Video Games, Geography and

Video games have only recently attracted attention from human geographers. Unlike other forms of popular media such as cinema, literature, or television, video games offer a highly interactive and experiential virtual world. It is this “world-hood” or “spatiality” that is an attractive and fertile research ground for geographers. Embedded within each video game is a particular world that the player is able to manipulate and explore. These worlds can be realistic or a complete fantasy, as in many role-playing games. A virtual world or space is often necessary to limit and frame the activities possible within a game. For example, it would be difficult to program or code for a game in which absolutely anything were possible. In this sense, video games are particular milieus ...