Augmented reality, surprisingly enough, is here. Few people realize that virtual environments have already been meshed into our lives. From the battlefield to consumer culture we have seen a slow, perhaps even subversive, integration of augmented reality.

The new Iron Man movie features a website that pings a user’s webcam and uses face tracking algorithms to overlay a virtual image of Iron Man’s helmet onto the person in front of the terminal. This is just a small example of augmented reality. I look forward to see what is to come!

Like to augmented reality:

http://www.iamironman2.com/uk/

These two links are written/ made in relation to each other. I think the question of video games as art raises similar questions in terms of analyzing video games for social geography.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/04/video_games_can_never_be_art.html

Today I was completing an assignment for another class with another student who is orginially from south Africa. Towards the end the assignment we started to get to know each other for a little bit; asking questions back and forth as people normally do when they get to know each other better. Anyway, the part of our conversation that was most interesting, and that I believe relates our blogging theme for this week, was when the student began to generally illustrate what Life is like in his hometown (I’m not exactly sure where that is…) in south Africa. I had previously asked him how a place like Austin, TX compares to his own town, and he mentioned that they were both fairly similar places, as far as the urban settings were concerened. However, some parts of our conversation on that topic delved into the unique ominousness and distatste for the residents who occupied the rural areas on the peripheries of the city. He calmly and subtily expressed a certain resentment for rural dwellers. He mentioned that they basically attempt to find a squat of land in the middle of no where (wherever they can find a place) and build shacks. Eventually, he explained, the area becomes develped into a shanty-town of sorts, but exclusively meant to house poor and indegent people; a lot of crime, poverty and general acts aganist the established order of things, occurs in these kinds of areas. He further added the fact that when rural dwellers can no longer survive off of the lands near the shanty-towns, they begin to migrate into the nearest urban complexes they can find, and make their livings off of stealing from other citizens, begging for money, and things thereof. Basically, the living nightmare (no pun intended) for the people living in the primative and undeveloped rurual areas eventually becomes a repugnant reality for the ‘civilized’ people which dwell in the developed urban environments. And the mix and match of both caste systems can some times rub very hard against the ideals of the urban lifestyle. I was able to relate most of what the other student mentioned about his hometown with some points of Urban/Rural studies that we’ve discussed in class. I was able to relate the contents of this conversation with aspects of the pastoral myth, and how the good and humble shephard that is definitive of the kind of person living in the rural environment of the U.S.A, is not exactly thought of by urban dwellers in this country. Instead, we tend to believe that a greater amount of good and humble shephards live in our back yards, not poor and indegent folk; although there are indeed some areas in like that in the U.S.A. we tend to hold certain degree of respect for our rural dwellers; living a hard and tedious lives, and trying to survive off of the land. Although urban dwellers inthe USA hold that respect for them, we still also tend to see them living a ‘backwards’ type of lifestyle, one devoid of the level of technology and advancement that is found in the hardcore urban setting. However, in south Africa, going back to the conversation, there is almost no noticable respect found for those kinds of people living in those kinds of rural settings. Those poor and indegent folks are marginalized and segregated, not respected and mythisized for any good reasons, at all. In conclusion then, it must be a thought that certain facets of the pastoralist myth must indeed vary in perception from place to place, and from person to person; and the themes of Urban/Rural environments as they are expressed in the U.S.A. are also extremely different when they are studied in another country or continent.

The virtual environment of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a sprawling magical, medieval environment where the player is free to explore and do anything he pleases.  Everything from massive cities to uncharted dungeons to quaint farms and meadows dot the map of Oblivion that is filled with citizens from all walks of life, from thieves to royalty and from assassins to housemaids.  As a player in the world, you can chose to save the world form an impending evil or just go about your way in a guild, buy a house, and go fishing.  As a result of the freedom and vast range of locations in Oblivion, it is able to offer subtle comparisons and commentary on the differences and perspectives on urban and rural spaces.

The cities in Oblivion have a sense of security that is typical of urban spaces while simultaneously exhibiting a stratification and gentrification of the social classes; meanwhile, the rural spaces offer both an anti-pastoral and pastoral view of country farming life. The urban sense of security is essentially that there is an active police presence in addition to a large population of people that combine to make the inhabitants feel safe in what would otherwise be a dangerous urban jungle.  In regards to the population, the gentrification of the city deals with how the homeless and lower class people are generally allotted in one location while the richer classes grow and expand other portions of the city.  On the rural side of things, the pastoralist view of life is focused on the positive, almost exaggerated aspects of rural life such as how idyllic, peaceful, and easy farm life is; the anti-pastoral view centers more on the realistic, if cynical, observance of the hard work, loneliness, and dangers associated with a difficult subsistence rural life.

