The Dynamic Roles of Home Bases: Finding Home in Game Worlds

Abstract

A player's journey in digital games is often perceived as a continuous forward motion. However, Daniel Vella has emphasized the significance of dwelling in digital games, wherein players pause to find a sense of home and familiarity (2019). As a place where this act of dwelling is particularly prompted, this paper examines home bases as unique loci of dwelling in game environments and the player(-character) who frequents these. These spaces, typically associated with safety and repeated returns, establish boundaries between the familiar and the foreign, the inside and outside, thereby shaping the player's journey within the digital playground. The first part of this paper conceptualises home bases in various digital games, while the second half takes these considerations to Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Studios 2018), a game where the home base is integral to the question of home. Beyond being a central locus for the player's journey, the game's home base acts as a metaphorical storytelling device to tell the story of the vain quest for home in the Wild West.