What kind of personal connections can we share with a Video Game? I mean, of course there are the fond memories of playing Crash Team Racing with your siblings, and the hours devoted to Tetris - but these are peripheral to the actual game content.
The excellent article by Chris Donlan on Eurogamer details his Grandfather's personal link with L.A. Noire as he himself had been a police detective in L.A. at the time the game was set. They spent time exploring the city together, and Donlan Sr. compared the game's portrayal of 1940s Los Angeles to his own recollection of the city, with the text's climax - the discovery of the Richfield Tower - showing how a video game can preserve history in a living, interactive and unique way.
I am fascinated by the potential video games have for virtual preservation. In the future, museums will not just feature curated artifacts, but virtual exhibitions also. Why try to describe the feeling of living in Tudor England, if you can let someone explore it for themselves through a game instead? My own personal link with video games came about in Assassins Creed: Brotherhood - sadly, it was not because I could relate to being an Assassin - it was the setting, Rome. This was my first experience of playing a game set in a place I had visited in real life; around every corner I would find a landmark I had visited, a view I recognised. Because of these recollections, my experience of the game was not typical at all, I would often pause in the middle of a chase sequence to admire the doorways of a nearby bank, or spend lengthy sessions exploring the expanse of the city. Having visited the Colosseum the previous year, it was strange being able to climb its walls and view it from every angle, at a time when it was inhabited by beggars and vagrants. I was able to re live my memories of Rome through the game, much like a photo album from a favourite holiday evokes memories of your trip, walking the streets of Rome in Assassins Creed brought back my own recollections of my visit.
The future potential for such reconstruction could mean that you could visit places your budget, age or imagination would previously limit you from. Combine these reconstructive games with even more immersive hardware, and the fondly assembled photo album could become an online journal of your virtual travels. Where would you want to virtually visit?
The excellent article by Chris Donlan on Eurogamer details his Grandfather's personal link with L.A. Noire as he himself had been a police detective in L.A. at the time the game was set. They spent time exploring the city together, and Donlan Sr. compared the game's portrayal of 1940s Los Angeles to his own recollection of the city, with the text's climax - the discovery of the Richfield Tower - showing how a video game can preserve history in a living, interactive and unique way.
I am fascinated by the potential video games have for virtual preservation. In the future, museums will not just feature curated artifacts, but virtual exhibitions also. Why try to describe the feeling of living in Tudor England, if you can let someone explore it for themselves through a game instead? My own personal link with video games came about in Assassins Creed: Brotherhood - sadly, it was not because I could relate to being an Assassin - it was the setting, Rome. This was my first experience of playing a game set in a place I had visited in real life; around every corner I would find a landmark I had visited, a view I recognised. Because of these recollections, my experience of the game was not typical at all, I would often pause in the middle of a chase sequence to admire the doorways of a nearby bank, or spend lengthy sessions exploring the expanse of the city. Having visited the Colosseum the previous year, it was strange being able to climb its walls and view it from every angle, at a time when it was inhabited by beggars and vagrants. I was able to re live my memories of Rome through the game, much like a photo album from a favourite holiday evokes memories of your trip, walking the streets of Rome in Assassins Creed brought back my own recollections of my visit.
The future potential for such reconstruction could mean that you could visit places your budget, age or imagination would previously limit you from. Combine these reconstructive games with even more immersive hardware, and the fondly assembled photo album could become an online journal of your virtual travels. Where would you want to virtually visit?
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