Ecological In/congruence: Becoming Sensitised to Nature in Video Games through Humanistic First-Person Research
First author: SporsYear: 2024
Abstract
The ongoing ecological crisis is the current biggest threat for our species. As we attempt to address the situation through policy, interventions, and education, we urgently need to understand how people encounter and relate to nature: As it is, in the world, and portrayed through diferent media. As an exemplary medium facilitating digital nature, this paper focuses on video games. Using frst-person research methods, we report on the frst author sensitising themselves to nature as a ubiquitous feature, theme, and actor in video games. They played eight nature-focused games for three months. Through auto-ethnography, close reading and “noticing” (after Tsing), we make sense of their experiences using the humanistic concept of ecological (in)congruence:We draw out the relational gap and potential meanings between real nature and its virtual equivalent. Based on these insights, we outline two design impulses for how the HCI community might approach nature—within games and beyond.Details
Language: EnglishCountry of affiliation: Finland
Published in: Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publication type: Conference proceeding
Source: https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642659
Games
No Results
Franchises
No Results
Studies
Description: Autoethnographic: Played games and used screenshots/diary entries to structure thoughts in a comparable way, captured before/during/after play
Research type: Non-experimental
Data type: Qualitative
Comparator: none
Control group: no
Pilot study: yes
Pre/post measures used: no
Follow-up: no
Sample type: Game(s)
Sample size: 8
Power analysis: no
Sample countries: null
Games studied: Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Dear Esther, Flower, Firewatch, Shelter, Death Stranding
Franchises studied: Shelter (F), Minecraft (F), Horizon (F)
Study outcomes: Emotion, Ingame interactions, Gameplay experience, Perception, Representing nature