To the Center of Nowhere: Deep Mapping Digital Games’ Paratextual Geographies

Abstract

Games are possibility spaces and the experiential circumstances generated by the execution of digital game code are paratextual thresholds of transition and transaction. If games are paratexts, game design is a form of modeling; game-playing is a form of transactional mapping; and the critical engagement with games is best approached via a modified version of “deep mapping,” a digital humanities process indebted to textual studies approaches. This paper will explore the paratextual idea of deep mapping in relation to Hello Games’ constantly evolving No Man's Sky, and The C64, a full-sized reissue of Commodore 64 hardware by Retro Games Ltd. Overall, the use of deep mapping to comprehend the paratextual thresholds of games validates the importance of textual studies approaches, acknowledging the complex relationship between physicality and virtuality while also reconfirming that games require methodologies that move beyond reading paradigms and the exclusive framework of textuality.