The various cities around the virtual world in Oblivion have a vast array or architectural styles, city layouts, and inhabitants, but one thing they all hold in common is an omnipresent array of city guards.  Wherever you go in Oblivion’s cities, the watchful eye of the policing soldiers is always around the corner.  As a player, this means you are safe from enemy attacks while within the walls of a city, or if you are being pursued by bandits, you can flee to the safety of a city and its guards.  If you choose to be a less savory citizen, however, the presence of the city guards will make pickpocketing, stealing, and murdering significantly more difficult on you.  As I often play the latter type of character, the presence of law enforcement officers and their prisons and swords adds both gravity and realism to what would otherwise be a string of inconsequential crimes on virtual citizens.

Another urban-centric idea displayed prominently in Oblivion is gentrification and homelessness.  Every town in the game has a gaggle of homeless beggars who will harass you for change, and in some of the larger towns there are even entire shantytown areas around the outskirts of the greater urban sprawl.   It seems that even in the fantasy setting of Oblivion they cannot do away with homelessness and beggars, perhaps a commentary on the prevalence and persistence of this human societal problem.  While the homeless beg across the walls, the rich and powerful of the cities pursue elegant lifestyles in opulent clothing and luxurious environments with complete disregard for the problems lurking in their city, perhaps another commentary on the way the real world functions.

Beyond the cities, many farms and rural spaces dot the landscape of Oblivion. They are presented in such a way as to allow the player to determine which rural perspective the game portrays, pastoral or anti-pastoral.  The player can easily perceive the rural settings in a pastoral sense at first glance: the sun shines brightly, pretty plants and flowers grow everywhere, the crops and animals look peaceful, and life just looks peaceful for the inhabitants of the rural farms; however, if the player takes a close look, he’ll see the anti-pastoral side of how the inhabitants have to spend a long part of their day taking care of their plants and animals, fending off thieves and goblins, and living in relative isolation from society. Similar to how the real world exists, there is no clear-cut correct perspective, but players are able to see and interact with both views.

The world of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is complex and massive, yet it successfully integrates many real-world parallels of urban and rural life.  On a whole, Oblivion’s gap from the real world allows the player to form opinions and insight on the way city and rural life works without having to actually travel out into the real countryside or urban sprawl.  The game world allows the player to transcend what he would normally be capable of to observe and interact with the peculiarities of urban and rural life from the comfort of his home.

Sources

Short, John Rennie. Imagined Country. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1991.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Bethseda Entertainment, 2006

External Game Sites

http://www.elderscrolls.com/home/home.php

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Oblivion

Unlike some of the games we have talked about in class, the urban environments in Mass Effect 2 differ greatly in style. These differences are due to a variation of alien races, urban locations on different planets, and the time period in which this game takes place (the year 2183).

Rather than one continent or world in which many adventure games take place, the virtual world of Mass Effect is based in the Milky Way Galaxy. What happens is that each city represented in the galaxy is different from another, but homogeneous in itself (mostly). One of the first cities seen by the player is called Omega. This city lacks the usual stability and structure that we see represented in a lot of cities: security, a controlled hierarchy, and an overall working economy. Omega seems to be one big slum controlled by various gangs and organizations outside of the law of the galaxy. Various races live here with no particular race having any more control than another. It is diverse in populace, but not diverse in visual style. There is not upper class or lower class sections represented, it all appears to be one big slum.

The next city seen is the Citadel, similar to Omega in that it has a very diverse group of alien races living in the same place. This is where the similarities cease. Where Omega is a slum without structure or security, the Citadel is practically the capital of the Milky Way. Security is tight, and there is a overall ruling government called the Citadel Council, with 4 Councilmen from the most influential races in the Galaxy. The actual city varies in style with the upper level up to the Council Presidium consist of higher class and richer races, to the lower level worker wards where the more blue collar and poor workers live.  The varied economical status, the stronger C-Sec Citadel Police security, and the working government for the Milky Way represent a more recognized visage of an urban environment.

