On November 3rd my Masters thesis proposal is due. When the semester began I had no idea what I wanted to do. We have the option here in the Digital Media program at Georgia Tech to choose either a project or written thesis. Projects require building something and a programmer I am not. I can make websites! But I’m tired of doing that. I’m interested in teaching and writing for a living, so thesis it is.
So what did I decide on? Representations of the city in video games. I did my undergrad American Studies culminating seminar work in Film Noir, so the city is a topic I’m familiar with thinking about. As I started my thesis proposal draft this weekend, I was plagued by the scope of the project. There are thousands of cities in video games, so how am I supposed to pin it down?
My first decision was to only focus on three-dimensional games. This would at least allow me to compare certain kinds of experiences on more even footing. Unfortunately, this excludes a lot of really interesting games from my study, but I can always make passing reference to them. So then I started thinking about games I’d like to use. The Grand Theft Auto cities, Rapture from BioShock, City 17 from Half-Life 2, the Citadel from Mass Effect, New York City in The Darkness, perhaps something from a Final Fantasy game, and maybe even something from a Tony Hawk game or an open world racing game.
I was still left scratching my head with this line of inquiry. These are all interesting places, and I’m sure I could draw parallels in my research, but I’d end up spending too much time trying to make it all fit. How to narrow it down once again? I decided I really wanted to talk about Grand Theft Auto IV and The Darkness. And, with that, the muse hit me! I’ll do just games that are representations of New York City!
I still need to decide which games I’m going to use, which is where I need your help: In the comment section, can you recommend games that take place in New York City or a NYC-like place?
Why do a thesis about the city in the game? The purpose of my inquiry is both reflexive and prescriptive. The textual analysis of a range of games gives us insight into these objects as cultural texts. We can search for common themes, common concerns, and common allusions. It also provides the opportunity to not only identify well-crafted examples that can be repeated, but also to take critical theory about city and urban design and apply it to game-making.
How do I plan on approaching the subject? I will be looking at the construction of urban space in video games as a product of action, architecture, and culture. At first these might seem like broad areas, but once defined it will become apparent that they are interrelated.
Action
A term used by Alexander Galloway to describe the basic interaction with a video game, action refers to active participation by a player in enacting the software (game) that runs on the hardware (platform). Galloway discusses four types of action: operator, machine, diagetic, and nondiagetic.
Architecture
The construction of the game’s world, architecture refers to the layout of objects and 3D modeling of environments. It’s buildings, streets, water, interiors–the landscape. As Suzanne Langer writes, “it is the total environment made visible.”
Culture
A three-dimensionally modeled environment is brought to life through cultural context. It provides the components that Kevin Lynch notes as being essential to imaging an environment: identity, structure, and meaning. Culture includes the narrative, the setting, and elements that help root the game in a specific sense of place-time.
I’ll be updating the blog as I work on my proposal, research, and then the actual writing of the thesis. I’m really interested in reader feedback because dialogue makes any written work stronger. So bookmark the blog, add it to your RSS reader, or engage in however you use this thing called Internet. Thanks!
What’s up Bobby. I’d suggest Deus Ex (the first one, not the horrible sequel). It’s a bit old and takes a while to work through, but it takes place in dystopian NYC. Notable levels that I can still remember 8 years later are the Statue of Liberty, Battery Park, and the subway system. There weren’t as many NPCs as some other RPGs, but there were plenty of bums about.
And Gary the Banana sucks.
Spiderman 2 uses NYC. Has all the important buildings, and you can climb on them and stuff. No interiors, though.
Bobby –
A good example of a game made with allusion and historical specificity in mind is THE WARRIORS. Of course, looking at this game might open up a can of worms in that you could move on to things like THE GODFATHER and other “adaptations” of filmic cities. Though adaptation studies is a good way to think about how meaning moves between texts.
Of course, making NYC your focus might be a problem similar to the one you mention at the top: the scope could still remain too big! NYC is one of the most endlessly visually represented cities in the world, and probably the most visually reproduced city in the United States outside of L.A.
Deus Ex: Invisible War so was not a horrible sequel.
There’s a pretty ridiculous Japanese conception of New York City, specifically Times Square and Liberty Island, in Ninja Gaiden 2 (the 360 one); when you talk about GTA’s New York you definitely need to mention the Mafia game that addresses New York in different a different era (earlier or simultaneous with the Godfather games which I never played – though I’d be down for playing it with you in the EGL since we have it for the 360). I’ll think more on dis.
I’m currently playing GTA III, so Liberty City’s a major part of my life atm. I’ll be interested in seeing what you can come up with.
Anyways, if you don’t mind including half-broken games, the latest Alone in the Dark games take place in Central Park. And who knows, there’s always the SimCity games.
What luck! The first half of Deus Ex is set in New York! Mostly in the slums and bum-towns. It even opens with the bombing of the Statue of Liberty!
Hmmmm. I guess you’ve probably already scanned this wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_set_in_New_York_City
But another title that leaps out at me is Def Jam: Fight for NY. All the action takes place in the ring, but the whole game is sort of a heavily-dramatized story based on East Coast big city hiphop culture, and the game only takes a couple sittings to beat, so it might be worth your time.
Parasite Eve is a Square survival horror RPG set in New York, so it’s got lots and lots to see and do. I’ve only watched someone else play a couple hours of it, and that was many many years ago, so I can’t vouch for it myself. But, I know it has a big following and also might be worth checking out.
I have to second the call for The Warriors. With my somewhat limited gaming experience it came to mind first, with the Eagles’ song “In the City” playing over the title screen. As Kevin said, though, there is the whole issue of the movie basis for the creepy (and sometimes cheesy) New York depiction.
Max Payne?