.3.1 Representation .................................................................................................................................... 32 2.3.2 Maps .................................................................................................................................................... 36 2.3.3 Interaction ........................................................................................................................................... 40 2.3.4 Embodiment ........................................................................................................................................ 43 2.3.5 Performativity...................................................................................................................................... 47 Chapter conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 3: The virtual and the actual ............................................................................................................. 52 3.1 Revisiting the history of the virtual ............................................................................................................. 52 5 3.2 Levy’s virtual ............................................................................................................................................... 55 3.2.1 Identifying the virtual and actual in game studies subjects ................................................................ 57 3.3 Fundamental differences ............................................................................................................................ 62 3.3.1 From empirical sciences to epistemology ........................................................................................... 63 3.3.2 Metaphysics and ontology .................................................................................................................. 64 3.4 Deleuze’s virtual ......................................................................................................................................... 67 Chapter conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 4: Redefinition of the virtual ............................................................................................................. 72 4.1 Virtualisation and actualisation during game play ..................................................................................... 72 4.1.1 Processes ............................................................................................................................................. 74 4.1.2 Changes ............................................................................................................................................... 77 4.1.3 Multiplicities ........................................................................................................................................ 79 4.1.4 Rhizome ............................................................................................................................................... 81 Sub-conclusion

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