Nature Playing: On the Experience of Contemplating Technologically Mediated Nature within the Game World of Riders Republic
First author: FizekYear: 2024
Abstract
This contribution explores the practice of contemplative play or what the author proposes to call “nature playing”. This concept marks a continuity between the literary genre of “nature writing” and the way nature may be contemplatively experienced in video games, especially those with open-world natural landscapes. The author will discuss modes of nature playing within the mediated environments of the sports simulation game Riders Republic (Ubisoft, 2022). Nature playing will be analyzed as an aesthetic practice which may be fostered by purposeful design, or it may emerge from the player’s own nature-driven sensibilities triggered by the aesthetic qualities of the game world. The author frames contemplative nature playing within a variety of concepts such as in-game wandering, slow play as well as ludic boredom. The article culminates in three autoethnographic ludic interventions, in which nature playing is captured in three contemplative pieces of nature writing.Details
Language: EnglishCountry of affiliation: Germany
Published in: Games and Culture
Publication type: Journal article
Source: https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120241273329
Games
No Results
Franchises
No Records
Studies
Description: Autoethnographic: Combining in-game wandering, slow play, and ludic bordeom to connect with in-game nature
Research type: Non-experimental
Data type: Qualitative
Comparator: none
Control group: no
Pilot study: no
Pre/post measures used: no
Follow-up: no
Sample type: Game(s)
Sample size: 1
Power analysis: no
Sample countries: null
Games studied: Riders Republic
Franchises studied: null
Study outcomes: Ingame interactions