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Palgrave Macmillan

Computer Games As Landscape Art

  • Book
  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. Peter Nelson

    1. Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, Ngau Tau Kok, Hong Kong

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  • Computer games are the paradigmatic form of contemporary landscape art and this book gives us the language to read them
  • Our relationship with the environment is changing, and we are expressing this through contemporary computer games
  • This book allows us to understand computer games in a new way by bridging art history, game studies and play

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About this book

This book proposes that computer games are the paradigmatic form of contemporary landscape and offers a synthesis of art history, geography, game studies and play. Like paint on canvas, the game engine is taken as the underlying medium, and using the Valve Source Engine as the primary case study, it analyses landscapes according to the technical, economic and cultural features this medium affords. It presents the single-player first-person shooter (Half-Life 2) as a Promethean safari, examines how the economics of gambling and product placement shaped the eSports landscapes of Counter-Strike and reveals how sandboxes such as Garry’s Mod visualise the radical landscape of Web 2.0. This book explores how our relationship to the environment is changing, how we express this through computer games and how we can move beyond examining artistic influences on games to examining how historical connections flow through games and the history of landscape images.

Keywords

Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Peter Nelson
    Pages 1-8

  3. What Is a Landscape?

    • Peter Nelson
    Pages 9-28

  4. What Is a Computer Game?

    • Peter Nelson
    Pages 29-56

  5. Half-Life 2: Could I Apocalypse?

    • Peter Nelson
    Pages 57-82

  6. Tourism and Gun-Running in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

    • Peter Nelson
    Pages 83-118

  7. Autosave: Redoubt

    • Peter Nelson
    Pages 119-138

  8. Garry’s Mod: The Computer Game Becomes Photoshop

    • Peter Nelson
    Pages 139-171

  9. Conclusion

    • Peter Nelson
    Pages 173-177

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 179-201
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Reviews

“This book makes a significant contribution to the critical literature in game studies, around questions of space in particular, and to game analysis more generally. Nelson addresses the medium specificity of games and game engines as well as teasing out aesthetic, philosophical and political-economic connections with landscape painting. This interplay of art history and digital media theory is innovative, deftly handled and productive. The book is also, importantly, an engaging and enjoyable read.” (Dr Seth Giddings, Associate Professor of Digital Culture & Design  Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities, science and technology lead Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton) 

Authors and Affiliations

  • Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, Ngau Tau Kok, Hong Kong

    Peter Nelson

About the author

Peter A C Nelson is an artist and academic, originally trained in painting, drawing and art history, who publishes on computer games, graphics and aesthetics. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Computer Games As Landscape Art

  • Authors: Peter Nelson

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37634-4

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-37633-7Published: 01 September 2023

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-37636-8Due: 02 October 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-37634-4Published: 31 August 2023

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 201

  • Number of Illustrations: 45 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Popular Culture , Media and Communication, Arts

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