A Game of Ones Own: Towards a New Regendered Poetics of Digital Space

A Game of Ones Own:Towards a New RegenderedPoetics of Digital Space Ludica Jacquelyn Ford Morie USC Institute for Creative Technologies Celia Pearce Georgia Institute of Technology Tracy Fullerton USC School of Cinematic Arts

Ludica A women’s game collective devoted to creating a more gender-inclusive environment for game research, art, design and education.

“Je Suis l’esacpe ou je suis.” “I am the place where I am.” —Noël Arnaud, L’Etat d’ebauch

Virginia Woolf, A Space of Ones Own (1928) • Opening description of being blocked from Oxbridge Library due to her gender • Described unique approaches by women writers, • Presented notion of “androgynous mind” to describe literature that

Bachelard, The Poetics of Space • Discussion of different types of space in literature • Heavy emphasis on domestic space • Heavy emphasis on enclosed space, e.g., cupboards, wardrobes drawers, shells • Also discusses issues of scale

The Production of Space

Space is socially constructed • Reveals priorities, perceptions of prevailing culture and time • Video games have resolved into largely a spatial medium (from prior traditions in 2D, side-scrollers) (Murray, Aarseth, Konzak, Pearce) • Game Space is overwhelmingly: • Western • Cartesian • Male

“The defining element is computer games is spatiality.” • - Aarseth • It is the difference between the spatial representation and real space that makes game rules possible. • Space in videogames is allegorical, a “figurative comment on the impossibility of representing real space.” • Unreality of these landscapes is due also to their inherent usefulness for certain types of gameplay.

“The basic feminine impulse is to gather, to put together, to construct; the basic masculine impulse is to scatter, to disseminate, to destroy. It seems to give pleasure to a man to bang something and drive it from him; the harder he hits it and the farther it goes the better pleased he is.” She also points out… “…the universal dominance of the projectile.” —Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, The Man-Made World (1911)

Dangerous and Contested Spaces “Every game of Myth is a fight for position in the landscape.” —Aarseth

Space as colonial domain to be conquered Age of Empires III Civilization

Space as tactical domain for combat Counter-Strike Counter-Strike Half-Life

Levels and Secrets Adventure “Easter Egg” Super Mario Bros “Minus World”

Girls in Boyland We need to open up more space for girls to join–or play alongside–the traditional boy culture down by the river, in the old vacant lot, within the bamboo forest. Girls need to learn how to explore 'unsafe' and 'unfriendly' spaces, and to experience the 'complete freedom of movement' promised by the boys’ games, if not all the time, then at least some of the time, to help them develop the self-confidence and competitiveness demanded of professional women. They also need to learn how, in the words of a contemporary bestseller, to 'run with the wolves' and not just follow the butterflies. Girls need to be able to play games where Barbie gets to kick some butt. —Henry Jenkins, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat

Literary Models for Regendering Game Space

Secret Places A secret place always has aspects of a ‘removed’ existence, being a place that, physically or mentally, it is created for retreat, intimacy, enclosure, screening, and protection. These often are places of power and control that cannot be known or invaded by ‘outside’ forces.” —Frances Downing, Remembrance and the Design of Place The Secret Garden

Enchanted Spaces Mary Poppins Oz Narnia Alice in Wonderland

Domestic Spaces Pride & Prejudice Little Women

Constructing & Cultivating Space

Doll Houses & Gardens Animal Crossing The Sims Okami

Constructing Community Second Life There.com

Social Spaces Uru World of Warcraft

Narrative Spaces Myst Zelda

Virtual Reality as Regendered Play Space

Placeholder Brenda Laurel & Rachel Strickland (1993)

Virtual Adventures: The Loch Ness Expedition Celia Pearce for Iwerks and Evans & Sutherland (1993)

Memory Stairs Jacquelyn Ford Morie (2004-Present)

Detour: Brain Deconstruction Ahead Rita Addison w/ Marcus Thiebaux and David Zeltzer (1993)

Conclusion • Mainstream game industry has evolved primarily around male models of space and agency. • We advocate, after Woolf, a movement toward an “androgynous mind” for game design • Such a move would create a more egalitarian approach to play space that engages girls and women and also expands the richness of game space for men and boys

Digital Arts and Culture 2007 Perth, Australia Tracy Fullerton: tfullerton@cinema.usc.edu Celia Pearce: celia.pearce@lcc.gatech.edu Jacquelyn Ford Morie: morie@ict.usc.edu

A Game of Ones Own: Towards a New Regendered Poetics of Digital Space