Computer Games and Landscapes [Keynote Address]

Using my recently published monograph ‘Computer Games As Landscape Art’ as a focal point, I would like to respond to the notion of a landscape methodology for computer games, based on a hybrid of play-based game studies and various threads from art history, geography and media studies. Following the question of games and over-simplification (or simulation via simplification), I demonstrate how games as a form of contemporary media index broader historical narratives, in this case, the relationship between humans and the physical environment. This will include examining ludological structures in single-player FPS games as well as the financial networks surrounding eSports and user-generated content. In response questions of compliance or resistance, I will demonstrate examples of both, from the tensions of product placement and ‘playbour’, to the repurposing of games for unintended functions.