The space of games

Dimension Gaming is an academic blog for "The Digital Mediascape" a 3rd year Media and Communications subject at The University of Melbourne. The blog will studying the space that video games occupy and the way in which viewers and players interact with that space. Some examples that will be drawn on will be The Legend of Zelda ~ Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo, 2011). This is an interesting game as it adds another dimension of the virtual world with the use of the Nintendo 3DS, the latest handheld gaming console. Another example that will be used is Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (Ubisoft, 2010). This game is unique in the sense that it contains the 'real' world in which Desmond Miles (the protagonist) is a part of. It incorporates an alternate reality for Desmond as he becomes Ezio Auditore de Firenze through the use of the Animus and travels through historical time. Within the Animus there is yet another level of surrealism as Ezio is able to use virtual training regimes to sharpen his skills.


One other example of the use of space in video games is Dragon Age II (EA Games and BioWare, 2011). This game allows the player the move through time and navigate maps and mazes in order to complete certain quests. Although, to a certain degree, the developers control the space that the player can occupy, the user is also free to explore the space that the game offers. At various points in the game the player can jump to particular regions of the map by exit points and can explore the map that they are currently in.


Drawing on these and other key examples of video games, the space in which the gaming world occupies can be analysed in terms of how interactive the space can be for the player, and how viewers and users can use this space to navigate and explore.