The last major city I will talk about is the city of Illum, which is run by the alien race known as the Asari. Illum runs outside of Citadel control and as such has its own rules and regulations. The Asari are definitely the “top dogs” here, although every race flocks to the city. The city is sleek, beautiful, and in every way the stereotypical sci-fi city we see in so many movies. Flying cars, high sky scrapers, and a large populace. Despite all this Illum is clean. Impeccably clean. It’s like the city itself took on the aspects known to its Asari inhabitants: Beautiful, everlasting, clean. Practically perfect. A place to escape the rules of the Citadel, but avoid the slum conditions of a world like Omega.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is an open-world videogame created by Bethesda Softworks for.  It is a fantasy role playing game set in a medieval country of Cyrodiil.  While the main quest has the player attempt to stop the destruction of the world, the appeal of this game is the ability for the player to do basically whatever he wants.  This game has a great distinction between the urban and rural, which is the topic my group researched.

Specifically for urban we looked at gentrification and economy, security, and the quality of life.  Within the gentrification and economic aspects we noted that there is a clear separation of the homeless along with a divided hierarchy.  Within cities the homeless usually live near the outer portions, by walls for instance and generally away from the wealthier population.  One city, the Imperial City, even has its own slums district.  The divided hierarchy is shown through these placements of NPC’s.  While the poor are cast off to the side the rich live in lavish houses in the best parts of the towns, usually in much more desirable locations.  I feel that this is a very realistic representation of the real world, with the rich getting the best and the poor taking up whatever is left.  Another aspect of the economy in Oblivion is the marketplace and shipyards specifically.  The marketplace in this game is typical to other games, a place to buy and sell goods..  The marketplace in Oblivion does a good job of portraying the differing economic levels though with richer and poorer looking markets; this can compare to malls today which carry, for example, Nordstrom or Old Navy.  Both work, but one is high class.  The shipyard is specifically noted because it is shown as a port to the outer world of Cyrodiil.  It shows that the country is not geographically bound, interactions outside the players view take place.  This shows an extroverted view, even though it is not the point of our research it makes the game world vastly more complex in a geographic sense than if trade were restricted inside the main country.

Security is another large part of the urban view.  In Oblivion rules are strictly regulated and laws are greatly enforced.  If the player is caught stealing, guards will attempt to arrest the player who has several options; run and be attacked or face the consequences which range from a fine to jail time.  This is similar to our own world where any and all actions come with consequences.  All cities are walled, and this keeps danger outside the city because it is a definite safe haven in the game.  An interesting aspect though is that most NPCs carry a weapon of some sort.  This could be conveyed as an exaggeration of our own times where discussions over the right to bear arms run rampant, but it is also appropriate for the game.  The world in Oblivion is a very dangerous place and people who wander the country mostly have to rely on themselves so it makes sense to see many carrying weapons.  Security partially ties to quality of life in the urban take.  In this game people who live in the city live much better lives than those who don’t; they are kept safe, have somewhere of their own, and can live their own lives.  This then connects to people’s individuality which can be seen in conversations about utter pointless things.  Those in the rural usually only care to discuss their immediate problems, their self-reliance in the country restricts them; “Why should I worry about him when I’m being attacked by a troll?” compared to a city-dweller’s “I’m completely safe, now have you heard of the Dancing Pony?”  This point is that the urban has more ‘individuals’ because comfort has allowed them to concentrate on the smaller things in life instead of constantly worrying about their own survival.

The rural, in the pastoral and anti-pastoral sense also plays a large role in Oblivion.  The rural in this game is strictly not urban; the countryside is what the city isn’t.  Scenic views are aplenty in Cyrodiil such as mountains and waterfalls, something that is not see in the city.  Things appear to be relatively peaceful, and the NPCs appear more personable than in the city.  For instance guards in the city are much sterner, ending conversations with “Move along citizen” while those traversing the country are friendlier and can end with “Safe travels.”  This makes the rural seem like a better place, but through more exploration the truth is revealed.  The rural environment better portrays the anti-pastoral view.  Security and safety is left to the individual most of the time.  The roads can be dangerous with robbers and monsters alike.  These obstacles can lead to a sense of loneliness.  It seems that Bethesda is making the point that while the rural might appear better at a first glance, under further review the city may very well be a better place for the less than adventurous, which seems to be most people.

Oblivion appears to be a realistic take on our world put in a fantasy setting.  People act how you would expect them to and places accompany the traits that they should.  The geographic concepts are not restricted to those our group covered.  Through its representations many different concepts can be learned simply by playing this game.  After taking this class I realized that many of the concepts were a little familiar due to playing this game so much and taking in what it has to offer.  So this game simply is not for pleasure, it can be used as a tool, which is a great testament to the creators of Oblivion and the great work they did.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_overview.htm

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Oblivion

MapleStory is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Over one hundred million players worldwide play MapleStory, including over ten million in MapleStory Global (primarily North America).  There are twelve character classes in MapleStory: five Adventurer classes (Bowman, Magician, Pirate, Thief, and Warrior), five corresponding Cygnus Knights, Aran, and Evan. While all Adventurers start in the Beginner class on Maple Island (an island exclusively for Beginners), each has a primary city on Victoria Island. The cities for the Bowman, Magician, Pirate, Thief, and Warrior classes are Henesys, Ellinia, Nautilus, Kerning City, and Perion, respectively. In this post, I write about the primary city of the Thief class, Kerning City, and the representation of the city in MapleStory.

