Abstract
Urban games, by using the city as a medium, temporarily surface underlying ideologies and systems influencing urban life. This paper explores the political potential of this medium anchored by interviews with urban game makers/organizers and the strategies they have developed to bring inclusive, safe, and enlightening forms of play and public engagement to the city.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anable
A
. (2018 ). Playing with feelings: Video games and affect . University of Minnesota Press .
2.
Arida
A
. (2014 ). “Magnasanti (Vincent Ocasla)” for design and violence, Museum of Modern Art . https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2013/designandviolence/sim-city-magnasanti-vincent-ocasla/
3.
Ashley
C
. (2021 , April 1 ). The ideology hiding in SimCity’s black box . Polygon . https://www.polygon.com/videos/2021/4/1/22352583/simcity-hidden-politics-ideology-urban-dynamics
4.
Baker
K
. (2019 , January 1 ). Model metropolis . Logic Magazine . https://logicmag.io/play/model-metropolis/
5.
Boyer
T.
Morton
T.
(2021 ). Hyposubjects: On becoming human . Open Humanities Press . http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/hyposubjects
6.
DeKoven
B
. (2012 ). A conversation with Eric Zimmerman and Bernie DeKoven . IndieCade . https://youtu.be/Wr6b3_sFMCs
7.
Deleuze
G.
Guattari
F.
(1980 ). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia . University of Minnesota Press .
8.
Easterling
K
. (2021 ). Medium design: Knowing how to work on the world . Verso Books .
9.
Fickle
T
. (2019 ). The race card: From gaming technologies to model minorities . New York University Press .
10.
Forrester
J
. (1969 ). Urban dynamics . Pegasus Communications .
11.
Jemisin
N. K
. (2020 ). The city we became . Orbit Books .
12.
Juul
J
. (2005 ). Half-real: Video games between real rules and fictional worlds . The MIT Press .
13.
Kangas
K.
Loponen
M.
Särkijärvi
J.
(2016 ). Larp politics—systems, theory, and gender in action . Ropeconry .
14.
Kittler
F.
Griffin
M.
(1996 ). The city is a medium . New Literary History , 27 (4 ), 717 –729 .
15.
Lefebvre
H.
(2014 ). Critique of everyday life: The one-volume edition . Verso Books .
16.
Macklin
C.
Sharp
J.
(2016 ). Games, design and play: A detailed approach to iterative game design . O’Reilly .
17.
Mattern
S
. (2017 ). A city is not a computer . Places Journal . https://placesjournal.org/article/a-city-is-not-a-computer/
18.
Meadows
D
. (2009 ). Thinking in systems: A primer . Earthscan .
19.
Murray
S
. (2017 ). On videogames: The visual politics of race, gender and space . I.B. Tauris .
20.
Nguyen
C. T
. (2019 ). Games and the Art of Agency . The Philosophical Review 128 (4 ), 423 –462 . https://doi.org/10.1215/00318108-7697863
21.
Nguyen
C. T
. (2020 ). Games: Agency as art . Oxford University Press .
22.Niantic Inc . [@NianticLabs] (2019 , September 24 ). While we might think of play as an escape from the everyday. It isn’t separate from reality. It’s part of it . @dinosaurrparty of @MeowWolf at #AugmentingCities. https://twitter.com/nianticlabs/status/1176559269438578688?lang=en
23.
Parkin
S
. (2019 , March 15 ). The division 2 and the severing of politics from video games . The New Yorker . https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-division-2-and-the-severing-of-politics-from-video-games
24.
Tekinbaş
K. S.
Zimmerman
E.
(2003 ). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals . The MIT Press .
25.
Tsing
A. L
. (2017 ). The mushroom at the end of the world . Princeton University Press .
26.
Whyte
W. H.
Jr.
(1980 ). The social life of small urban spaces . Foundation .
27.
Williams
R.
Orrom
M.
(1954 ). Preface to film . Film Drama Ltd .
28.AntiBoredom with SFZero . (2007 ). Journey to the End of the Night .
29.Atmosphere Industries . (2010 ). Gentrification: The Game .
30.Bandai Namco Entertainment (1980 ). Pac-Man .
31.
Feng
Y.
Everett-Lane
D.
(2017 ). Lost in Time . Head of Zeus .
32.
Fortugno
N
. (2013 ). Kill Him and You Will Be Famous . Come Out & Play .
33.
Fortugno
N.
Lantz
F.
Salen Tekinbaş
K.
(2003 ). The Big Urban Game . Design Institute, University of Minnesota .
34.
Gramazio
H
. (2008 ). Trap Street . Hide & Seek .
35.
Gramazio
H.
Sampson
S.
(2016 ). One Easy Step . Matheson Marcault .
36.
Indiana
S. W.
Madsen
R.
Psadourakis
N.
Lam
N.
(2010 ). People Watching Plus (2010) . Rune Madsen .
37.ITP-NYU . (2004 ) Pac-Manhattan .
38.
Macklin
C.
Guster
T.
(2008 ). Re:Activism . PETLab .
39.Maxis (1989 ). Sim City .
40.
Niantic
Inc
. (2016 ). Pokémon Go .
41.
Romero
B
. (2008 ). The Mechanic is the Message. Self-Published.
42.Six to Start with Naomi Alderman . (2012 ) Zombies, Run!
43.
Thompson
A
. (2015 ). . . .&maybetheywontkillyou . RainBros .