From Voxel Vistas: Place-Making in Minecraft

Authors

  • Tyler Quiring University of Maine

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v8i1.7122

Keywords:

place, videogames, virtual, reality, social construction, landscape, geography

Abstract

The concept of place informs much of human meaning-making in both space and time. This paper seeks to bridge gaps between the literature on place and research on video games and virtual worlds by finding points of intersection between each field. I analyze the immensely successful independently-developed video game Minecraft through my own experience and an analysis of gameplay videos uploaded to YouTube. The game serves as an ideal framework within which to study place-making due to three core qualities that illuminate intersections in place and video game/virtual worlds literature: (a) alteration/change, (b) proximity, and (c) conflict/cooperation. I problematize dichotomies between

Author Biography

  • Tyler Quiring, University of Maine
    Tyler Quiring is a master's student studying mass communication at the University of Maine in Orono.

Downloads

Published

2015-02-04

Issue

Section

Peer Reviewed Research Papers