City, Games & Media

I’ve almost finished the paper that I presented in Berlin. This post is both an announcement of to that effect as well as a shoutout to the people who helped me piece it together.

I’m posting the intro-section for now since this might be published as part of the conference proceedings. If you want the current draft version of the whole thing, just shoot me a line. Enjoy.

[I’ve also created a page with some of the online references & resources I collected along the way.]

Introduction

The spatial organization of society is governed equally by technology and social practices. On the one hand, contemporary phenomena such as computer networks and cellular telephony have rendered most geographical and temporal boundaries virtually irrelevant. The subsequent compression of space and time imposes unusual demands on the individual in interacting with the daily environment. But, since humans, on the other hand, have always been dependent on their surroundings, there exists a range of social practices that provide us with epistemic access to these demands. One such practice is play. Through play society has, for better or worse, continuously succeeded in gaining dominance over its ecological conditions. The marriage of playful activity with technology facilitates the ongoing process of interpreting, understanding, and manipulating our surroundings. The emergence of game play that involves advanced technology therefore both affords the creation of new spaces and challenges the interpretations of existing space.

What follows is an essay on two technologically mediated interpretations of city space. Following Geertz’ example of analyzing games as an entryway into the various practices of a society (1973), I will discuss two forms of contemporary gaming: Big Games and First Person Shooters (FPS). The former deploys advanced media technology to reinvent spatial practice in urban settings; the latter generates new, but entirely artificial spaces and thereby formulates a peculiar reading of common urban aspects. Both types involve advanced media technology and subsequently cultivate different interpretations of space.

Shout out section

Copious amounts of love, peace & unity goes out to (in alphabetical order): Kevin Cancienne (area/code); Lian Chang (diametrik.net); Dennis Crowley (area/code, PacManhattan); Cory Forsyth (snagu.com, pay phone warriors); Yuri Gitman & Carlos J. Gomez de Llarena (noderunner); Michael Sharon (socialight.com); and Eric Socolofsky (transmote.com).