Kerning City represents several of the negative elements associated with cities. Because Kerning City is the primary city of the Thief class (Assassins and Bandits), it is associated with crime. This darkness of the city is also present in the buildings in the city, which are literally not well lighted and do not look safe. The graffiti on the city walls, pictured below, strengthens this association. Finally, the Thief leader, who can let you advance to the next job, is named the Dark Lord – a direct representation of the darkness of the city.

Kerning City

This representation extends to the areas adjacent to Kerning City. The Kerning City Subway consists of standard dark monsters, including bats (Stirges), ghosts (Jr. Wraiths, Wraiths, and Shades), and snakes (Jr. Neckis). Alternatively, players can enter the sewer to kill alligators (Ligators), crocodiles (Crocos), and zombie monkeys (Zombie Lupins). Other locations include abandoned construction sites; for example, see the image of Victoria Road: Kerning City Construction Site below.

Victoria Road: Kerning City Construction Site

While Kerning City represents the negative elements of urban environments, other cities in MapleStory are less dark. For example, Ellinia is a city where fairies live. Singapore is also less negatively represented in this secondary world, but Singapore in our primary world is crime-free and safe to a larger extent. However, Singapore in our primary world is also criticized for other elements of urban environments, including high population density (the highest in the world) and fast change.

Unlike its predecessor, where the environment was very much in a lush, urban environment, the fourth installment in the Persona series takes place out in the country.

It’s interesting to note that the character’s attitudes toward the countryside versus the urban: many of them, being high schoolers who have been born and raised there, have been planning some kind of escape from the Podunk landscape. Further, excursions to more urban environments are treated with enthusiasm and excitement, a way to get out of a place that causes a certain amount of malaise.

Even the high school that they attend exhibits this disparity. Where Persona 3′s high school is, really, almost “too-cool-for-school,” the school in Persona 4 is portrayed in the exact opposite of this scale of coolness: facilities are not always available due to shared resources, the teachers and principals alike can be exaggeratedly mean, bizarre, or flighty, and the extra-curricular clubs available to join are portrayed as either less-than-appealing or very much lacking in prestige.

Interesting, too, to note, is the murder-mystery in this game. In class we have talked about the association of crime and the urban environment, but in this case, this little country town is caught up in a serial-murder case that baffles the local population. Perhaps it is because we associate the country with having less crime (due to tightknit communities) that the killings make all the more impact on the dramatic effect of the storytelling: here we are, in a boring little town, and suddenly people end up dead and hanging on telephone lines.

In exaggerating the anti-pastoralist notions of the country, as well as attributing an element of something associated with urban environments for dramatic tension, the storyline in Persona 4 makes for both a humorous and yet engaging game for players looking for something a little different.

The game Okami is an adventure RPG game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom for the player station 2 and wii platform. The game is set sometime during the Japanese classical period and features extensive amount of eastern cultural influence on many aspects of the game’s design. The game‘s heroine is the Japanese Sun Goddess Amaterasu who reincarnated into the form of a white wolf. The story follows the Goddess as she travels from place to place in order to prevent the Evil from taking over the world. Although the game is based on another time period in history, there are still areas in the game that can be classified as Urban and Rural areas each with its own distinct characteristics. In addition, the game is filled with examples of Pastoral Myth as player often encounters farmers who live alone on a plain minding his crops and goods.

The game starts out with the legend of a hero slaying the evil eight headed dragon that is plaguing the world. During the cut scene, it is revealed that you were fighting alongside the help granting him power and courage. The dragon was defeated and peace was restored for several hundred years until now. You were revived by a wood spirit named Sakuya in order to seal the demon away once more. Not wanting to reveal too much for those who has not played the game, eventually the player were granted control of Amaterasu who is now in a small village named Kamiki Village where Sakuya resides and protects.
Looking around Kamiki village, as a part of the country side, it is located on a large outward looking plain. Almost every aspect of the village portrays the simple and agricultural lives of the villagers: Kids were playing in the village playground; villagers were cooking, washing clothes and tending to the gardens and to the west of the village is a pathway filled with flowers that lead to Sakuya’s shrine. This area in the game fits really well with the concept of Pastoral Myth where lives are much simpler and without many of the urban problems such as crime, poverty and homelessness.

