Categoría: Publicaciones

Ha salido publicado el capítulo Playing to Understand the Environment: From Superficial Skins to Truly Ecological Gameplays que he escrito a cuatro manos con Frederic Torres Úbeda dentro del libro Video Games and Environmental Humanities. La edición corre a cargo de la editorial Palgrave Macmillan y ha sido coordinado por Kelly I. Aliano y Adam Crowley.

Abstract

How do video games teach about ecology and climate change through their aesthetics and mechanics? From the recent The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD, 2023) to Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital, 2019), Endling: Extinction is forever (Herobeat Studios, 2020) or The Sims series (Maxis et al. 2000-actuality); videogames have taken climate change and the environmental crisis into account. Some videogames approach the issue better than others in terms of videoludic aesthetics. The use of skins with the tag of ecological that we can see in Cities Skylines: Green Cities (Paradox Interactive, 2017) is purely superficial because it does not alter the core gameplay of this genre of videogames, representing the harshest excess of capitalism that is leading humanity to the climatic disaster. There are, however, videogames that employ a truly sustainable aesthetic, both visual and playable; in which we learn about the fictional environment without the need to conquer the space or level up to build on virgin lands. Outer Wilds teaches us new ways to relate to our environment in a sustainable way, both in its fictional universe and in the real world.

Más información del libro en el siguiente enlace.

Ha salido publicado el capítulo Playing with Abstractions, Understanding Spaces: Applying Christaller’s Theory in Video Games escrito seis manos con mis acompañantes habituales Pablo Martín Domínguez y Begoña Cadiñanos Martínez en el libro Gaming and Geography. A Multi-perspective Approach to Understanding the Impacts on Geography (Education). La edición corre a cargo de la editorial Springer y ha sido coordinado por Michael Morawski y Sebastian Wolff-Seidel.

Abstract

Walter Christaller’s central space theory is a crucial component of video games with gameplay mechanics that involve resource management and development tied to virtual places. In games such as Sim City series or Stellaris, Christaller’s influence is assumed on the background more than actively followed. Due to central space theory’s use of geometry, it is relatively easy to scale it up and apply to the algorithms necessary to run the ruleset of a video game. This method effectively creates a predictable pattern for the management of space. This standardization becomes particularly interesting when a deviation on the spatial model is implemented. The discussion of anomalies often unfolds in concrete terms, instead of the abstraction inherent in Christaller’s theory. That perspective implies a change in video game genre and thus, from the usual strategy and management video games that rely upon the central place theory. The gameplay implications shift to a narrative approach found in role playing and adventure games, as the cases of Dragon Age: Origins, Disco Elysium and Horizon Zero Dawn show.

Más información del libro en el siguiente enlace.

La Editorial Universidad de Sevilla ha publicado recientemente el libro El videojuego en la periferia. Prácticas culturales desde los márgenes del OCIO digital, coordinado por Carlos Ramírez Moreno y José Luis Navarrete Cardero y en el participo con el capítulo Reflexiones en torno a la (auto)educación
estético-artística lúdica en la niñez y adolescencia.

En el siguiente enlace podéis descargar el índice y la introducción y adquirirlo en formato digital por el módico precio de 6 euros. Son 442 páginas de lectura sobre videojuegos.