Expressive Space: Embodying Meaning in Video Game Environments

Gregory Whistance-Smith

Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2022

Expressive Space

Embodying Meaning in Video Game Environments

Gregory Whistance-Smith

Volume 4 in the series Video Games and the Humanities

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110723731

Overview
Contents

About this book

Video game spaces have vastly expanded the built environment, offering new worlds to explore and inhabit. Like buildings, cities, and gardens before them, these virtual environments express meaning and communicate ideas and affects through the spatial experiences they afford. Drawing on the emerging field of embodied cognition, this book explores the dynamic interplay between mind, body, and environment that sits at the heart of spatial communication. To capture the wide diversity of forms that spatial expression can take, the book builds a comparative analysis of twelve video games across four types of space, spanning ones designed for exploration and inhabitation, kinetic enjoyment, enacting a situated role, and enhancing perception. Together, these diverse virtual environments suggest the many ways that video games enhance and extend our embodied lives.

Author / Editor information

Gregory Whistance-Smith, Registered Architect and Independent Scholar, Edmonton, Canada.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	XI
Introduction: Expanding the Built Environment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1 Space, Meaning, and Video Games Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	10
Chapter 2 Embodied Cognition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
Chapter 3 Exploration and Inhabitation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Chapter 4 Kinetic Rhythms Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
Chapter 5 Enaction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
Chapter 6 Perception Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
Chapter 7 Virtual Built Environments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
Audience: Scholars of history, popular uses of philosopy of technology, and media studies; Game scholars and designers
Pages
- Front matter: 11
- Main content: 262
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 83
Keywords: Kommunikation; Architektur; Videospiele; Embodied Cognition; Built Environment

eBook

Published: January 19, 2022
ISBN: 9783110723731

Hardcover

Published: January 31, 2022
ISBN: 9783110723571

Paperback

Published: May 8, 2023
ISBN: 9783111281971