Gaming Through Architecture

(post #2 of the uploaded website)

This may seem like an odd paring at first glance but hopefully i’ll explain some method behind the madness in the coming sentences. Like many people, I enjoy playing video games and experiencing the wide range of entertainment in this medium. Over the last 4-5 years however, this has grown further into a interest to promote video games in a better light; opening the medium up to such topics as education, social considerations, drama, etc. This has been heavily influenced by the web series “Extra Credits” by Daniel Floyd and James Portnow, which has grown from a small weekly discussion on games into a large group of invested individuals with their tagline of “because games matter”. What made this series special in my view was that the presenters weren’t only discussing views from a designer point of view; giving precedence to the arts, humanities and scientific considerations. Quite appropriately I was starting to open the world of architecture into a new light soon after watching these early episodes.

My second year at university featured a small book called “What is Architecture?” which opened my mind to countless possibilities beyond bricks and mortar. With such theorists as Heidegger, Leach, Lyotard and Certeau asking the question of said book title, I viewed my environment (both real and virtual) through different ideas and possibilities. That being said, these years didn’t really make the strong connection that I’m investigating now due to my gaming habits at the time. I played a significant amount of WoW (World of Warcraft) and HoN (Heroes of Newerth) from a quasi-competitive point-of-view and as such wasn’t thinking about my actions beyond performance of play. However, I hope to talk about both genre’s in a future post….

Getting back to the crux of today’s point, it started to come along only recently some two years ago. I had changed from architecture to history due to a number of personal reasons and found myself alot more time to pursue personal interests. Initially, this was more gaming, but didn’t take long to slow down and get me thinking. My starting point was ‘combient’ architecture (or at least what I’ve thought it to be defined as) being the discussion of architecture through the use of technology. A rough example discussed in a past lecture was ‘Second Life’ but at this point I was more interested in the literal interpretation that something like ‘Minecraft’ gave, with its digital Lego feel. That being said, a great deal of people have built wondrous pieces in Minecraft with the care and attention on both a individual and group level which in this context constitute architecture; it just wasn’t really letting me feel like when I read “What is Architecture?”. I needed a way to discuss these views and so then I turned to the real world and started talking.

In my last year of university, I found myself with a new set of housemates. One of new guy’s was a first year architect who enjoyed designing buildings and playing games. We got on well and chat quite a bit about games we were playing. One evening when discussing the medium, we came onto the topic of architectural theory and how to interpret it. After umming and erring through a couple ideas, I started to use video games as ways to discuss Certeau (the definition of space and place within architecture) and we got to understanding of the subject. I enjoyed this alot, possibly owing to the hour or so conversation it entailed, but it got me talking about it. Over the period of that year, we spent time ever so often having similar talks which became the inspiration for producing a web series on the connection.

As discussed in the introduction however, its been a long time coming and I hope to get talking more about this odd combination in an ever growing medium. (That being said, i’m gonna do a little review on a game I’ve been playing next so it’ll be a slow but steady pace).




Extra Credits – http://www.youtube.com/user/ExtraCredits or http://www.extra-credits.net
“What is Architecture?” Ballantyne, A .(2002). Routledge, London.