Overview of Sei-an City in Okami

Speaking of the urban area, Sei-an City is the largest city (port city) that the player has access to within the game. Comparing to the peaceful Kamiki Village Sei-an is full of life and many businesses. The city is filled with many shops and services including the restaurants, hotels, weapons dealer, and usual commodity store. Since Sei-an is a port city with waterways large enough to allows trade ships to enter the city directly, many travelers and merchant arrive to trade and sell which creates a heterogeneous feel in terms of the origins of people within the city. However, much like the urban area of today, Sei-an is hindered with the problem of crimes, poverty, and the sense of crowdedness. It is as if these are the defining characteristics of any urban areas regardless of the time period.

While Okami is set in a different historical period, the concept of Urban vs. Rural is still clearly demonstrated by the design of the game. The peaceful and simpler Kamiki village in contrast with the bustling port city of Sei-an gave the player a different view points of the Urban and the rural life. As a side note, the most amazing aspect about the game is everything described so far is done in a woodcut, watercolor, cel-shaded artists style and looks similar to Japanese ink-illustration and the game looks incrediblely beautiful.

For the sake of specificity, this blog is on Animal Crossing: Wild World on the Nintendo DS, but they’re all essentially the same. In the game, you live out the life of a user-created person in a small village filled with humanoid animals, and interact with the world in various ways like fishing, collecting fruit and digging up fossils. Essentially, the game is a version of the pastoral myth, where life is forever happy and simple, without any major problems found in urban areas (e.g., crime, poverty, homelessness, murder, etc.).

The game begins with your character in a taxi heading towards a small town. Here, you choose your name, gender and town’s name. It never really says where you’re from, but while playing the game, some villagers make fun of your name for being an outsider name – but it’s not really important to the game. Essentially, the urban world is never present in Animal Crossing, and no real opinion is given about it. There are some implications, though, from how the rural/pastoral/village life is presented – mainly, that a simpler and smaller town is better than a city setting.

In the town, you meet your few neighbors (about 10, in total), do small tasks (deliver packages, sell fruit and items, talk to people, etc.), and build up your house/personalize it. It’s all very mundane, yet oddly compelling.

The game forces you to start in debt, so you do chores to earn money and pay off your house, but even being in debt/being poor is not really a problem. You aren’t punished or even scolded, just gently reminded that you owe money when you talk to the shopkeeper. There is no fear of starving or homelessness or repossession of your property – just the suggestion of paying people back. This suggests a gentler world in the countryside, where neighbors and businessmen are more understanding, forgiving and personal. You have to talk to them daily, so you actually get to know each other; the relationship is one of trust. Whereas in the city, the usual stereotype is a cutthroat world, where if you don’t play by the rules, you get in serious trouble (although it never says this in the game, we tend to, as a society, think this way).

You also aren’t allowed to do bad deeds in the game, like stealing or killing – although, you can cut down trees, which can be kind of a jerk move if it’s someone else’s fruit tree, but you are never punished. The absence of these very negative aspects of society could possibly be explained by realizing the game is rated “E for everyone,” and marketed towards a family-friendly demographic. Or, it could be taken as the implication that bad things just don’t happen in the simplicity of rural environments as much. Everyone is friends and works together in a nice little utopian fantasy.

The town also has a museum, a bank, a mail system, and a well-stocked shop full of exciting items and decorations (like TVs, musical instruments, statues, furniture, etc.). In this way, the game suggests that you can have a small community of cooperation and also live with the benefits of a developed, modern society. There is culture, and taste, and peace. Every humanoid animal resident is also unique and has a different personality, which suggests a non-homogenized culture, and you are able to express individuality through fashion and home decoration. This all sounds very fantastical and unrealistic (you’re playing with talking animals, after all), and it is for the most part, but the main idea here is that a society can be small, cultural and also pleasant. It may not have every amenity of an urban city, but you don’t need so many things in your life – the simplicity of living is entertaining enough, the game says.

However, this whole utopian fantasy couldn’t occur without keeping a strict border around the town. The only entrance to your perfect village is a giant gateway with guards constantly on duty to keep people out. Nobody is let in without permission. This seems to say utopias have to be exclusive, and they have to be guarded. The outside world is full of problems, and to live a happy life you shouldn’t deal with the problems, but instead force out the problems. It’s a not the best moral or philosophy, but keeps the pastoral myth alive.